Upgrading from 8800GTS 320MB to...

T

Tsuyashu

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 2, 2008
Messages
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Well originally my main card was an BFG 7900GT 256mb, back when it was worth around 250$. That died after perhaps 2-3years and I turned it in to BFG and got the 8800GTS 320mb.

After another 2-3 years, it is time to move on from the 8800GTS. I was hoping people could give me some recommendations on video cards? I am an animator and work with various editing programs and hopefully get into things like Cinema 4d and Maya and all that jazz.. I am also a gamer and I have an 24in monitor.

I was looking at the 5850 from ATI, any comments?
 
I think the 5850 is definitely worth every penny, faster than the more expensive GTX 285 when it comes to gaming for sure. I don't do any animation/rendering, so I've no input for that end of it.
 
The 5850 is a great bang/buck card and will be a huge improvement over your 8800gts. The hard part will be finding it.
 
Assuming I hit the jackpot, which brands are the best? Since I happen to be green since forever?

I recognize ASUS, XFX and thats all.
 
I have a Sapphire one, I managed to grab from amazon at release before they jacked the prices up 15 to 20%. It's great, but they're all made by ATI this run anyway, then rebranded.

Sapphire's warranty is only 2 years, but it's what was available. If you can find an xfx or an HIS they have lifetime warranties I believe, do that.

Good luck with your upgrade.
 
I've read on a deals site that Saphire does not have the power saving features of other companies (talking about the 57**)? I dono myself and would not mind a confirmation or otherwise.

OP - yes, the 5850 looks like a great one... and yes - right now I can not see any avaliable in the uK at least. :p
 
[L]imey;1034967691 said:
I have a Sapphire one, I managed to grab from amazon at release before they jacked the prices up 15 to 20%. It's great, but they're all made by ATI this run anyway, then rebranded.

Sapphire's warranty is only 2 years, but it's what was available. If you can find an xfx or an HIS they have lifetime warranties I believe, do that.

Good luck with your upgrade.
Click to expand...

XFX is double lifetime warranty.
 
Definitely go with the bigger names. You don't want to waste your hard earned money on garbage tech support.
 
ASUS and XFX are definitely the best in the ATI AIB sector, but Sapphire has been the company not afraid to do a little bit of their own work. They're the only company that I know of that released a 4850x2 in addition to the 4870x2, they were the first to push out a 3870x2 from ATI's specifications, and I've personally got nothing bad to say about the customer service or quality of their cards. Sapphire and ASUS both release cards with modified cooling solutions, and they're both usually better than stock. The XFX double lifetime warranty is nice, but usually by the time a card dies on me I'm ready to upgrade anyway.
 
XFX is one of the best. But atm most of the cards are reference builds anyways so technically they are all the same, it's just your customer support that will be different.

A 5850 is an excellent choice. Overclocks nicely, fast, and offers DX11 features with tessalation, direct compute, etc. You'll be able to take advantage of the latest video functions for your work.
 
I'm in the same situation as OP but with a 8800gt :( Any word/rumors about Nvidia's 300 series release? The 5850 price jumps in the last week is making me regret not jumping on one when it was at MSRP price :mad:
 
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