Replace my 4650 with a 512mb 4850 for $80, or a 1Gb 4870 for $130?

I game in 1920x1080, usually w/o AA. E5200 @ 3.24Ghz. I'd like to build a Core i7 system this winter, so I may get a Crossfire board..could pick up another 4850 then.

I have a hard time downgrading from my last card (512mb 4870), but I really don't think the performance jump between the 4850 and 4870 is worth a 60% price increase..

My only recommendation is think about gaming in 3 years and IF you think the cheapest purchase will still be up to the task for games in 2012.

Not knowing anything about the hardware, if I have the money, I'll almost always take the newer model.

Crap advice, but so be it.

[Edit: I predict someone will get their panties in a wad over the [tech] tag in the title.]

Chances are I will not be running the same card in 3 years...if so, it'd be crossfire.

Wait for core i5, the general use version.

Get the 4870 1GB. Not only does it have more VRAM and muscle to handle the high resolution, but it will be able to afford AA and AF as well. This is something the 4850 can't do at that res. And since you are planning ahead for 3 years, the 512mb of vram may not be enough. There are already one or two games where the 4850 has the muscle to handle it, but due to it being vram constrained, the fps went rock bottom. So 4870 1GB for sure.

Thanks all - I will probably get this then.

Sweet christ those things are sub-200$?
wow.

4890's were going in the ~$150 range not too long ago. I can't find one now, though - they're $165-170.

Oh man, I can get a 4890 OC for $155...aagh...

Why

the 920s are $200 at MicroCenter

1366 has Gulftowns as a drop-in upgrade (altho they probably will be expensive)

Or he could get a 1156 i7 if he's going to wait

yeah- if I build a new system within the next few months, it'll probably be a help-me-get-over-the-ridiculously-long-winter system.

1Gb 4870 for $130

Then if your going to build your over-the-top system, Crossfire that in a few months.
I owned a 4850 previously, and the performance step up to my GTX260 was significant. I would not want to settle for less.

Well, I was going to order that one today but it has DVI + dSub...I want dual DVI. The dual DVI card is $10 cheaper - but out of stock.

Get the 4850. There's not much out there that's going to make a faster card necessary, and ATI's new cards should be out in October, barring yield issues. If you think cards are cheap now just wait until then.

You might want to buy the XFX-branded version model of whatever card you choose, rather than MSI or Asus or whatever. They have a double-lifetime warranty as I understand it (lifetime of your ownership of the card, and lifetime of the person you sell it to 2nd hand). XFX are the only really good ATI card seller in terms of after-sales support. All of the sellers with good warranties (XFX, EVGA and BFG) were NVIDIA-only until XFX started selling ATI cards a few months back.

I think as long as he buys from some place reputable and registers the card he will be fine.

(I think his last one was used, purchased off some forums.)

Yep, it was - and I will never buy a VisionTek product again, due to their pathetic excuse for a warranty.

Go eVGA!

I am watching slickdeals and Anandtech like a hawk - best now is an XFX 4850 for $90. I'd like a 1Gb 4870 in the $120 range, or a GTX 260 216...they tend to be more expensive, though, and I won't pay extra since it's not really much/any faster than the 4870..

I had a 4870 planned for like 6 months but ended up grabbing an evga gtx 260 216 for my build for $130

Newegg has some recertified XFX's for $130 (Free Shipping*). They only come with 1 year Warranty.

Recertified: XFX HD487AZDF Radeon HD 4870 1GB

Hmmm only 2 reviews but both pretty crappy ;(

Yeah, I saw those...not too keen on the 1yr warranty.



Where from? Do you like it? I've swapped back and forth from nVidia to ATI...Ti4200 to X800 to 9600GT to 4870 to 4650..

HMM. I just read this on the XFX 4850 newegg customer review section:


Anyone know anything about this? If this is common, I will go nVidia. I have a 1080P monitor.

I would guess that 1080p information is wrong or atleast outdated. I have a gtx 260 as well, I love mine.

NVIDIA drivers and ATI drivers are as bad as each other i.e. not particularly bad at all. They both have minor flaws but most of the complaints people make are down to PEBCAK errors rather than actual issues.

I like it, it performs exactly the same as the 4870 I put in a friend's build other than the PhysX part haha

I picked it up from Dell SB a couple weeks ago. They had the regular 216 for $134 (including tax + free ship) and the superclocked version for like $150 or something. I got the regular version and was pleased to find that its default clocks are (mistakenly?) set to the same as the superclocked version, el oh el.

eVGA Precision is a pretty decent/simple OCing tool. I'm really impressed w/ eVGA's support schema/community, though. Looking back, I'm glad I grabbed this over a 4870. I also got a free copy of Cyrostasis with it from eVGA (which is unplayable because the game sucks <_<), a free copy of Crazy Machine, and a free Vantage key (which I haven't used).

The one thing I don't like about it is that nVidia's power management functions are retarded. It sometimes doesn't ramp up the clocks if I'm using Aero effects, causing the effects to be visibly choppy, which seems ridiculous to me given my laptop w/ an X3100 has no choppiness. With the new 190. drivers, though, you can just turn that off.

CCC does a way better job w/ power mgmt imo ... and I did like the fact that I could just set an OC in CCC and not worry about it since in normal usage it'll be downclocked (correctly) and when gaming it'll ramp up automatically without me having to open an extra program like eVGA Precision

Hmm. I dunno wtf to do.

Now that I have learned that Windows 7 Home Premium does not have XP mode, I'm tempted to cancel my upgrade preorder and put the $ for the video card towards a TechNet subscription so I can put 7 Ultimate on everything I have...blah.

Choppy Aero would annoy me...do you think they'll fix the auto power management with a driver update?

Just use a VM for "XP Mode" It's not that great anyway, I tried it.

Ok.

Back to video card hunting. I can still get a 1Gb 4870 for $130, but it has VGA & DVI...and I want dual DVI, which is $10 cheaper but out of stock.

GTX 260 core 216's are $20 more.