ATI 5850 for $125

[Tigger29]

Today (saturday) only... here:  http://1saleaday.com

[Krusty]

Maybe it is a good deal just if taken at face value, but I have a serious issue with their claim of "Save $400!" with a list price of $519 USD. That's really rich! Even Hd 6970s are only running around $330 or so.


Outside of that, it does seem to be a decent deal. I just had to laugh, is all.

[zack1234]

I have a 6970

[Getback]

I don't see the 5850 on newegg.

[Debrody]

I would buy 2 of them and build a crossfire system 
Seriously, the cheapest 5850 is 190 bucks here, the cheapest 6870 is like 205. I bought my 5830 for 130 then it disappeared from the shops 4 days later... if youre lookin for a decent card and dont have much money, this is the choice for you.

[Tigger29]

I would buy 2 of them and build a crossfire system 
Seriously, the cheapest 5850 is 190 bucks here, the cheapest 6870 is like 205. I bought my 5830 for 130 then it disappeared from the shops 4 days later... if youre lookin for a decent card and dont have much money, this is the choice for you.

Which is exactly why I posted it here.  I've seen people looking for good video cards for $100 or so.  This is about the best deal you're going to get.  Is it "state of the art"?  No.  Does it work well with Aces High?  Oh yeah.  Based on passmark benchmarks it appears to be about a 15% improvement over the 5830 (which is what I have now) but I also have my 5830 overclocked just a bit but then again I'm sure you can overclock that one just a bit too!

Decisions, decisions....

[Debrody]

Hey Tigger,
dont switch unless you can sell your current card. The 5830 can serve you very well for a while, i wouldnt throw 120 bucks out for 15% improvement (considering the 5850 can be overclocked too).
One more thing: hybrid crossfire. I dont know how it works, never tryed it. But if you make sure it works, also your motherboard/PSU supports it... i would try. A 5830+ a 5850 together should beat a 6970. 2500 stream processors, like 100 texturers, 48 ROPs... a good base for a triple head setup. Consider this, do some research and make your decision.
Best wishes

[skribetm]

xfire table. make sure your x16 physical slot also has a x16 electrical connection.

[TequilaChaser]

xfire table. make sure your x16 physical slot also has a x16 electrical connection.

(Image removed from quote.)

when you only have (1) true x16 slot and your 2nd x16 slot is only x8 or x4 powered, then running crossfire will normally downclock the 1st x16 to run the same as the x16 slot that is x8 or x4

so you will not really be gaining anything going crossfire, unless you have (2) TRUE x16 powered slots .....

TC

[guncrasher]

when you only have (1) true x16 slot and your 2nd x16 slot is only x8 or x4 powered, then running crossfire will normally downclock the 1st x16 to run the same as the x16 slot that is x8 or x4

so you will not really be gaining anything going crossfire, unless you have (2) TRUE x16 powered slots .....

TC

tc is that also true for sli?


semp

[TequilaChaser]

I would assume it is, but I have no dealings with sli,  only have used nvidia in single card situations....

the best case scenario if one does not have (2) true x16 slots is for the first main x16(16) slot to run at full capacity and the remaining x16(8,4) slots run at their full capacity...... but most times they will downclock

TC

[BaldEagl]

Very few boards have two or three true x16 slots.  Most run x16/x8 or x8/x8 in dual slots.  The ones that do run all slots at x16 are typically the more expensive enthusiast boards.  My eVGA 780i has three full x16 slots but I paid around $300 for it three years ago.

[skribetm]

the biostar ta990fxe has two true x16 slots for $129.00 at newegg right now, but slot placement was suboptimal for dual-slot GPU airflow.
swapped it out for an asrock fatality at a little bit pricier $189.00. works great anyhow, with windows 8 = free OS didnt shell out $$$ for win7..   

[Tigger29]

when you only have (1) true x16 slot and your 2nd x16 slot is only x8 or x4 powered, then running crossfire will normally downclock the 1st x16 to run the same as the x16 slot that is x8 or x4

so you will not really be gaining anything going crossfire, unless you have (2) TRUE x16 powered slots .....

TC

While that may technically be true running crossfire at X4 as compared to X16 mode does not automatically cut your video performance by 75%.  Why?  Because even today's video cards don't run at full X16 speeds.  There always has to be overhead to allow for future upgrades.  Even the speed limitations of AGP technology several years ago weren't even beginning to be touched when PCIe came out.  Granted some of today's video cards would suffer performance problems if they were to run on an AGP interface (assuming it could be made to happen) but several years ago they didn't even come close.

It's kind of like having a highway with a speed limit of 400MPH.  Kind of silly when most cars can only do 100.. while a few minority of cars might be able to hit 150MPH.  If all of a sudden the speed limit is changed to 100MPH 99% of cars on that road wouldn't be affected because they couldn't even go that fast in the first place.  The ones that are affected aren't suddenly doing 25% of the speed they were before.. no they are doing 66% the speed as before.

If you were to Crossfire/SLI two high end video cards then this may be a big consideration in your computer design but if you're doing this with lower end cards I don't see it being as much of an issue.

[TequilaChaser]

While that may technically be true running crossfire at X4 as compared to X16 mode does not automatically cut your video performance by 75%.  Why?  Because even today's video cards don't run at full X16 speeds.  There always has to be overhead to allow for future upgrades.  Even the speed limitations of AGP technology several years ago weren't even beginning to be touched when PCIe came out.  Granted some of today's video cards would suffer performance problems if they were to run on an AGP interface (assuming it could be made to happen) but several years ago they didn't even come close.

It's kind of like having a highway with a speed limit of 400MPH.  Kind of silly when most cars can only do 100.. while a few minority of cars might be able to hit 150MPH.  If all of a sudden the speed limit is changed to 100MPH 99% of cars on that road wouldn't be affected because they couldn't even go that fast in the first place.  The ones that are affected aren't suddenly doing 25% of the speed they were before.. no they are doing 66% the speed as before.

If you were to Crossfire/SLI two high end video cards then this may be a big consideration in your computer design but if you're doing this with lower end cards I don't see it being as much of an issue.

stats / charts please?  I been called out enough today ....... please provide some factual proof if you can.........

I will stick by my previous post in several threads..........

btw, forget about hybrid crossfire...... it will not be of benefit to your gaming.........

not arguing, tigger........ but would like to be proven wrong if I am.........  even if they are only losing 1/3rd  verses my "assumption" of up to 3/4 's  if they are using  (1) x16(16)  & (1) x16(4)  slots,  losing a 1/3rd of a VC that cost over &150 dollars or more is not worth the lost in my eyes......

TC