Sapphire resurrects an improved Radeon 5850 on the cheap (Now only $139.99 @ Newegg)

roymustang

roymustang

CAGiversary!
Feedback
1 (100%)
Sapphire apparently had an overstock of old Radeon 5850 chips (which actually performed better than the newer 6850 chips) and decided to resurrect the card with vast improvements and sell it at a ridiculous price (under $150). The new Sapphire 5850 Xtreme card has a much shorter PCB size, better cooling and a brand new VRM design. This card will most likely only be available for a very limited time.

I'm sure AMD aren't too happy that this new 5850 completely destroys their recently launched Radeon 6790 card which costs the more. In DirectX 10 games this card performs similarly to the new nVidia GTX 560 Ti even besting it at times, yet costs almost half the price. If you buy 2 of them and crossfire them they will wipe the floor with the GTX 580 even and will still cost you over 200 bucks less than the GTX 580. As a first gen DirectX 11 card it lags a little in DirectX 11 games that use heavy tessellation and such but when you run in Crossfire it's still perfoms a lot better than a $300 graphics card.

Newegg has had them in stock twice and they've sold out in hours both times. I managed to snag two this morning thanks to Newegg's Auto-Notify feature. Newegg is selling them for $144.99 (now $139.99) with free shipping! Here's some links:

Sapphire 5850 Xtreme @ NewEgg

Sapphire 5850 Xtreme Product Page

Sapphire 5850 Xtreme TechGage Review

At this price this is an insane deal for anybody in the market for a good graphics card but doesn't wanna spend $250-300 . For people that do wanna spend that much you can always buy 2 of them and crossfire them for great performance at $279.98. I should mention though that to cut costs Sapphire decided not to include a crossfire bridge with the card so you'll need to buy one if you wish to run 2 cards in crossfire. These are going fast and being sold on the down low as to not upset AMD so get one while you can.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote 0 Downvote
I agree with dafunkk12 that the Power Supply is one of the most important components in a computer build. If the CPU is the computer's brain then the PSU is its heart. That being said I don't think you need to spend an insane amount on a PSU either.

A lot of high end PSUs are just overkill; all the 1000W+ non-sense and such. 750W is more than enough for even a SLI or CrossFireX setup today. What you have to keep in mind is that as the CPU and GPU process sizes drop they require less and less power. That's why for example the Xbox 360 launch model (90nm CPU and 90nm GPU) has a 203W PSU while the new Slim 360 (45nm CPU+GPU) has a 135W one. So thinking you need a more powerful PSU when new tech comes out is actually a misconception.

Two other important factors in a PSU are it's efficiency and its amperage rating on the 12V rail. For efficiency you want to get a PSU that's "80 Plus" Certified. As for the 12V rail it's the rail that the graphics card uses to get it's power from the PSU and if it can't get what it needs while gaming, even for a millisecond, it will crash the game or blue screen. You read a lot of reviews for video cards on newegg where people blame the card for crashes or blue screens while gaming but like 90% of the time it's the fault of their PSU.

I personally have three OCZ ModXstream PSU's that cost me $50-80 and have performed great over the years. I don't think it's necessary to spend $150 on a PSU, just do some research, stick to the better brands (Antec Enermax, OCZ, Corsair, Thermaltake among others) read reviews and try to find the best deal.
 
Most psu's are single rail again so its more making sure they aren't lying about the wattage once again, kinda funny how that turned out.
80 plus doesn't guarantee voltage stability though, would be nice if they did.
And most of the good brands are actually made by CWT, Seasonic, or Superflower. Just different names on the boxes.
 
The OP is just dripping in marketing speak. While the cards is a ok card for the price, I dont think the OP actually wrote that.

CTRL+C
CTRL+V
 
[quote name='Narynan']The OP is just dripping in marketing speak. While the cards is a ok card for the price, I dont think the OP actually wrote that.

