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The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 06:59 |
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Never actually owned a 3rd party card. The X800GTO might count but it was still an ATi reference X850XT PCB. Just a simple BIOS flash and it performed exactly the same as my X850 and detected as one. Its heat death was my fault though because it was using a single slot cooler and not the reference dual slot X850 one. The genuine deal X850XT ran a lot cooler. A bit loud maybe but considering it was the fastest video card in the world at one point, I'm not complaining.
The X850XT still works just fine too. Currently on loan in a friend's build to play L4D until he gets his new video card. The only thing I've done to help the life of the card is polishing the cooler and a new TIM application with some Ceramique. Works like the day it was new.
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sapphire 3rd party is fine for me aswell, as is palit and XFX
Almost all, if not all XFX cards use a 3rd party PCB. They can get away with it because their components are almost always better quality than the reference design. I was also a fan of the Palit Sonic cards with the gold cooler. Very nice cards. Only reason I never got one is because my friend received a DOA 8800GT from them a week before I ordered. Thus my move to the MSI 8800GTS G92, a fully reference card and still working like new.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388 |
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 07:13 |
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The one reference card I had was OK, but I didn't have it for that long, the majority of people I know with Powercolor cards had non-reference ones and they nearly all failed.
My DOA card has been received and is being tested. Here's hoping they're quick about things :S
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. June 2010 @ 07:14
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 07:47 |
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Wishing you the very best of luck on that Sam. Definitely not a small purchase :S
BTW what was the final price you paid? I can't imagine you actually managed a good deal this time like with your 4870X2s.
Oh yeah Cat 10.5 has helped 5850 Crossfire quite a bit. Bad Company 2 is scaling better in the more visually intensive moments. A lot less stuttering and FPS dips. Not that it ran badly before, but now it's just stupid. All maxed w/ 4xAA and HBAO off and it never dips below the high 50s even in intense sh**. Consider the 4870s would occasionally dip into the high 40s with 2xAA on. The one and only game that ever justified my purchase :D
Heck, I'd consider any major FPS drops a CPU limitation now :P Still not tempted to upgrade though. This setup just works too well :S
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. June 2010 @ 07:53
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 08:00 |
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£845 delivered. The going rate for normal 2GB 5870s is anywhere between £390 and £425, and the cost of a GTX480 here is, avoiding the cheapest OEM brands, £425-£450, so in relative terms, not a bad deal, but in actual terms, a pretty horrific expense.
The main issue is that the store were only allocated one to sell by Sapphire. Since this was it, and it's DOA, that means no chance of a replacement, so I need to get a refund and buy the one I've seen on ebay (new, from the same supplier, the only UK supplier in fact) before it disappears. There were two available at the weekend, now there's just the one.
Long term I stand to gain assuming I can get the ebay card, as it's priced at £824 delivered, so £21 less.
It's good to hear you're getting good performance out of the 5850s in BC2, I doubt I'll have the same benefits given in raw terms you bought a good 50-60% performance increase, whereas the 4GB 5970 and two 4870X2s are about the same in raw power. Here's hoping 2-GPU scaling is better than 4 for the game, or that 5870 GPUs handle the game better respectively than 4870s do. Of course, DX11 will be nice to try out I'm sure.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. June 2010 @ 08:02
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JohnyBoy2
Junior Member
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8. June 2010 @ 12:14 |
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Areet People I've got £150 for a graphix card would like some feedback of you guys here at afterdawn
motherboard = xfx mi-a78s-8209 http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/mothe...eries/8200.aspx
cpu = athlon 64 x2 5000+
memory = 2x 1 gig sticks
i have a 8500gt but the thing wont run newer games over clever so buget 150 would like summit that will at least play any top shelf game
cheers in advance john
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 12:16 |
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For £150 your best buy is a Radeon HD5770. However, you should consider a CPU/board/RAM upgrade in the not too distant future, 2GB of RAM is a bit thin, and the X2 5000+ is getting a bit long in the tooth as well. The graphics card is certainly the most beneficial upgrade at the moment, though.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 12:22 |
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Yeah a 5770 will do you well within that price and play most new games with the details up. But like Sam said the rest of the system is a bit aged so the newest games will still struggle. Example, I doubt Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will run very well due to the CPU limitation. Realistically you're looking at a whole new system before you can truly play top shelf games. But for the most part your current setup with a better video card will get you by just fine. Almost anything within the ~150 range will be a retardedly huge upgrade.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 12:38 |
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As a rough guide, a Core i5 750 (currently the best value gaming CPU) can be had for £150, a good board for it a little over £100, and 4GB of decent DDR3 RAM for it about £105-£110.
