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Best 5850 Currently Available?

S

SlapShot

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Messages
167
I need to upgrade my old graphic setup of Radeon 3870x2 to play some current games with all of the bells and whistles. I am using a 27 inch Samsung monitor at 1920x1080. My budget is $350.00.

Based on a lot of research here in the forum, and other places, it seems like a 5850 that would overclock well would be my best bet. I don't want excess noise or heat, so that would seem to rule out nVidia as an option.

Whats the best 5850 card currently available for purchase from any reputable source?
 
Ill 2nd the XFX card.

Just a thought but you can get a 5870 for $375 or so which is only $25 more than your budget. That would be an awesome card for 1920x1080 if you could stretch the budget.
 
Either the XFX card for the double lifetime warranty or the Asus DirectCU card for the long warranty (3 years, I think) and really good cooler.
 
Gym Rat said:
Ill 2nd the XFX card.

Just a thought but you can get a 5870 for $375 or so which is only $25 more than your budget. That would be an awesome card for 1920x1080 if you could stretch the budget.
Click to expand...


I agree that the 5870 would be the best option if it was within my budget. However, I just checked Newegg to verify what I had seen earlier. 5870's started at $399.95 and went up to $519.00.

The 5850's were $289.00-$339.00. Thats a hundred dollar difference.
 
Should look around on the forums for a 5870, if you aren't opposed to buying used.
 
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that 460 deal is hot at that price, but keep in mind that amazon has played games on video cards (5850s took some people 6+ months right after release). If you can handle 4 weeks plus what could easily be more, go for that one.
 
SlapShot said:
Used would be great. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll start looking.
Click to expand...

I would pick up a used XFX Reference card as they allow voltage control for higher overclocks (you can tell if they are reference if you see the AMD logo right over the PCI-E connector).
 
I have the Asus DirectCU 5850 and I think it's great, you get voltage control and a near silent cooling solution - my rig is pretty quiet, and I really notice fan noise. I can't hear this card until the fan is over 60%, which it never reaches as the card runs pretty damn cool - recommended!
 
Camberwell said:
I have the Asus DirectCU 5850 and I think it's great, you get voltage control and a near silent cooling solution - my rig is pretty quiet, and I really notice fan noise. I can't hear this card until the fan is over 60%, which it never reaches as the card runs pretty damn cool - recommended!
Click to expand...

This, I bought mine off ebay for 280$ buyout(it hardly goes up) brand new. No regrets, almost as good as when I bought my 8800gtx for 360 when it was 450+
 
Camberwell said:
I have the Asus DirectCU 5850 and I think it's great, you get voltage control and a near silent cooling solution - my rig is pretty quiet, and I really notice fan noise. I can't hear this card until the fan is over 60%, which it never reaches as the card runs pretty damn cool - recommended!
Click to expand...

+1, very quiet and cool video card, but keep in mind it is more expensive than other 5850's. One thing you should keep in mind is that you have to use the ASUS tool to modify the voltage as this is a non-reference 5850. I have had difficulties getting the tool to retain the overvolt settings, so I keep mine on stock voltages all the time. I still highly recommend the card if you can get it for a decent price.
 
osmt2 said:
+1, very quiet and cool video card, but keep in mind it is more expensive than other 5850's. One thing you should keep in mind is that you have to use the ASUS tool to modify the voltage as this is a non-reference 5850. I have had difficulties getting the tool to retain the overvolt settings, so I keep mine on stock voltages all the time. I still highly recommend the card if you can get it for a decent price.
Click to expand...

I use MSI Afterburner to adjust the voltage - you have to modify the settings folder, but it's very easy to do.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1519831&highlight=afterburner

The only issue is that you get less adjustment range than you do with the Asus tool (ie I can only get up to 1.29v instead of the 1.35v in the Asus tool)......
 
Camberwell said:
The only issue is that you get less adjustment range than you do with the Asus tool (ie I can only get up to 1.29v instead of the 1.35v in the Asus tool)......
Click to expand...

What do you need that much voltage for?? Like with my 5850, I only need 1.225v for 975mhz. You should be able to hit 1GHz at 1.25-1.26v fairly easily.
 
cesium666 said:
What do you need that much voltage for?? Like with my 5850, I only need 1.225v for 975mhz. You should be able to hit 1GHz at 1.25-1.26v fairly easily.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not all cards are created equally, I needed 1.29v to be stable at 900 so I just had a card that was not a good oc'er. I'm getting another one tomorrow though (had to RMA the first one due to a weird vibration from the fan, turns out the bearing was broken), so hopefully I'll get a better oc out of it....
 
Camberwell said:
Unfortunately not all cards are created equally, I needed 1.29v to be stable at 900 so I just had a card that was not a good oc'er. I'm getting another one tomorrow though (had to RMA the first one due to a weird vibration from the fan, turns out the bearing was broken), so hopefully I'll get a better oc out of it....
Click to expand...

Yeah, of course. But whoa, didn't expect that much voltage being needed :eek:
 
Camberwell said:
Unfortunately not all cards are created equally, I needed 1.29v to be stable at 900 so I just had a card that was not a good oc'er. I'm getting another one tomorrow though (had to RMA the first one due to a weird vibration from the fan, turns out the bearing was broken), so hopefully I'll get a better oc out of it....
Click to expand...
At what temperature? The 58xx are highly sensitive to temperatures when overclocking, and cranking the voltage doesn't help that.

To answer the OP, and reference design 5850 is going to be your best bet.
 
Mr. K6 said:
At what temperature? The 58xx are highly sensitive to temperatures when overclocking, and cranking the voltage doesn't help that.
Click to expand...

With the standard fan profile I never went above 63C during BFBC2, and the room is pretty warm right now. Believe me, I was expecting better results after hearing about other people's oc, but that's what I had. Tomorrow I'll seee if the new one is any better ;)
 
XFX reference is ideal.

Look around, you can find one new for under $300.
 
cesium666 said:
Yeah, of course. But whoa, didn't expect that much voltage being needed :eek:
Click to expand...

I was getting my voltage readings from GPUZ, but I've just started using Asus SmartDoctor and it gives me lower readings than GPUZ. Where GPUZ shows 1.2438v, SmartDoctor reads 1.193v.

That would mean that the 1.29v that I thought I was using would be wrong. Is GPUZ that inaccurate?
 
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