1920x1200 on 512mb? Upgrade Needed?

[Ares202]

Ok, so ive recently moved to a 26" T260HD 1920x1200 monitor (upgraded from 22") and i now get micro stutter and random slowdown in some games when playing at that resolution with 4xaa

I was thinking to upgrade to the 58xx when it was released but the 5870 wont fit into my case and the 5850 only gives me around a 25-35% performance boost which i dont think is a value for money upgrade. Is it worth moving to a 4890 as these can be found for much less?

i also gave a thought to the 4870x2 (currently on sale for price of 5850) but i dont think my psu could handle it, what do you think? My psu is 550w and has a single 48A rail

 

[fffblackmage]

Congrats on the new monitor. :beer:
I got mine back in April and loving it so far (I came from a 17" 1280x1024).

I'm not sure if the 4890 is a worthy upgrade from a 4870, unless you can do the upgrade for very little. I'm also not certain how much power the 4870x2 really needs either, but even if the psu can handle it, it's probably cutting it really close.

What games are suffering from micro stutter?

 

[brandonb]

I have a 4850 that is 512mb, and I bought a 4870 1gb for a friend and tried it out on the computer to see the difference, and yes, it was much smoother at my 1920x1200 resolution. I was testing out ARMA 2, and it had no stuttering and it was much smoother. It made the 4850 512mb look like crap compared to it. I was very pleased with the 4870 1gb, and I uninstalled ARMA2 and I'm going to revisit it after I upgrade. I am going to upgrade to the 5850 1gb when they drop a bit in price.

 

[Foshymachine]

I'd say buy a MSI or Asus HD5850 and slightly volt tweak it to 1.2V to get about 950 of the core.It should be 5870 performance whith 250$+tax and easy fit

 

[MODEL3]

buy a 5850, the average difference with your current VGA (4870 512MB) is not only 25% but it is 50% (1,5x) or even higher than that.
For many games that they are memory size limited at 1920X1200 4AA 16AF like Far Cry2 & Stalker Clear sky or some of the upcoming Q4 2009-Q1 2010 games you will see up to 2X performance jump.

 

[Ares202]

Originally posted by: fffblackmage
Congrats on the new monitor. :beer:
I got mine back in April and loving it so far (I came from a 17" 1280x1024).

yeh also loving it, it just looks so amazing

moving to a 4870 1gb will cost me around $50 as id just sell the 512mb on ebay

im probably going to do a new build sometime next year (8-10 months) so i could consider going for a 5850 and just putting it in my new rig when i get some money, but i guess things would have already moved on and ill regret it

something seems really tempting about that 4870x2 offer, id probably get an 80% performance boost but will cost me in electricity bills aswell as the original payout and no DX11

*edit* also any Nvidia GPU can be considered as ive tested the GTX280 when i was building another PC for a friend and it fits with about 0.1" to spare

 

[MarcVenice]

The 5850 puts a spanking on the GTX 285, let alone a GTX 280. Not only in terms of raw power, but also in terms of power usage. I'd get a 5850, I think it's a fine card for 1920x1200.

In roughly 8-10 months a refresh from ATI or even a new architecture could be out. It be stupid to play games at crap fps with a 4870, waiting 10 months to buy something new. Sure, the HD 5850 will lower in price and you could sell it maybe for 150 bucks, but for 100 bucks you would have a great card for 10 months, enjoying smooth games.

 

[MagickMan]

Originally posted by: Ares202
I was thinking to upgrade to the 58xx when it was released but the 5870 wont fit into my case and the 5850 only gives me around a 25-35% performance boost which i dont think is a value for money upgrade.

At that res it's more of a 40-60% boost. It's worth the money.

 

[SunnyD]

Turn off your AA and the card should keep up a bit better.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Turn off your AA and the card should keep up a bit better.

Agreed

 

[SlowSpyder]

Microstutter is only an issue for multi GPU's.

I did pretty much the exact same thing you did, went from a 22" monitor to a 26" on a 512MB 4870. The 4870 holds it's own pretty well, despite the 512MB, but I know exactly what you mean. In some games the frame rate drop can be quite noticeable.

