Upgrade HD5850?

Joined
Dec 13, 2005
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What is a step up in performance ?

I game @ 5760*1080. I would like to be able to crank up the eye-candy a little bit in games. With most new games, I usually have to play medium settings, or high (but without any AA)...
 
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happymedium is right, don't bother "upgrading" to any of the 69xx series or anything - your 5850 is still comparable to any 6870 and getting 2 5850's would give you more of a performance boost then a single card when you're gaming at that kind of resolution.
 
just remember though, xfire in the 5k series does not scale as well as the 6k series.
 
It doesn't have to be the same card, just the same family. You can't crossfire a 6850 with a 5850 or a 5770 with a 5870 but you can pair a 5850 with a 5879 but it will scale down to the slowest card.
 
It doesn't have to be the same card, just the same family. You can't crossfire a 6850 with a 5850 or a 5770 with a 5870 but you can pair a 5850 with a 5879 but it will scale down to the slowest card.
ah ha! thanks! this is exactly what I needed to know!
 
Just make sure your motherboard supports Crossfire. I actually can't find the model:

MSI P55-CD65

On Google to check for you. Are you sure that's the right model number?
 
You might also consider waiting until the next generation of cards from ATI and Nvidia. If history is any indication, there's a good chance they'll be out by the end of this year.
 
With the bitcoin craze in full swing, you can probably get enough for your 5850 to buy a 2GB 6950.
 
I would upgrade to the 6970 or whatever. It would be a huge step up and you can get it for $250 on newegg. Huge performance for the price if you ask me. I dont see how nvidia can charge $600 for a GTX580 when AMD has a card at over half the price.
 
Trying to buy a 5850 right now would be nuts with Bitcoin. If anything, sell your 5850 and put it towards a 69xx card.
 
Just make sure your motherboard supports Crossfire. I actually can't find the model:

MSI P55-CD65

On Google to check for you. Are you sure that's the right model number?

It's a GD-65... never noticed the typo, thanks!
(and yes, crossfire is supported.)
 
I have a 5850 and trying to sell it locally for $250 to invest in a 6950. Good luck to ya.
 
I have owned CX5850 and played at 5760 x 1080 .. it is still very hard on those cards because of the 1Gb vram.. HD6950 2Gb is what i upgraded to and the extar ram such play off but i am awaiting my minidp/dp to come in from newegg before i can really say so.. but i will let you know what i think about it in eyefinity..
 
I have owned CX5850 and played at 5760 x 1080 .. it is still very hard on those cards because of the 1Gb vram.. HD6950 2Gb is what i upgraded to and the extar ram such play off but i am awaiting my minidp/dp to come in from newegg before i can really say so.. but i will let you know what i think about it in eyefinity..
cool, I look forward to hearing how it works out.
 
Negative Decibel I'm in the same boat as you right now.

I game at 4072 x 1024, i need a little more speed in eyefenity.
I have a XFX 5850 and want to go crossfire with but cant find a 5850 for sale at a reasonable price.
I'm thinking the 6950 2 gig card is the way to go, the extra ram should help.
 
I need to keep my 5850 in the back up game sys.
The video card in my HTPC died last week, so i had to use a old 8800gt i had saved for a back up.:(

It never fails, i need a new card right after the wife bitches at me for spending to much on cigars and computer junk.:D
 
Negative Decibel I'm in the same boat as you right now.

I game at 4072 x 1024, i need a little more speed in eyefenity.
I have a XFX 5850 and want to go crossfire with but cant find a 5850 for sale at a reasonable price.
I'm thinking the 6950 2 gig card is the way to go, the extra ram should help.
I'm leaning that way now, and I have two local friends looking for an upgrade for their gtx260s; this should be a good upgrade for them, especially because they are single lcd gamers.
 
Negative Decibel I'm in the same boat as you right now.

I game at 4072 x 1024, i need a little more speed in eyefenity.
I have a XFX 5850 and want to go crossfire with but cant find a 5850 for sale at a reasonable price.
I'm thinking the 6950 2 gig card is the way to go, the extra ram should help.

Since 5850 are going for so much, you're better off selling the 5850 for $250 and then buying 2 6950's, It'd be cheaper to sell the 5850 and use the net money ($500) to buy 2 6xxx series, I think 6950 are like $220 each, so you'll save money and have something that crossfires better.

HD 5xxx crossfires at 1.5 multiplier
HD 6xxx crossfires at 1.8 multiplier
 
i run trifire 5870s and at 5760*1200 i cant even play games on high. I wouldn't expect any miracles from a single card upgrade.
 
Ok.. I can tell you that the HD6950 2Gb unlocked plays BF BC 2 much better and smoother then my old CX5850 which i was limited to med settings.. the 6950 plays at high settings so that extar work AMD did really pays off in Eyefinity.
 
You should just buy another 5850 for real cheap and the crossfire should hold you until, the new 7000 series roles out !
 
Since 5850 are going for so much, you're better off selling the 5850 for $250 and then buying 2 6950's, It'd be cheaper to sell the 5850 and use the net money ($500) to buy 2 6xxx series, I think 6950 are like $220 each, so you'll save money and have something that crossfires better.

HD 5xxx crossfires at 1.5 multiplier
HD 6xxx crossfires at 1.8 multiplier

Are you sure that's true? AMD said the crossfire performance improvements were driver based and had nothing to do with the architecture of the HD 6000 series. Apparently, most websites did not run updated benchmarks for the HD 5000 series crossfire when they compared it to the HD 6000 series crossfire.
 
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