5850 Upgrade BF3

[gihzmo]

I am looking at possibly upgrading my GC, I currently have a 5850 1GB. My other components are an AMD Phenom II X4 965, 4GB 1600 memory, ASUS M4A79XTD EVO MB, and a 750W PSU. I am running one monitor, 24" at 1920x1080.

The thing I am a little upset about with the 5850 is that I planned to buy one and once it started running into walls I would buy another, well I would like a little more power now and I cannot get a 5850 for a reasonable price. So I am looking at either 2x 6850s or one 6950. I may possibly go as high as a 6970, but I do not know if the extra cost is worth it right now, seeing as the single 5850 has lasted me 2 years now.

The primary reason I am upgrading is for BF3 and other games coming up. So based on that information, what would you guys suggest? I am a little hesitant about CF because of comparability, but if it is the best choice in the long run, I will probably do it.

 

[geekapproved]

I don't see any reason why you need to upgrade for BF3.

I plan on rocking it with my current setup, although at 1680x1050.

 

[megamanx00]

I say just get another 5850 now. They are only going to get harder to find latter on

http://www.compuvest.com/Search.jsp?Search=900297&advsite=froogle&sku=331006962-08&dp=4:CVS:17400:0:5

You could also check eBay but if you go with a used one you are taking your chances

http://www.ebay.com/itm/XFX-ATI-Radeon-HD-5850-HD-585X-ZAFC-1-GB-GDDR5-SDRAM-PCI-Express-2-1-x16-Gr-/180728542591?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item2a1442b57f

 

[megamanx00]

Getting a new 5850 is still cheaper than getting two 6850s or 6870s and would be faster than a single 6950

 

[geekapproved]

Personally I'd take my chances with a used ebay 5850 from someone that upgraded.

If you use paypal, your purchase is guaranteed to work or money back right?

 

[swifty_morgan]

from personal experience go with a 6950 2gig card. bbc3 will have more tessellation to deal with than bbc2 did. i had a 5850 1gig card and it spit and sputtered on that game. adding 2 will only STILL provide you with 1gig video memory. not enough unless you play at lower res and lower settings. kinda takes the fun out of gaming. go for a 2gig 6950. works flawlessly in everything so far for me at 1920x1200 at maxed game settings. another thing to think about is poor xfire scaling.

 

[megamanx00]

@swifty

Crossfire generally scales well actually. More obscure games and less popular games are less likely to scale well though

 

[Gothams Finest]

The beta is out on the 27th so just wait for the benchmarks or better still play the beta on your system, before buying a GPU.

 

[geofelt]

I am looking at possibly upgrading my GC, I currently have a 5850 1GB. My other components are an AMD Phenom II X4 965, 4GB 1600 memory, ASUS M4A79XTD EVO MB, and a 750W PSU. I am running one monitor, 24" at 1920x1080.

The thing I am a little upset about with the 5850 is that I planned to buy one and once it started running into walls I would buy another, well I would like a little more power now and I cannot get a 5850 for a reasonable price. So I am looking at either 2x 6850s or one 6950. I may possibly go as high as a 6970, but I do not know if the extra cost is worth it right now, seeing as the single 5850 has lasted me 2 years now.

The primary reason I am upgrading is for BF3 and other games coming up. So based on that information, what would you guys suggest? I am a little hesitant about CF because of comparability, but if it is the best choice in the long run, I will probably do it.

You have discovered one of the problems with planning on cf/sli as an upgrade path.

Is there any urgency to upgrade now?
Why not wait for BF3, and try it out. You will then be better able to determine if, or how much of an upgrade you might need.

The new 28nm cards from ati and nvidia will be coming out near year end, and they might be worth waiting for.

If you do need an upgrade now, or later, just sell the 5850 which seems overpriced, and get the stronger card that will do the job.

 

[swifty_morgan]

@swifty

Crossfire generally scales well actually. More obscure games and less popular games are less likely to scale well though

Sorry, but the machine I'm on now is faster than the OP's and has a 5850 in it. This machine won't run NFS Shift smoothly and it won't run FarCry2 for a hill of beans. And this is running DX9. I'd never contemplate trying to run BBC2 let alone BBC3 on it. Doesn't make sense.
Cross firing the 5850's might post some high FPS numbers but the actual performance will not be there when put up against a 6950 2gig card trying to run the same stuff. The architecture between the cards is completely different. If you actually had the different cards to test (like I DO ) you'd recant. In my book FPS and actual "performance" are 2 different things....... and in gaming it means a lot.

