Replacing the 5850

[verdugo]

I'm bored. If I was to replace my XFX 5850 with something in the $200 range. What could be a visible improvement? I probably wont do it but it will be good to know.

 

[ubercake]

I agree with greghome on this one. There's boredom and there's throwing money away. Keep the 5850 until you get $250 - 300 to spend.

 

[simon12]

Unless you can get another 5850 for crossfire I agree with the above

 

[verdugo]

Thanks guys. You know how it is with this hobby.

 

[peteyfro87]

I've just got a new Sapphire HD5850 Extreme and it's fantastic performance and value...

If I was bored I'd be tempted to go with a second one in crossfire as well.... While they're still available.

 

[verdugo]

The only thing with going crossfire is that my cpu is the E8400 that i'm planning to replace later this year or early next year depending on what's out there. That could be the bottleneck since it is already showing it's age.

 

[ubercake]

That won't bottleneck two 5850s. You should be fine:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5850-review-crossfire/15

The performance of two 5850s is just above that of a 5870. A 5870 would never come close to being bottlenecked by an E8400.