Radeon HD 6570 vs Radeon HD 5850

[Gekko]

Just wondering which one I should go with, I have the 6570 but one of my favorite daily deal sites has the 5850 for $119, everything I can see says that the 5850 is the superior card, but it's 1.5 years older. Does that matter?

[Gekko]

I guess my geek friends have abandoned me

[Shino]

GPU numbering is odd.
I can never figure it out 100% but it's usually something like this...

For Radeon... the first number is the series.
So series 5 and 6 just means they are from a different year.
The next number is the category of the card. 8 and 9 are like the enthusiast and gamer level cards.
5s-7s are more the mainstream cards. Below 5 are the budget cards.
so 8 > 5.
The third and forth number are the level of the card within the category. So if you're looking at the 8s, the higher the last 2 numbers the better.

You still need to do your research though. For instance... it's possible that somethink like a *770 would be better than a *850 and so on.

In this case, you are correct. the 5850 is better than the 6570.
The place where I do most of my research is tomshardware.com.
They put graphics card through a serious of tests measuring them by bench mark scores and frams/second on game.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/3DMark11-Enthusiast,2660.html
On this chart... the 5850 score around 22-23 fps whereas the 6570 scored ~ 10

[Gekko]

Thanks, is the card capable of playing current games? I'm thinking Skyrim...

[Shino]

I'm sure it could play it... it's just a matter of how well it can play it.

The games on the list in the link I sent you are pretty old games.
Says that a version of the card pushed 70 frames per second with Metro 2033 Medium Settings (1680x1050, AAA, 4xAF).

Here's a really good article from Destructoid that talks about 3 pc builds < $1000. Check out the video cards they list.
http://www.destructoid.com/three-pc-builds-under-1000-to-make-skyrim-look-its-best-215093.phtml

From the looks of it, the 5850 should be fine. They do suggest the 6850 in one of the builds. You may not get max settings or anything, but you'll be able to play it.

[Gekko]

Thanks for the great post and link. I went with the 5850 because @ $124 delivered it couldn't be beat.
However, I have a new problem.
Got the new card, let it come to room temp, uninstalled Radeon HD 6570 drivers, installed new card, system started up just fine, detected card, installed drivers, went to check the WEI and it forces a restart EVERY time I run it. Very aggrivating because it tells me I need to REFRESH it but it won't work.

Any Ideas?

[Shino]

Never seen that problem. Google around and see what you find, that's my only suggestion.

Sorry, I don't know Radeon all that well... I have Nvidia stuff in mine.

[Gekko]

Np, I think it's my power supply.