5850 purchase... insane or just eccentric?

[ganalon]

I'm having fun with my HD 6850 cranking out ~232MH/s.  I also have an older computer that should have just enough power to support Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 XTREME (I hope!)... so I just ordered one for $162.  I could have bought 2, but I would definitely have needed a new power supply. Maybe later. 

[darnoth]

The 5850 is a good card, it will do better then your 6850.. And 162 isn't a bad price for it either.

[tysat]

Are these new 5850s?  I'm curious where you found them so cheap...

[ganalon]

Amazon.  Yes, new. 1 left.  Hesitant to mention it, but WTF.  

[wacko]

I think they don't really have those cards in stock, it's "Order now and we'll deliver when available".

[ganalon]

Yup, that's probably why Amazon says it'll arrive in late Aug (or even early Sept)!

[UrbanAdventurer]

It's questionable whether you will be able to earn a clean profit on your card unless $BTC goes up significantly.  Although, after factoring the resale value of the card, you will certainly be in the green.

[Answer42]

I am suspicious of if amazon will ever ship. 

[Dargo]

I am suspicious of if amazon will ever ship. 

I ordered a 5850 from Amazon a while back just to see if it would work. I got an email from them saying it will ship August 12th. We'll see.

[zozpuff]

Word is amazon won't ship. Not worth it.

[Dargo]

Word is amazon won't ship. Not worth it.

They don't bill your credit card until they ship, so what can you lose?

[Raize]

You lose time. I have a relative that has been waiting for two months, every time the date comes close they push it back again.

[gaboo08]

I had purchased this awhile back and nothing from Amazon. Their method of selling with a future ship date like that should not be allowed. That's why I prefer Newegg.

[Johnny Pizza]

You'll never get it. Bitcoins value is tanking. Shoulda saved your money.

[Dargo]

You lose time. I have a relative that has been waiting for two months, every time the date comes close they push it back again.

Good point, but if you are just looking to expand a little and aren't in a big hurry to do so, it's worth a shot.

[lacedwithkerosene]

You're the guy who bought that through my affiliate link aren't you   

[sveetsnelda]

Unless you get a really cheap deal or you plan on using the video card for things other than mining (games), it's probably not the best idea to be buying hardware right now.  If you've got money to burn and you want to speculate, go for it.  Even if the current difficulty stayed the same (and it will likely keep going up), it's going to take quite a while to pay off *any* card at the current conversion rate.

[zozpuff]

Unless you get a really cheap deal or you plan on using the video card for things other than mining (games), it's probably not the best idea to be buying hardware right now.  If you've got money to burn and you want to speculate, go for it.  Even if the current difficulty stayed the same (and it will likely keep going up), it's going to take quite a while to pay off *any* card at the current conversion rate.

imagine my desktop died and i need a new one anyway. imagine i pay 732 and now i have a working desktop plus 632Mh/s. looks like it will take 16 months to break even if rates stay the same. really it was 311 extra to get a pair of 5850s instead of a crap card, so 7 months.

then again imagine i'm in it for the sake of contributing, and would keep mining even if i took a 50% loss on the power bill. yeah it may not be profitable but my point is i fall into a category somewhere between "really cheap deal" and "plan on using".

speculation is fun too. but i'm not selling the farm.

[sveetsnelda]

Well...  unless your electricity rates are outrageous, it's certainly still profitable.  ...it just takes a while to pay off the hardware (like you mentioned).  If you're building a new desktop and you can throw a couple 5850's in there, then why not? 

[ganalon]

I'm in it for the fun.  Sticking a 5850 in an older computer and mining would be enjoyable.  If I partially offset my cost then bonus.  I'm supporting the Bitcoin cause.

That being said... Amazon better ship it.  I'm buying a power supply from them too and the PS is useless to me w/o the card.  If they ship the PS w/o the card I'll raise a fuss... possibly go to small claims court. A deal is a deal.

[ganalon]

Amazon just cancelled my order for the HD 5850 (for $161.14) after about 10 days.  They said it was in stock (2 in stock at time of order).  In fact their site said they still had one in stock AFTER my order.  Here is part of their cancelation reply:

We are sorry to report that the following item is no longer available from our supplier:

'Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 XTREME 1 GB DDR5 HDMI/DVI-I/DP PCI-Express Graphics Card 100282XTREME'

However, we have learned that a substitute is available under a different item number.  You may link directly to the product details page for the substitute item using the URL below:

    Substitute: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047ZGIUK

The bait-and-switch substitute is a HD 6850 with 112Mh/s deficit.
 
Oh, and they are currently selling an HD 5850 through Amazon for $214.99.  I emailed and said I want it for the $161.14 that I ordered it for.  They said "No."

Is this any way to treat a loyal Amazon customer?   Well they just lost one loyal customer. 

[tysat]

Is this any way to treat a loyal Amazon customer?   Well they just lost one loyal customer. 

You actually expected your order to go through?

[hmongotaku]

from 160 usd 3 months ago to 220 on ebay/amazon i'm amazed. I need like 20 of them too. that's a 37% increase in pricing. If only ATI didn't disable those shaders on the 6xxx series.

[cgpgroup]

man I cant believe how expensive the 5850 is now...

[zozpuff]

man I cant believe how expensive the 5850 is now...

171.05 avg past 48 hours ebay. is that too high?

[hmongotaku]

Well basically it puts ati 5850s and 6950s in the same ballpark. Both were selling a bit over 150usd a few months ago.. That's like the first time GPU were not depreiated after being on markets. 220 But  it now, and 6950s up to $270s on newegg. 

[bitcoiner49er]

I ordered mine from Amazon on June 17th, got it Aug 4th. when it was $161.xx

Used rewards points, so in theory it was free!! 

[ganalon]

Good for you, bad for me.  "In stock" at Amazon means... "In stock unless we decide later not to sell it at the contractual price."  In retail that is called "bait and switch" or "false advertising".  (Just my opinion).  What do I know, I try to stick to my word... Is that so 20th Century?  Did I miss a memo?

[Bitcraft]

Now you can use that money to put towards a 6950 :p

[wigglyuk]

I have two EAH5850 and they work great... low power output, I set the flag -s.0009  so they don't overheat (avg. temp. 68C).
Total hash rate: 600-650Mhash/s

The only problem is that it gets a little hotter in my room.