The i5 750 is at least 70% faster than the X2 5000+ per-core, and it has four cores rather than two.
The HD5770 is 15 times as powerful as the 8500GT. Where an 8500GT would get 4fps, an HD5770 will get 60, where an 8500GT would get 9fps, the HD5770 would get 135, and so on.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 13:00 |
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Don't forget that it's also going to be bottlenecked by the CPU and RAM as well. So results may vary, but yes you would see a vast improvement.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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JohnyBoy2
Junior Member
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8. June 2010 @ 14:10 |
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 14:13 |
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JohnyBoy2
Junior Member
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8. June 2010 @ 14:24 |
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£30 less ,wud get me
GPU
850 MHz Core Clock
40 nm Process Technology
800 x Stream Processors
Memory
512 MB Size
128 -bit GDDR5
4800 MHz Effective
so £30 more gets me
Bus Type: PCI-E 2.0
GPU Clock: 875 Mhz
Memory Bus: 128
Memory Type: DDR5
Memory Size: 1024 MB
Memory Speed: 5200 Mhz
diffrence in red
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 14:32 |
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The differences are marginal at best, depending on what monitor you plan on using ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 14:33 |
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the XFX card has been pre-overclocked, but to such an extent that it may get you 3-4% extra performance, for a hell of a lot more than 4% more cost. The 1GB of memory is really only useful with high resolutions, so unless you have a 1920x1080 screen or larger, you don't need the 1GB version. If you do have a screen that size, you should perhaps consider the 1GB version, but bear in mind that when you need more than 512MB of video memory, you often also need something more powerful than an HD5770.
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JohnyBoy2
Junior Member
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8. June 2010 @ 14:43 |
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well it would be hooked up to hdtv so the 1gb version would probs suit me better also decided to upgrade memory was think out this
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143844
any info again really appreciated
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 14:45 |
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Don't bother upgrading memory in my opinion, you will soon need to replace the CPU, which in turn will require a new board and memory that won't be incompatible with your existing board.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 14:48 |
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It won't be incompatible sam? :p
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
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JohnyBoy2
Junior Member
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8. June 2010 @ 14:51 |
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thanks for all the info lads much appreciated wud there be much diff if i upped my buget to £190 ??
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 14:58 |
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Omega: DDR2 isn't going to work with an i5. He could upgrade to a lower-end Phenom but I don't really see the point of that as an upgrade over a 5000+.
JohnyBoy: At £190, yes, you can upgrade to an HD5830. However, you will need a decent Power Supply to run the HD5830. What are you currently using?
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. June 2010 @ 15:23 |
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MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|. |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 16:53 |
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I've heard the expression areet a fair few times, just not on a message board :P
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 17:55 |
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Well, the refund didn't arrive in time, the last 4GB 5970 is gone. Trying decide what to get as a replacement, have to consider the possibility of not upgrading to the 5 series because nothing is suitable to buy :S
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 18:05 |
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That's some bad luck indeed.
My above question: I was curious if your grammar/english was correct. It seemed somehow backwards confusing LOL!
you will soon need to replace the CPU, which in turn will require a new board and memory that ---> won't <---- be incompatible with your existing board.
Am I misunderstanding your statement here? :S
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. June 2010 @ 18:06
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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8. June 2010 @ 18:21 |
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Ah yeah well spotted, I meant won't be compatible, not won't be incompatible. As you might have guessed, long day... :(
Tricky decision for me now, the 4GB HD5970 was the perfect option really. My options now are:
1. Get two 5870 Eyefinity 6 cards (more wait, there aren't any available at a good price right now)
2. Get two 1GB 5870s (seems a bit of a waste versus two 4870X2s)
3. Get a 5970 and a 5850 (best raw performance of all, but I'm not getting as much of the 3->2GPU switch benefit, nor am I getting the 2GB per GPU requirement, and I'm using pretty much the same amount of power and no real decrease in noise)
4. Buy the solo 5870 for my Q9550 PC and then leave the 4870X2s for now (doesn't give any increase in performance for main gaming machine, and doesn't cost much less as a net result)
5. As the saying goes, **** it.
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. June 2010 @ 18:27 |
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**** it and save up to get the crowing glory of the 6 series?
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