i feel like a muppet if i buy a 4870 atm...

[Falcor]

So i desperately need to get this upgrade sorted, trouble is, if i buy a 4870 its going to cost me £200, problem is, 4870X2s are about £370 atm, which is inflated price, id expect that to drop quite a bit soonish. So for about £100ish more soon i can possibly get a 4870X2....this is my dilemma.

Id be tempted to go for a 4850 for now but that feels like even more of a waste. I upgrade irregulary...want something to last and a 4870X2 would...but the over inflated price is silly...

any thoughts?

[staffsMike]

280GTX at £240?

[shadowcreaper]

4870 runs very good, and getting a gtx 280 would be just stupid personally sinse it ISNT best card and ISNT best price for value.

What res you planning to play??

Or what type of monitor you using ect?

i think 4870 best atm,only 4870x2 better for those hardcore super high res gamers.

remember.

4870X2 ONLY WORKS PROPERLY ON 2100+RES, anything below this and you will not see major differance over 4870.

[Hicks12]

Id say if you can wait, buy the 4870 1gb versions because it should be the best then because the 4870X2 doesnt come in to play till very high res but a single 1gb would come in at a much lower res so its better .

[staffsMike]

Well it is the best single GPU card.. and at £240 it does represent certain value for money compared to the power hungry monster that is the X2.

The HD4870 is a good card, no arguments there. But if you want more performance than that.. the logical jump is not just to go straight for an X2.. the GTX is between them.

[Falcor]

will be getting a 22inch or 24 inch monitor so i think i need a 4870 over a 4850?

For resolution im not sure whatevers suitable for the monitor...

The only things that concern me about the 4870 is, its so hot, and the warranties are so bad....makes u think the manufacturers have no faith in it lasting...

[aidanjt]

The only things that concern me about the 4870 is, its so hot,

No, it isn't, it's temperature regulated, thankfully so, as I can't hear the fan unless it's getting toasty in which case it spins up the rotation rate for a few seconds to vent off excess bursts of heat. Even while folding with the GPU2 F@H client I can hardly hear it most of the time.

and the warranties are so bad....makes u think the manufacturers have no faith in it lasting...

Mine comes with a 2 year warrenty, ASUS cards come with a 3 year warrenty. Generally that's the timeframe of usefulness for a GPU for gaming. Nor is it an indication of failure rates, nearly all hardware components have warrenty periods such as these, it's just realistic.

The X2 will last you longer, and save you £30, and a bit of energy, compared to crossfiring 2x4870 cards seperately. But then nobody really needs the X2 unless they have a 30" monitor. That's all it boils down to really.

[Mossy]

Exactly in your case the GTX 280 is the perfect card.

[NovaSphere]

will be getting a 22inch or 24 inch monitor so i think i need a 4870 over a 4850?

For resolution im not sure whatevers suitable for the monitor...

The only things that concern me about the 4870 is, its so hot, and the warranties are so bad....makes u think the manufacturers have no faith in it lasting...

If your getting a 24" monitor, the 4870X2 is really wasted money, id only get that if your going for 26" / 28" or more.
When looking at single GPU solutions, the GTX280 > HD4870.

I had same question as you before, just with different cards, I choose the GTX260. Simply because I prefer Nvidia over ATI, and the ATI cards tend to go extremely hot. But doesn't take away the new ATI cards are great cards.

[shadowcreaper]

Exactly in your case the GTX 280 is the perfect card.

sorry but i think this very bad advise from somone who works for a computer company.

The gtx 280 known for being overpriced and performance wise isnt worth its value.

Benchmarks and hundrends of reviews have shown and proven 4870 best card for this person, like many other persons in simular area.

4870x2 remember only for HIGH res and i belive the quoted res is 2100+ anything lower and WILL NOT see visable differance over a single 4870 card.


save money and get 4870, i very much dout you will regret it.

OR if you have cash to spend get 4870x2 for super high res gaming, though CHECK YOUR monitor can produce such high res and quality first.

[NovaSphere]

sorry but i think this very bad advise from somone who works for a computer company.

The gtx 280 known for being overpriced and performance wise isnt worth its value.

Benchmarks and hundrends of reviews have shown and proven 4870 best card for this person, like many other persons in simular area.

4870x2 remember only for HIGH res and i belive the quoted res is 2100+ anything lower and WILL NOT see visable differance over a single 4870 card.


save money and get 4870, i very much dout you will regret it.

OR if you have cash to spend get 4870x2 for super high res gaming, though CHECK YOUR monitor can produce such high res and quality first.