I too am going to jump on a 5870 or 5850. I think the difference in performance will be much more than 25-35%, most of the benches you are looking at are probably 1GB 4870's paired up against the 5850's/5870's.

A 4890 would be great bang for the buck, at 1920x1200 I'm willing to bet a 4870/4890 1GB will be noticeably faster than the 512MB 4870. But I'd spend the extra $100 to get DX11 and the extra horsepower in the core for future games. A year or two from now when you still have decent enough frame rates and a current DX11 card you'll probably be happy you spent the extra money.

As for me, until I finally pull the trigger I just use 2xAA and games still seem to be plenty playable.

 

[Ares202]

Thanks for your reply's, these are really helping me decide :thumbsup:

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
The 5850 puts a spanking on the GTX 285, let alone a GTX 280. Not only in terms of raw power, but also in terms of power usage. I'd get a 5850, I think it's a fine card for 1920x1200.

In roughly 8-10 months a refresh from ATI or even a new architecture could be out. It be stupid to play games at crap fps with a 4870, waiting 10 months to buy something new. Sure, the HD 5850 will lower in price and you could sell it maybe for 150 bucks, but for 100 bucks you would have a great card for 10 months, enjoying smooth games.

So the 4870x2 is not worth it even if its the same price as a 5850?

I expect the 5850 will get better with mature drivers as its specification should make it 70% faster than my 4870 but at best its around 40-50% what do you think?

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Microstutter is only an issue for multi GPU's.

Slospider i dont know if its microstutter but it the fps will just go down from 50 to 10 for a second then back up to 50 especially when playing GRID, kinda feels like slow motion for a second

Resident Evil 5 plays perfectly though, even maxed out AA

 

[happy medium]

+1 for the 5850.:thumbsup:

 

[MarcVenice]

The HD 5870 can often match the HD 4870 X2. Oc the HD 5850 to something like 950MHz (only needs small bump in vgpu) and it'll almost match a HD 5870. So in the end you lose 10% performance? But you'll get that back once dx11 games hit the market, look at battleforge for example. The lower power usage (night and day) will also save you a few bucks.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Ares202

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Microstutter is only an issue for multi GPU's.

Slospider i dont know if its microstutter but it the fps will just go down from 50 to 10 for a second then back up to 50 especially when playing GRID, kinda feels like slow motion for a second

No problem, I knew what you meant, I just was clarifying the term. You're experiencing a drop in frame rate, sounds like it very well could be from a lack of Vram. Like I said, I'm in the same boat pretty much, I had no intention on upgrading my monitor when I got the 512MB card, but I came into a few extra bucks to spend and saw a deal I couldn't pass up. On my system the 512MB card doesn't do bad, it actually does better then I expected. But, I've also never been someone who needed AA to game, but I did start to get used to it since I had plenty of power to use it when I had a 22" monitor. At any rate, I think you'd see huge increases from a 5850. Even a 4890 will probably be quite noticeable, but if it were me buying, I'd go with the 5850 since it'll future proof you to some degree.

I know people around here hate that phrase, 'future proof' but I think that it's hard to argue that a DX11 card with as much horsepower as the 5850 won't be a safer choice than a 4890 for future gaming.

 

[Ares202]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
The HD 5870 can often match the HD 4870 X2. Oc the HD 5850 to something like 950MHz (only needs small bump in vgpu) and it'll almost match a HD 5870.

It that a software voltmod? or modifications to the board itself?

I guess i could also go crossfire when i move to a new PC which is a pro over the 4870X2

 

[MarcVenice]

Software voltmod indeed. All you do is either download a asus bios or a msi bios, and then download asus smartdoctor or MSI afterburner. You bump voltage to 1,25, set gpu clockspeed at 950MHz and you're done.

