4850x2 vs 5850

S

Shroomalistic

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 15, 2006
Messages
197
I was thinking about upgrading to a 5850 from my 4850x2. Would it be worth it? I know its probly less of a power hog and all and less heat in my system. What other advantages/disadvantages would I have from it?
 
Less Heat, Less Noise, Less watts, less weight, less length, better performance, better cooler..just better...yes you should upgrade after you sell it.
 
The best part of getting a 5850 is not having to worry about new games not having a proper Crossfire profile.
 
My opinion on this is the same as the 4870x2 vs 5870 questions. While I do think the 5xxx series are better, I don't think they're enough to make the "upgrade" if you already own an X2 card unless you're specifically needing some of the features, such as eyefinity or DX11. Performance would be close enough in most cases to make it a non-issue and the power savings alone IMO are not enough. The cost of the card is going to cost you more than the power savings would save you over the life of the card.
 
well it kinda sucks for me, I should have the money for a 5850 tomorrow and the sapphires at newegg sold out like 30 minutes ago. they were only instock for about 2 hours. hopefully the xfx will be instock again soon.
 
If the 4850 cards are 512MB, you will definitely be limited unless you run at low res ie 1680x1050 or dont use AA.
Even then games like GTA IV will have to be run with low quality settings.
I'm sure you know this if you have 512MB cards, thought I'd add it to this comparison.
 
Yeah the power savings of the 5850 vs a 4850x2 will pay for itself in just a few months! So that's almost a nobrainer. :)
 
mine is the 4850x2 2gb model so it was 1gb per core. I found an HIS 5850 at zipzoomfly, right after paying for it, newegg got the sapphires back in stock.
 
Since the 4850 X2 and/or 4850 CF are shamefully neglected from benchmark suites in product reviews, I came up with a rule of thumb based on the results of the few 4850 X2 reviews that were published: look for the 4870 X2 or 4870 CF score and take off about 10% from its results. Going through the benchmark scores and doing the math, the 4850 X2 will usually outperform the 5850.

So if you decide to upgrade, you won't really gain anything beyond lower power consumption and DX11 support. Important advantages to be sure, but are they $300 important? I don't think they are. Stick with the 4850 X2 and wait for the 6850 next autumn.
 
From what little I have read about 4850 CF or X2 it's that they don't perform like you might expect. I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice by knocking off 10% from a 4870 X2 score because I think the difference would be greater than that.
 
RamonGTP said:
From what little I have read about 4850 CF or X2 it's that they don't perform like you might expect. I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice by knocking off 10% from a 4870 X2 score because I think the difference would be greater than that.
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It's the other way around. Generally, the 4850 in CF or X2 actually keeps up very well with the 4870 in CF or X2. The difference between the two gets more pronounced at the very high end, such as Crysis in VHQ and Fallout 3 maxed. Even then, the 4850 X2 does pretty well for itself. The only real problem with the 4850 X2 is lower minimum FPS than the pricier solutions, but that's not exactly unreasonable or unexpected.

Sorry, but I think my 10% rule of thumb is a good one given the benchmarks, and I don't see the performance benefit in going from a 4850 X2 to a 5850. 5850 CF is a different story.
 
Here is another vote for keeping what you have, wait until the next gen comes out.

Whoever said that the power savings will make it pay for itself is either living in an area that has the highest energy costs that I have ever seen or doesn't know what he is talking about.

Also, what res do you game at?
 
I'm wondering about this myself, I have the 2Gb with a couple of Zalman ZF900s on it. If it sells for a decent price the cost of a 5850 is negligible and it will probably hold it's price point longer than the 4850x2. Plus less power etc. as mentioned above (the cooling with the Zalmans is adequate for gaming and noise is vastly reduced from the stock cooler.)

Overall I've been impressed by performance. No benchies, I just play and enjoy. :)
 
eggrock said:
I'm wondering about this myself, I have the 2Gb with a couple of Zalman ZF900s on it. If it sells for a decent price the cost of a 5850 is negligible and it will probably hold it's price point longer than the 4850x2. Plus less power etc. as mentioned above (the cooling with the Zalmans is adequate for gaming and noise is vastly reduced from the stock cooler.)

Overall I've been impressed by performance. No benchies, I just play and enjoy. :)
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If you enjoy a quality gaming experience, single GPU is always the way to go.
 
5850 all the way! any day!! don't even think about it 4850x2 drivers are total BS. and alot more issues, i'm lazy to point them atm ;)
 
Mr. K6 said:
If you enjoy a quality gaming experience, single GPU is always the way to go.
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Yeah, it's less of a hassle, generally speaking, although I've had no issues with the Sapphire drivers (or the somewhat delayed AMD drivers.)
 
