Upgrading from 4850 to 6850

014

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2010
Messages
193
This is my first post. I was a regular at the IGN PCGB for around 7 years. I'm sure there's a section for introductions, so I will search that out.

I have been itching all week to buy a new video card. I had some good overtime on my pay check, and I wanted to upgrade. My 4850 has been the best card I've ever had. Its performance has been acceptable to me longer than I expected.

I decided that I wanted to get the Asus 6850 at first thought. After researching more that same day, Monday, I decided that the extra bones for a GTX460 FTW was worth it. I found what I thought was a great deal, so I was going to get that on Friday. I was mistaken, however, and realized the model number of the "great deal" was the wrong one. The price difference between the GTX460 FTW and the 6850 was back to $50. I changed my mind -again- to get the 6850 and save some cash (ended up buying BF:BC2 for my cousin with the saved dough).

The new problem became availability. I could not find the Asus 6850 anywhere at a reasonable price. It was $20 and $30 more expensive than Newegg at other locations. As I waited each day for Newegg to get more Asus 6850's in stock, other brands became out of stock as well. My secondary choices fell through as well.

I found tonight that ++++US had the Asus 6850 for $195.14 + shipping. Because Newegg's price went up earlier this week, Newegg's price to my door was going to be ~$192. My decision now was: should I wait for Newegg to get Asus back in stock so I can save somewhere around $8, or should I just spend that little extra?

Before I paid the premium for Asus, I had to consider the other brands. Could I find other brands cheaper and in stock? I found MWAVE. They had the Gigabyte 6850 for $178. They have two promotions. One is if you are an MWAVE member (which is free), it's $4 off. The second is if you pay with eBillme for the first time, it's another $10 off. Shipping was $2.99. The grand total, to my door, was $166.99. At this point, the $30+ difference between the Asus and the Gigabyte was too large. I bit the bullet on the Gigabyte. Woohoo! I wonder if anyone else has gotten such a good deal on a 6850 so far.

On top of that, I have a buyer to pay $45 for my 4850. Yes!
 
I just got an XFX 6850 for $171 to my door, and my gigabyte 6850 was $175 :) Can't complain. Thats a good deal though- you'll be happy- my gigabyte 6850 is awesome. Got it OCed stable to 970/1200 (and didn't even try pushing the memory faster than that yet!)
 
I got an email today saying that the card I ordered is on back order. Grr! I don't know if I'll order from them again. It was "in stock" when I placed the order.

Edit: There still aren't any better options, so I'm leaving my order as is. I guess I'll sit back and be patient. At least my new CPU cooler will be coming. :)
 
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I canceled my back order and ordered an EVGA GTX460 768MB (standard clock) from Newegg. It came with a 10% Newegg promo, free shipping, free HAWX2, and $30 MIR. The final price was like $122.

I was willing to spend around $200 for my upgrade. But the deal above was too good for me. When I bought my 4850 for $120, I was planning on only running it for 1 year. Well, I've been plenty satisfied running it for 2 years. We'll see how long I like the 460.
 
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