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Have I bought a Lemon?

S

sheroo

n00b
Joined
Jul 20, 2009
Messages
14
I have just bought a HD5850 XFX Black Edition (comes with the egg cooler). I got a good price for it (£204) and it comes with Assassins Creed.

After doing a lot of reading, it seems that firstly this is a non reference design and secondly that xfx tend to cheap out a bit and remove all of the voltage regulation...

I want to use the card for a 3 monitor set up, browsing, bit of gaming.

Is this card OK or should I send it back and get something else?

What 5850 should I get?
 
How is that a lemon? You might want to look up the definition of a lemon again. A lemon is something that is broken or a defective design from factory. Non-reference cards work just fine. Many AIBs including XFX, Sapphire, etc. share the same design for the non-reference PCBs. The majority of 5850s on the market are all this way. It's not removing all the voltage regulation (in which case the thing would never work in the first place) or cheaping out, it's software voltage adjustment for overclocking. Where do people get such ideas? It's nonsense like spreading a rumor that a certain car manufacturer cheaps out and removes the entire transmission from all their cars.

Those are completely different things. Software voltage control is the ability for overclockers to change the voltage on their own which can be a good or bad thing or damage cards and a liability they perhaps want to avoid. It is not a neccessary nor guaranteed feature at all. If that's important to you, then get a reference card or one of the overclocking featured cards.

The whole "cheaper PCB" thing is a silly rumor that has never been substantiated. If you care about voltage control though, then look for a reference card or one of the MSI or ASUS models that allow voltage control and have additional overclocking features. You will pay a premium however and you also won't get a lifetime warranty. It's all individual preference as to what you value more.

I have a reference 5870 with software voltage control and let me tell you, it does squat for me. I can max out the software voltage to the limit with Afterburner and it makes the VRM temps extremely high with almost no overclocking benefit. Results vary between individual cards though as all overclocking does. in the end, for myself, I realized I should have just bought non-reference to save a few bucks.
 
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I've just been beating myself up over the last couple of days wondering if I have made the right decision.

Thanks for clarifying the software voltage regulation for me, I'm not that bothered about overclocking, just want to play some games and get the biggest bang for my buck.

There is just so much damn choice out there, was worried a little bit about the egg cooler as well, whether is would run as quiet and cool as the closed coolers?

Also there are only 2 wires going to the fan on the heatsink, so I assume that there will be no rpm monitoring? Will this effect how quiet the card is when idling?
 
sheroo said:
I have just bought a HD5850 XFX Black Edition (comes with the egg cooler). I got a good price for it (£204) and it comes with Assassins Creed.

After doing a lot of reading, it seems that firstly this is a non reference design and secondly that xfx tend to cheap out a bit and remove all of the voltage regulation...

I want to use the card for a 3 monitor set up, browsing, bit of gaming.

Is this card OK or should I send it back and get something else?

What 5850 should I get?
Click to expand...

Relax , XFX makes good products. Not sure you understand what that term "lemon" means though , if XFX sold 5850's that were true lemons they would get sued into oblivion.

You'll be fine dude don't worry.
 
Yep I think you're right maybe "lemon" is not the right term to use...

What I meant, is have I bought something that isn't very good and would I be better off spending my money elsewhere?

I have just seen a Sapphire 5870 for £269, and am wondering if I would be better off with that?

From what I have read a 5870 will be better for a 3 monitor setup? Is it worth the extra £65? I'll probably have it for 3-4 years, so that's only an extra £15-20 each year of ownership...

I really don't know what to do...
 
Since you are talking prices in £, I guess you are in the UK and therefore you wouldn't get XFX lifetime warranty anyway as I don't believe it's offered outside of North America.

Therefore, the biggest selling feature of that brand is mitigated somewhat and you can probably choose another card without any regrets.

The egg cooler is supposed to be cooler than the reference cooler but it will exhaust some heat back into your case. I don't know about RPM monitoring or fan control on that model.

In the end, the choice is up to you and your own experience and the games and the resolution that you play at. Does your motherboard support SLI? If it does, I would actually recommend returning the 5850 and buying an Nvidia GTX 460. Then in a year or two if you want more performance, buy a second GTX 460 for SLI and you will have the same or better power of a 5870 for much lower cost.

Keep in mind, new AMD cards are all coming out at the end of October also which will give you more choice in cards and may stimulate a drop in prices in older cards as well so if you return your 5850 now you might be able to get it at a cheaper price in a few weeks time.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Keep in mind, new AMD cards are all coming out at the end of October also which will give you more choice in cards and may stimulate a drop in prices in older cards as well so if you return your 5850 now you might be able to get it at a cheaper price in a few weeks time.
Click to expand...

While I normally don't advocate the wait and see approach, since we're only two weeks out or so, I'd go with that. See what the new cards can do, how much power they use, what their performance is, and, most importantly, how they change prices.

If you absolutely need the card now and can't wait, stick with the 5850. The 5870 won't provide a head and shoulders better Eyefinity experience despite costing 30% more. But you'd really be better off seeing what the eyefinitiy performance of the refresh parts will be (or the subsequent price drops on he 5800 family).
 
