Ati 5850 is it better than Ati 6870.

[Swift Assassin]

I have a saphire 5850 was planning on selling it to get a 6870, Is it worth switching. Also if you guys do recommend a 6870 what name brand should i get asus, Msi, xfx.

Is the 6870 more powerful than a 5870 or the same, i am hearing mix reviews.

Thanks in advance to all the members who reply.

[Soultribunal]

You're only going to receive a smaller 3-7% average increase in performance going to a 6870 from a 5850. However that being said you will get a card that does run cooler, and consume less power. So from that standpoint I would probably do it.
Newer Tech is always nicer to have.

ST

[EdHilario]

If it's raw FPS power then the 5850 still had the edge over the 68xx series and the 5870 would definitely be better than the 6850. It was meant to replace the 5830.
Think more about the 6950 if you are going to go over to the 6xxx series cards.

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by EdHilario

If it's raw FPS power then the 5850 still had the edge over the 68xx series and the 5870 would definitely be better than the 6850. It was meant to replace the 5830.
Think more about the 6950 if you are going to go over to the 6xxx series cards.

Well if you read the reviews here in actual (not sythetic benchmarks) the 6870 edges ahead of the 5850. I myself was persuaded by the team here to opt for 6XXX series card vs cheaper 5850's.
I don't regret it one bit.

ST

[Desiato]

I wouldn't go through the hassle and expense of upgrading a 5850 to a 6870 because they are close in performance. If you need to upgrade, a 6950 card would be substantive.

I'm not sure what the current best prices are for these cards, but based on a quick look, the 6950 appears to be only around $20 more than the 6870.

[Bond007]

wouldn't do it. Keep what you have or jump to a 6950 or better.

Edit: if buying new I would go for the 68xx, but given you already have a 5850 I wouldn't go to the 68xx series.

[EdHilario]

I always found the 5850 to be one of the bang for the buck cards even when it was still priced higher. Then the GTX 460 Hawk Edition came out and a couple of those in SLI were really the bargain and performance king for several months after. I felt sad about my single 5850 but then I had the option to grab a second one when it dropped in price.

I never really saw any real upgrade going to a 68xx card other than power consumption and tessellation performance. Eventually, I moved up to a 6970 which was what I was really waiting for coming from the 5850. It was more of a worthwhile upgrade if I didn't skip this generation of cards. Still wouldn't mind a 580 but I haven't owned an NVIDIA card since 2001 lol

[Delavan]

Upgrading from a HD5850?

Let's see..a HD6950 is just a tad better than a HD5870 in most titles (HD69** is better at tesselation or Higher res)....but would you go from a 5850 to a 5870??? If not, according to the reasoning, a 6950 is not enough of an upgrade...

I'd say go HD6970 or GTX570, or consider HD6950 crossfire, SLI GTX560Ti or something....(better than GTX580)

[EdHilario]

Forgot about the 570. That's also an alternative to the 6970.

Just forget about the 68xx cards altogether :)

[ern88]

Well, The 5850 doesn't consume much power as I have one and it doesn't run hotter than a 6870. I was going to do the same except go for a 6950. but the performance increase was only 10-15% at best. I will skip the 6xxx series and wait to see what the 7xxx series will offer before upgrading. But if you plan on crossfiring. The 6xxx series has the edge for that. AMD has made significant performance gains the 5xxx crossfiring.