9800 GTX upgrade on nVidia heavy system

[austintacious]

I'll keep it short. In 2008 I built an SLi system:

ASUS Striker ii Formula 780i chipset
Q6600 OC'd 3.0 ghz
4 GB OZC Reaper PC8500
2x9800 GTX in SLi
Corsair 1050w xtreme PSU

Unfortunately, one of my 9800's has gone bad (artifacts on BIOS screen) and gaming at 1920x1080 on a 512 MB card isn't cutting it. The Radeon 6850 looks like the best deal, but losing SLi capability would be a downside.

Should I just bite the bullet and fork over the cash for a 560 ti? Would my system benefit in the future from SLi'ing two 560 ti cards? Given the age of the other hardware, upgrading other pieces isn't really an option without purchasing a new mobo/cpu.

option 1: Radeon 6850
option 2: gtx 560 ti
OR, option three : SLi two GTX 550 ti cards.

thanks!

 

[inzone]

The 550Ti's are not very good even with two of them I wouldn't waste the money. If I had to choose I would go with option 2 and get one 560Ti now and add another later. Do you have a budget amount you are working with?

EVGA 012-P3-2066-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 448 Cores FTW 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$289.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130738

This one is a newly released card with 448 processing cores which is up from 384 and will add more performance than a regular 560Ti.

 

[austintacious]

My budget isn't necessarily limited, but I was concerned that my system might not be good enough to warrant dropping a $300 card into it. (bottle-necked?)

 

[inzone]

I guess you are at a crossroads here because your Pc is over three years old and if you want to upgrade then the other parts in the computer aren't going to match up as well so you can't go to far up the ladder with an upgrade so it starts to make it not worth doing. If you get a 6850 then at some point you are going to upgrade the cpu and motherboard and then what are you stuck with the 6850 or are you going to not use it and get something better , so how much use will you have gotten out of the card. One choice would to do a cpu, MB ,ram, gpu, upgrade and the other would be to get the 560Ti and overclock the cpu some more , maybe just a notch or two and it's a quad core which helps. Then later on when you do upgrade the rest you will still have a good card.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

This chart will show you where the cards fall in a comparison between Nvidia and AMD.

 

[Headspin_69]

I guess you are at a crossroads here because your Pc is over three years old and if you want to upgrade then the other parts in the computer aren't going to match up as well so you can't go to far up the ladder with an upgrade so it starts to make it not worth doing. If you get a 6850 then at some point you are going to upgrade the cpu and motherboard and then what are you stuck with the 6850 or are you going to not use it and get something better , so how much use will you have gotten out of the card. One choice would to do a cpu, MB ,ram, gpu, upgrade and the other would be to get the 560Ti and overclock the cpu some more , maybe just a notch or two and it's a quad core which helps. Then later on when you do upgrade the rest you will still have a good card.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

This chart will show you where the cards fall in a comparison between Nvidia and AMD.

How is a 6850 not a good card down the road but a 560ti is according to you. Me smells a fan bouy.

 

[austintacious]

I'm thinking that one of the 560 ti's may do the trick, then if I upgrade cpu/mobo in the future I can always throw in another one.. I certainly have the PSU for it... my poor PSU sits there with nothing to do right now! 🙁

Headspin, I think he may have been referring to the 560 ti Fermi as compared to the 6850, though the Fermi is nearly double the price of the 6850... no doubt the 448 core GPU will produce better results. If I had a Crossfire board, it would be an easy solution to Xfire two 6850s, but since the 550's are junk I'm really only left with the 560 option.

I guess the real decision is - stay cheap with the 6850, or buy something I can use down the road in a new rig with the 448 core Fermi. Do you not think I will get much more longevity out of the 560 fermi versus the 6850? I didn't think they were that close in performance....

 

[Headspin_69]

I'm thinking that one of the 560 ti's may do the trick, then if I upgrade cpu/mobo in the future I can always throw in another one.. I certainly have the PSU for it... my poor PSU sits there with nothing to do right now! 🙁

Headspin, I think he may have been referring to the 560 ti Fermi as compared to the 6850, though the Fermi is nearly double the price of the 6850... no doubt the 448 core GPU will produce better results. If I had a Crossfire board, it would be an easy solution to Xfire two 6850s, but since the 550's are junk I'm really only left with the 560 option.

