• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

4890 or 5770

Associate
Joined
3 Oct 2009
Posts
9
Hey all,


Hoping for some assistance if possible, All set to purchase a new graphics card. I was set on getting a new 4890 to upgrade my ageing 8800GT. im on a strict budget and have 140 quid tops. However have been swayed slightly by the 5770 coming out. Looks good and obviously supports DX11 where as the 4890 doesnt.

One thing to consider is that this card is only going to be used for abt 6 months and will be building a new rig next year and ultimetly will end up with a 5850 then. question is which one should i get. only pre requsite really is to be able to play at 1920 res, and high details.

All the best and thanks in advance.
Rich
 
Associate
Joined
24 Aug 2009
Posts
290
My thoughts are that the 4890 has a distinct upper hand right now, but the 5770 will probably edge ahead as the drivers mature and DX11 titles come out.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,188
Yup, 5770, shame its not available for $159 + vat, which is around £115, where it would be a steal. Couple games it does beat out a 285gtx and a 4890, not many, but I would think more and more will do so in the future. Depends how long you'll keep the card, if you are happy to upgrade in 6 months, I might go with the 4890, expecially a second hand one, if you upgrade every 2-3 years, the 5770 without a doubt.

As game progress and your card gets slower, you'll use less AA/AF and even lower resolutions over that time, which favours the 5770, as it has more raw power(more rops, slightly better shaders, dx11 acceleration) and less bandwidth as you drop down res or aa/af settings reduces the burden on the bandwith, which is the only real bottleneck.

EDIT:- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/10/14/ati-radeon-hd-5850-review/4

its actually a great card, when you watch the minimum framerate, its frequently up with cards that have a higher average framerate. Because the bandwidth is limiting it getting those 300fps when looking at the floor sections of the benchmark, but the uber power needing framerate killing sections, its raw power isn't being outgunned, at several resultions its got basically the same min fps as the 4890/275/285gtx, even if its average is lower, it means it will never feel as slow as a 4850/lower cards. It will only ever feel as slow, as a 285/4890, if you see what I mean.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/10/14/ati-radeon-hd-5850-review/5

If you look at the stalker numbers, you see why the 4850, also bandwidth limited, isn't in the same class as the 5770, at max res its right up with a 4890 and ahead of a 285gtx.

I would expect pretty big improvements over time from drivers aswell, so long term I think its the easy choice, short term, drivers in the next few months might make it pretty much as standard faster or as fast as the 4890, with a lot more benefits besides, even now its better than it now and then and isn't far behind on minimums which is really the key to how good a game plays.
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
9 Sep 2009
Posts
14
Yup, 5770, shame its not available for $159 + vat, which is around £115, where it would be a steal.
QUOTE]

They were available from £111 - £115 at launch up until Yesterday on a certain website. They must have realised everyone else had prices around £20 more an upped them.
 
Back
Top Bottom