Radeon 6850 or 2 x nVidia GTS 450 SLI ??

[wasupmike]

Hi, you guys helped me before with a PSU question... and it was great advice.. (and i took it..!)

Now i've got another dilemma i'm hoping you can help me with.. My next upgrade for my system is going to be the video card (currently a Radeon 4870 512mb)

budget: ~$200, res: 1920x1200

I'm contemplating between a single Radeon 6850 (and i would overclock it to about 6870 specs), or 2 x nVidia 450's in SLI (also both overclocked to about 850MHz on the cores)

The reason i'm not considering anymore (i was before) the Radeon 5750/5770's in CF.. is because that generation seems to be a tad behind now in the 'tessellation' and dx11 arena.. compared to now the Radeon 6xxx series and the current nVidia's...

After rebates i can get 2 x GTS 450's for practically the same price as a R6850... and also i'm attracted to the fact that nVidia has a 'hawx 2' coupon as well, as i'm planning on getting that game anyways so that's $50 worth right there... (Now having said that... 'hawx 2' is just 1 game... and if an alternative is ultimately a better choice overall... than i'd probably go with the better choice of course...

It seems that most review sites show that 2 x 450's SLI can be a pretty powerful setup... probably stronger overall than the 6850.. however... sometimes lower minimum frame-rates than a single card.. and also the slight complications sometimes of course with the 2 x video cards vs 1 powerful one, that's making it harder to decide. Another reason i'm attracted to 2 cards though.. is because it will be easier for me to "get rid of them" a couple years from now.. as my job is a 'mobile techie' if you will, and 2 x medium sized/powered cards are easier to put into client machines who need a used video card replaced... compared to a big monster card (like the one i'm stuck with now) that not only requires a big case (which most people don't have), but also a powerful PSU (which most people don't have too, haha)

So there's my dilemma... any advice and recommendations would be greatly appreciated..!

here's my setup for reference:
Core i5-750 @ 3.8GHz | A-DATA DDR3 2000 4x2GB @ 1.9GHz
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro | XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 | OCZ Vertex 2 60GB
Seagate Barracuda 2x80GB (RAID 0) | WD Caviar Black 640GB SATA3
Antec 900 Two | Corsair HX650W | Radeon HD 4870 512MB @ 800MHz/1GHz



Cheers,

 

[timmy121]

I don't thinks that single HD 6850 can beat GTS 450 sli. do u have any link. moreover current PSU of wasupmike can handle 450 sli easily. for HD 6850 sli he might have to upgrade PSU also.

You only need a 450Watt psu for a HD6850 and 600Watt for a Crossfire setup with a HD6850

 

[timmy121]

GTS450 is a powerful setup. The problem is that you're limited in terms of performance. A single GTS450 is also weaker than your current card, and (especially because you mentioned it)SLI'd, ties a moderately OC'd HD6850.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gts-450-sli-review/1

The HD6850 can overclock to HD6870 performance (a bit better than the HD5850). If you took an HD6850 and OC'd it, you'd have performance equal to a stock GTS450 SLI. The better part of this is that you can later crossfire the 6850 with a partner, furthering your performance.

Shadow is absolutely right!! check this out(my older post)........................

Well i would go with a HD6850 and they kick ass , only require x1 6pin power connector(450Watt PSU or greater/Crossfire 600Watt),they can easily OC 25-30%, you have some Great performance at a fraction of the $$$ and Not to mention 68xx scaling and performance will get better, use less power, lower temps, DX11, MLAA, all these are better on 6xxx vs 5xxx.

I got my XFX HD6850@ 1,010Mhz Core, 1,180Mhz Memory with a simple Volt increasing using MSI After burner......been running stable for over a week no problems at all and i don't hit over 66c on the GPU at full load so I'm quite happy.....also don't forget that XFX gives you a Lifetime warranty on the card (if you register within first 30 days after buying it)and will replace it for any reason unless ofc you physically break it lol

Take a look at this chart! 😀 HD6850 in CF are Neck to Neck with the HD5970 2GB and 68xx don't have official drivers yet till the release of catalyst 10.12 This month or early Jan,2011 so who knows maybe better performance after official drivers

 

[digvijaysingh]

friends, Just check these links on GTS 450 SLI. two 450 in sli beats hd 5850 which is better than 6850.
so stop saying that 2x450 = 1x6850
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTS_450_SLI/23.html
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gts-450-sli-review/17

so sli 450 combination is much better than one 6850 for future.

