Upgrade?

[dragonfliet]

Originally Posted by Kantham

I'm now on-fence with the 5850 and GTX 465. And I don't plan to go any higher than $300 for a gpu.

I've read that the GTX 465 can easily be comparable to a 5850 in performance.

That's a good price! The 465 is generally a little bit slower than the 5850, essentially splitting the difference between it and the 5830 (except when it comes to tesselation, which it handles very well). It consumes more power and runs hotter, and yeah, not quite as good as the 5850, but for the price, it's a pretty solid card to get. Either way you should be quite happy with performance.

~Jason

[Kantham]

The GTX 465 consume more and runs hotter than the 5850 is what you're saying?
If that's the case, I suppose I should toss another 60 bucks and get the HD 5850. Thanks.

[Kantham]

Well I've done some digging and I was definitively convinced with the 5850. For the price and performance, the GTX 465 was A BIT stronger than the 5830 in some cases. The 5850 always had a + 10 FPS average and that sold me for not even 60 bucks extra.

I went for this non-reference model. The XFX was out of stock. But here's an interesting one! The site told me the card was out of stock AFTER I clicked checkout with all my Credit Card info.

[dragonfliet]

Glad it worked out for you. Also, that has to be the ugliest, most worthless (it doesn't even get the heat out of the case) fan I have ever seen. I hope it is more effective than it looks. If you're looking for a more reference model (and it's not too late to cancel without fees) amazon has them in stock.

[togmkn]

Does anyone know if the fanless ones like this one or this one are good? Or are they something to avoid?

[NRG]

Originally Posted by togmkn

Does anyone know if the fanless ones like this one or this one are good? Or are they something to avoid?

They're fine if you don't plan to play any modern games. They're used mostly for HTPC's for video acceleration over the GPU and the silence is needed more. You're much better off spending another 20 bucks on a 9800GT or HD4850 if you want play games on a budget. They'll play most games on high-ish settings depending on the resolution.

[Kantham]

Originally Posted by dragonfliet

Glad it worked out for you.

I just don't know yet, I haven't recieved it. But most of the reviews are positive. Here, it's the same card. with better reviews. The negative reviews doesn't convince me, if it's just for that one guy who said his card went over 91 degrees.

[oldkawman]

Originally Posted by togmkn

Does anyone know if the fanless ones like this one or this one are good? Or are they something to avoid?

That will play games at about the same performance level as many older cards would, in UT3, expect the same performance as you get with a GeF6600 or HD2400.

[togmkn]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up guys. Been thinking about putting together a very power-friendly PC, so it might be good for that. Apparently not for a regular upgrade, though.