Looking to upgrade my XFX HD Radeon 5850

[jpum69]

Hello,

As the title says I'm looking to upgrade my video card (my specs below).

I want to stay with the same brand card and I want to spend at most $275. I'm not able to play BF3 for example on Ultra, and I want to be able to do so.

As a side questions...I have room for 2 cards. Can I leave my 5850 in and slide in the new one next to it? Or does crossfire mean the same 2 cards?

Windows 7 64bit Home Premium Edition
ASUS p7p55d-e pro motherboard
Intel i5-760 2.8Ghz CPU
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ heatsink
OCZ Modstream Pro 700W PSU
XFX HD-Radeon 5850 1GB GPU
4GB Mushkin DDR3 1333mz RAM (8-8-8-24)
1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm HDD
25” Hanns G monitor at 1920x1080 rez

Thank you for your input.

 

[rolli59]

For your budget the only upgrade that makes sense is another HD5850 and CF! HD6950 is not enough performance increase and HD6970 or HD7950 are both too expensive.

 

[LtnCharles]

Hi, well, I have found 2 options for you here

First, the Sapphire HD 6950 Dirt3 Edition:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945

Hopefully, the BIOS switch should be there, which means you can unlock the extra shaders (google it), heard that the Sapphires still do have dual bios switch. By doing this it makes it basically a underclocked 6970, which you can then overclock with various programs. (I CANNOT GUARANTEE THE UNLOCK!)

Another choice, but coming from the green team is the GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores, this is basically a GTX 570, but underclocked, and it lands somewhere inbetween the GTX 560 Ti and the GTX 570, but it's almost as good as a 6970 nevertheless and it's just in your budget (MIR Rebates):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130738

Myself personally would go for the 6950, and try to get it unlocked.