 

[yummerzzz]

It's not BF:BC3 it's BF3.

Also if your card can't run FarCry 2 then there must be a problem with your system, FC2 is a walk in the park...

EDIT : Swifty, what are you talking about, a CF HD 5850 annihilate a single HD 6950 2GB card any day, unless there is some sort of CPU bottleneck.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/303?vs=293

 

[swifty_morgan]

...................... YAWN .........................

 

[yummerzzz]

Nice spam right there.

 

[geekapproved]

It's not BF:BC3 it's BF3.

Also if your card can't run FarCry 2 then there must be a problem with your system, FC2 is a walk in the park...

EDIT : Swifty, what are you talking about, a CF HD 5850 annihilate a single HD 6950 2GB card any day, unless there is some sort of CPU bottleneck.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/303?vs=293

Or unless your running very high resolution with multiple monitors.

 

[yummerzzz]

Which OP is not.

 

[kyle382]

It's not BF:BC3 it's BF3.

Also if your card can't run FarCry 2 then there must be a problem with your system, FC2 is a walk in the park...

EDIT : Swifty, what are you talking about, a CF HD 5850 annihilate a single HD 6950 2GB card any day, unless there is some sort of CPU bottleneck.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/303?vs=293

well to be fair it is pretty much bfbc3...no commanders, many of the same weapons as bc2 and i hear the frostbite engine has not changed much. Whatever I admit I will be buying it regardless.


and to the guy who said you can trust paypal : No thats simply not true. I have been sent broken equipment before, issued complaints and had paypal tell me it was "as described" even when items are broken, and used where listed as brand new in box.

So dont count on buying a used card on ebay. Its probably been overclocked to *** or its already fried lol.

 

[yummerzzz]

well to be fair it is pretty much bfbc3...no commanders, many of the same weapons as bc2 and i hear the frostbite engine has not changed much. Whatever I admit I will be buying it regardless.


and to the guy who said you can trust paypal : No thats simply not true. I have been sent broken equipment before, issued complaints and had paypal tell me it was "as described" even when items are broken, and used where listed as brand new in box.

So dont count on buying a used card on ebay. Its probably been overclocked to *** or its already fried lol.

No, it is not.

It is Battlefield 3. Not Battlefield : Bad Company 3.

 

[FlintIronStagg]

BF3 will run on farts in a can, im sure your 5850 will crush it!..... oh wait, yeah, probably not; the 2nd 5850 would be a nice upgrade

 

[dlong]

I have the same dilemma. I got a single 5850, and im looking for a 2nd one to crossfire. but would the performance increase be worth it, if i got a new 5850 for 200 dollars? (from compuvest.com is this a legit website??)



also according to

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/303?vs=293

the CF 5850s do much better than the single 6950, which is a tier better (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/303?vs=293)

 

[dlong]

yea but hd 6870 will do me no good as i cannot CF it will my 5850. and those 2 cards are similar in performance

 

[kyle382]

To me, the answer is simple. Dont use multiple cards. If there are already a few single card solutions on the market that are affordable and can max out graphics settings...why sli. In 3 months you will be kicking youself in the ass because you spent $200 on another outdated card totaling some $500+ of graphics power that will tax your system in SLI and be damn near obsolete in a year. Obsolete as in, 1 $300 card a year from now will probably stand up to your dual 5850's.

I think the only reason to ever SLI is if you are really obcessed about maxing out ALL settings in a particular game and no new graphic tech is on the horizon. As you may well know...this is not that time. Multiple monitor setups that require high resolutions may also require it, but who the hell does that anyway. 1" black bar in between my two screens? No thanks...hey nvidia and ati, 1979 called and asked for its bad ideas back.

no offense, but i did rofl a bit that you think you need to upgrade at all. I'm running a 9800GTX and definitely need upgrade. I recall the 5850 being top of the line less than a year ago however.