Mr. K6 said:
If you enjoy a quality gaming experience, single GPU is always the way to go.
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A little too all-encompassing a statement, don't you think? Most people who go with multi-GPU setups are happy with them. But that said, yeah, microstuttering will probably always be an issue.

psyside said:
5850 all the way! any day!! don't even think about it 4850x2 drivers are total BS. and alot more issues, i'm lazy to point them atm ;)
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What issues? Are we going to rehash the FUD from the 4850 X2 thread all over again?
 
I just sold my diamond 4870x2 and ordered a 5870 was it worth it probably not considering the 4870x2 is super fast , but in the long run it will be becuase when game demands get tougher Ill have one strong core vs two weak cores on the x2 if one 4870 starts getting bogged down the other core will slow down also giving you less smooth feeling and more like your running a older single card . vs the newer 5870 that has a signal core doing all the work with double the horse power
 
I have used 2 HD4850s in Xfire which isn't exactly the same but did accomplish almost the same result as a single HD4850.

I'm now running a single HD5850 and the HD5850 is much more powerful. Benefits from Super Sampling, Direct X11. Way more faster. HD5850 is a good upgrade IMO.
 
Terpfen said:
A little too all-encompassing a statement, don't you think? Most people who go with multi-GPU setups are happy with them. But that said, yeah, microstuttering will probably always be an issue.
What issues? Are we going to rehash the FUD from the 4850 X2 thread all over again?
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How so? I'm not negating multi-GPU set-ups - after all, it's the only way to go once a single GPU, even heavily overclocked, can no longer do what you need it to. However, if you can get the performance you need/want out of a single GPU, do it. I was very satisfied with my GTX295; however, I enjoy my 5870 even more and have absolutely no regrets.
 
Mr. K6 said:
How so? I'm not negating multi-GPU set-ups - after all, it's the only way to go once a single GPU, even heavily overclocked, can no longer do what you need it to. However, if you can get the performance you need/want out of a single GPU, do it. I was very satisfied with my GTX295; however, I enjoy my 5870 even more and have absolutely no regrets.
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I don't think we're in disagreement on anything. Single GPU setups are generally superior to multi GPU setups, in my view primarily because of microstuttering on multi GPU setups.

I'm just saying that a single 5850 is not a superior performer to the 4850 X2/CF, at least not on paper. I view going from a 4850 X2/CF setup to a single 5850 as a sidegrade at best. And for $300, who wants to sidegrade?
 
i liked my 4850x2's. they were perfectly capable of keeping up with the gtx280's and 4890's most of the time, but a 4850x2 is no 5850. they're not worlds apart but hardly a sidegrade.
 
micro stuttering wasn't apparent in the ati after ATI HD3870 X2 or ATI HD4870 X2 - more or less the problems is when one gpu get overwhelmed with the setting or resolution and slows so does the other gpu
 
vjcsmoke said:
Yeah the power savings of the 5850 vs a 4850x2 will pay for itself in just a few months! So that's almost a nobrainer. :)
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I think my sarcasm detector is not working today o_o. Or that you pay too much for electricity.
 
rennyf77 said:
i liked my 4850x2's. they were perfectly capable of keeping up with the gtx280's and 4890's most of the time, but a 4850x2 is no 5850. they're not worlds apart but hardly a sidegrade.
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I'll believe the 5850 is an upgrade to the 4850 X2 when I see benchmarks to that effect. Otherwise, I'm sticking with my 10% rule of thumb, which places the 4850 X2 slightly ahead of the 5850 in most benchmarks.
 
i look at the 4850x2 in nearly the same light as i did with the 9800gx2. the numbers look great but i'd rather have a gtx280 so i could actually play my games. the numbers for the 4850x2 are probably great, but i'd rather game on my 5850.
 
Terpfen said:
I'll believe the 5850 is an upgrade to the 4850 X2 when I see benchmarks to that effect. Otherwise, I'm sticking with my 10% rule of thumb, which places the 4850 X2 slightly ahead of the 5850 in most benchmarks.
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Sounds like stubbornness talking at this point. We've got at least two people in this thread who went from a 4850CF setup to a 5850 both saying the 5850 is significantly superior. These are real people who ran the actual cards playing REAL games.

You can stick with "your" 10% rule, but with the first hand experience presented in this thread already, it seems pretty baseless.
 
Even if the HD4850x2 results 10% increase in benchmarks than the HD5850 from X source I think the HD5850 will be able to beat the HD4850x2 in benchmarks. If not now soon with improved drivers, cooling and overclocking skills.
 
RamonGTP said:
Sounds like stubbornness talking at this point. We've got at least two people in this thread who went from a 4850CF setup to a 5850 both saying the 5850 is significantly superior. These are real people who ran the actual cards playing REAL games.
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We've got two people giving anecdotal evidence without elaboration, specs, games, and numbers to back it up. Meanwhile, I've linked to benchmarks comparing the 4850 X2 and 4870 X2 to demonstrate that in most cases the 4850 X2 keeps up with the 4870 X2 at all but the super high end. And we know from 5850 benchmarks that 5850 will usually be beaten out by the 4850 X2, though in some instances the two tie. Factoring in the 10% difference, the 4850 X2 still outpaces the 5850 in most instances.