I've been flashing bioses left and right lately and it's dead easy. But heck, even if you don't OC it, it'll still be plenty fast, much faster then your current HD 4870 512MB videocard.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: Ares202
*edit* also any Nvidia GPU can be considered as ive tested the GTX280 when i was building another PC for a friend and it fits with about 0.1" to spare

The 5870 is the same length as the GTX280 (and the 4870X2). If those cards will fit, so will the 5870.

 

[cbn]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Software voltmod indeed. All you do is either download a asus bios or a msi bios, and then download asus smartdoctor or MSI afterburner. You bump voltage to 1,25, set gpu clockspeed at 950MHz and you're done.

I've been flashing bioses left and right lately and it's dead easy. But heck, even if you don't OC it, it'll still be plenty fast, much faster then your current HD 4870 512MB videocard.

How does the MSI Afterburner compare to Smart Doctor?

 

[MarcVenice]

Heh, imo I like afterburner better. The interface simply is nicer. Both apps talk to the i2c-bus though, so effectively they do exactly the same thing and I've confirmed both work. Most chips will top out somewhere near 1025 or 1050MHz though, unless you start cooling them with LN2. Still, 1000MHz is nothing to sneeze at. I hope Nvidia's upcoming gpu's will OC in a similar fashion.

 

[Ares202]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
The 5870 is the same length as the GTX280 (and the 4870X2). If those cards will fit, so will the 5870.

its a small amount longer so it wont fit 11" is maximum for my case

http://www.legitreviews.com/im.../reviews/1080/size.jpg

probably going to go with with the 5850 as suggested when retailers stop price hiking because of the lack of stock, my last attempt at voltmod ended in a dead 7900GS 3 months later dont know if the volts killed it but voltmodding always worries me

 

[fffblackmage]

If games play smoothly now, don't bother. Several months later when you find a game that doesn't play well, do the volt mod, then if it dies, maybe it's time to get a new card by then anyways. XD

 

[rpglord]

People often don't realize how important amount of vram is. If you have too much,it wont make your game even 1 fps faster. That's why most people just ignore it and think it's not important. However if you dont have enough of it,it can make your game up to 500 % slower. So yes you can go from 50 fps to just 10 fps. On nvidia cards it's even worse then on ati - I had some games stay at 5-10 fps for minutes untill they return to normal framerates.
Bottom line - time of 512 mb cards are gone. Most modern games need 1 gb of vram - especially at 1920 resolution

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: rpglord
People often don't realize how important amount of vram is. If you have too much,it wont make your game even 1 fps faster. That's why most people just ignore it and think it's not important. However if you dont have enough of it,it can make your game up to 500 % slower. So yes you can go from 50 fps to just 10 fps. On nvidia cards it's even worse then on ati - I had some games stay at 5-10 fps for minutes untill they return to normal framerates.
Bottom line - time of 512 mb cards are gone. Most modern games need 1 gb of vram - especially at 1920 resolution

This is quite an exaggeration.

4870 512mb 1gb
Two-GPU Options in Depth

Often a few FPS, in extreme (grid) situations 20%, absolutely no where near 500%, mostly single digit percent gain.

Side note, I'm sure you meant video ram, vram or dual ported ram really hasn't been used since the mid 90s.

I'd like to add that running a multi gpu setup actually lessens the extra memory advantage as each card is rendering less and thus needs less memory.

I would bet there is something else going on if you're getting 5-10fps issues.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Originally posted by: rpglord
People often don't realize how important amount of vram is. If you have too much,it wont make your game even 1 fps faster. That's why most people just ignore it and think it's not important. However if you dont have enough of it,it can make your game up to 500 % slower. So yes you can go from 50 fps to just 10 fps. On nvidia cards it's even worse then on ati - I had some games stay at 5-10 fps for minutes untill they return to normal framerates.
Bottom line - time of 512 mb cards are gone. Most modern games need 1 gb of vram - especially at 1920 resolution

512Mb more gets you 3 measly fps. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3415&p=4

I agree that right now, it would be dumb to buy a high/mid gaming card w/o 1gb of vram. Just sayin' you might have exaggerated a little bit.

edit: Damn you Schmide! Beat me to it.