 

[Tamz_msc]

In general, its better to start with a single card than a multi-GPU setup from the beginning.

To the OP, the HD 6850 is a good choice, if dont want to go for the 6870. It already has one of the best performance/price ratios

 

[plastichairball]

Something that's worth saying is that a GTS 450 can overclock like MAD right out of the box. In your OP you speak of OCing the 450's to 850, which is still very much under-rating the cards! You can pretty much start at 900 and go from there, the cards are shipped supremely UNDERclocked, so it's worthless talking about them at stock. Factor in an extra 10% or so performance increase when considering the 450s!

 

[shadow187]

You can say the same for the HD6850.

 

[timmy121]

friends, Just check these links on GTS 450 SLI. two 450 in sli beats hd 5850 which is better than 6850.
so stop saying that 2x450 = 1x6850
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTS_450_SLI/23.html
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gts-450-sli-review/17

so sli 450 combination is much better than one 6850 for future.

Honestly 1x HD6850 is best in my opinion and you really don't wanna start off with Multi GPU setup and a 450 SLI power requirements are the same as a HD6850 in Crossfire or single GPU, and a 450 SLI setup will not beat or get close to a HD6850 in Crossfire so more future proof i would say a HD6850 and you can get them for $170 bucks or less with rebates, Starting off with a HD6850 you don't need a crossfire setup with them maybe a year down the road or longer and by then pick up another HD6850 and crossfire them if you feel you need to.

 

[wasupmike]

thanx to everyone for their advice..! you all had good points:

- as not what i initially thought -> seems to be that the Corsair hx650w can handle the R6850 in CF after all (or GTX460 SLI)... so it could be a possibility in the future that would clearly overtake the nVidia 450's in SLI -> props to: Shadow187, jerreece, iam2thecrowe, Tamz_msc + timmy121 for that one! (forgive me if i forgot anyone)

- i also believe however, as does: 'digvijaysingh' -> that 2 x GTS450's in SLI is actually a better performer on average than a single R6850 or GTX460 1GB... if a game works with the CF properly... than think of it.. a 460 is really only 1 tier up than the 450... and since SLI scaling is pretty good... 2 x 450's should SMOKE 1 x 460 / R6850

but 2 x 450's now are costing quite more than 1 card... and of course, there are all the other drawbacks of purchasing now a 'mid-range SLI' to take into consideration too... as mentioned before by lots of you above...

so alas..! i have just ordered the Gigabyte overclocked version of the R6850

i wouldn't have chosen that one... as it was priced slightly above all the other R6850's @ stock clocks... and only very mildly overclocked... to which i would have overclocked way more than they did anyways, on any R6850 card i got... but it was the only one out of the entire bunch that had 'free shipping' -> so it came out to be the cheapest R6850 i could find..!

it's got that 'WindForce' cooler... and possibly, cause it's the "OC" version, it will hopefully have a more "picked-out" GPU chip in there for further overclocking

thanx again for all the input..!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
core i5-750 @ 3.8ghz | a-data ddr3 2000 4x2GB @ 1.9ghz
asus p7p55d-e pro | xigmatek hdt-s1283 | ocz vertex 2 60GB
seagate barracuda 2x80gb (raid 0) | wd caviar black 640gb sata3
antec 900 two | corsair hx650w | radeon hd 4870 512mb @ 800mhz/1ghz (not 4 long)

 

[jerreece]

I think you have done well for yourself in choosing the ATI 6850 over a couple 450's. Long term, you have more options and potential for performance by being able to add another 6850 down the road.

Plus, the 6850 is a great performer on it's own. So you're certainly not lacking right now.

 

[timmy121]

I think you have done well for yourself in choosing the ATI 6850 over a couple 450's. Long term, you have more options and potential for performance by being able to add another 6850 down the road.

Plus, the 6850 is a great performer on it's own. So you're certainly not lacking right now.

+999999 on that lol, I love my XFX HD6850, maxed out HAWX 2 @ 1920x1080, call of duty Black ops, Call of duty MW2 and other titles but GTA IV lol well plays fine on med shadows and and everything else maxed. GREAT CARD

 

[wasupmike]

Best answer selected by wasupmike.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey