5830 or a 6870..

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
davejay

davejay

Distinguished
Jan 4, 2011
65
0
18,630
I don't want you to pay attention to the prices on the links. These links are MOST ACCURATE with the readings of all the stuffs..

5830 - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-asus-hd-5830-directcu-pci-e-21%28x16%29-4000mhz-gddr5-gpu-800mhz-1120-cores-dp-dl-dvi-i-hdmi

6870 - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-sapphire-hd-6870-4200mhz-gddr5-gpu-900mhz-1120-stream-processors-2x-dual-link-dvi-i-hdmi-display

Crossing both card specs to an extent - http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=626&card2=635

PRICES are 5830 - £55
6870 - £100
(These prices are with a discount voucher of £45)

Now.. seriously.. which one would you go for?

I'm running..
Gigabyte 880GM UDH2 - http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/AMD+AM3+%28800+Chipset%29/Gigabyte+GA-880GM-UD2H+AMD+880G+%28Socket+AM3%29+microATX+DDR3+Motherboard+?productId=41304
Phenom II x4 955 BlackEd - http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/AMD+Phenom+II+X4+Quad+Core+955+Black+Edition+125W+C3+%28Socket+AM3%29+Processor+-+Retail+?productId=39930
8gb Mushkin DDR3 1333 - http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/8GB+Mushkin+Silverline+%23996770+%282x4GB%29+DDR3+1333MHz+9-9-9-24+?productId=41882
650w PSU (possibly not true..) - http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/650W+or+less/650W+Arianet+Black+Series+Silent+ATX2.2+Power+Supply+?productId=39798
Antec 300 case - https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Antec+300+Three+Hundred+Gaming+Midi+Tower+Case+-+Black?productId=31087
Western Digi 1tb HDD - https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/SATA+%28Serial+ATA%29/500GB+to+1TB/1TB+Western+Digital+Caviar+Green+WD10EARS+3.5%22+SATA+II+Hard+Drive+?productId=40315

Now.. seriously.. from what I know, the PSU is fine. FROM WHAT I KNOW tho. It has two 12v rails. Only 1 PCI 6 pin power connector.

Do please, please help and asap :) I don't wanna hang my system without graphics for any longer. Yeah.. the mobo has onboard.. but it's a friggin 4250 haha!

Do I just cut the modern mince and get a 5830?

Or do I get a 6870 knowing that 5830's are basically 5870's with broken bits that have been shut off?

*nb I have looked about and I can't get a 5850 or a 5870 in the UK without paying crazy prices, plus I have a 45 quid Amazon voucher for the UK*

All help WILL be appreciated :) I want my PC to be the Usain Bolt when it comes to games, but is double the money worth it for a slight gain here and there plus 3D, when I can OC the 5830 a little touch in the future when the warranty goes dead and it's a little slow for the games...
 
If you plan on crossfire in the future get the HD6870, CF scaling is much better with the 6xxx series cards.

Your PSU is awful, I wouldn't trust it with either card, buy a quality PSU!

If you plan on crossfiring then you'll need a new motherboard aswell, your's only has one PCI-E Lane.

 
Ah I know.. I ought to get a new PSU to be safe. I never ever put thought into the PSU as my last PC I just bought a big 750w unbranded.. it was running a p4 and a 1650XT.. hardly needed the power lol.

Not thinking of crossfiring just yet.. I'm tempted, but I'd wanna get an AM3+ board and indeed with that, I'd be tempted for an 8 core AMD then crossfire with it.

So as of now.. I'm only gonna be using a single card in this system.. I want it to perform for the next couple of years then possibly gonna sell it on and do another new build.. hence why I'm asking..

I know you're all for the new series, I am too!! Trust me!! But really.. for high end gaming on a monitor that's only 22 inch and the occasional push onto my 40 inch HD telly which i'm happy to do the 720HD with (although it's full HD) I'm pretty sure the 5830 will perform high as hell and give me full HD for the next year of games anyway, surely? :)
 
Depends what games you play, and if your willing to lower settings on some games. Both cards will struggle with BF3, Crysis, Metro 2033 ETC... on max settings.

is your 22 inch monitor 1680 x 1050?
 
Yeah, it sure is a 1680x1050 :)

Indeed.. I would go insane and spend loads of money, but I'm on a really tight budget. I was considering a 6770 at first, as I'd GOT a 5750 and it was ridiculously broken, and on getting my money and vouchers back I found the 6770 going at the SAME price.. but then basically, the 5830's only gonna cost me 20 quid more than what I spent in the first place.. wheras the 6870's another 70 quid. Is it really worth paying the extra 50 quid when another 20 gets me a 5830 that'll mega improve my gaming anyway??
 
I would not buy a 5800 series card, they are already 2 generations old. I too would opt for the 6870, especially if you want to keep it for a couple of years. But its your call. As far as the 5830 especially, it was the bottom end for a 5800 series card and most went for the 5850 instead, it was a much better value.

You are right though, even the 5830 is going to be a night and day difference over what you have now.
 
I just built the whole system that I mentioned in the original post there, February this year. So I won't be going for a new grade any time soon as I feel that technically, if I go to a higher GPU, I'm as well going to a higher CPU and possibly a quad-fire enabled board with 4x16's running at 16, or crossfire with 2 running at 16..

Tell me I'm stupid.. but if I stick the 5830 in, then in total the full system has cost me under £450.. surely a hell of a bargain in comparison to the fact it woulda cost me over 2 grand in a shop at LEAST!

Also.. FunSurfer.. the 6850's only 10 quid cheaper. When you say performs better tho, the reason I compare the 5830 and the 6870 is the processing pipes.. 1120. There's only 800 in the 6850 so surely that's not such a wise choice in comparison?

Also.. am I not right in saying that the 6850 has a lower speed at 775mhz than the 5830's 800mhz.. so speed and cores are lower..
 


There is a benchmark on this site:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-10.html

maybe it will help you to choose.

You can see general performance, AA performance, OC, power, noise level and temperatures.

 
Ok I've cut it down to these four... purely out of reference...

ASUS GTX550Ti - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004RHPN2M/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
XFX 6850 Black Edition - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004CRI5HC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A17AS5ETPMZ9A1
Sapphire 6850 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0048027IQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Sapphire 6870 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004R7MTPQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

PLEASE bare in mind that I don't want to actually spend huuuge ammounts and the 6870 is expensive.. I get a 45 quid discount on all of these.. so they're listed in order of cheapness.. the XFX black ED looks like the one here.. unless the 550ti is coming very very close, or the Sapphire 6870 totally obliterates it!!
 
I have a 6850 and it does really good, especially at my res (1440x900). The only thing I regret so far is the fact that I didn't act quick enough to get a 6870 for $8 more (got my 6850 for like $113 open box, there was an out-of-stock 6870 open box for $120). So yeah, 6850 BE gets my vote.
 
You seem to have ruled out the 5850 from your choices. The 5850 will eat the 6850's lunch and has the same DX11 support. Indeed, the 6800 series from AMD were weaker than the 5800 series without adding features. Its the 6900 series that were actually faster.

Here is a 5850 priced only 5 pounds more than your 6850: http://www.amazon.co.uk/5850-725M-DDR5-HDMI-GRAPHICS/dp/B003NSBGHC/ref=sr_1_7?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1318786335&sr=1-7

Edit: Well, forget that option, they already sold out at that price...

And no, the 5800 series is not 2 generations back. December isn't here yet folks.
 
Well, I noticed your PSU has only one 6-pin connector, in which case you're going to need to use 1-2 Molex connectors to make another 6-pin connector if you go with the 6870 (which may or may not require the purchase of an adapter, it may or may not come with one). And, tbh, you probably want to get that "650w" PSU out of your PC and go with a more reliable brand. Do I think the 6870's worth an extra 20 Euros? Sure. I don't know that I'd trust that PSU, which is why I think it would be a good idea to get a better one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom