Asus Radeon 6850 now or wait for Sapphire 5850 xtreme?

Lots of the specs are actually based on tech not the higher number. The hd5850 is about 10% faster, but I like the new tech. What is your res? If it is high enough, maybe you will need the extra push. I assume you have the system requirements to run either of those cards.

Building a computer actually

Monitor: Asus VH236 1920x 1080 (already have)

Case: Antec 300 Black Steel

CPU: i3-2100

Motherboard: ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155

HDD: Samsung f3 1tb

PSU: OZC Fatality 550W

Memory: Patriot Signature 4gb

I've been holding out for the Sapphire 5850 to make it back to Newegg but while I think it will, I want to know if getting the 6850 is a bad idea. I sort of think it is a bad idea to get the 6850 over the 5850 just based on the bench from anandtech but just wanted some input if there's something I'm missing.

EDIT: What does the newer tech of the 6850 have over the 5850? I can settle for a 10% decrease if there is some upside to getting the 6850.

5850 is a better deal but if you get a 6850 now and can crossfire later I would get the 6850 if not wait it out.

It scales better, has better DX11 support, and has better tessellation. In some games they are about the same do to the better tessellation and DX11 performance.

So even with all those features, the 6850 can only hope to perform on par with the 5850? I would think that eventually, games would work better with the 6850 but I guess I'm waiting it out. Thanks to you both!

I wouldn't wait on something that may never come.

No problem! Later games may actually run better on a hd6850.

Good point.

Why?

I am just saying, they might be better later. Some games they are the same, and later when the hd5850 is getting phased out, the hd6850 may be better optimized and edge out. I didn't say it would be better, I just said it may be better. Can we manage to avoid this argument?

That's just generally not the way it works FYI.

I know, but some games have proved to run close to the performance of the hd5850.

Sort of ambiguous...did you mean wouldn't wait on the 6850 to outperform the 5850 or that I shouldn't wait for vendors to restock the Sapphire 5850 xtreme?

I think he meant waiting on the hd5850.

I don't think the H D5850 will be in stock. Why not spend an extra $10-20 for a HD6870?

Amazon just ran out of the 5850 today (guess that's what I get for working =/ ) and they do say it's only temporary.

Also with the deals going on now presumably for memorial day, the 6870 turns out to be $30-40 more than the 6850. I'm trying to find the sweet spot of budget and quality and the 6870 just goes one notch too high.

Also in this rut. I just put the order in for the 5850 on Amazon. But its out of stock. It'd be nice if we had an estimate as to when it would come back into stock...

just get the 6850. 5850's are a clearence item, once stock runs out thats it, they no longer make them.

My patience will only extend to the weekend in order to take advantage of Memorial Day sales (can't be on the hook waiting for Amazon). Quick question though, is there any difference between the 5850's released awhile ago and the Sapphire 5850 xtreme that got released this year?

The HD 5850 Xtreme uses a custom PCB that is shorter than the original HD5850 as well as a rather nice custom cooler.

Basically the SAPPHIRE is better.  

Hey all...thanks for your input but it might have been in vain. I think I'm going to step down and get a HD5830 (yes you all can /lol) for $90 AR.

A couple of reasonings:
Just because I have a 1920X1080p monitor doesn't mean I need to game at that resolution, 1680X1050 would appease me. After all, this is my first computer build and I'm not a hardcore gamer (in school and don't have the time).

Also, since I slotted $150 to the GPU budget, this would free up $60 allowing me to get the core i5-2400 from microcenter which I think will serve me better in the long run than getting the i3-2100 + HD 6850 now.

In the future when the 5830 just won't cut it, I should have saved up enough to get a new card.

In the meantime, it'll be an XFX, so when it goes kaput (which from the reviews is only a matter of time), the lifetime warranty should help.

I'd still direct you to the Sapphire model over the XFX personally;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

After I read up on some more benchmarks, I think tomorrow I'm going to decide between that card or the GTX 460 for $20 bucks more, I'll still be under the $150 budget and I might splurge a little and still get the core i5-2400. Thanks!

Which GTX 460?

The hd6870 is better than the GTX 460 1gb. The hd6850 and GTX 460 1gb are on par with each other.

Either Asus GTX 460 768mb or EVGA GTX 460 1gb. Trying to decide if it's worth it to go for the 1gb. Anandtech doesn't make it look like the 1gb has that much of an advantage over the 768mb but it sounds like in general 1gb would always be better than 768mb.




Yea I just realized the parity and with all these sales going on, I saw that the GTX 460 is well within my price range now. The 6870 while nice is unfortunately over my budget.

The 1gb performs much better with all settings, AA, AF, and a high res. Grab a 1gb card. Also, I would grab the hd6850 considering it normally outdoes the GTX 460. If you play Blizzard games though, grab a GTX 460.

With the money that you saved from taking the gtx 460, you should consider invest it in getting the i5-2500k (k -> overclockable) instead of the i4-2400. (If interested search a bit about it)

Best answer selected by Dejii.