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Weekend Open Forum: Time for a graphics card upgrade?
On the budget and mid-range levels things were dictated a bit earlier. ATI bombarded the market with new releases in the sub-$200 segment that not always lived up to expectations. Nvidia had nothing new to show here and instead relied on product refreshes and a price cutting strategy that nonetheless has served the gamer on a budget really well so far. On a recent tech tip we summarized what's hot in the market of budget graphics cards.
The upper mainstream and high-end segments could be considered complete with the new GeForce GTX 480 and 470. Unfortunately these cards have not challenged any positions held by competing Radeon HD 5000 products and instead have slotted in-between ATI products both in terms of performance and price. ATI still has the availability upper hand and from what we recently saw while testing a Fermi board, the Radeons are also more efficient.
With all this in mind - not to mention that Crysis 2 is on its way - are you considering a graphics card upgrade in the near future? Or perhaps you didn't wait around for Nvidia and have already grabbed an existing Radeon offering? Tell us about your GPU pick, and what graphics card you are upgrading from. Moreover, was there a gaming title in particular that inspired the upgrade? Discuss.
User Comments: 67
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Silence is golden! I have a modest 5750 card, but very pleased.
The new Nvidia is a heat hog and makes much noise too.
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spikester48661 said:
my 9400GTs 1GB is working well.And plays games well so a upgraded is a big NO.
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Current plan is to do my next upgrade (currently using GTX 285) next spring with my tax return. That may change though if Crysis 2 is DX11. If I had to buy today, I'd go ATI. I am wholly unimpressed with nVidia's latest releases - really have no desire to heat my house with a 480.
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I have a 8800gt. When MW2 came out, the 8800gt was struggling. My solution was simply to buy another and SLI them. Bought the second card on ebay for almost nothing and now I am running MW2 and BC2 at 75fps. What more can I ask for.
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Go for it (XFX HD 5850 Black Edition), don't think about it. I have it and it almost has the same performance as a regular 5870 in a small package. I have a SilverStone Small Form Factor Case (SFF SG03 for LAN parties) and couldn't fit a regular 5870. I decided to go for a the XFX 5850 BE and it fitted perfectly in the small case. It comes with double lifetime limited warranty and OC from factory. You can push it a little more but for me is fine like it is.
I prefer the ATI 5000 series because they run cooler, suck less electricity and perform great for the high end games that are actually played in the market. Also they are future prof with DirectX 11.
GO GREEN.
Cheers
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Just brought 2 5850's XXX editions.
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Guest said:
I have a 8800gt. When MW2 came out, the 8800gt was struggling. My solution was simply to buy another and SLI them. Bought the second card on ebay for almost nothing and now I am running MW2 and BC2 at 75fps. What more can I ask for.
im sorry lol u really think i believe u play BC2 at 75fps with 2 8800gt lol dont make me laugh what at 1024 x 768 res ? maybe mw2 i see that but not BC2
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Just brought 2 5850's XXX editions.
whats a XXX edition?
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whats a XXX edition?
XFX HD 5850 XXX Edition. Like the XFX 5850 Black Edition but OC to 755mhz instead of 765mhz. Excellent choice.
Cheers
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whats a XXX edition?
XFX HD 5850 XXX Edition. Like the XFX 5850 Black Edition but OC to 755mhz instead of 765mhz. Excellent choice.
Cheers
aha, very good thanks. and do you get a lifetime warranty on those as well?
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im sorry lol u really think i believe u play BC2 at 75fps with 2 8800gt lol dont make me laugh what at 1024 x 768 res ? maybe mw2 i see that but not BC2
Probably safe to assume that the poster is using DX10 or 9 codepath. DX9 if using XP-in which case 75 fps is good for 1680x1050 or 1920x1080.
SLI is also likely to give pretty good minimum frame rates.
Would you like a picture to go with that side order of ignorance?
[link]
DX9, Very High Quality, 1920 x 1080
BTW: Lower IQ settings, DX10 and 1680x1050 will give only a minor decrease in framerates.
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dividebyzero said:im sorry lol u really think i believe u play BC2 at 75fps with 2 8800gt lol dont make me laugh what at 1024 x 768 res ? maybe mw2 i see that but not BC2
Probably safe to assume that the poster is using DX10 or 9 codepath. DX9 if using XP-in which case 75 fps is good for 1680x1050 or 1920x1080.
SLI is also likely to give pretty good minimum frame rates.
Would you like a picture to go with that side order of ignorance?
[link]
DX9, Very High Quality, 1920 x 1080
BTW: Lower IQ settings, DX10 and 1680x1050 will give only a minor decrease in framerates.
lol who would play it in dx9? also i wasnt talking to u 2 8800 gt at that res will more than likely be playable but 75fps i dont think so.
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aha, very good thanks. and do you get a lifetime warranty on those as well?
Yep, Double Lifetime Warranty. You can resell it to someone else in the future and pass the warranty over to that person.
Cheers.
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But, I forgot to mention. YOU NEED TO REGISTER YOUR XFX 5850 (XXX or BE) FAST (you have 30 days from the day you bought the GPU) OR YOU WILL LOOSE THE WARRANTY.
So if you bought it you need to register the card the GPU has reach you and you have the Serial #.
Cheers
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No need for myself at the moment. An SSD would make a much bigger difference for performance for my needs. However if i was going to pick one (point of this post) i would almost certainly go with an ATI card. Probably the 5850, but possibly the 5770. I saw one 5750 that got by without a fan that was very attractive as well. Noise level is a major concern of mine while building a system - so massive heat output on the latest Nvidia cards is a big issue.
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LNCPapa said:
My next upgrade with coincide with the release of Final Fantasy XIV - if that's before any new offerings then it will be a Radeon 5970 (not sure which edition/brand) to replace my still going strong 9800 GX2.
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Arris said:
Guest said:Go for it (XFX HD 5850 Black Edition), don't think about it. I have it and it almost has the same performance as a regular 5870 in a small package. I have a SilverStone Small Form Factor Case (SFF SG03 for LAN parties) and couldn't fit a regular 5870. I decided to go for a the XFX 5850 BE and it fitted perfectly in the small case. It comes with double lifetime limited warranty and OC from factory. You can push it a little more but for me is fine like it is.
Cheers
I just replaced my 8800 GTX 768mb in a Shuttle Sp35P2 Pro with the XFX 5850 Black Edition. Would have had to modify the cover of the 5870 to fit it in. And the Nvidia 470 and 480s might have been too much for the Shuttles 400w PSU, not to mention the heat from the mostly heatpipe based Oasis cooling system of the Shuttle. Very please so far, Bad Company 2 lacked smoothness on lower resolution on the 8800 GTX (which was fine for MW2). Now with the 5850 at 850/1200 it runs at >50fps most of the time. Multiplayer feels like a completely different game
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