Top end GTX 460 or low end HD 5850?

O

Omnislip

Posts: 91   +0
Which would you go for? I understand that the overclocked 460 can beat the 5850, but presumably an overclocked 5850 would beat a GTX 460, right?

I was looking at the Palit Sonic Platinum, but is there any difference in design between that and the plain Sonic?

Also, how are you meant to tell the quality of manufacturers cards without reviews? Is it even possible?

So, I was taking a look at these, and would appreciate any thoughts from people with experience (i.e. which one would you go for, which one might you avoid for whatever reason, or anything else you might like to add) The system is going to be based on an i5 760 in an Antec 902 case with aftermarket coolers on both CPU and GPU.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-004-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-001-PL
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-002-PL&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1830

Sorry that this post sounds a bit disjointed, but I'm really grateful for the help.
Jonny.
 
I'd think the 5850 would still be quieter, cooler and less power consuming.
Other than that if the performance is on par then go for the best price. The Fermi generation of cards from Nvidia have great power for the tessellation available through DirectX 11, but I think it will be a while before we see mainstream games using that.
 
Which would you go for? I understand that the overclocked 460 can beat the 5850, but presumably an overclocked 5850 would beat a GTX 460, right?
Click to expand...
I would go for the one that offers the best price. Also, don't forget you also get the benefits of nVidia CUDA and GPU PhysX is you choose team green.
I was looking at the Palit Sonic Platinum, but is there any difference in design between that and the plain Sonic?
Click to expand...
There is no design difference, the Platinum version just has higher clocks than the usual Sonic version.
Also, how are you meant to tell the quality of manufacturers cards without reviews? Is it even possible?
Click to expand...
Generally speaking, there's not much to talk about their quality, but more about their bundles: some offer a free full game and many connectivity options, while others don't offer a free game and less options.
Hardware-wise, there is little difference, even if the cooler is custom, since the GPU itself is the same on every card.

However, if you are unsure of a specific graphics card, just look for a similar one with a review.

Regarding those GPUs, they're all good choices.
Personally, I'd get this one: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-092-MS

It's cheaper than other custom GTX 460's and the fan does it's job well. You also get overvoltage support through their MSI Afterbuner app.

And here's a review done by Guru3D: http://guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-460-cyclone-oc-1024-review/

Also, TS has done a review of the Palit GTX 460 Sonic Platinum here.

Arris said:
I'd think the 5850 would still be quieter, cooler and less power consuming.
Click to expand...
Actually, the GTX 460 is the one that's quieter, cooler and less power consuming than the 5850.
 
Hi Omnislip. What motherboard do you have? Just in case you feel that you could switch to a multi-GPU setup on your present PC in the near future then your mobo would determine the choice of GPU. If it supports SLI, then GTX 460 would be the ideal choice. If it's CrossFire, the HD 5850 is the way forward.

In case it supports both, get the card that belts out the best performance on stock settings.
 
the 5850 is faster out of the box, but for around $230-250 and the overclocking headroom it's tough to not pick up a GTX 460. if the retail price on the 5850 dropped some, I would say otherwise but imho the 460 is the $250 king atm.
 
sell 5850 for 460

I just bought a 5850 for rs 14500 two months ago and now i feel really stupid, sice the gtx 460 sells for 12000 (1 GB). Should i sell my 5850, if I'm able to sell it for the same price, and get a 460? As i understand, the 460 can be overclocked to almost reach an overclocked 5850's speeds. Plus it's got physx, cuda, 3d vision and all that. So, any thoughts on selling my 5850?
 
Which 5850, which 460, and what's your setup like?

You wont be able to get back the price you paid for it (unless you bought it used) anyway...

It might also be worth considering that ATI (or AMD now...) will be focusing on drivers for their new graphics cards soon, not the last generation.
 
Plus it's got physx, cuda, 3d vision and all that.
Click to expand...
Marketing...that doesn't mean anything.

If you could sell the 5850 for the same price you got it, come back and tell me.
Then, you'd save some money buying the GTX460, obviously. 5850 is still slightly faster, they're both decent cards for their price, but I think the hassle of trying to resell the 5850 might not be worth it.
 
