alternative to 5850

S

sikanx

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Oct 26, 2009
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whats the best bang for buck card to go for now, for 22'' to 24''monitor,
if i am unable to obtain 5850?(ETA 11/2 on newegg, how fast would i have to buy it before it runs out?)
 
You have about... 2 min from Instock, to OutofStock.

Tops.
(just an observation from last week)
 
Random. Just sign up for their instock alerts. They will email you when it comes in.
 
im not going to have my email open 24/7 goddamit:(

but 4890 is the best alternative? wt about the nvidia cards
 
buy gtx 285 on here. I got one bc i didn't want to wait for 5850 to come in stock
 
Best bang 4 buck card is probably 4890.
5700s are too pricey and perform worse, and GTX 285 is a lot more expensive for less than 5850.
 
Just buy an XFX 4870 and then sell it when 5870s or whatever come in stock, and then sell it.
 
dont' know why everyone still refers to the GTX 285 lol, it's not in the same price range and offers very little gain. over the GTX 275
Either go for a HD4890 or a GTX275 as they are pretty much on par with one another for price, ability to overclock and performance.
GTX260 or HD870 1GB is also fairly on par with one another.
 
OP wanted to know exact 1:1 match, or something close.
Click to expand...
There is no exact match, unless you go second-hand; everything else either costs more (or less) or performs worse (or better). There's no real equivalent. The closest would probably be a second-hand GTX285.
 
I would go with a HD 4870 / HD 4890 to tie you over to the HD 5850. Just because a new video card gets released doesn't mean become instantly obsolete.

When I'm on the PC, I went to Newegg about once every 2 hours for around 8 days before I was able to snag a HD 5850.
 
There is no real alternative to the 5850 and that's exactly why they're hard to find. The 4890 is quite a bit slower, no DX11, no eyeinfinity and consumes more idle power. The 285 comes close to the performance but still falls just shy for more money and fewer feature sets.

This is what happens with no competition, we can be thankful that the price is still reasonable and we only have to deal with finding them
 
RamonGTP said:
This is what happens with no competition, we can be thankful that the price is still reasonable and we only have to deal with finding them
Click to expand...
Yeah, it is surprising the cards perform so well and the prices are not jacked like the GTX 260 and the GTX 280 were at launch.
 
Just do what I did. Have an internet smart phone, like the Palm Pre. Carry it everywhere, top off the battery every chance you get cus it sucks. Then check amazon and newegg like every waking hour. Then click buy the minute you see it in. Then post here so other forum members can have a chance. BTW, I had Neweggs notification system, and I don't think I ever got an email. I think they go out of stock before whatever system or person sends those emaiils out daily. And it took a quite a few hours at night to go out of stock, they came in at like one in the morning on the east coast usa. But once day hit, I think it went out of stock fast. Bought mine at like one thirty am. I was up til like 4 in the morning, checked to muse if it was still in, it was. I woke up and checked it for fun at six am. Gone.

Did I mention just how great the Cherry Red accents look on my XFX 5850? NO? Looks AWESOME :)

lol... worth the wait IMHO to get the XFX brand and 5850
 
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You can get a pre-overclocked 4890 (MSI Has one that runs at 1Ghz @ the Core) and they prove to be as fast or faster than the GTX285, that would be a decent altrernative. As some have already recommended, you can just get a 4870 pretty cheap (XFX has one for $125 on newegg) and sell it when 5850's are more readily available, you can sell it...get two of them and crossfire em for one bad ass rig...actually that would be a decent alternative, crossfired 4870's.....
 
most reviews show the HD4890=GTX275, GTX285 is actually a bit better. There is no natural competitor for the HD5850 as a single card solution. Also crossfire isn't the best value option, compared.

I would say just wait.
 
4890 is your best bet other than a 5850. It powers every game I have a 1920*1200 easily with eyecandy. I have nothing personally against nVidia's GTX series, but many of my friends have had numerous failures from all the cards faster than the 260, without regard for brand or clockspeed.

I honestly would just try to be patient and wait for the 5850. The pro's it offers over a 4890 make it a worthwhile wait in my eyes.
 
rip(off)lies has a 5850?

order it, and ye shall recieve a OOS email soon!

Their OOS system is a little on the lame side.

I believe three time's the charm, and I have tried 4 times, to no avail on ZZF. All ended with a 'canceled' letter, and a very late OOS message.
 
I had a 4870 512MB and 2 4870 1GB and never had an issue. Sold em pretty quick because of driver problems, but that wasn't the cards fault..
 
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