Poll: Graphics Card

[Azure-Supernova]

I've hit a bit of a wall and now I'm kicking myself for it.

At the time I built my PC I bought a HD Radeon 5770 because they were stupidly cheap at £80 on eBuyer. It's a decent card and it's Dx11 but I'm feeling that I need a bit more juice for a few games like Crysis 2 and The Witcher 2. So here's the thing I need advice on, do I:

1. Go for a second 5770 and then crossfire? They've gone back up to around £90-100, is the performance increase noteworthy?

2. Go for a HD 5850 which are currently on sale for £149.99. How would a 5850 compare to the two 5770s?

 

[Kabutos]

In my opinion, I would go for the 5850. Even with 2 5770 cards, I don't think they can match the power of a 5850. That's just my opinion though. The 5850 is a pretty darn good card while the 5770 aren't as good. :3

Nope. Get another 5770 for CF. They're faster than a single 5850; around the same performance as a 5870 really.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Nope. Get another 5770 for CF. They're faster than a single 5850; around the same performance as a 5870 really.

In my opinion, I would go for the 5850. Even with 2 5770 cards, I don't think they can match the power of a 5850. That's just my opinion though. The 5850 is a pretty darn good card while the 5770 aren't as good. :3

Thanks very much! Won't I have issue an issue with some games scaling me down to a single card if I run in CF? Or do most games support this now?

 

[Kabutos]

Thanks very much! Won't I have issue an issue with some games scaling me down to a single card if I run in CF? Or do most games support this now?

CF and SLI are pretty stable nowadays. You'll be fine.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Thanks very much! Won't I have issue an issue with some games scaling me down to a single card if I run in CF? Or do most games support this now?

CF and SLI are pretty stable nowadays. You'll be fine.

In which case many thanks

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Thanks very much! Won't I have issue an issue with some games scaling me down to a single card if I run in CF? Or do most games support this now?

CF and SLI are pretty stable nowadays. You'll be fine.

In which case many thanks

Check the AMD Catalyst downloads page once a month to grab the Crossfire games profile updates that AMD releases to fix any CF specific issues resulting from problems on their side of the fence.

Oh... gotta ask because some people don't realise it's necessary: Is your motherboard Crossfire capable? (not Hybrid Crossfire, either, that's something else again)

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Check the AMD Catalyst downloads page once a month to grab the Crossfire games profile updates that AMD releases to fix any CF specific issues resulting from problems on their side of the fence.

Oh... gotta ask because some people don't realise it's necessary: Is your motherboard Crossfire capable? (not Hybrid Crossfire, either, that's something else again)

It is, M4A77TD Pro. Trouble is I took a look last night and if I do CF there'llbe barely any breathing room between the two cards. Even in my Antec 300 it's gonna get stuffy when I'm running both.

 

[Gigano]

All new games that can take full advantage of better graphics than a single HD5770 can provide should be optimized for SLI/Crossfire as well, so a second HD5770 is probably the way to go if your motherboard supports it.

...Though I'm a bit worried that a single HD5770 doesn't cut it, that's what I've gone with for my new PC. Though it admittedly wasn't built to max graphics out, I'd certainly prefer it if it could run something like Skyrim equally well to the PS3 version.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

...Though I'm a bit worried that a single HD5770 doesn't cut it, that's what I've gone with for my new PC. Though it admittedly wasn't built to max graphics out, I'd certainly prefer it if it could run something like Skyrim equally well to the PS3 version.

HD 5770 should easily keep pace with a PS3 as long as you're being fair in comparison: no video settings above medium (being generous to the PS3 here), run at 720p (1280x720), both fed into the same display and used at the same viewing distance (because video output looks shittier the closer you get to it).

Of course, that all depends on the rest of your set up. If your CPU is creaky or the system is RAMtarded you'll bottleneck and take the resultant performance hit.

 

[Gigano]

...Though I'm a bit worried that a single HD5770 doesn't cut it, that's what I've gone with for my new PC. Though it admittedly wasn't built to max graphics out, I'd certainly prefer it if it could run something like Skyrim equally well to the PS3 version.

HD 5770 should easily keep pace with a PS3 as long as you're being fair in comparison: no video settings above medium (being generous to the PS3 here), run at 720p (1280x720), both fed into the same display and used at the same viewing distance (because video output looks shittier the closer you get to it).

Of course, that all depends on the rest of your set up. If your CPU is creaky or the system is RAMtarded you'll bottleneck and take the resultant performance hit.

The screen I plan to run it on is 1920x1080 native resolution, with a 4 x 3,2GHZ AMD processor, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, on Windows 7 64bit. I hope that should be able to run newer games on medium settings, and that this would suffice to equal the PS3.

You're right that I'll be considerably closer to the screen on PC though, so I guess there'll have to be some trade off for the added customizability even if it can match it.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

...Though I'm a bit worried that a single HD5770 doesn't cut it, that's what I've gone with for my new PC. Though it admittedly wasn't built to max graphics out, I'd certainly prefer it if it could run something like Skyrim equally well to the PS3 version.

HD 5770 should easily keep pace with a PS3 as long as you're being fair in comparison: no video settings above medium (being generous to the PS3 here), run at 720p (1280x720), both fed into the same display and used at the same viewing distance (because video output looks shittier the closer you get to it).

Of course, that all depends on the rest of your set up. If your CPU is creaky or the system is RAMtarded you'll bottleneck and take the resultant performance hit.

The screen I plan to run it on is 1920x1080 native resolution, with a 4 x 3,2GHZ AMD processor, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, on Windows 7 64bit. I hope that should be able to run newer games on medium settings, and that this would suffice to equal the PS3.

*snorts* Should give you better than PS3 performance. The PS3, while having a pretty good CPU, is a RAMtard and the GPU is a rejiggered nVidia 7000 series card, which is now 7 generations out of date and now mostly found in old mum computers used for email and facebook.

You're right that I'll be considerably closer to the screen on PC though, so I guess there'll have to be some trade off for the added customizability even if it can match it.

Naw, not really... More that the video output of consoles is like old slappers wearing make up. Can look good given enough distance but get up close and all the cracks show.