Is $50 a good deal for GTX 285?

[carbonfountain]

Please see title:

I have an e8400 machine with an HD 4850. Originally, I was going to scrap it and buy a new machine in Christmas, but had to cancel my plans due to insufficient funding.

Anyway, with Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3 in the horizon, I wanted to make a minor upgrade to the computer to play the new games. While I have no doubt that an HD 4850 will probably suffice for either game, I thought upgrading to a GTX 285 may provide higher framerates or higher picture quality.

Is it a good deal to spend $50 for this type of upgrade? Or should I just keep my machine and upgrade during the Summer or Fall, when Ivy Bridge and Kepler is out?

Thanks!

 

[geofelt]

That is a great price for a GTX285 and a good upgrade over a 4850; assuming it works properly.
Your old 4850 may fetch near that on e-bay.

Most likely it is the graphics card that is your current limiter.

Anything you can buy, you can also sell.
Plan on keeping the GTX285 and see how it does whever you change the cpu.

 

[vrumor]

Or you could spend another $50 and get a 6770 and itll outperform that 285 by a good distance and run much cooler and with less power consumption.

 

[whooleo]

A Radeon 6770 doesn't even out perform my GeForce GTX 260+ overclocked so I don't see how it would outperform a GTX 285.

 

[DelroyMonjo]

I went to the ends of the earth to find this: Compare. "the GTX 285 is the fastest single-GPU video card on the planet" in January, 2009
http://techreport.com/articles.x/16229/12

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Some benchmarks
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/317?vs=296

 

[DelroyMonjo]

ghnader et al, thanx for that anandtech link. I've never seen that before.

 

[carbonfountain]

Thanks for the information. I'm surprised that a GTX 285 comes just under 4850s in crossfire in that one crysis warhead benchmark; I had no idea it was that powerful

 

[jjb8675309]

heck yeah that's a good deal as long as everything is in working order to my knowledge the 285 is roughly on par with a 4890/6850 minus the dx11 capabilities of the latter two, but def a decent chip for the price, on ebay the 4870s are going for 70 to over a hundred

 

[jjb8675309]

take a look at this chart a 285 is on par with a 6850, which is two tiers higher than your current 4850 so like already said it should prove to be a good upgrade for the money if its in good condition

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

 

[DelroyMonjo]

Tom's video card review doesn't state how the cards are tested, compared or otherwise ranked as they are. I've always wondered about that. How do you actually compare a 3 or 4 year old video card with the 'latest and greatest' unless you put them on the same test bed and run the same tests? Same for any hardware reviewers.

 

[Rockdpm]

Well you may come out better in the long run for Ivy and kepler seeing how your current may handle these current games of interest, idk may be worth a wait. but a GTX 285 for 50$ is a nice deal as well. and a quick upgrade. but keep in mind. making quick upgrades eventually will reach a end and by the time you have spent all that for a quick upgrade you could have waited a little longer to get more. and if this summer you still can't build a new, that GTX 285 will turn into a GTX 560 ti for 100 or 50$. even tho i know it won't be that cheap that quick on ebay. but options for old parts are always open

 

[Boopoo]

heck yeah that's a good deal as long as everything is in working order to my knowledge the 285 is roughly on par with a 4890/6850 minus the dx11 capabilities of the latter two, but def a decent chip for the price, on ebay the 4870s are going for 70 to over a hundred

GTX 275 was on par with the 4890 the 285 was a bit faster +- and all three were DX10 card the 6850 is a bit better than all cards and thats in DX 11.

 

[vrumor]

Well I guess if you aspire to own 4 year old tech, it is an awesome card.

 

[killzone2367]

That's an amazing price for a GTX 285, go with it. Keep the HD 4850 in case it doesn't work out, never heard of a GTX 285 going that cheap.

 

[jjb8675309]

^yeah agreed totally makes for a cool semi vintage rig with the gtx 285 and an e8400

 

[carbonfountain]

Best answer selected by carbonfountain.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar