Question about the ATI 5750

Technology and Gaming Help and Support
#1

Okay, before I begin, keep in mind that I live in South America, and here, hardware (and pretty much any other thing related to technology) is ridiculously overpriced. Due to our importing taxes and a few other factors, it’s quite common for such things to cost 3 or 4 times their original price in North America/Europe. Therefore, it’s pretty much impossible to go for high-end specs as I’d prefer, and you just have to deal with using mid or even low-tier stuff :frowning: .

It used to be like that for games as well, but since Steam came around, I’ve been able to buy pretty much any game I like legitimately for their original price, only having to deal with the different currency, ending up in some very reasonable prices (1US$ is about 1.78 Brazilian R$), which is the reason I haven’t torrented a single game in about 6 or 7 years :smiley: . Thing is, having great games with a shitty computer doesn’t add up too good, and I end up having to play most of my games with crappy fps, so lately I’ve been saving to do an upgrade.

For the overall specs, I’ve pretty much decided at these specs:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500
RAM: 2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz Kingston
HDD: 1TB Seagate 7200 RPM
Mobo: I’m keeping my current P5KPL-AM, because even though it’s pretty crappy it should handle everything I’m looking for.
PSU: Also keeping mine (550W)

The thing is, I can’t decide on a GPU. I was originally going to save more until I had enough for a GTX 260/275, which cost a whole bunch around here, since they’ve seemed to be cards that would allow me to play pretty much every game I own and still give me an edge for upcoming titles. But I’ve found a very reasonable deal on a 5750 (which believe it or not is 479R$ or 267US$), and I’m really inclined to go for it since it seems to be a good card (roughly the same as a GTS250) and has good power consumption, DirectX 11 support and all.

I’ve never bought from ATI before and I’ve heard they have issues with 64-bit drivers. Besides, I don’t know exactly at which point I’d be able to run recent titles. Since I like to multiplayer a lot (and when I’m doing it I don’t really care much about graphics), and also enjoy some single player (when I do care about graphics). My main doubts about a setup with a 5750 are:

  • Would I be able to run multiplayer titles such as TF2/CSS and whatnot with decent graphics, at a very good frame rate (above 80 fps even during heavy gunfights and all)?

  • Would I be able to run the most recent single player titles such as Crysis/Bioshock 2 at a playable frame rate (40~60 fps)?

  • Would such setup, due to having DirectX 11 support and all, provide me with some future-proof for being able to run upcoming titles at a still reasonable frame rate (not necessarily at maximum graphics), or should I wait for the new generation cards from NVidia or ATI to come out and see if the prices drop?

Keep in mind what I’ve stated in the first paragraph, since I really have no option to buy high-end specs unless I finally travel to the US or Europe (on which occasion I’m gonna buy loads of other shit :3).

Hope someone more experienced can shed some light here, and sorry for the gigantic wall of text (feel free to go tl;dr :stuck_out_tongue: ) :/.

#2

The 5750 should run any source engine game without a hitch. It will be able to crysis on high at playable framerates for the majority of the game with a few brief slowdowns here and there. Bioshock 2 should run so u shouldn’t worry about that. If u can fit it in ur budget, try to get a 5770 or 5850, they’ll give u much better future proofing and should handle any game out right now fine. If u want all out performance and future proofing, get a 5970, but thats expensive even in the states :stuck_out_tongue: . ATi is a very respectable brand and their cards are very good.

5750: $144USD

5770: $160USD

5850: $300USD

5870: $400USD

5970: $700USD

#3

Yeah I really wish I could fit one of those in my budget :frowning: , but the price is just out of consideration.

Just a few prices for comparison (and keep in mind these are the ABSOLUTELY LOWEST prices you can find around here, the average price in common stores is much higher):

5770: R$599,99 - US$335,00 (pretty much almost $100 higher)

5850: R$1299,99 - US$726,50 (YAY FOR DOUBLE PRICE!)

5870: R$1499,99 - US$838,00

5970: R$2153,00 - US$1204,00 (yay for the price of a full gaming setup in the US!)

It’s pretty sad when you take the time to compare it :frowning: .

Anyways, good to know those things you stated, guess it should fulfill my needs for the next couple of years. Hopefully by then I’ll be already working overseas :smiley: .

Also is it true that ATI has horrible issues with driver support for 64-bit OS’s? 'Cause if I’m going to buy a DirectX 11 GPU, then I’ll most likely use Windows 7, and the version I own of it is 64-bit (and let’s face it there’s really no reason to use 32-bit, even more so when you have 4GB or above of RAM), and it’d suck to spend that amount of money to find out the driver support sucks :/.

#4

Im running windows 7 Ultimate 64bit and I haven’t run into any problems with their drivers, and to please siggs I shant post my specs.

#5

Considering I can can run all source games on high with really good results and crysis on medium with decent frame rates (until I hit the final boss then they take a huge dive) on my Radeon HD 4650, I think you’ll have no problem going with that card on Crysis or anyother game.

#6

Here’s my thoughts - how much is postage to the areas where you live? You might be able to get something shipped from NewEgg directly to you if you pay a little bit of extra postage, and if that doesn’t work you could find someone you trust within the USA (potentially one of the moderators here) and get them to purchase a card and send it to you.

#7

I doubt they would do that.

#8

And why not? Hell, I got a tablet shipped to a remote corner of Canada pretty cheaply without much trouble, and the damn thing is way heavier and bigger than a video card.

#9

I wuz talking about the moderators sending it.

#10

EDIT: That was with Amazon. Apparently NewEgg doesn’t do international orders. :frowning:

#11

Yep. And even so, pretty much any site that ships internationally can only ship DVD’s/Books directly to Brazil. Any other product, from toothpaste to plasma TV’s, has to go through customs and gets charged for importing taxes (which are like 300% of the product’s price). It sucks big time :frowning: .

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