When someone puts up benchmarks directly comparing the 4850 X2 to the 5850, then we can put the issue to rest. Until then, we don't have a direct comparison, and we've got to approximate the results.

I've presented the information I've seen and explained how and why I've arrived at my rule of thumb; what have you put forth?

Edit: Just to spell things out a little, let's do as close to a direct comparison as possible using Fallout 3. Here are the 4850 X2 benchmarks, and here are the 5850 benchmarks.

1680x1050, 4xAA, 16xAF, Max Detail
4850 X2: 77.2fps max, 43.0fps min, 60.1fps avg
5850: 70.0fps max, 42.0fps min, 56fps avg

1920x1200, 4xAA, 16xAF, Max Detail
4850 X2: 75.9fps max, 36.0fps min, 55.95fps avg
5850: 69.0fps max, 39.0fps min, 54fps avg

Now, will future driver updates enhance the 5850's performance? Sure. But these 4850 X2 numbers were taken in January, with the Catalyst 8.12 drivers. So in reality, the 4850 X2 likely performs better than these benchmarks indicate, widening the gap further.

So, do you want to tell me where the clear performance upgrade is? I don't see it. I see a sidegrade at best. For $300, it's not worth it.
 
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performance the x2 will probably win till driver improvements come for the 5000 series
but drivers will not improve or add functionality to the 4850 x2 4870 x2 so its a lose win battle reason why
1. DX11 5000 win
2. lower power consumption 5000 win
3. new window gui programing for windows 7 interface 5000 win
4. crossfire 5000 series vs quadfire 4000 series 5000 win
5. 5 - 30 fps gain on DX10 4000 x2 win
6. Better driver compatibility with current software 4000 x2 win
7. Save Money 4000 win
8. (H) Computer Enthusiast 5000 series win
 
Terpfen said:
So, do you want to tell me where the clear performance upgrade is? I don't see it. I see a sidegrade at best. For $300, it's not worth it.
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Of course you don't see it you haven't used both cards. The folks who have tried both configurations HAVE seen it. That's my point. You're also quoting average fps which is close to useless. Minimum FPS in the benchmarks you linked show the 5850 with a CLEAR and significant advantage.

So you can stand by your 10% and I'll stand by my claim that it's the stubbornness talking.
 
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Terpfen said:
When someone puts up benchmarks directly comparing the 4850 X2 to the 5850, then we can put the issue to rest. Until then, we don't have a direct comparison, and we've got to approximate the results.

.
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LOL who cares about benchmarks? gameplay experience on 4850x2 is awful comparing 5850 period.
 
RamonGTP said:
Of course you don't see it you haven't used both cards. The folks who have tried both configurations HAVE seen it. That's my point. You're also quoting average fps which is close to useless. Minimum FPS in the benchmarks you linked show the 5850 with a CLEAR and significant advantage.

So you can stand by your 10% and I'll stand by my claim that it's the stubbornness talking.
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In other words, you've got nothing. Thanks for playing.

psyside said:
LOL who cares about benchmarks? gameplay experience on 4850x2 is awful comparing 5850 period.
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I'm pretty sure that benchmarks are the standard way to go when comparing two different GPUs. Besides, using your statement, I can say that a 9800 Pro has a superior gaming performance to a GTX295. :rolleyes:

Let's try to stay within the realm of objective information here.
 
Terpfen said:
In other words, you've got nothing. Thanks for playing.

I'm pretty sure that benchmarks are the standard way to go when comparing two different GPUs. Besides, using your statement, I can say that a 9800 Pro has a superior gaming performance to a GTX295. :rolleyes:

Let's try to stay within the realm of objective information here.
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I don't think that's what he's saying. The flaw with benchmarks is they only show how well cards perform in benchmarks. People generalize that this is also a valid comparison for how the cards will perform in games, but that simply isn't the case. This is why in-game testing like [H] does is so much more valuable than just running canned benchmark after canned benchmark. Specifically with dual GPU solutions, canned benchmarks show them in a better light than they really should be.
 
Terpfen said:
I'm pretty sure that benchmarks are the standard way to go when comparing two different GPUs. Besides, using your statement, I can say that a 9800 Pro has a superior gaming performance to a GTX295. :rolleyes:

Let's try to stay within the realm of objective information here.
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You also need to stay within the realms of objectivity.
Smooth gameplay is one of the holy grails of gaming and it is achievable.
Some people are fine with dual card setups that have a slight stutter.
Others notice the stutter and really do not like it.

You want to base performance on benchmarked fps figures which is not the whole picture as has already been pointed out more than once.
That is why gameplay figures in the better reviews.

If you are happy with a x2 setup, more power to you, but it is not the answer that many are looking for and you need to accept that.
 
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