5850 vs gtx 260

[Dzlobin]

Hey guys, I'm in the middle of planning a new machine. Here is what I have so far:
Intel i7 920/ Thermalright TRUE 120
Asus P6T
OCZ Gold 6GB DDR3-1600
Corsair CMPSU-550VX 550W

Patriot Warp 32GB SSD (OS)
Western Digital 640GB Caviar Black HDD
Cooler Master Gladiator

Now the blank slot will either be a
EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896mb
or a
SAPPHIRE 100282SR Radeon HD 5850 1GB

Is the performance increase worth the ~$100 price tag?

[EarthDog]

its a lot faster, yes. Its not up to us to tell you if its worth YOUR money. I would check some reviews and such and then make a determination. But yeah, its a lot faster.

[visbits]

5850 should be at least 2x if not 3x faster. Seeing as the 5870 is neck and shoulder to a dual gpu 295 I'd say the 5850 isn't much behind it.

[Dzlobin]

its a lot faster, yes. Its not up to us to tell you if its worth YOUR money. I would check some reviews and such and then make a determination. But yeah, its a lot faster.

Alright just making sure, what threw me off was newegg's specs:

GTX 260:
Core Clock 626MHz
Stream Processors 216 Processor Cores
Memory Clock 2106MHz (effective)

5850:
Core Clock 725MHz
Stream Processors 1440 Stream Processing Units
Memory Clock 1000MHz (4.0Gbps)

[EarthDog]

Its nowhere close to 2x-3x faster 99% of the time.... Here is a quick review to read: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_5850/7.html

But it is a lot faster as I noted above.

[Dzlobin]

Its nowhere close to 2x-3x faster 99% of the time.... Here is a quick review to read: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_5850/7.html

But it is a lot faster as I noted above.
That's a great link, I'm reading through all of the reviews now. Thanks!

[EarthDog]

Alright just making sure, what threw me off was newegg's specs:

GTX 260:
Core Clock 626MHz
Stream Processors 216 Processor Cores
Memory Clock 2106MHz (effective)

5850:
Core Clock 725MHz
Stream Processors 1440 Stream Processing Units
Memory Clock 1000MHz (4.0Gbps)You cant compare like that is the problem. That 1000Mhz is actually 4000Mhz effective as its GDDR5 instread of GDDR3 like the 260 216 has.

EDIT: Sorry I changed links... Here is the original source link to a whole shhhhload of reviews: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=235090

[Dzlobin]

You cant compare like that is the problem. That 1000Mhz is actually 4000Mhz effective as its GDDR5 instread of GDDR3 like the 260 216 has.

EDIT: Sorry I changed links... Here is the original source link to a whole shhhhload of reviews: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=235090

Yeah I saw that on the first review I read..I'm sold on the 5850 already

[Gabkicks]

the 5850 is a bit faster than a gtx 285...i love mine, but it would be better paired w/ a new quadcore :)

[DazzXP]

That review is excellent, i have been checking reviews and have not been 100% sure if to go with the HD 5850 or if i should buy another GTX 260. However after seeing it being double my GTX 260 (192 core) i am now sold as it's 100% faster in alot of games more so the more demanding it it is. I game at 1650x1080 but some games struggle alittle, Fallout 3 for one but from what i hear it's due to poor driver coding on nVidia's part but also can get alittle sluggish in DOW2 and also Stalker Clear Skies. However that review posted shows a big improvement from the GTX 260 192 core.