HiS HD 4850 IceQ 4 TurboX for Empire Total War?

[Indi75]

Hi,

Anticipating the release of Empire: Total War later this week, and accepting that my X1950 is likely not going to cut the mustard, I've been perusing upgrades and taken a liking to the 512MB HD4850 IceQ 4 TurboX.

I really could do without having to spend more than £150, and I'm likely going to eBay my existing card which is the HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ICEQ3 as even the £150 is a dent in the current climate.

Does anyone have any alternatives to suggest, perhaps any helpful opinions?

I'd like something that vents out of the case, something that stays cool, and obviously something that packs a moderate punch whilst accepting that I'm not buying the absolute fastest thing out there.

Any advice or thoughts most welcome

Thanks

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

£150 for an HD4850 is a total waste of money as you can get an HD4870 for £140 to £150 delivered
now:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/d...%204870&d=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search...arch=hd%204870

In the US there are price cuts for both the HD4850 and HD4870:

http://www.dailytech.com/Radeon+4870...ticle14433.htm


This means the HD4850 should drop in price to around £100 to £110!!

TBH I would get an HD4830 for under £90 delivered and overclock it:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/d...s=hd%204830&d=

The Sapphire one seems to be good value for money as it has a quiet cooler accoring to this review:

http://www.bigbruin.com/2008/sapphire4830_8

I am getting a HD4830 delivered later this week so I could give a quick test for you to see how fast it is. I am using a 975X motherboard too. I orginally had an HD3870 which I FUBARed but this was by my estimations over twice as quick as the x1900gt it replaced. The x1900gt is basically a slightly underclocked x1950pro produced on a 90nm process(as opposed to the 80nm process of the x1950pro). The HD4830 should be around 10% to 20% faster than an HD3870 and also it will have less of a performance hit with AA enabled.

[Indi75]

Thanks CAT, I'm looking at the 4870 now, I assume you mean the Powercolour?

I'm liking the price, but the OOS is a pain as I'm off work this week and need to order something that can be delivered Thursday or Friday.

I read on about the 4870 price cuts in the US, but thought that was following the 4850 price cuts?

Are you saying there are likely to be price cuts on 4870's in the UK this week?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Novatech have plenty of HD4870 cards in stock including the Powercolour one for £150 delivered:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s....html?POW-4870

Next working day delivery is another £6.

It has got a good review:

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/video/rv770-4-p5.html

However I cannot predict whether there will be any further price cuts currently in the UK though and if they do happen when they will be!

[Indi75]

Yup, i'm just perusing this one now... linky

Much better card for just less than the slower 4850 and next day delivery too.

Might see how prices go for about 36 hours or so and then take a plunge.

[Pob255]

A price cut in the usa can take up to a month to filter down to us in the eu and even then it doesn't happen at once but by card as stock changes.

[Indi75]

Yeah, that figures.

The 512MB Sapphire 4870 is £144 at Novatech, so will likely order that tomorrow.

[!TIMMY!]

Under £150 for a 4870 is quality! I am so very tempted, from all accounts it is a very good card.

[Indi75]

Yeah, it's got pretty good reviews in most places.

...and it dropped a few quid yesterday, I'm gonna crack on and order one this morning.

[watercooled]

I have the TurboX, it's a very good card. Although I think I did get it when it was cheaper than the 4870. It also runs VERY cool - much cooler than the stock card, even though it's OC'd.

[Indi75]

Yes, the cooling was something nagging in the back of my mind, but I'm not about to be overclocking as either card will happily bitch the things I run on the PC.

I'm running an Antec P190 which really does push some air, so the spec and price of the 4870 wins hands down, tho I confess I'm indebted to CAT-THE-FIFTH for pointing me helpfully to Novatech.

[burtie]

You could always put an aftermarket cooler on the 4870 if the stock cooler is not up to it.

[Indi75]

There's a possibility I might look at water cooling later this year as I want to downsize my toilet.

EDIT: No, I want to downsize my CASE. That's my CASE, not my bathroom. Although right now I'd also like to downsize the number of urgent visit's to the bathroom for colourful and exotic toilet adventures.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There's a possibility I might look at water cooling later this year as I want to downsize my toilet.

EDIT: No, I want to downsize my CASE. That's my CASE, not my bathroom. Although right now I'd also like to downsize the number of urgent visit's to the bathroom for colourful and exotic toilet adventures.

[Pob255]

There's a possibility I might look at water cooling later this year as I want to downsize my toilet.

EDIT: No, I want to downsize my CASE. That's my CASE, not my bathroom. Although right now I'd also like to downsize the number of urgent visit's to the bathroom for colourful and exotic toilet adventures.

ok people at work giving me odd looks now, luckly managed to avoid spitting coffee over my eeepc.

[Indi75]

Sorry 'bout that Pob, was typing whilst very consciously monitoring the sudden onset of abdominal cramps, and becoming somewhat nervous in the uncomfortable knowledge that they invariably preceed the failure of my chosen chemical cork 'Imodium'.

On topic: I have now ordered the HD4870 which Novatech are kindly delivering tomorrow morning for £144 in total which I think is an outstanding price.

Should replace my X1950 quite nicely.