http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=420&Itemid=72&limit=1&limitstart=14

Gives you the first good reason. 100W difference load, 40W difference under idle.

Another good reason:

http://gamegpu.ru/images/stories/Abzoru/action/BK_2_demo/Battlefield_Bad_Company_2_Beta_1920x1080.jpg

Note, the scaling on DX10 for the most modern of titles.

Another good reason: Anisotropic filtering

http://techreport.com/r.x/radeon-hd-5870/tunnel-cypress.png

As I don't know the modeling software I can't pull up any benchmarks on that. In any case the performance from the 5850 is proportional to price and that performance will get used. You're always advocating for the present, what about the future? Its a much better card all around, just becuase DX11 games haven't started to really take advantage of the technology now doesn't mean that in 6 months time there won't be numerous examples of a distinction between the two cards. At this point the HD 4890 is at its peak and time will not be as friendly to it as a card which carries the latest technology and which still has room to grow.

Power consumption shouldn't be an issue unless you're sticking the card into a previously built box with an underpowered PSU. And no doubt the 5850 is a more powerful card than the 4890, but unless you're running at 1920x1200 or higher with high AA you probably don't need the former.

And "future-proofing" your PC - by that I mean, spending a ton of money on hardware that you don't need now so that it can be obsoleted in two years' time by a basic mid-range build - is stupid. Buying the price:performance "sweet spot" now and upgrading only when you need to will save you a ton of money in the long run with little performance loss. This is a trend that's held true since the early-mid '90s and the advent of the "graphics card race," and it won't be ending in the foreseeable future.

Don't build.. 'It's so much cheaper! You can have a better computer!!' bullshit..and it'll take you forever, and cost you a lot of time and work, and things will go wrong.

www.digitalstormonline.com

Probably one of the best sites to get it from, their prices aren't that bad at all, and they've got options out the ass. Even their lowest-end performance PC is badass. They set up, overclock, and stress test your machine for 3 straight days before sending it to you. Much less of a headache..

But building it will be a little cheaper.

...or you could build one yourself, spend the five minutes required to overclock it yourself, and save a few hundred bucks. Seriously, OCing these days is just a matter of slapping on an aftermarket cooler and tweaking a few settings in the BIOS.

And building a PC is barely more involving than putting together Legos. A basic build may take a first-time builder a couple of hours at most, and if things go wrong it's your fault for not following the (very basic) directions on your mobo/case documentation.

It IS cheaper. And you CAN have a better computer. It's not bullshit. It's especially interesting if you already have some parts, like HDD's and software (Windows) or if you want to install Linux for whatever reason. You don't have to pay for what you are not going to use.

And as I've said before, there is something to be said about the feeling of having built your own computer. It feels more personal that way. And you won't be afraid to change any of the parts either :D

Noise? Even if you're not paying the power bill its still important.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17652/9

The graph I showed you was running @ 1650 resolution. NOT 1920.

You're also assuming that the 48xx level is the sweet spot, why? The sweet spot of what exactly? In every case where there is strong scaling based on GPU performance the HD 5850 totally kills the HD 4890/70. I remember when the HD 4870 was the perfect solution for 2560 by 1600, then people said it was the perfect card for 1920 by 1080 then you're saying now that the card is the perfect product for 1650/1050. Things get obsoleted for a reason and technology moves on.

The HD 5850 is quite simply a better card than the 4890 for its features, performance, and noise levels. The only reasons why one ought to choose the former over the latter are shortsighted ones based on the present conditions in the market today.

Heres another one: Would you rather run at 30FPS or 45 and have a margin at 1650/1050 for AA if you want?

Or even the difference between good and average on Crysis?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_5850_PCS_Plus/9.html

And for a modern game which shows excellent GPU scaling, enter HD 5850 again at 1920 by 1080

So you tell me?

What's wrong with the case, one of the best cases I've ever purchased.  4 system fans and easy access to the HDD bays.

Do you have something against Antec?  They make good products, but I do agree there are better PSU manufacturers and I was attempting to grab a cheaper one for this price breakdown.

Find me a game that this CPU will not work with?  If this guy is buying a gaming rig, why would he spend the money on a more expensive processor when all current games are offloading workload to the GPU.

Seagate, again whats wrong with them, from my standpoint the were still offering 5 year warranties on their HDD's last year (vs 3 year from every other HDD manufacturer)

Again, I'm not doubting that the 5850 is a more powerful card, but at $300+ it's also leaning heavily toward the expensive side of the market. I can't argue with those benchmarks, obviously, but you've also cherry-picked two of the most GPU-intensive games on the market (plus a beta running at 8x AA, which taxes any sub-$300 card). For most anything else, the 4890 will run it at max settings, and should be able to for the foreseeable future. That's perfectly fine if the OP wants to pay an extra $100 to push graphics to the max on every game, but I'm working on the assumption that most people here would rather save a substantial amount of cash than occasionally turn down a couple of "Very High" settings to merely, "High."

Build!!!

1. Saves money
2. Better hardware
3. No spam software
4. More fun :)

Okay, I was being a bit harsh on the case. I just can't stand a case manufacturer that crams bright blue LEDs everywhere - it basically means that whatever room you stick it in will glow blue 24/7. That's fine if that doesn't bother you, but for that price you could have something sleek, classy, and LED-free like the Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B.

Antec's PSUs aren't bad, per se, but for that price you could've had one from a top-of-the-line manufacturer like the Corsair 550VX.

Again, there's nothing wrong with the X4 620, but it's outperformed on most games by the cheaper X3 435/440. The lower clockspeed of the cores really hurts it in games that only take advantage of one or two cores.

Finally, larger Seagate drives are known to have reliability problems ever since they bought Maxtor. (Don't worry - I didn't even know this myself until recently.) I'm guessing that the one you got is this one, which should work decently but only has a 3 year warranty. Western Digital offers an extra two years for just a five-spot more.