I was looking to upgrade my 3 year old Core 2 Duo and 8800 GTS to a new quad core processor and top of the line video card. After scouring the Internet I settled on the XFX Radeon 5850. I can say I haven’t been disappointed. Lets go over some of the specs of this card.
SPECS
| Bus Type: | PCI-E 2.0 |
| GPU Clock: | 725 Mhz |
| Memory Bus: | 256 |
| Memory Type: | DDR5 |
| Memory Size: | 1024 MB |
| Memory Speed: | 4000 Mhz |
| Thermal Solution: | FANSINK |
| Minimum Power Supply Requirement: | 500W with two 6-pin power cable |
| Outputs: | HDMI, Dual-Link DVI, Display Port |
| Card Dimensions: | 9.5 X 4.376 X 1.5 |
| Feature: | Directx 11 support, DirectCompute 5.0, Open CL, Eyefinity Technology, Shader Model 5.0, OpenGL 3.2, Windows 7, DisplayPort, HDMI |
| Warranty: | |
| Package Contents: | DVI Adapter, 6 Pin Y Power Cable |
CONTENTS
The Box contained the usual driver software, a DVI to VGA adaptor for those with older monitors, two six pin Y adaptors and a nice door hanger to say leave me alone , I’m gaming. It was a nice touch. Even though this is just the standard reference design, XFXdouble lifetime warranty is what set this card apart from the others I was looking at. Which means when I upgrade in a few years and decide to sell the video card, the warranty will transfer to the new owner. This means that if I choose to sell the card on EBAY it will fetch a higher dollar amount compared to the competition.
COST
Even though chip supplies have stabilized for the video cards in the 5000 series, they still fetch a premium. I was able to pick up my card from EBay for $299.00, but here is a way to recoup some of that money. Sign up for BING cashback and Shop on EBAY. Now for this to work you have to select Buy It Now, and Pay with Paypal. But here is what you can save. Your purchase from EBAY will qualify for 8% cash back, credited to your PAYPAL account within 60 days after the purchase. In addition to that you will also be eligible for EBAY bucks. So for $299.00 I will get back about $32.00. So the price of the card was about $260.00 not a bad deal, considering the going rate for the card off NEWEGG is about $314.00 with no discount.
REAL WORLD PERFORMANCE
Some of the more recent games that I have played with this video card are Left 4 Dead 2, Assassins Creed 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and GTA 4.
BATTLEFIELD BAD COMPANY 2
1680X1050 MAX VIDEO SETTINGS DX11 ENABLED
60 FPS
FINAL THOUGHTS
For years I have been a big fan of NVIDIA hardware, but with ATI’s newest release I can say I have jumped ship. I’m sure the next generation of NVIDIA cards will be amazing, but they will be so high cost they will be out of my league. Price, performance and features is what makes the 5850 one of the best cards on the market at this time.