Need advice 5770 or 5850 or 5870?

[ncasolo]

I believe I put the cart in front of the ox so to speak and now I'm trying to figure out something I should have done first. Unfortunately I didn't know this in advance.

I've just ordered three Lenovo L215 21.5" monitors. (http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=38&Code=6521HB1¤t-category-id=A6FA9FD6D1CB4B52973EAE93B7B4AEF6&&hide_menu_area=yes)

I currently have an 8800GT in my system. That obviously won't cut it. What is the easiest way for me to use my 3 new monitors for iRacing and not only that but I do need to weigh in the costs. Do I get another random video card and run softTH? Will a 5770 run things fine or do I need a 5850 or 5870?

What I'd like to do is get a 5770 with a passive DP -> HDMI converter. My understanding is that passive converters both work and don't work. I'd like to do this for ~$200. Obviously a 5800 series does not fit in that budget, but if a 5770 flat out won't work and the resolution when running the softTH software isn't great or if it is simply a pain to setup I won't go that route.

My system specs aren't going to blow anyone away as the system is 2 years old, but iRacing isn't exactly going to win any awards for graphics either. My other question is can I even utilize the potential of a 5800 series card?

Win XP SP3
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
Thermaltake 500W power supply. (here's a link) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6817153052
8800GT video card

[noquarter]

If you want to use just the 5xxx in Eyefinity for video output you have to have either a DP native monitor, an Active DP->HDMI adapter (I don't know of any so you would need Active DP->DVI and then a DVI->HDMI adapter), or a DP->VGA adapter.

If you don't want to deal with the DisplayPort issue you would need a 2nd video card of any type and SoftTH, but there's a performance hit doing that. No idea how much horsepower iRacing needs though.

[sparau]

Will a 5770 run things fine or do I need a 5850 or 5870?

i use a 5770 with 3 x 24" @ 5700x1200 and you get varying mileage but its pretty damn good.

MW2 - runs smooth as AAx2 high settings
BC2 - runs ok AAx1 (i think) high settings
WOW - no probs, highest everything

So no idea about iRacing, depends on the graphics engine.

passive DP -> HDMI converter

Wont work but you can get active ones that dont require even an extra usb power for <$20-

Mine from egay Aus - search "Display Port to VGA Adapter converter"

My other question is can I even utilize the potential of a 5800 series card?

Toms HW have an interesting article atm about how an i3 goes compared to an i7 for single cards... the i3 was faster... its not until you get 2 or 3xfire that cpu bottleneck comes into play with modern chips.

AFAIK your 5600 dual core shouldnt be a large bottleneck in single card gaming - go a 58xx if you got the cash.

[Unknownsock]

Will a 5770 run things fine or do I need a 5850 or 5870?

i use a 5770 with 3 x 24" @ 5700x1200 and you get varying mileage but its pretty damn good.

MW2 - runs smooth as AAx2 high settings
BC2 - runs ok AAx1 (i think) high settings
WOW - no probs, highest everything

This depends on how much you like smooth gameplay.
And on your CPU, I've only got a Q9300 @ 3.0ghz.
I've got a 5870 btw and playing at 5040x1050.

MW x2/x4 AA quite fine average 60 fps, occasional drop to 53-55, not much.
BFBC2 - 45 fps average with medium settings, and 1x AA/AF, definite CPU bottleneck here.
WoW - Dalaran 30fps, if that at times, 25m raids, i can drop to 20's also sometimes.

I cant imagine a 5770 keeping a solid 60fps at all, especially at that res.

[Unknownsock]

Toms HW have an interesting article atm about how an i3 goes compared to an i7 for single cards... the i3 was faster... its not until you get 2 or 3xfire that cpu bottleneck comes into play with modern chips.

AFAIK your 5600 dual core shouldnt be a large bottleneck in single card gaming - go a 58xx if you got the cash.

I have to disagree here, especially in newer games.

A 2.8 Dual core will defintely be a bottleneck, especially if you want a smooth 60fps at high resolution.
Although most games it should be fine, i wouldnt expect it to cope further down the line.

In terms of a graphics card a 5850 is without a doubt the best bang for buck atm.
Most can clock to 5870 levels also. With almost exact same performance.

Edit: My bad double post, my connection is terrible at work..

[FrankB]

Hey guys,

I seem to have disapproved the wrong post.. sorry about that!
If the poster could repost? :) He should've gotten a notification about it!

[sparau]

[quote]

Toms HW have an interesting article atm about how an i3 goes compared to an i7 for single cards... the i3 was faster... its not until you get 2 or 3xfire that cpu bottleneck comes into play with modern chips.

AFAIK your 5600 dual core shouldnt be a large bottleneck in single card gaming - go a 58xx if you got the cash.

I have to disagree here, especially in newer games.

A 2.8 Dual core will defintely be a bottleneck, especially if you want a smooth 60fps at high resolution.
Although most games it should be fine, i wouldnt expect it to cope further down the line.

In terms of a graphics card a 5850 is without a doubt the best bang for buck atm.
Most can clock to 5870 levels also. With almost exact same performance.

Edit: My bad double post, my connection is terrible at work..

Perhaps i am not giving enough credit to an x3 720 (2.8Ghz triple core) cause i assumed it wouldnt be a vast amount faster than a 2.8ghz older dual...

the x3 (what a ~$60- chip) was within a couple of % (either way !) of an i7 870 (~$500- chip) with a 5850 for mw2, dirt2 etc etc.

I took from those results that at this point games are still GPU limited with a single card.

[skipclarke]

I've just posted a review that includes benchmarks for the 5870, 5850, 5830 and 5770. Hope it helps.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/ATI_Radeon_5850_5830_-_Featured_Review

[Abram]

Get whatever you can afford. In the past, I went for the cheaper version of a card to save 40 bucks, and usually regret it.

[Gilly]

I am right in saying that Eyefinity doesn't work under windows XP either? Just something else to add to the list of things :P

[skipclarke]

I am right in saying that Eyefinity doesn't work under windows XP either? Just something else to add to the list of things :P

I hadn't heard that, but you're the 2nd person to ask. Been forever since I've run an XP install.

[Gilly]

"Eyefinity will be supported on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Linux. The lack of Windows XP support may be construed as a marketing ploy, forced by Microsoft to help adoption of their new OS, but it could also be due to the antiquated Windows Display Model drivers used in XP just don't support Eyefinity, and gamers on XP will be not one but two generations of DirectX behind ... too much for continued Game Developers resource support. DirectX 11 scales down onto 10.1 and 10.0 simply. "

From: http://www.rage3d.com/articles/vision_eyefinity/index.php?p=7

[thatdude90210]

Yes, Eyefinity doesn't work on XP. I was one of the few that was still on XP when the 5870 first came out. I had to upgrade to Windows 7.