Help Selecting New GFX Card

[Muhammad Farrukh]

As marc2003 said, just toss a coin, or better yet, ask someone inn your family or friend to pick a number. 1 or 2 :laugh:

Either way, best of luck. You won't regret either buy

And still better thing to do is to send those ?6 to me :p

Get the XFX one

[philcruicks]

XFX would be my choice of the two AMD's, personally I'm an nvidia fan...but the own brand OCUK one would not be my choice... unfortunately every other GTX 460 I can find if over your ?100 budget.

Best thing to do check the warranty periods...some like EVGA (nvidia only) do 10 year warranties...so see which of XFX or Sapphire have the longer one.

And take a look at the stock speeds...these may be pre-overclocked...so see what a stock model is (from AMD/NVIDIA's own sites) and compare them to the cards your looking at...one may be a good percentage higher then the other.

[Vignesh]

Hmm, ok both do a 2 year warranty. Both pack the same clock speeds too.

But look what I found at ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/290512-xfx-hd-6850-1gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-card-hd-685x-zndc

XFX HD 6850 XXX Edition 1GB GDDR5 @ ?104.99 - Free P&P

[philcruicks]

Hmm, ok both do a 2 year warranty. Both pack the same clock speeds too.

But look what I found at ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.co...rd-hd-685x-zndc

XFX HD 6850 XXX Edition 1GB GDDR5 @ ?104.99 - Free P&P

One you linked is ?123.05 when I clicked it...

Out of everything posted I think the XFX 6850 is your best bet:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-204-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

[Zain Adeel]

You cant go wrong with the XFX

but i might add. I prefer Nvidia. Because of Physx.

Many games use it and it adds alot of eyecandy. Games like Mafia 2 and Batman AC used it and also Mirrors Edge.

But thats upto u. Its just extra eye candy in select games nothing more.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

For me, nothing beats the AMD 580GTX and I run 2 in SLI. It can handle anything maxed out.

[LaP]

It's sad you live in UK i have a 5850 black edition to sell for 80$ CAD :( but well good luck with your new card. I would buy the xfx 6850. I never had any problem with xfx technical support. I usually buy cards from asus, msi or xfx.

Don't expect too much from this card though. You will need to either turn off AA or set the settings at medium for some of the recent games.

[PixilEyes]

For me, nothing beats the AMD 580GTX and I run 2 in SLI. It can handle anything maxed out.

Budget is around ?80.

[neo1911]

For me, nothing beats the AMD 580GTX and I run 2 in SLI. It can handle anything maxed out.

Is that a mashup of AMD card with Nvidia Model number? :D

[Muhammad Farrukh]

AMD 580GTX and I run 2 in SLI.

:laugh:

I mean seriously what is that? Some kind of partnership between the two? And how come AMD gave up on CrossFire technology :shiftyninja:

[Vignesh]

One you linked is ?123.05 when I clicked it...

Out of everything posted I think the XFX 6850 is your best bet:

http://www.overclock...=56&subcat=1866

OMG, last night it was at 104.99... Why the sudden price bump by ?20 :angry:

Just want to make sure, if the price does drop again, is the XXX version better? It just looks like an increase in clock speeds.

Else I'll just get the one at OcUK.

[Vignesh]

You cant go wrong with the XFX

but i might add. I prefer Nvidia. Because of Physx.

Many games use it and it adds alot of eyecandy. Games like Mafia 2 and Batman AC used it and also Mirrors Edge.

But thats upto u. Its just extra eye candy in select games nothing more.

Yea, well tbh I prefer nVidia too. For the budget I have, it seems like the 6850 is better. I would of got the gtx 460, which is pretty much similar, but would have preferred a different brand e.g. evga, but for my budget I can only find a OcUK version.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

:laugh:

I mean seriously what is that? Some kind of partnership between the two? And how come AMD gave up on CrossFire technology :shiftyninja:

LMAO. I don't know what I was thinking but boy you guys let me have it! nVidia 580GTX SLI. That better? ;-)

[Muhammad Farrukh]

We were just joking

[marc2003]

OMG, last night it was at 104.99... Why the sudden price bump by ?20 :angry:

i saw the cheaper price too. perhaps it was a daily special that ran out at midnight?

Else I'll just get the one at OcUK.

i don't know if you noticed but both cards are on "this week only" offers. that runs until 9am wednesday but i'd order before then just to be on the safe side.

[philcruicks]

OMG, last night it was at 104.99... Why the sudden price bump by ?20 :angry:

Just want to make sure, if the price does drop again, is the XXX version better? It just looks like an increase in clock speeds.

Else I'll just get the one at OcUK.

its only a small clock boost up to 800mhz from 775...to be honest not really worth it...I'd either wait a few weeks and save for a decent EVGA GTX 460 or get the XFX 6850

[Vignesh]

Hmm, ok I'll wait a few days to see how the prices are.

Thanks for all your kind help guys :)

[chris_h449]

try this one, under your ?80, not bad performance for the price, xfx card. i know its not a 6850 or a 460gtx but hell youve been using a 8600gts for so long this will be a good upgrade to that.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/6770-850m-ddr5-hdmi-graphics/dp/B0057N17W0/ref=sr_1_36?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1329068002&sr=1-36

[Vignesh]

Thanks for the suggestion Chris, but I've now decided to increase the budget to ?100.

I've just seen this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-269-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

Asus ATI Radeon HD 6850 DirectCU V2 1024MB GDDR5 - ?89.99 - Pre Order Price

[Muhammad Farrukh]

You dont wanna miss that one.

[philcruicks]

You dont wanna miss that one.

+1 that's a good card and a very good price!

I just hope you can wait a week lol.

[Vignesh]

Ok, it says ETA: 20/02/2010. Does that mean I'll receive it on that date, or is that when OcUK get the card?

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I don't have much idea, but I think that is the day you get the card.

I could be wrong

[marc2003]

i'd imagine that's the day they're expecting the cards to be delivered to them. you'll probably get it next day - assuming it arrives early enough for them to be booked in and all the pre-orders to be processed. also, remember the E in ETA stands for estimated....

[PGHammer]

6000 series also include cards like 6450, which won't do anything.

Unless you meant 6700 or 6800 series :p

The HD6450 (derivative of the HD5450) isn't necessarily a *bad* card - it is, however, a *budget* card, and should be seen as such.

The real problem with both the HD5450/6450, and even HD65xx, is that HD66xx/HD67xx are falling in price - often down to, if not below, $100USD - even brick-and-mortar.

HD6670, HD6750/6770/6790 are (except for HD6790) 128-bit GPUs (HD6790 is the only 256-bit GPU in this group). HD6790's problem isn't the price (despite it being the highest-priced of the group, even this card has dropped under $150) but it's PSU requirements - two 6-pin (if not two 6+2-pin) and a 650W or better PSU. HD6850 (which can often be cheaper) can have less problematical power requirements (the XFX model typically requires but a single 6-pin PSU feed). HD6670 generally doesn't require extra power at all - the issue with this GPU is tracking down the GDDR5 versions; all too many have substituted GDDR3 to keep pricing down.