CTRL+C
CTRL+V[/QUOTE]

I'll admit it does sound a little like that, but I didn't copy/paste anything. I just got kind of excited after reading the reviews and such and I had just scored two of them in newegg. I just wanted people to realize that this was a great deal. I was about to drop $270 on a MSI 560 Ti Hawk and saw this at the last second and got two of them for $289, so yeah I was a little psyched.
 
[quote name='roymustang']I'll admit it does sound a little like that, but I didn't copy/paste anything. I just got kind of excited after reading the reviews and such and I had just scored two of them in newegg. I just wanted people to realize that this was a great deal. I was about to drop $270 on a MSI 560 Ti Hawk and saw this at the last second and got two of them for $289, so yeah I was a little psyched.[/QUOTE]

And it was very much appreciated . . . I had no idea about this card until you posted. Not on the verge of building a PC right now, since I only use and ASUS G73 laptop with Radeon HD 5870 1GB (not enough space in my room right now for a nice rig), but if I were building I'd certainly use this card!
 
How does everyone think this card will handle BF3? I have a 4850 now and this is just within the 3 tier upgrade, but I told myself I wasn't going to upgrade until good BF3 cards went down in price.

My board doesn't do crossfire and I have a e7400 core duo clocked at 3.1 or 3.3 can't remember off the top of my head lol.
 
[quote name='Narynan']The OP is just dripping in marketing speak. While the cards is a ok card for the price, I dont think the OP actually wrote that.

CTRL+C
CTRL+V[/QUOTE]

We should clearly only trust posts that feature misspellings, poor punctuation, and limited vocabulary. Anyone who can write coherently must be a marketing shill.
 
[quote name='Digital Idiot']How does everyone think this card will handle BF3? I have a 4850 now and this is just within the 3 tier upgrade, but I told myself I wasn't going to upgrade until good BF3 cards went down in price.

My board doesn't do crossfire and I have a e7400 core duo clocked at 3.1 or 3.3 can't remember off the top of my head lol.[/QUOTE]

Will do well, though a 4850 might still be ok.
This is mainly due to the 4850 defaulting to DX9 while the 5850 will be running it in DX11. Sure you lose some effects, but if you're able to live with it, the 4850 probably can still handle 1080p with no AA or 2xAA in DX9 mode.

That way you can hold off and upgrade to a quad core along with a new gpu as the newer games are starting to be more multithreaded.
 
[quote name='runsongas']Will do well, though a 4850 might still be ok.
This is mainly due to the 4850 defaulting to DX9 while the 5850 will be running it in DX11. Sure you lose some effects, but if you're able to live with it, the 4850 probably can still handle 1080p with no AA or 2xAA in DX9 mode.

That way you can hold off and upgrade to a quad core along with a new gpu as the newer games are starting to be more multithreaded.[/QUOTE]

LGA775 Quad's have maintained their prices for years now. I've been waiting on a good deal on a 9500 series or better for a long time, they don't seem to be getting any cheaper. :/

I'm ok with DX9 for now, I'm mainly a conslol guy so I don't really know what I'm missing. ;)

Thanks for the help
 
The price just dropped to $139.99.

I am so tempted to get this so that I can run crossfire in my rig. My only concern is total power usage of my pc under load. I run with a UPS and I am concerned that adding the second 5850 will push me over the max wattage on the UPS. Anyone have any experience with how much more wattage a pc under load would draw by adding a second 5850?
 
this is a decent deal at $140, but nothing amazing. definitely not an "insane" price.

personally, I picked up the sapphire 6870 from amazon two months ago for $150 AR. prices are a bit higher right now, so this 5850 is a fair deal for someone needing something right now.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is really a great deal for people who already have one 5850 and are looking to crossfire. Especially for people in my situation with limited room in their case. Any of the cards more powerful than the 5850 are ridiculously large. If you are tight on space, 2 x 5850's in crossfire is your best option for near top-end performance.
 
[quote name='Cygnus11']The price just dropped to $139.99.

