HD5850 ($160) vs GTX560Ti ($258) vs HD6950 2GB ($296)

[kozalaq]

Hi Guys,

I have these 3 GPUs in mind:
-Sapphire HD5850 Xtreme 1GB ($160)
-Palit GTX560Ti 1GB ($258)
-Sapphire HD6950 2GB ($296)

the price stated is the market price in my area.

The reason I consider HD6950 is the possibilities of unlocking to 6970 if I am able to find the older batches of 6950. However, in case I can't then I will save the $$ and get a 560Ti.

However, recently there's a rising popularity of people buying HD5850 due to its price.

Which one of those three would be a better buy? in terms of price/performance ratio at current games and upcoming games? It'd be good if I can save more money to invest better in other parts of the PC or future upgrades.

Of course, I know that performance-wise 560Ti is better than 5850 but is it necessarily $100 better? similarly, is 6950 $40 better than 560Ti?

Thank you.

P.S. I want to be able to play games at good settings at 1080p resolution.

 

[ignoranceabound]

The 5850 by far. For that price it's the fastest card out.

 

[kozalaq]

how does 5850 perform at 1080p compared to the latter two?

 

[ignoranceabound]

Slower; it's comparable to a HD 6870. It should max out most games at that resolution.

 

[kozalaq]

HD5850 performs slightly slower than the 6870, but if u wanna game at Full HD, consider a HD6950 1GB, it should cost around if not less than the GTX 560 Ti, but performs similarly to the HD6950 2GB,

only reason to buy the 2GB card is to CFX

meaning 5850 can't play in Full HD? cause the price is very attractive while at around 10% slower than 560Ti.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Palit/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_Sonic/28.html

 

[kozalaq]

It is a good card for it's price, and depending on games, the HD5850 is sufficient for HD gaming,

@op what games do u play?

street fighter 4, borderlands, left 4 dead 2, dragon age 2, the witcher 2.

of coz, i don't want it to be performing well only in older and current games (which rises the need to upgrade in short-time frame) but also upcoming games like dungeon siege 3, diablo 3 and other games in the next 2-3 years. naturally, i don't expect to play games at ultra high settings by then.



btw, how about its overclockability?

 

[ignoranceabound]

Not as much compared to nvidia cards that regularly get 25% but there's some headroom. I'd so go for the 5850 now and save the money for your computer down the line. If you want to spend more for a single card setup I'd say the GTX 560 Ti is slightly better than the 6950. Similar performance but nvidia has better drivers.

Witcher 2 isn't the best coded game but should play on very high settings with ubersampling off.

 

[kozalaq]

a bit out of topic. but is there any particular genre of games that is more GPU intensive than others?

i'm thinking whether i should invest more money in GPU cause the games i mostly play are rpgs and very seldom FPS.

 

[ignoranceabound]

FPS and single player RPGs are usually the most graphics intensive. Blizzard codes their games to run on a wide spectrum of computers to sell more games because they don't care about the hardcore gamers nearly as much.

Witcher 2 and Metro 2033 are the most graphically intensive games out.

 

[kozalaq]

Best answer selected by kozalaq.

 

[kozalaq]

thanks. i guess i'll just save myself $100 and get the HD5850

 

[swifty_morgan]

I have a 5850 and swapped up to a 6950 2gig card. Best move made. I had a 560ti and it wasn't as good in very intensive games like Metro ( mentioned ) and other FPS.... BBC2 for one. For future considerations you should seriously look into the 6950 2gig card. It'll give you jitter free game play at highest possible settings for some time to come and there's no need to "upgrade" the card by trying to make it a fuax 6970.
............ where ARE you looking at 6950's that are so expensive ?

 

[kozalaq]

I have a 5850 and swapped up to a 6950 2gig card. Best move made. I had a 560ti and it wasn't as good in very intensive games like Metro ( mentioned ) and other FPS.... BBC2 for one. For future considerations you should seriously look into the 6950 2gig card. It'll give you jitter free game play at highest possible settings for some time to come and there's no need to "upgrade" the card by trying to make it a fuax 6970.
............ where ARE you looking at 6950's that are so expensive ?

What resolution are you playing the games at? how much improvement from 5850 to 6950?

in my area, it's that expensive

 

[swifty_morgan]

1680x1050 1gig wasn't enough in some instances. Now it's 1920x1200.