Hunter~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Hey all, I'm looking to potentially upgrade video cards so I figured I'd pick the collective mind of Sparta before making any purchases. I am currently using an ATI HD 4870, which has been good to me since I bought it and is still working fine. However, I now have three monitors I would like to run and the 4870 can only run two at a time. So after a bit of browsing, it seems that the ATI HD 5850 is about what I want/need. If you guys have any suggestions or insight to share, I'm all ears. I am partial to ATI since I've never owned a NVIDIA, but I am not entirely opposed to giving them a try. - JHunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pringle~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 I've owned both. While technically partial to Nvidia, 6/half a dozen if you ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MH6~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Go with an ATI card that supports Eyefinity (pref. dual GPU card) and don't look back. The new Nvidia cards are worthless--and this is coming from a diehard Nvidia fan. The Fermi cards are a major disappointment, but here's to hoping their next line redeems them. So go ATI. You'll get a good card, but have to put up with shitty drivers. Such is life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwing~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 (edited) While going 5970 would be top line, is still very expensive. It means doubling your budget and that could be tough. If you are looking for a 5850, you are in range about $320, however I would really make a sacrifice and push it up to about $400 and get a 5870, absolutely superior. Good luck Edited August 17, 2010 by Batwing~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkeleTele~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 J I have a 5870 with eyefinity and it works great im sure the 5850 is fine make sure you have a display port on one monitor or a POWERED display port to dvi adapter and enjoy the show good luck..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custard~SPARTA~ Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 How good a quality do you want from your secondary monitors? Get another 4870 still a great card only please don't say what you pay for it it'll probly upset me lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter~SPARTA~ Posted August 18, 2010 Author Share Posted August 18, 2010 How good a quality do you want from your secondary monitors? Get another 4870 still a great card only please don't say what you pay for it it'll probly upset me lol I was primarily looking at upgrading because I wanted to give eyefinity a try with games across multiple screens. If you do the same thing with multiple cards, I'm not sure how to do it. Plus, would two cards require more power from the PSU that a single, more powerful card would? - JHunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pringle~SPARTA~ Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 Plus, would two cards require more power from the PSU that a single, more powerful card would? Depends on the card, really. But speaking of the cards already mentioned, they all seem to require a 600 - 800w psu, nearly double that for crossfire. Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewman~SPARTA~ Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 I have been running a 5850 for six months, great card, I have not used it across 3 monitors though so cannot comment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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