HD 4870 512MB X-fire or GTX 280

[kfckfc]

I current have a HD 4870 512MB and with my budget can go crossfire with another HD 4870 or sell up and buy a card for ~£230 which would buy a low end GTX 280.

Forums seem to point towards 4870 in Crossfire as I play play FPS at 1650x1050. Deos anyone have any advice to an altenative @ ~£230. Thanks

[kalniel]

What kinds of games are you struggling with at the moment?

[dangel]

I have a 280 and it copes with everything i throw at it in 2048x1152

[kfckfc]

At the moment I am getting poor framerates from Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2 and Flight Sim X. I can smooth the gameplay if I turn off AA but AA does have a noticeable impact on the graphics.

[dangel]

I don't run FSX but everything else you listed runs fine for me, with AA.

[kalniel]

At the moment I am getting poor framerates from Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2 and Flight Sim X. I can smooth the gameplay if I turn off AA but AA does have a noticeable impact on the graphics.

You will struggle with any card on FSX.. it's just not that well optimised.

2x4870 will be faster than a GTX280 in Far Cry 2 at that resolution, but the single 280 will be more consistant in Crysis Warhead.

Both choices are good really - you'll get more consistant performance from the single 280, but in the right circumstances the 2x4870 will be quicker.

Overall I'd go for a single card - just less hassle and FSX probably runs faster on a single card than 2 cards.

[dangel]

I'd agree with that - i went for the 280 because of those reasons really.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would definitely look at re-installing your drivers and also using Driver Sweeper too. I would also make sure that the card is not overheating too.

It maybe worth selling your HD4870 512mb and going for an HD4890 1gb instead.

The HD4890 is quite overclockable too:

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3555&p=1

The HD4850X2 is also dropping in price too.

[kfckfc]

Thanks all for the reply, the consensus is a single card solution is better.

I think I will sell up and go for the 4890 which is not as fast as the 280 but will still give me the option to crossfire in future when hopefully the drivers will be better.

Hopefully I'll get one that enables a good OC.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The HD4770 in CrossFireX seems impressive:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.ph...=18281&page=10

http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/ind...=714&Itemid=27

[kfckfc]

Was going to buy the 4980 but saw the 4870X2 for only £263 at Scan so went for that. Overkill for my resolution (I know) but should futureproof me for a little while as I may also get a 32" LCD TV with PC input.

Thanks all for your advice.

[drisie]

4870x2 =243 pounds now

Indication of 5870 maybe

[kfckfc]

Yeah made the purchase a little early, could have saved ~£20.

However still happy with buy, even with the release of the 5800 series I don't think I'll get the level of performance for £263/£243.

[drisie]

Directx 11 capability will only be needed in a year or more's time anyway. The 5000 series will be priced high in the beginning!!! Probably won't be worth it untill a few months after release

[shaithis]

A few months?

We are 2.5 years after the release of DX10 (Vista) and it still hasn't been used properly IMO.

[scaryjim]

Was going to buy the 4980 but saw the 4870X2 for only £263 at Scan so went for that.

You do know you can crossfire your 4870X2 with your existing 4870 for 3 way GPU madness don't you? Although you'll get diminishing returns and will lose half the memory in your X2 if you do that - but it'd be interesting to know what results you get