What you say is true if... Nvidia hadn't drastically lowered the prices of their new 200 series when ATI came with their new price-perf ratio cards.
The GTX260 dropped straight away and the GTX280 followed later, many reviews from both the 200 series and ATI's new cards were made before the big price war. So many of those conclusion are based on out-dated information.

The GTX280 is a better card than the HD4870 performance wise, when it comes to price-perf ratio, the 4870 is slightly better than the GTX280 I think, though I'm not sure anymore since Nvidia lowered prices again? But my personal choice would go for the GTX280 over the 4870 now, simply because I prefer Nvidia over ATI, the ATI cards are good but run extremely hot, to get the full potential of the card you need to get an aftermarket cooler which is going to cost you aswell... lol

I had the same question, choosing between 9800GTX, GTX260, HD4850 and HD4870. While the HD4870 is maybe a little better at some games than the GTX260, I still choose the 260, as for the reasons stated above. (aswell as CUDA support and PhysX)

[Mossy]

sorry but i think this very bad advise from somone who works for a computer company.

The gtx 280 known for being overpriced and performance wise isnt worth its value.

Benchmarks and hundrends of reviews have shown and proven 4870 best card for this person, like many other persons in simular area.

4870x2 remember only for HIGH res and i belive the quoted res is 2100+ anything lower and WILL NOT see visable differance over a single 4870 card.


save money and get 4870, i very much dout you will regret it.

OR if you have cash to spend get 4870x2 for super high res gaming, though CHECK YOUR monitor can produce such high res and quality first.

If you actually read the thread a GTX 280 would be ideal for the performance and bang for buck you can pick up one now for just under £240. IN THE THREAD which you do not seem to read he mentions he is getting a 22" or 24" screen which for the price of a GTX 280 I feel is Ideal. You go on about the GTX 280 being known for being over priced then suggest at the end of your post a 4870 X2 which is £300+ and on a 22" - 24" monitor the FACT is a GTX 280 is better priced. ( For this situation )

[Mossy]

many reviews from both the 200 series and ATI's new cards were made before the big price war. So many of those conclusion are based on out-dated information.

and before NVIDIA released the new drivers

[leepen@scan]

Gents you only have to read my sig for the specs of my machine and I've only got the one 4850 and Crysis runs @ 1680x1050, no AA or AF (normal high settings) at an average of 45fps.

Couple that with two cards and you're easily gonna get 60fps in Crysis at those settings and I get over 170fps in HL2 Lost Coast demo, roughly 60-90fps in CoD4.

The new Nvidia drivers do give a bit more of a kick to the existing line ups. And for all those slating the ATI cards for "running hot" - I know it's not an ideal situation but you can adjust the fan speed manually through the XML profiles or using ExpertoolATI. Fan speed of 40% is barely noticeable and keeps GPU at 45c idle, when gaming I push the fan speed to 85% and the GPU never ever reaches above 70c.

Tinker tinker and tinker

Though if you run a 64bit OS, stick to nvidia as the ati drivers aren't up to scratch just yet. That and if you've got vista home premium, you'll find it difficult to access c:\documents and settings\user\local settings\application data\ati\ace folders as these are restricted in every version of vista except ultimate and this is where the xml files are located.

I still say the ATI cards have the edge, given the price. Though dependant upon what you want the card to do and your existing setup - both companies are worth considering. I just went ATI as I got mine in the first week when the benchmark results were obscene and not to mention that my overclock now gives me 12.5k in 3dmark 06 - not the best score, but a damn sight better than 10k as it was originally

[rufeo]

going to have say the gtx280 as well. i got the gtx260 before the price drop, doh! although overclocking the card insanely has brought down the level of injustice that i still feel atm if i was buying now the gtx280 would be my card of choice no doubt about it. at about 240 quid it offers a better value for money than before, it's quicker than the 4870 so it'll last that extra bit longer. but it's saving grace is the fact that it runs cooler and quieter than the 4870 which means no faffing about with aftermarket coolers. also nvidia cards come with a longer warranty in general than the ati cards do. i mean can you name any ati cards that come with a 10yr warranty ala EVGA or BFG? but my argument is based on a resolution of a 24" monitor. anything less and i do think a 4850 can handle it. like many people have said the 4870x2 is wasted on anything thats not over 1920x1200, so not many people will even see a benefit in performance over a 4870 or a gtx280

[NovaSphere]

so not many people will even see a benefit in performance over a 4870 or a gtx280

It's really game dependant when comparing on lower resolutions, the higher the resolution the bigger the gap becomes.