Bitcoin Forum

The 6870 will offer better performance for both mining (only a Mh/s or two) and gaming and is widely available at $180 brand new. Some are even going for $160 at the moment.

If you're buying a 5830, then make sure it's at a reasonable price compared to a 6870.

Do not by a Ford Festiva for $20000. It's a rip-off.

Make sure when you buy a Festiva is a good price in relation to that 88 Monte Carlo.

Given that a quick search on Google says that you can get a Festiva for around $1,700-1,800, I agree, that is a ripoff.

If you think paying $160 for a used previous generation video card, when you can a get a brand new, better performing, current generation video card for the same price is a good idea, then as the saying goes, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Just for comparison, "older generation" GPU doesn't really mean anything.

The radeon 5850 is much more powerful than the newer and more expensive radeon 6870.

Radeon 5870 is heaps more powerful than 6870. Do not look just at name and release date.

I don't get why you're giving him shit.

He's specifically comparing the 5830 to a 6870 and making a suggestion to not buy the cards $50 overpriced which is close to the same price as a 6870, which is a superior mining card.

Of course his argument doesn't make sense when you bring other cards into the equation, but did he once say "Don't buy anything below number 6870?"

Personally, I'm giving crap because I'm selling some 5830s for market value (ebay auction style no reserve), and the market itself moves them to prices he's not willing to "believe." Sorry subjective valuation takes him to trollville (Wasilla, Alaska). It may not be the "best" card for Mr. Troll, but it will work for some people and some setups quite well.

That, and there are other trolls who have recently set up shop knocking the boosted value of the 5830 (not only on their own thread, but decent, legitimate 5830 posts)...probably because they didn't get theirs and don't want anyone else to have it either.

He could have searched for "5830 AND troll", and found his little hairy brothers and sisters.

lmao... :D

Why is this news ?  of course its a rip off, of course its overpriced to a point where another card at the same value surpasses it..

Such is life, stupid people everywhere.

Be informed, and 160 for a 5830 isnt that bad, just stupid...

6870 is about equal in power or slightly slower than a Radeon 5830. It does 'theoretically' hash faster - if you are willing to establish a ridiculous overclock that will kill the card in months.

At stock clocks, 5830 is about 10-20 mhash/s faster. I think you are underestimating how powerful the 5800-5900 series cards are. They rank second only to 6950/70's, and the king 6990.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

Given that most 6870's cost about $199 now, I wouldn't say it's a bad deal if you can get a brand new 5830 for 160 bucks.

It's a bit of a stretch though, given that I've seen sales of new Sapphire Extreme 5830's $109 per card just recently.
160 bucks is definitely not a fair market price, but if you need a good card fast then go ahead.

And I definitely wouldn't pay $160 for a used piece.

This makes no sense! Considering the 5870 is the predecessor to the 6970! But, no! Don't just look at the name! ;)

Then again, a beginner might compare a 5970 to 6970 and wonder why 5970 is so much faster, without realizing it's actually a double gpu and a predecessor to the 6990.

AMD messed up the naming scheme with the 6-series. It's extremely newbie-unfriendly.
Would it make sense that a new Radeon 7870 was weaker than a Radeon 6830 (both nonexistent as of today, just using examples)

Because that's how it looks like to an ordinary person. The 5830 is actually a bit faster than 6870.
But the only thing we can do is educate miners through hardware comparison lists.

Look at the specs for the cards, ATI HD 5830 (http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/DESKTOP/GRAPHICS/ATI-RADEON-HD-5000/HD-5830/Pages/hd-5830-overview.aspx#2) and AMD HD 6870 (http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/DESKTOP/GRAPHICS/AMD-RADEON-HD-6000/HD-6870/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6870-overview.aspx#2).

Both cards have 1120 Stream Processors and 56 Texture Units. The only difference between the two cards, is that the HD 6870 has twice as many Z/Stencil ROP Units (128 compared to 64) and twice as many Color ROP Units (32 compared to 16). The 6870 also runs at higher clocks, 100 MHz higher for the core and 50MHz higher for the memory. It can also be overclocked further.

The 6870 is clearly the the 5830 with a couple of tweaks and offers slightly better performance all around. If you can get both cards for a similar price, then you're better off getting the 6870. It's the better card.

6870 sells at 210 on newegg, while 5830 sells at 110 (OOS now). Clearly it's hard to get both cards for a simliar price.

They're selling one for $165 after rebate and there are quite a few going for $175-$180 after rebate. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600083901%20600083829&IsNodeId=1&name=Radeon%20HD%206870)

after rebate =/ sale price. You will be lucky to get those back in 3-4 months, cant return the card, and you initial investment (and subsequently $/Mhash) is higher.

If you can get a 5830 for ~$40 less, or even lower, than 6870, than it's a good deal. If the price difference is below ~$40, you're better off with the 6870:
- if you plan to keep the cards after you finish mining, the 6870 is far better at gaming and also scales much better in crossfire
- if you decide to sell the card(s) when you finish mining, the 6870 will have better resale value. The 5830 was always considered a very poor gaming card, with 5770-level performance at above 5850-level power consumption. And with all the ex-mining 5830s on the market in a few months, don't expect to be getting a decent price for one.
- if you expect to still be mining for bitcents a year from now, the 6870 will have made up the price difference with lower power consumption (~30W)

Unless you are able to sell 5830 to me $109 shipped immediately, then I think you should stfu. Availability has its value. Sapphire 5830 at $160 is still cheaper than the cheapest Sapphire 6870 (rebate can only be used once per address, even with rebate it is $190). If you are building multiple machines with 4 x GPU, the price difference add up to a lot of money very quick.

Sure $109 price point is great, IF you can get them. Otherwise you'd have to wait god knows how long, and be god knows how fast to get any at $109.

Depends on how you value your time.  You can have the card for $160 right now so you can mine immediately... or you can spend your days refreshing the Newegg page hoping for a $110 5830 which may never come.  Stop telling people what they should prefer.  You're like that annoying guy who tells everyone what a great deal they could have got if they just would have asked him about it before the purchase.

"How much did that shirt run you?"

"$40."

"Oh man.... you got ripped off... I know this guy who sells them out of the back of his van for $30!"

Piss off.  If spending a little extra money means I don't have to hear about your pseudo-existent deals and how my preferences amount to an objective rip off, it was money well spent.

If you go to Newegg you will see that they do have a 6870 for $165 with rebate and it is limited to 5 per customer, available right now.

You can get a 6870 right now from Newegg, in fact, you get 5. When you can get a 6870 for $165, $160 for a 5830 is a bad deal for the buyer and the seller is simply taking advantage of their ignorance.

someone's angry ::)

seriously, if someone wants to buy something for a set price, why are you so upset by it?

He's mad cuz he sold his 5830 for $55.

Maybe you should learn how to browse newegg before you tell other people to stfu. There's multiple 6870 models available for $165-$175 after rebate and a Sapphire one for $175 w/o rebate. At those prices the 6870 is certainly a better deal than the 5830 for $160.