Alset, but an overcloakced 5850 is faster than an overclocked 460.... Well, then again, it's to do with how the game is structured, so it's kinda pot luck form game to game
 
When posts are edited for non spelling resons I worry slightly...

It's true though. And yet people spend hundreds of dollars on a motherboard with *slighly* better overclocking and 1 frame difference on UT3.
 
Plus it's got physx, cuda, 3d vision and all that.
Click to expand...

That is amusing .... on a more serious note, Physx is over hyped for now, 3D vision doesn't matter unless you've got the equipment which can display it, and about over-clocking you do have a point, but if you've got 5850, ditching it for an GTX460 is pretty stupid thing to do (putting it mildly here). 460 is a great option for someone who is upgrading from lower spectrum of performance curve, not the other way round.
 
HD 5850 or GTX 460, as mentioned, are basically the same performance level give or take a few frames per second. I'm at a loss why someone would change a like-for-like card for what amounts to less than a 20% monetary saving-possibly much less if you have to take into account online auction commission/advertising etc.
This would only make sense if you suspect that AMD is going to imminently drop prices on HD 5xxx cards to clear stock in advance of HD 6xxx models...I would think this unlikely at the present time. If you're unhappy with the HD 5850's performance then that is another matter, but that is not going to be rectified by transitioning to a card in the same performance envelope.
 
imo keep the 5850 as an overclocked 5850 can nearly catch the 5870 there isnt one gtx 460 that can do that no matter the overclock.
 
Let's pick a game a game that isn't optimised for nvidia cards and see where the 460 stands mw2 is not a good example
 
look at every other benchmark on that site 1 game that is optimised for nvidia cards doesn't make the gtx 460 an awesome card compared to the 5850 or 5870
 
Except thats the only supplied benchmark with the OC.
How about Metro 2033? Lets face it, it's ATI games vs nVidia games. But I'd prefer the cooler, more efficient, cheaper card considering their performance is almost exactly the same.
 
klepto12 said:
look at every other benchmark on that site 1 game that is optimised for nvidia cards doesn't make the gtx 460 an awesome card compared to the 5850 or 5870
Click to expand...

The facts:
16 games tested.
At 1680 res: GTX460 : 1307.8 fps aggregate, HD 5870 : 1449.3 fps aggregate
At 1920 res: GTX460 : 1120.4 fps aggregate, HD 5870 : 1254.5 fps aggregate

Advantage to HD 5870: at 1680 : 10.82%, at 1920: 11.97%
Cost premium : Cheapest HD 5870 $355, GTX460 Hawk $250 so......355/250 = HD 4870 is 42% more expensive.

Overclock to overclock ( MSI GTX460 Hawk $250, Gigabyte HD 5870 SOC in this case at 1000MHz core/shader, 1300MHz (5200 effective) vRAM)
GTX 460: 42126 fps......HD 5870: 47463 fps. (+ 12.67%)

And here is what happens when you divide the total fps by the retail cost.

Klepto, I've seen newsreel propaganda footage of Komsomol groups waving the red flag with less vigour than you do.
 
GTX460 is apparently the better deal, but again, you already have the 5850.
Go ahead if you can actually sell it for the price you paid.
No you can't repeat or fix the past; no, not even if you know exactly what you should have done.
 
thanx guys.. my 5850 is a reference edition and i'm able to overclock it to 900\1200 with a minor voltage tweak (1.115v). I'm thinking about selling it for the same price(rs 14500) and getting a I gb zotac 460 for Rs 12000. Will i be stupid if i do this?? the gtx 460 is better when it comes to directx 11 gaming (from what i read in the benchmarks). even though there aren't a lot of dx11 titles out there, more titles are gonna come in the future. And, is it true that amd is phasing out the 5000 series and concentrating on the new 6000s? So is improved tesseslation on the 5000 series not gonna happen?

Also one more thing, my processor is an amd athlon II x2 250. will it bottleneck my 5850 at 1920 * 1080 and below?
 
If you can sell it at the same price that you bought it, it would be the same thing as buying a gtx460 right? Thats not stupid, per se.
No comment on everything else you asked about...
 
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