Which to get for XMAS: GTX285 or ATI 5850?

The 5850 has DX11 support, so there's no contest, really.

It is more powerful than the 285 anyway, it pretty much beats it on all things non-folding.

EDIT: lol, i voted for the 285 by accident (instinctive nvidia fanboy habit), i meant to vote ATI.

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Well if you get a 5850 you might have to get a Nvidia card anyways for PhysX if you want to try out PhysX. That might cost you more in the long run.

But you don't want to try PhysX then get the 5850 since it is the better buy for performance in most games. It's a little faster than a GTX 285.

So it's either PhysX or a little more performance in most games but no PhysX and yes a lot of games have the TWIMTBP tag which usually means they will probably run better on Nvidia hardware. But a lot of them are not very demanding either.

thanks guys! I think the answer is clear now... 5850

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I say the exact opposite after replacing my 4850 with a GTS 250.

the internets is a huge place, eh?

Having a GTX 295, 5870, 2x 275 in both single and sli configs, it's obvious to me that it (5850) just not worth it (over the 285).

People look at reviews and opinions from different owners to them they think new tech is the way to go. However it isn't so. In reality when you're actually using these card there are various advantages/disadvantages to each of them. With that in mind the GTX 285 (I would say 275 is best) is what people should buy instead of the 5850. I've been reading reviews in many different websites. Even though the 5850 pulls away in the majority of the review sites (by 0-10fps), a lot of review sites are biased and are not accurate. (Some say one card is faster in one test, where as the other site says it's slower.)

If the prices were the same (say each were 300 usd), then go for the 5850. Even then I'd recommend you making an informed decision based on your budget and needs, instead of (no offense) fan boys voicing their opinion. And no offense, but I see most of the people here do not have the new 5800 cards on their sig rigs.

Some basic reasons why GTX 285/275 (nvidia) is best:

- better driver support
- better tweaking ability
- nvidia makes the game look better (noticeably better)
- GTX 285 has better scaling in Sli
- 5800's has worse AA selection in some games
- in particle heavy games, the 5870 lags and chugs (thus I assume 5850 would as well)
- 5800's run hotter, and louder
- it's easier to find a 285/275, for much less than 5850s

Just know that you'll be spending a premium on the 5850 that doesn't match the value given back by the improvement in performance.



Just an example. Is spending 320+ dollars on 5850 worth it over spending 200-250 for a 275? I do not think so. It is also worth it to wait and let prices go down.

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1) That's debatable. So debatable that I will not delve into the matter any further.

2) Oh? The GTX285 can't have software voltage tweaks whereas the 5850 can.

3) ATI has the best AF quality on the market.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3643&p=13

4) The OP's chipset doesn't support SLI

5) And vice versa

6) ? Elaborate. Give examples as well.

7) Numerous reviews say otherwise.

8) Yes.