hd5850 upgrade @ 5040x1050

Lynx

Lynx

New member
Looking for an upgrade under 200 gbp,
toying with either 660 twin frozr or the 7850 xxx

Games I will play @ 5040x1050 are: black ops 2, gta iv, cs:go, wow, dirt 3

My priorities are: power consumption > high graphics => 5040x1050 > noise > ultra grahics

Which will be the wiser choice for my TJ08-e, Asus MAXIMUS V GENE, 3570k, 8gb 1600mhz 8-8-8-24 1.5v build?
 
You'll probably need to get a 7950 for gaming on 3 screens, depending on the games you want to play. can get one from aria today for 200 quid. out of the 7850 and 66 id take the 7850 personally
 
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SavageCupcake said:
You'll probably need to get a 7950 for gaming on 3 screens, depending on the games you want to play. can get one from aria today for 200 quid. out of the 7850 and 66 id take the 7850 personally
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thanks for the info, also what would make you choose the 7850 when the 660 runs cooler, quieter, cheaper and faster in pretty much all benchmarks I have seen?
 
You really do need to wait and save up a little more cash cause for that monster a resolution, you're really going to need a lot more horsepower than a 7850 or GTC660. A 7870 would be the least I'd want for that resolution but the faster the better.
 
Lynx said:
thanks for the info, also what would make you choose the 7850 when the 660 runs cooler, quieter, cheaper and faster in pretty much all benchmarks I have seen?
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I'd expect you to be overclocking a 7850 on triple screens - it's a big ask to do what you want for under £200. Once you overclock a 7850 it will tear a 660 apart in performance. Any of the major brands are good (MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire etc), just make sure you get a 3rd party cooler on it i.e. 2+ fans not a single fan.
 
Master&Puppet said:
I'd expect you to be overclocking a 7850 on triple screens - it's a big ask to do what you want for under £200. Once you overclock a 7850 it will tear a 660 apart in performance.
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Pretty much this :) also i prefer amd for multiple screens, tried to set it up once on a friends pc with a nvidia card and it was a right pita, though that might have changed :)
 
Agreed. AMD is legendary for shoddy drivers with multiple screens. Nvidia will have an odd issue here and there but are far and away better. AMD is really bad about releasing new drivers for new games til weeks after they're released. It took them a good 2 weeks to get proper drivers out for BF3 and Eyefinity whereas Nvidia had them out in time for release.

So yeah, multi monitors - stick with Nvidia for way less driver hassles and headaches.
 
MacLeod said:
Agreed. AMD is legendary for shoddy drivers with multiple screens. Nvidia will have an odd issue here and there but are far and away better. AMD is really bad about releasing new drivers for new games til weeks after they're released. It took them a good 2 weeks to get proper drivers out for BF3 and Eyefinity whereas Nvidia had them out in time for release.

So yeah, multi monitors - stick with Nvidia for way less driver hassles and headaches.
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They were actually arguing for the other side :P

Again my priorities are power consumption as a number 1, and the 660 blows the others out of the water in that department and I won't be overclocking for that reason aswell.
I have had driver issues before but it isn't that much of a factor for me as sooner or later they get smoothed out and I can't see myself upgrading for another 3 years or so.
I am a very casual gamer and don't mind at all dropping to high/medium for some games.
 
Lynx said:
They were actually arguing for the other side :P

Again my priorities are power consumption as a number 1, and the 660 blows the others out of the water in that department and I won't be overclocking for that reason aswell.
I have had driver issues before but it isn't that much of a factor for me as sooner or later they get smoothed out and I can't see myself upgrading for another 3 years or so.
I am a very casual gamer and don't mind at all dropping to high/medium for some games.
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Oops. Reading comprehension FTW. :D

Browse around some other forums lime HardOCP and you'll see horror stories of AMD drivers and Eyefinity especially for new games. So much so that the owner stuck a big editorial on the front page blasting AMD's crap drivers.

I wouldn't worry too much about power consumption as the differences we're talking about is less than a typical light bulb. And even at medium settings you're going to need a lot of GPU muscle for that resolution. Games like BF3, Crysis 2 or whatever will be more like low settings than medium.
 
Hmmmm the nvidia was harder to set up for me. tried dual screens for my 6850 and i got it working fine though only gamed on one.

As macleod said The cost difference is minimal.
 
Lynx said:
Because I leave my pc on 24/7 and 660 idles at 7w.
Click to expand...
You might want to double check this - you are right that a 660 consumes around 6w at idle which is better than the 78x0 series but that's not the full picture. You are talking about leaving the pc idling overnight and I'm guessing you turn off your monitor during this time in which case AMD zerocore power will virtually shut off the GPU and will be pulling 1-3W throughout the night.

Check the difference between idle and long idle states between these GPUs here.
 
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Master&Puppet said:
You might want to double check this - you are right that a 660 consumes around 6w at idle which is better than the 78x0 series but that's not the full picture. You are talking about leaving the pc idling overnight and I'm guessing you turn off your monitor during this time in which case AMD zerocore power will virtually shut off the GPU and will be pulling 1-3W throughout the night.

Check the difference between idle and long idle states between these GPUs here.
Click to expand...

+1 to above post

Remember that when you oc either card (which you would need to in order to play at that res) your power consumption rises exponentially. I'd personally be looking at a 79x0.
 
SavageCupcake said:
Hmmmm the nvidia was harder to set up for me. tried dual screens for my 6850 and i got it working fine though only gamed on one.

As macleod said The cost difference is minimal.
Click to expand...

Its not so much that Nvidia is harder to set up, its the games compatibility with multiple monitors. That's where Nvidia is really ahead. Their drivers are updated with the new games when they release so they'll display properly and everything. AMD always seems to be several days to weeks behind in releasing their drivers and there were a lot of people running 3 monitors that had to game on just one til AMD got everything straightened out when BF3 launched.
 
Master&Puppet said:
You might want to double check this - you are right that a 660 consumes around 6w at idle which is better than the 78x0 series but that's not the full picture. You are talking about leaving the pc idling overnight and I'm guessing you turn off your monitor during this time in which case AMD zerocore power will virtually shut off the GPU and will be pulling 1-3W throughout the night.

Check the difference between idle and long idle states between these GPUs here.
Click to expand...

Wow thanks alot for this info, looks like I will be going with a 7950. I would +rep if it still existed.
 
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