I guess the real decision is - stay cheap with the 6850, or buy something I can use down the road in a new rig with the 448 core Fermi. Do you not think I will get much more longevity out of the 560 fermi versus the 6850? I didn't think they were that close in performance....

Well let me change try and change your mind on just how much of an actual in game PowerHouse and amazing value the Radeon 68XX cards really are and how Nvidia 5xx and Radeon 69xx cards are overprice and over hyped here is the link to back my seemingly outrageous sensational claims. http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_r6850_cyclone/5.htm Let me know what you think about all this ;-)

 

[Sunius]

How is a 6850 not a good card down the road but a 560ti is according to you. Me smells a fan bouy.

GTX 560 Ti is 2 tiers higher and is way faster than HD6850. By this comment you sound like a fanboy yourself..

I'd say GTX 560 Ti is a good investition, and it's the lowest what I could suggest to you. My primary suggestion would be GTX 570 if you really plan to add a second card some time in the future, because it's a fast card and you sound like a guy who wants to invest quite some money into his system.

I'd also suggest not to listen to Headspin, I've been reading what he posted in other threats and he seems to be blind to other things than that one test.

 

[inzone]

The chart shows the 560Ti two levels above the 6850 , so that tells me that the 560Ti is a newer and better card. So they aren't that close in performance and the 560Ti 448 will give you close to the performance of a GTX 570 for close to the price of a 560Ti and would be better for a longer period.

 

[Headspin_69]

GTX 560 Ti is 2 tiers higher and is way faster than HD6850. By this comment you sound like a fanboy yourself..

I'd say GTX 560 Ti is a good investition, and it's the lowest what I could suggest to you. My primary suggestion would be GTX 570 if you really plan to add a second card some time in the future, because it's a fast card and you sound like a guy who wants to invest quite some money into his system.

I'd also suggest not to listen to Headspin, I've been reading what he posted in other threats and he seems to be blind to other things than that one test.

560ti although a good card it is overpriced and hyped up. check this out for a proper good value. http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_r6850_cyclone/5.htm

 

[Headspin_69]

The chart shows the 560Ti two levels above the 6850 , so that tells me that the 560Ti is a newer and better card. So they aren't that close in performance and the 560Ti 448 will give you close to the performance of a GTX 570 for close to the price of a 560Ti and would be better for a longer period.

Proper good value proposition unmatched by none other. http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_r6850_cyclone/5.htm

 

[inzone]

Well let me change try and change your mind on just how much of an actual in game PowerHouse and amazing value the Radeon 68XX cards really are and how Nvidia 5xx and Radeon 69xx cards are overprice and over hyped here is the link to back my seemingly outrageous sensational claims. http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_r6850_cyclone/5.htm Let me know what you think about all this ;-)

You can't be serious with that thread you posted and anybody looking at that post will clearly see an overclocked 6850 MSI power edition coming in dead last on all of the tests run. An overclocked card coming in dead last. I don't see a 560Ti in those tests so how is this any kind of a comparison with what is being discussed here.

 

[Headspin_69]

You can't be serious with that thread you posted and anybody looking at that post will clearly see an overclocked 6850 MSI power edition coming in dead last on all of the tests run. An overclocked card coming in dead last. I don't see a 560Ti in those tests so how is this any kind of a comparison with what is being discussed here.

LOL your seeing what you want when in a number of games you see 6850 OCed coming in ahead or on par with GTX570 what a value and slap in the fact ti 69xx and 5xx.

 

[Headspin_69]

You can't be serious with that thread you posted and anybody looking at that post will clearly see an overclocked 6850 MSI power edition coming in dead last on all of the tests run. An overclocked card coming in dead last. I don't see a 560Ti in those tests so how is this any kind of a comparison with what is being discussed here.

GTX570 1FPS ahead of HD 6850 in Aliens VS predator @ 1200P LOL GTX570 comes in at a lose to the 6850 in Crysis of 7fps LOL

 

[austintacious]

Well, I've been informed that I'm getting a $100 Bestbuy gift card as a late christmas present.. I checked and their gift cards are valid online.. so now I'm definitely picking from their online offering.. now it's between a 6950 and 560 ti most likely (fermi 448 core not available there).. and I'm sure there are infinite threads I can search about those two heads up.

 

[Sunius]

I'd suggest going with Asus or MSI 560 Ti. The overclocking capabilities are insane, and when done so, it will blow off ANY HD6950 from the surface of earth. You can easily get 20-30% performance jump..