I am so tempted to get this so that I can run crossfire in my rig. My only concern is total power usage of my pc under load. I run with a UPS and I am concerned that adding the second 5850 will push me over the max wattage on the UPS. Anyone have any experience with how much more wattage a pc under load would draw by adding a second 5850?[/QUOTE]

If you have access to a Killawatt, you can check how much your sytem is pulling right now and add the power requirements of this card x 1.25 to figure out whether it will overload the UPS. I would run Furmark or something to really push everything when you do this so you have a good 10 to 15 percent margin of safety.
 
Thanks for the post! I've been contemplating upgrading my GTX275 but wasn't seeing a compelling price/performance point. Although this is right at the bubble (looking at the Anandtech comparison posted earlier, I'd say about a 30% improvement, plus less power/heat/noise), it does bring DX11, a bit more RAM, and a nice price. Done and done. (Running an i7 720 w/6GB RAM - LCD is native 1680x1050)
 
For those that just placed an order at $144.99 you might be able to get 5 bucks back from newegg if you write them an email. When I bought mine the price was $149.99 and dropped to $144.99 hours later. So I emailed them and they gave me a refund for 10 bucks (I bought two cards). The email did say that they don't really do this normally but since I asked nicely and was a good customer they would do it for me.

Maybe worth a shot if you ordered just before the drop to $139.99.
 
I have a GTS 250, and just received my 5850. Windows 7 bumped up my graphics capability in its ratings by a whole 2 points, to 7.7 (out of 7.9). Runs BFBC2 at max settings at well over 60FPS.

Core2Duo 7500 Wolfdale (2.93Ghz)
4 GB RAM
SSD for OS

Really satisfied. Might get another for the eventual computer upgrade.
 
[quote name='roymustang']For those that just placed an order at $144.99 you might be able to get 5 bucks back from newegg if you write them an email. When I bought mine the price was $149.99 and dropped to $144.99 hours later. So I emailed them and they gave me a refund for 10 bucks (I bought two cards). The email did say that they don't really do this normally but since I asked nicely and was a good customer they would do it for me.

Maybe worth a shot if you ordered just before the drop to $139.99.[/QUOTE]
I ordered mine yesterday so it's more than a difference of a few hours. I guess I'll pack a lunch an extra day or somethink to account for the $5.
 
[quote name='Cygnus11']The price just dropped to $139.99.

I am so tempted to get this so that I can run crossfire in my rig. My only concern is total power usage of my pc under load. I run with a UPS and I am concerned that adding the second 5850 will push me over the max wattage on the UPS. Anyone have any experience with how much more wattage a pc under load would draw by adding a second 5850?[/QUOTE]

I think about 150 watts, I measured how much power it was pulling using a kill a watt meter.
 
[quote name='Xellos2099']It is so tempting but i am wondering if i should use my gtx 275 till it die and rma to evga to see if they would give me a decent upgrade.[/QUOTE]

I have an XFX GTX 260 and was wondering about their lifetime warranty. Do they fix your card or give you whatever is comparable to it at the moment?
 
[quote name='supershammy']I have a GTS 250, and just received my 5850. Windows 7 bumped up my graphics capability in its ratings by a whole 2 points, to 7.7 (out of 7.9). Runs BFBC2 at max settings at well over 60FPS.

Core2Duo 7500 Wolfdale (2.93Ghz)
4 GB RAM
SSD for OS

Really satisfied. Might get another for the eventual computer upgrade.[/QUOTE]

Glad you like the card. I got my two cards yesterday but I need to build my whole rig so I haven't gotten a chance to try em, plus I'm waiting on a CrossFireX bridge I picked up for 5 bucks shipped on eBay. Hopefully I'll be able to build it sometime this weekend.
 
NCIX is carrying the Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme as well.

$147.20 CAD, ships in 1-2 business days.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=60714&vpn=11162-15-20G&manufacture=SAPPHIRE

I already committed to the 6850 series last month, so I'm going to pass, since I like the lower power draw and the 3D functionality added with HDMI 1.4a support, and I'm looking at eventually going with a pair in Crossfire.

If you're upgrading from a 4000 series or lower card though, this is an easy buy.

Like someone said in an earlier comment, the Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart at Tom's Hardware is a great reference when comparing general performance between cards. Here's a link to the current review:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-radeon-hd-6990-geforce-gtx-590,2912-7.html
 
Man, glad I stumbled across this thread. I've got one of the older Sapphire 5850s in my rig right now, but I'm definitely thinking about picking up a second now to run in CrossfireX.
 
[quote name='dafunkk12']I LOVE that you consider the PSU to be an expensive component. I've had to change out so many cheap-o PSUs (and sometimes other consequently fried components!) in my early days of PC building that I now refuse to compromise on that piece of the puzzle.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," they say. For any newbie PC builders, I highly recommend spending the extra dough to buy a PSU with a solid reputation rather than scraping the bottom of the barrel for the lowest-price deal. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache and money further down the line by not having to buy replacement parts. And unlike almost any other component of a PC, PSUs are probably the most future-proof component you can buy aside from the case. (Just make sure you get one that will meet your expansion needs by buying one of large enough wattage and enough peripheral connectors.)[/QUOTE]

Amen brother I preach this to everyone who builds a system or I build a system for DO NOT buy a bottom barrel PSU! I've witnessed bottom barrel ones go up in flames LITERALLY!!! :shock: :hot:


[quote name='powersurge']Hopefully this starts a price war and we end up with GTX 560's at or under $150 by summer that would be great as I'd love to upgrade my 8800gtx.[/QUOTE]

Me too my 8800 GTX does fine with about 98% of games in 1920X1200 however, I think it's about time for a more power efficient upgrade. Plus the damn thing huge! (in before "That's what she said.")
 
[quote name='JakeNome']does anyone have a link for a compatible crossfire bridge for this card? i cant seem to find one[/QUOTE]

Like 5 bucks on ebay if you don't mind Paypal

http://compare.ebay.com/like/360358...eabde13&itemid=360358112712&ff4=263602_309572

Its 10 on Amazon/Newegg.

Sidenote: Antec really pissed me off today, apparently the case I bought had a rebate for 1 day only. And since I ordered it when I got home, the invoice didn't go through till the next day. Stupidest thing ever, first time I've seen a rebate for 1 day only. Guess I'm getting more CM Centurions in the future.

PS: Coolermaster needs to find a better OEM to make their psu's
 
Dang...I got kinda excited about this until I saw that there was only a single DVI port :p

Thanks for the deal though, should definitely be helpful to people that only need 1 o:
 
[quote name='dafunkk12']I LOVE that you consider the PSU to be an expensive component. I've had to change out so many cheap-o PSUs (and sometimes other consequently fried components!) in my early days of PC building that I now refuse to compromise on that piece of the puzzle.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," they say. For any newbie PC builders, I highly recommend spending the extra dough to buy a PSU with a solid reputation rather than scraping the bottom of the barrel for the lowest-price deal. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache and money further down the line by not having to buy replacement parts. And unlike almost any other component of a PC, PSUs are probably the most future-proof component you can buy aside from the case. (Just make sure you get one that will meet your expansion needs by buying one of large enough wattage and enough peripheral connectors.)[/QUOTE]

Hey it only takes one time of using a cheap-o PSU in a build, and have it lock up during only a somewhat intense application to understand! I only trust the PC Power & Cooling and Corsair brands in my PCs for that reason. :D

My cards will arrive from Newegg on Monday. I won't be able to install them until Tuesday at the earliest due to prior commitments (damn work :lol:). I'll update everyone on the install, benchmarks, etc, etc. I'm upgrading from 2 9800GTX+'s in SLI (yes my mobo can handle both Crossfire and SLI...I checked!) to these bad boys. From all the research I've done, it sounds like I'm going to see a noticeable increase. Can't wait!
 
My friend wants to sell me his 2 5870s for $300 for both. You think that is a better deal than this?
 
