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Thread: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

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    ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    Hi All,

    Question is pretty much summed up in the title. I'm looking to upgrade from a pair of 8800GT's and am trying to decide if an ATI 5850 or a pair of Nvidia 250 1gig cards is the way to go.

    Rest of my system is in my sig, but one thing i've been concerned about is my case is an Antec Lanboy, which is pretty small. Getting a touch worried about temps at the moment, will 2 250's just melt?

    Thanks in advance,
    Cam

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    If I remember rightly a 250 is basically the same card as the 8800GT, so you'd just be wasting a lot of money!

    A single 5850 on the other hand would be a noticeable improvement.

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    If I remember rightly a 250 is basically the same card as the 8800GT, so you'd just be wasting a lot of money!

    A single 5850 on the other hand would be a noticeable improvement.
    Hmm the 250 1gig versions have twice the memory, and looking at the tomshardware charts for the 1920 x 1200 tests they seem to be quite an improvement, or have i got that wrong?

    http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts...d%5B3649%5D=on

    For £200 - £250 is there another option? Or is it just not worth upgrading yet then?

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    Quote Originally Posted by camalbitboy View Post
    Hmm the 250 1gig versions have twice the memory, and looking at the tomshardware charts for the 1920 x 1200 tests they seem to be quite an improvement, or have i got that wrong?
    If you don't have enough memory to run at super high res then yes, going to a higher memory version of the same card will be a big improvement where you are memory limited. But the GPU is effectively just a rebrand of the 8800GT.
    For £200 - £250 is there another option? Or is it just not worth upgrading yet then?
    The 5850 is a great option.

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    The GTS250 is a rebrand of 9800GTX which was a higher clocked version of the 9800GTs which were a rebrand of 8800GTX AFAIK. This would be like upgrading from crossfire 4850 to crossfire 4870, there would be improvements but not by that much I believe.

    Do feel free to correct me if I am wrong though.

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    The 5850 is a good choice. If you're into dual cards then two 5770s are a good option too.

    The GTS250s are way past their sell-by date.

    *wrong* P.S. Since you mentioned Ulti... The 9800GT was a rebrand of the 512Mb 8800GTS *wrong*

    edit: Check out CAT's post cos mine was a terrible lie...
    Last edited by Zhaoman; 25-05-2010 at 09:15 PM.

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    Get you facts right people!

    These are the correct re-brands:

    1.)8800GTS 512MB to 9800GTX to 9800GTX+ to GTS250
    2.)8800GT to 9800GT to GTS240

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    Get you facts right people!

    These are the correct re-brands:

    1.)8800GTS 512MB to 9800GTX to 9800GTX+ to GTS250
    2.)8800GT to 9800GT to GTS240
    LOL only cos people believe you doesn't make u right I do stand corrected

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    The Nvidia re-branding is confusing and even ATI seems to be doing it now!

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    CAT has got is basically correct here.

    g92 8800gt to
    g92a 9800gt (lower clock speeds & power draw when idle or 2d mode) to
    g92b 9800gt eco and gts240 (same card but OEM only) die shrunk reduced power draw.
    the change over from 8800gt to 9800gt saw quite a few early 9800gt cards with ether the old gpu or the old pcb so the reduced power modes didn't work

    the others where as following
    g92 8800gts 512mb to
    g92 + a clock speed bump, 9800gtx to
    g92a reduced power + another small speed bumb, 9800gtx+ to
    g92b die shrunk, lower power draw and reduced pcb length, gts250
    Again the change over from 9800gtx+ to gts250 saw many early card with the old gpu still on them so still had the higher power draw.

    you can spot an older g92a gts250 over a g92b gts250 by the fact that the g92a gts250 required 2 pci-e connectors.

    I don't think you'd see much of a change going from sli 8800gt 512mb to sli gts250 1gb, some but not a massive amount.
    128shaders vs 112shaders, more memory, slightly higher clock speeds
    However heat shouldn't* be an issue as the gts250 are very power effecent and tend to have better coolers than the original 8800gt stock cooler [i]*dependant on card/cooler, eg the xfx gts250's are known for their nice looking shroud hiding a rather rubbish heatsink)

    a single 5850 would be better or look around for a pair of 2nd hand gtx260 (around £70 each now)

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    An HD5850 1GB does seem a good choice but has risen quite a bit from its original £200 launch price.

    However ATI Southern Islands is meant to launch this year too and have improved DX11 performance. It will be interesting to see if the GTX465 will cause the HD5850 to drop in price though.

    The GTX465 is going to be launched in June.

    Edit!!

    Here is a preview of the GTX465:

    http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...e-gtx-465.html
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 25-05-2010 at 09:39 PM.

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    two gtx275 I was watching on fleabay went for £120ish each today, gtx260's are probably closer to £80-90

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    2.)8800GT to 9800GT to GTS240
    GTS240 is only 96 shaders using a GT215 chip, not using a G92(a,b) chip.

    CAT never makes these mistakes, who are you and what have you done with our Cat????

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    ok, thanks all, now that we've resolved the geneology of the various cards can I have a bit more advice on performance?

    Going by Tomshardware the dual 250's would be a bit of a step up, and almost at the same level as a 5850 for £50 less. I can't go crossfire as my board is single card or SLI only.

    So is Toms right? Would the dual 250's be a worthwhile step up for the money? or the 5850? also will i see any real improvement with a Q6600 processor at stock? I can't overclock it as every time I do I have synchronizing problems with every online game i own. I can get a stable overclcok at 2.9Ghz very easily, could prob go higher, but every online game craps out with sync errors

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    This could be a gameshow.

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    Re: ATI 5850 or Nvidia 250 SLI

    Quote Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix View Post
    GTS240 is only 96 shaders using a GT215 chip, not using a G92(a,b) chip.

    CAT never makes these mistakes, who are you and what have you done with our Cat????
    You mean the GT240 don't you!

    Quote Originally Posted by camalbitboy View Post
    ok, thanks all, now that we've resolved the geneology of the various cards can I have a bit more advice on performance?

    Going by Tomshardware the dual 250's would be a bit of a step up, and almost at the same level as a 5850 for £50 less. I can't go crossfire as my board is single card or SLI only.

    So is Toms right? Would the dual 250's be a worthwhile step up for the money? or the 5850? also will i see any real improvement with a Q6600 processor at stock? I can't overclock it as every time I do I have synchronizing problems with every online game i own. I can get a stable overclcok at 2.9Ghz very easily, could prob go higher, but every online game craps out with sync errors
    Remember that many of the cheaper GTS250 1GB cards are Green Editions which means they have lower clockspeeds. The HD5850 1GB has risen in price from its original £200 price point but if you are quick you can one for under £240.

    Amazon are selling the HD5850 1GB Vapor X for under £220 delivered:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0036Z3Y5...SIN=B0036Z3Y5O

    Here are a few other cheaper HD5850 1GB cards:

    http://www.tekheads.co.uk/product/VT...ail_27188.html

    http://www.microdirect.co.uk/home/pr...ource=googleps

    http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...ource=googleps

    I would get one of the cheaper HD5850 1GB cards and the HD5850 1GB seems to have power consumption comparable to that of an HD4850:

    http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_5850/28.html
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 26-05-2010 at 10:30 AM.

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