[Wind]

So i got this friend i'm doing a build for, his budget is roughly 1200, I'm trying to save him as much money as I can, and i'm wondering if a 5850 would be good enough for him to game on high with ( he's a console gamer, and im trying to transition him to PC

(the CPU will be an i5 2500k)

 

[Willhemmens]

Yup. My 5850 could max most games out at 1080P.

 

[N3Xus]

Definitely. I have a couple friends that I play BC2 with that own 5850's and they play maxed out at 1080P fine.

 

[pioneerisloud]

If that's in USD, why would you limit him to a 5850? You could easily get him a 6950 or GTX560Ti (or maybe even better) in that budget range. Heck, my rig only costs about $1400 without all of my drives....

But yes, a HD5850 would do fine at 1080p with moderate settings.

 

[OverTheBelow]

It certainly is more than enough for current games at 1080p, and if not then there is the ability to overclock it easily to 5870 performance or higher.

 

[Radeon915]

I had a 5850 at 1680x1050. It wasn't really good but not terrible either. Don't expect to max everything.
As others suggested, if there's room for a 560Ti, get that instead.

 

[Wind]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OverTheBelow It certainly is more than enough for current games at 1080p, and if not then there is the ability to overclock it easily to 5870 performance or higher.

This makes me curious, I have a reference 5850 (sapphire). Could you perhaps point me in the direction as to accomplishing this?

the reason I'm trying to avoid buying a new card, is i'm just trying to save him as much money as I can.

 

[N3Xus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind This makes me curious, I have a reference 5850 (sapphire). Could you perhaps point me in the direction as to accomplishing this? the reason I'm trying to avoid buying a new card, is i'm just trying to save him as much money as I can.

Download MSI Afterburner and look up some OCing guides and it's really easy. All you have to do is move some sliders in Afterburner and run a stability test with Furmark after.

 

[Wind]

K, I was just reading some stuff about flashing the 5850 bios? something about going to asus or msi because they are unlocked voltages. now, I also read about flashing to a 5870 bios, would that work?

How safe is flashing the bios of the card. I know my friend did it with his 6950 to a 6970 but i'm just worried if theres any risks i should be aware of.

 

[N3Xus]

Flashing the BIOS on cards is very dangerous. You shouldn't have to as your 5850 is reference so it should have unlocked voltages.

 

[Deathclaw]

it is enough
ocing link
http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/633...d-ati-gpu.html

 

[Wind]

I read something about the bios locking the clocks to 775/1125 or some crap. searching older threads, it seems people were doing bios flashes? is there some kind of way to just "unlock" the card? or is that just doing the bios flash. I'm about to download MSI afterburner, and try to see what I can do.

 

[SpeedNuggeT]

Yes a last generation mid-low end card like a 5850 should be able to run MOST games on 1920x1080 (a mid range res), with 4xaa.

 

[pioneerisloud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind I read something about the bios locking the clocks to 775/1125 or some crap. searching older threads, it seems people were doing bios flashes? is there some kind of way to just "unlock" the card? or is that just doing the bios flash. I'm about to download MSI afterburner, and try to see what I can do.

If MSI AB doesn't do it, Sapphire Trixxx will.

Since its reference, MSI AB will do it fine. Or AMD's drivers also have overclocking built into them (and fan speed). That's what I used on my 4890's.

 

[Bobicon]

It should be able to easily max out most all DX9-10 games, but don't expect it to max out a lot of DX11 games.

 

[N3Xus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind I read something about the bios locking the clocks to 775/1125 or some crap. searching older threads, it seems people were doing bios flashes? is there some kind of way to just "unlock" the card? or is that just doing the bios flash. I'm about to download MSI afterburner, and try to see what I can do.

These people are talking about non-reference cards. The voltage on non-ref cards like my HIS iCooler 5870 is locked so I have almost no overclocking headroom.

 

[Wind]

Doing this stuff with msi afterburner is ok for me, but i'm planning ot install in his computer, so i'm wondering should i really avoid the bios flash? wouldnt a bios flash make it easier on him?

 

[pioneerisloud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind Doing this stuff with msi afterburner is ok for me, but i'm planning ot install in his computer, so i'm wondering should i really avoid the bios flash? wouldnt a bios flash make it easier on him?

You COULD hypothetically flash the overclocked (and stable) clocks and voltages. However he'd still need MSI AB or similar to keep the fan speed up, otherwise it'll overheat with extra voltage. It'd be easier to just use MSI AB for the whole thing honestly...and you don't risk a bad flash.

 

[N3Xus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wind Doing this stuff with msi afterburner is ok for me, but i'm planning ot install in his computer, so i'm wondering should i really avoid the bios flash? wouldn't a bios flash make it easier on him?

Like mentioned earlier, BIOS flashes are potentially very dangerous to the card.

 

[pioneerisloud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by N3Xus Like mentioned earlier, BIOS flashes are potentially very dangerous to the card.

BIOS Flash's aren't really dangerous. Worst case usually is a bad flash, and you end up with a bricked card. Easy fix though, you do a blind flash back to the stock BIOS (assuming you can remember the commands to DO the blind flash).

Or you can throw in a second card and use that to see with, and use the proper commands to reflash the bricked card.