I didn't realise that there were new cards due out at the end of the month...

I am going to return the card, and wait for a couple of weeks and see what happens with prices etc.

I have just found this PowerColor card , the reviews say that cooler makes it very quiet...
 
sheroo said:
I didn't realise that there were new cards due out at the end of the month...

I am going to return the card, and wait for a couple of weeks and see what happens with prices etc.

I have just found this PowerColor card , the reviews say that cooler makes it very quiet...
Click to expand...

That's also a non-reference card without voltage control.

It's not really any different from the other non-reference 5870s with the fan in the middle. It's basically the same cooling as all the other models like XFX, HIS, Sapphire, etc.

This is what the reference model looks like but I don't trust the picture to be what you get as the reference models haven't been manufactured for several months
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/239225

I would choose the card based on which has the best warranty for in the UK/Europe.
 
That XFX model is "HD587X-ZNFC" apparently if it was HD587A - the A means that it is a reference model.

So do you think there is going to be a big leap in performance with the 6000 series?
 
sheroo said:
That XFX model is "HD587X-ZNFC" apparently if it was HD587A - the A means that it is a reference model.

So do you think there is going to be a big leap in performance with the 6000 series?
Click to expand...

Some have mentioned that the replacement for the 5770 (could be named 6770 or 6870, who knows?) can perform in between a 5850 and a 5870. Now keep in mind these are all rumors and no real reviews have been done on these up and coming cards. If these rumors are to be true, imagine what the replacements for the 5850 or 5870 can do (could be named 6850/6870 or 6950/6970). Also keep in mind prices on these bad boys haven't been released either. So yes, these cards may very well live up to their rumors, but may be priced to match its performance also.
 
The new 6xxx series should be a bit pricier. Unless someone can recall the last time a new series was released cheaper than the ones they were replacing.
 
kinein said:
The new 6xxx series should be a bit pricier. Unless someone can recall the last time a new series was released cheaper than the ones they were replacing.
Click to expand...

Which is why I mentioned the price would most likely match the performance increase as well.
 
kinein said:
The new 6xxx series should be a bit pricier. Unless someone can recall the last time a new series was released cheaper than the ones they were replacing.
Click to expand...

Well, if we have next gen's mid range parts performing like the 5850, then that mid-range part should be cheaper than the 5850. Assuming AMD keeps the pricing the same and doesn't price its mid range stuff at $300.

Or maybe we just get a price drop on the 5850 and the OP saves some money. Or maybe we're all wrong and prices jump $100 in the coming weeks and the OP can come back here and curse our names.

We'll know in a few weeks.
 
sheroo said:
I have just bought a HD5850 XFX Black Edition (comes with the egg cooler). I got a good price for it (£204) and it comes with Assassins Creed.

After doing a lot of reading, it seems that firstly this is a non reference design and secondly that xfx tend to cheap out a bit and remove all of the voltage regulation...

I want to use the card for a 3 monitor set up, browsing, bit of gaming.

Is this card OK or should I send it back and get something else?

What 5850 should I get?
Click to expand...

None of em. Get the 6870 or 6770 when it releases in a couple of weeks. :)
 
Will these 6000 series cards still require an active display port dongle (when using 3 DVI monitors) for eyefinity? I was going to buy one of the new single link ones from Sapphire...
 
sheroo said:
Will these 6000 series cards still require an active display port dongle (when using 3 DVI monitors) for eyefinity? I was going to buy one of the new single link ones from Sapphire...
Click to expand...

Don't believe anyone knows for sure yet. Its gonna take someone who buys it , posts about it to probably find out.
 
Just to let you know, I have RMA'd the card this morning.

The budget I have for the new card is £300 for everything (including DP adapter £20).

This needs to support a 3 DVI monitor eyefinity setup.

So here's hoping that there will be some good deals in the weeks ahead...
 
Well, if you get a lemon, make lemonade. Ie. press your card into a pulp of tiny bits of metal, make a video of it and post it on the internet. Profit.
 
sheroo said:
Just to let you know, I have RMA'd the card this morning.

The budget I have for the new card is £300 for everything (including DP adapter £20).

This needs to support a 3 DVI monitor eyefinity setup.

So here's hoping that there will be some good deals in the weeks ahead...
Click to expand...

You RMA'd the card? It was broken???
 
I think he means he returned it. I think thats why too much hassle for such a small issue. Especially if you bought it online.
 
sheroo said:
Never plugged the card into the pc, had to pay return postage, serves me right for being too click happy, and buying stuff on-line way too late at night...
Click to expand...

RMA means "return materials authorization" which means that you sent the card to the manufacturer for replacement, repair, or service for a damaged or defective product under warranty. It doesn't mean returning new merchandise to the store. You need to brush up on your consumer terms (after Lemon) :)
 
Spare-Flair said:
RMA means "return materials authorization" which means that you sent the card to the manufacturer for replacement, repair, or service for a damaged or defective product under warranty.
Click to expand...

Returns to Ebuyer - you have to send them an RMA request to return any incorrectly supplied/faulty or damaged items.

I maintain that the item was incorrectly supplied, as the picture of the card on their site differed from that supplied...
 
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