[quote name='M_A_C']My friend wants to sell me his 2 5870s for $300 for both. You think that is a better deal than this?[/QUOTE]

The 5870 is a little more powerful than the 5850 for sure, but I still prefer this new 5850 for several reasons. First off you're getting something new with a warranty etc, if your friend's used cards die soon after you buy them you'll be pissed and most likely shit outta luck and might even lose a friend. Secondly this 5850 was completely reworked by Sapphire, they shortened the PCB, gave it better cooling and new power design. The original 5870 is a huge card, like 12 inches, has poor stock cooling and consumes a lot more power. That's just me though...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='YodaEXE']Man, glad I stumbled across this thread. I've got one of the older Sapphire 5850s in my rig right now, but I'm definitely thinking about picking up a second now to run in CrossfireX.[/QUOTE]

Exactly what I was going to say
 
I've got a 8800GTX
Vista 64
4gb RAM
AMD Athlon Dual core 6000+ - 3.01 ghz

Is getting the 5850 a significant upgrade?

Any good feedback is appreciated, thanks.
 
It might be a 4-tier jump but thats an aging dual core processor most likely running on a system with DDR2 RAM. Would the DDR2 RAM and the older Dual Core be holding the Graphics card back if he upgraded to a 5850? I kinda doubt it, but thought I'd throw that out.

Does Tom's got a "This video card is too much for the rest of your system" hierarchy chart? :)
 
[quote name='loomis1975']It might be a 4-tier jump but thats an aging dual core processor most likely running on a system with DDR2 RAM. Would the DDR2 RAM and the older Dual Core be holding the Graphics card back if he upgraded to a 5850? I kinda doubt it, but thought I'd throw that out.

Does Tom's got a "This video card is too much for the rest of your system" hierarchy chart? :)[/QUOTE]

I wish! Haha. But you know, the "Windows Experience Index" that Vista and Windows 7 provide might provide some insight.

I thought about saying the same thing you did, but 2 cores at 3 ghz is substantial enough for most games today, if you aren't running stuff in the background. But yes, more and more games are taking advantage of n CPU cores, for values of n > 2.

Really, xTraPointless, that 8800 GTX is nicely paired with the CPU you have now. Don't buy the 5850 and expect to be running Crysis 2 at 60 fps... but if you're feeling constrained by your card now, you'd see improvement.
 
[quote name='JakeNome']yay I got my 5850 yesterday and its great!
now i dont know what to do with my 5770. i hate using ebay[/QUOTE]

What res are you running? Did you notice if the 5850 is a big step up? I have a 5770 running an 1680 x 1050 and trying to decide if I should upgrade.
 
[quote name='mikespit1']What res are you running? Did you notice if the 5850 is a big step up? I have a 5770 running an 1680 x 1050 and trying to decide if I should upgrade.[/QUOTE]

1920X1080. all my games were already running at max settings when i was using the 5770, except for crysis and crysis warhead. they would run at max settings, but some stages would lag. but now, i can run the crysis games on max lagfree. thats pretty much the only difference i noticed. also, the 5850 is much quieter than the 5770.
 
Ordered mine today, I was never fully happy with my GTX 460 (mostly with older but still current gen non-"the way its meant to be played Nvidia" games like Grid). Seeing how this is really a great deal for the card, so now I can sell my 460 gtx on ebay for 100+ hopefully and have tad bit better card without costing me much to switch. And be happy in the fact my entire system chipset, chip and gpu is ATI/AMD. I still like the 6850 best of all because it is still the normal expected performance for future games this gen but only uses one 6 pin instead of two (reference design) but sacrifices must be made and it just anal anyway since I have the plugs on my corsair PSU for multi 6 pins. I have to wonder how many of this card so just to have the maximum power to push Dialbo 3 when it finally comes out... may end up being one of the longest used gaming cards since Dialbo 2 or WOWs initial release, because I have read where people are just now dropping their Nvidia 6 series cards for latest updates/expansion of WOW.
 
I am looking to upgrade my card because I think my current one is about to go out, and didn't really want to spend too much. I really didn't want to spend over $100 as my desktop is a couple of years old. Should I spend the extra money and pick this card up? I had been looking at getting a GTS450 or 5830, would the extra cost be justified? I am running a Q8200, 4GB RAM, and a HD46-- something don't remember exactly maybe 4650.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top