Possible budget gaming PC build?

ratman said:

ratman said:

I'll go for the 5850 because it has slightly higher performance for a slightly higher yet affordable cost. I know, the benefits are minimal, I just believe that the 5850 has better drivers, has been around longer and is more well known.

Oh, and the 5850 is slightly shorter, meaning that there will be more room in my case.

I have 2 or 3cm in my Two Hundred. Extra room doesn't really mean much.

Do you have to build right now, or can you afford to wait a few more weeks?


Do you have a MSY 'close by' to you?




6870 (Gigabyte) No stock atm but for a few dollars more, it would be a better choice.
Gigabyte ATI AMD HD6870 1Gb for $278 @ NetPlus - Cheapest Computers - Perth Western Australia

6870 (Sapphire) In Stock, but the price difference between the Giga and Sapphire is questionable
Sapphire ATI AMD HD6870 1Gb for $319 @ NetPlus - Cheapest Computers - Perth Western Australia

470 (Personally I'd avoid Palit - stock also an issue)
GeForce GTX470 1280Mb DDR5 for $319 @ NetPlus - Cheapest Computers - Perth Western Australia

The 470 is a decent performer, but is hot and noisy.

6870 (XFX from PLE - NFI if it's in stock, or has manual voltage adjustment for Overclocking purposes)

PLE Computers Perth, Online Shopping, Computers, Notebooks, Hardware, Service and Repairs

(PLE seems to be a bit on the pricey side)


There's not really much worth looking at PLE or netplus for decent RAM. Again, either stick with what you've chosen or raise the budget and order elsewhere.

If you do order from other places, add a few items to make the postage worthwhile.

ratman said:

Which will be better with overclocking: 5850 or 6850

5850's with voltage adjustable chips are proven to be decent overclockers.


Realistically, going for a 6xxx series would be a better choice in the long run. AMD tend to concentrate most of their 'driver development' for the most current gen cards. Older gens are treated like the poor relations.

Fumz said:

parabellum said:

Fumz said:

That the 6800's have better tessellation than the 5800's matters little; they run games slower than the 5800's... and that's often the bottom line, right.

Not enough to make a difference.

XFX Radeon HD 6870 Review | Maximum PC

Trying to talk honestly about hardware with a fanboy is always difficult. Why is calling a spade a spade is so difficult? The 6800's are a disappointment... that much is painfully obvious to anyone who looks at the data. They're often slower than the cards they're replacing. In the few cases where they're not, they're not faster by much. Did you miss the links I posted?

1920x1080, Games that the 6870 is slower than the 5870: Bad Company 2, Modern Warfare 2, Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Stalker CoP, Lost Planet 2, Fallout New Vegas, Dirt 2, Battleforge, and, according to the link you provided, Hawx.

1920x1080, Games that the 6870 is faster than the 5870: Aliens vs Predator, Mass Effect 2, Hawx 2, Starcraft II.

but hey, the 6800 has better tessellation.

Despite these uncomfortable fact, here you are suggesting that the newer slower cards have, "outclassed" their predecessor, and when called on it, you say, "they're not slower by much".

I mean c'mon... this is just nonsense. I fear if you keep bending over backwards trying to defend these products you may injure yourself.

Slower then 10% is irrelevant. You really think you'll notice 43FPS vs 46FPS? I doubt it.

smarteyeball said:

SlackerITGuy said:

What I'd change is the Video card. The HD 5850, while a great solid card, is "somewhat" old, in fact, for that kind of money, you could probably get a HD 6870 or a GTX 470 (much better choices).

The price of a 5850 is still cheaper than a 470/6870 here in Aus (Roughly $100)

Stock availability for the 6870 is also still a bit of an issue. A newer card would be preferable, but it's up to ratman how far he can extend his budget.

The same applies to the RAM. For decent 1600mhz+, regardless of Brand it ranges from double to triple the amount of the value Kingston.

As for card dimensions:

5850
24.13 cm X 12 cm X 4 cm

6870

10.3 x 4.4 x 1.5 inches (about 26 cm)

(for comparison of a potential future Large card upgrade)

5970
30.5 cm x 10 cm x 3.3 cm

That case will fit a 5850/6870 - may be pushing it for 'mega long' cards


Ratman, where are you sourcing your parts from? PCCG, MSY etc?

LOL I totally ignored the fact that he lived in Australia, my bad .

Getting back on topic, I found this GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6870 for just under $280 on the web site he posted on one of his posts, here:

Gigabyte ATI AMD HD6870 1Gb for $278 @ NetPlus - Cheapest Computers - Perth Western Australia

Definitely the card I'd go for.

6870 > 5850.

EDIT: BTW what's with the 5870 vs 6870 comparisons?

The 6870 wasn't released to replace the 5870.

A Phenom 965 is $167 and a decent mobo - Gigabyte 870A-UD3 - is $121 if you want to save more.