 

[gigaxel]

I suggest you to get the 560 ti and from what I heard its overclocking capabilities are insane

 

[Headspin_69]

I suggest you to get the 560 ti and from what I heard its overclocking capabilities are insane

why when a 6850 OCed is faster and cheaper or at leased as fast and faster in slected games LOL. http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_r6850_cyclone/ Save $70 bones and get great performance makes more sense to me.

 

[Headspin_69]

I'd suggest going with Asus or MSI 560 Ti. The overclocking capabilities are insane, and when done so, it will blow off ANY HD6950 from the surface of earth. You can easily get 20-30% performance jump..

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_r6850_cyclone/

 

[Sunius]

Seriously, why do you keep linking the same post over and over again? Check the 3Dmark page, GTX 570 is 35% faster than HD6850.. and come on, 560 Ti ain't even on that test.

If you'd searched google, GTX 560 Ti at stock is around 20% faster than that, and when overclocked it can even reach GTX 570 stock speeds. If the op has the budget and want a longer lasting system, he should go for GTX 560 Ti or even GTX 570 (if it's not too expensive, for him), because 6850 is almost past generation and it's not considered high-end.

 

[pell380]

560ti best option dx11 with ddr5 ram physx all new fetures with good performance and u use nvidia so dont switch on ati that is my personal advice to u.

 

[Headspin_69]

Seriously, why do you keep linking the same post over and over again? Check the 3Dmark page, GTX 570 is 35% faster than HD6850.. and come on, 560 Ti ain't even on that test.

If you'd searched google, GTX 560 Ti at stock is around 20% faster than that, and when overclocked it can even reach GTX 570 stock speeds. If the op has the budget and want a longer lasting system, he should go for GTX 560 Ti or even GTX 570 (if it's not too expensive, for him), because 6850 is almost past generation and it's not considered high-end.

3Dmark is not the be all and end all it is a lose referent but in real time some cards perform better or worse than in a synthetic bench like 3Dmark and synthetic benchmarks tend to favor Nvidia anyway so the are biased. The fact is in the real world an over clocked purely mid range 6850 that costs at leased $135 dollars less than high end 570 out does it in crysis both card being OCed by 7fps LOL what a value !!! and just goes to show how under performing and over priced 5xx and 69xx cards are.

 

[Headspin_69]

560ti best option dx11 with ddr5 ram physx all new fetures with good performance and u use nvidia so dont switch on ati that is my personal advice to u.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_r6850_cyclone/

 

[Headspin_69]

Seriously, why do you keep linking the same post over and over again? Check the 3Dmark page, GTX 570 is 35% faster than HD6850.. and come on, 560 Ti ain't even on that test.

If you'd searched google, GTX 560 Ti at stock is around 20% faster than that, and when overclocked it can even reach GTX 570 stock speeds. If the op has the budget and want a longer lasting system, he should go for GTX 560 Ti or even GTX 570 (if it's not too expensive, for him), because 6850 is almost past generation and it's not considered high-end.

When I pick up 6850 Cyclone I will make a videos just for you show casing the performance differential between GTX 570 and HD 6850 Cyclone OCed.

 

[austintacious]

Seriously, why do you keep linking the same post over and over again? Check the 3Dmark page, GTX 570 is 35% faster than HD6850.. and come on, 560 Ti ain't even on that test.

If you'd searched google, GTX 560 Ti at stock is around 20% faster than that, and when overclocked it can even reach GTX 570 stock speeds. If the op has the budget and want a longer lasting system, he should go for GTX 560 Ti or even GTX 570 (if it's not too expensive, for him), because 6850 is almost past generation and it's not considered high-end.

If OC'ing was off the table, I'm not saying it is I have just never OC'd my GPU above 5% or so, would the better choice be the 6950 over the 560 ti?

I'm leaning towards the 560 especially since my ASUS mobo has the nvidia GPU ex profiles. I'll probably have to consult some more knowledge on this forum when it comes to OC'ing the GPU.

I think anything above 560 ti / 6950 are overkill consider the age of the rest of my hardware. Given my PSU, I'll have the option of adding another GPU for SLi if I build a new machine later in the year.

However, most recommend EVGA but I've burned through 2/3 of the 9800 GTX I've had from them. (had to RMA 1 within first year, now the other original is dead as well). They had great service, but I'd rather the GPU not die in the first place. Is MSI a good alternative?