Still using HD5850...Time to upgrade?

[Signal2Noise]

Hey folks! I spent sometime upgrading my desktop and am now wondering if I should get a new vid card or wait for a while longer.

You can check my specs on the pulldown and sig below. I recently added the SSD for a boot drive and have some key apps (CAD, 3D animation) and games (Rift, Deus Ex HR) installed on it. I also switched mobo/cpu out (going to post on Kijiji if anyone's interested), going from a Core i5 750, oc'd @ 3.6GHz. Current 2600K is oc'd to 4.43GHz with no plans on going higher.

The HD5850 Toxic ed. card is great @ 1920x1080 for gaming. However, if the pre-config'd Catalyst overclock/overdrive is enabled it causes artifacting on my 2nd display which I guess has been a known issue for a long time. So I run it in 'normal' mode. Anyway, will I notice any performance gain moving up the ladder in an nVidia or AMD card upgrade? Or is there a more stable card out there for dual displays?

TIA.

[hal314]

Reminds me of something I read on a photography site: Is it worth it?

Specifically:

"Something is worth it if its benefit exceeds its cost - to you. That's easy to answer if I know you, what you shoot and your situation.

I can help you understand what's new and why anyone would care, but only you know how much money means to you and whether or not you use the features that may have been added."

I would ask yourself if you don't like the way games play on your current card, and the upgraded performance (check benchmark lists) are worth the money involved, go for it.

Personally, I would wait until the games you want to play don't play at settings that you like before upgrading. For me, that would be pretty low settings: ie: once I don't meet requirements anymore. YMMV of course.

Edit:
One other thing unique to computer systems: the longer you wait, the more you can get for your money because specs keep going up all the time.

[Pabz0r545]

Hey I am not sure if you are really into gaming or any kind of video/graphic design or editing. If you are I would definitely upgrade the video card. Upgrade to what? That depends on your needs and your budget.

[ultraman7k]

I had a 5850 for a while, and upgraded to a 6970 a few months back.

the occasional screen tearing/artifacting on my 3 monitors (it was fine in eyefinity, but I wanted to use 3 separate desktops) drove me up the wall. That being said, my friend has a 2gb 5850 and gets no such problems. I upped to a 6970 2gb and have since had no problems at on desktop. I think the extra 1gb buffer makes a huge difference.

Then again, if I were you, I'd wait till the next gen of cards comes out...if you can wait that long that is.

[ern88]

I have a 5850. And I was going to upgrade. But with a small performance gain. It wasn't worth it. I would recommend waiting for the next series card. I am only going to upgrade if the new cards are 30% or above performance increase. I am not going to spend $200 for a 5-10% increase.

[Killswitch]

I'm running 2 x 5850's with 3 x 22" monitors in eyefinity and have no problems cranking out most (and usually all) graphic settings within games. No intentions of upgrading video cards for a long time yet here.

If you're looking for more power, have you considered getting another 5850 and going X-fire?

[Bond007]

Honestly if the performance you are getting from the 5850 is acceptable to you I would hold off. There are faster cards out there, but your looking at spending quite a bit of money for not a ton of gain. Stand by for next gen unless your current card just can't do what you want any more.

[Silvgearx]

5850 on 2 1920x1080. Your running borderline. I think it's worth it to upgrade since price have dropped on ati and nvidia cards.

[muse108dc]

AH, you have a 5850 and you are considering a 6xxx card. Here I am with a 4890 still hanging on waiting. As a rule I generally say that unless you have pockets stuffed with cash then upgrading to only the subsequent generation is not worth it.

[GT7R]

Well since you ask it "oh, I'm a generation behind, maybe I should spend some more $$" ;)
Gotta say as long as you're fine with your card, don't even look for a new one (unless as said above you have the spare cash for it lying around).
As others have said, better wait for the next gen of cards (getting their full lineup will take about half a year).