4850 vs 4870

Spunge · 17-08-2008 05:45AM #1

what would be better for a 19" LCD (max res 1440*900)

4850 512MB DDR3 or 4870 512MB DDR5
was looking at the sapphire model of each.

Would the extra money for the 4870 be worth it, considering im on a bit of a budget and much prefer the 4850's price.
also i may be getting a crossfire board.

ill be playing the new crysis, far cry 2, fallout 3, stalker: clear sky , gta4.

rest of rig is:
e7200 C2D
2GB OCZ DDR2 800Mhz
some mobo
600W stealthxstream PSU

thanks.

Overheal · 17-08-2008 05:53AM

forget crossfire tbh, that sort of thing is really meant for the truly insane with fat wallets. one 4870 will run crysis and all that fine at a respectable framerate for full settings. you will still fall short because of processor and ram limitations though: it'd be more worthwhile to place the difference in cost into double memory.

Spunge · 17-08-2008 09:08AM

i thought getting a crossfire board would be good coz then if i wanted later on i could add another card without having to waste my first one.

would a e7200 really hold back a 4870 ?
even if it was overclocked?

another 2 gigs of ram is not a problem, its pretty cheap.

uberpixie · 17-08-2008 09:46AM

Spunge wrote: »

i thought getting a crossfire board would be good coz then if i wanted later on i could add another card without having to waste my first one.

would a e7200 really hold back a 4870 ?
even if it was overclocked?

another 2 gigs of ram is not a problem, its pretty cheap.

crossfire/sli only make a real difference at very high resolution, i.e. 24"/30" monitor, it will be wasted on a 19" no point worrying about it.

Plus the fact it won't work for every game, your CPU is fine, you will not be gaming at crazy resolutions so stick with it.

Crossfire and sli in general are a waste of time unless you are a 3d mark whore or have the money and the time to do it right.

PogMoThoin · 17-08-2008 10:58AM

Very similar to a rig I built for the young fella:

Abit AW9D-Max, Core 2 Duo E6600 @ Stock 2.4Ghz, 512MB Zotac 8800GT With Zalman, 2x 1Gb OCZ PC2 6400, 750GB Samsung F1 Sata, OCZ GameXtream 600W Psu, Coolermaster Dominator Xcalade (CM690) Case, 17" Dell Monitor 1280x1024

This pc flies any game including Crysis on high @ 1280x1024. No need to overclock that e7200, the e6600 has a lower clock speed of 2.4Ghz and manages fine, even with Crysis. Also 2Gb ram is fine with XP, I'll be adding another 2Gb soon as its dirt cheap.

The HD4850 would suit your needs. Its slightly more powerful than the 8800gt in the pc above. A 4870 would allow You upgrade to a bigger monitor tho. You could wait for 2 weeks for the release of the 4850x2 and 4870x2, the 4870 should drop a bit in price then.

Overheal · 17-08-2008 02:47PM

PogMoThoin wrote: »

The HD4850 would suit your needs. Its slightly more powerful than the 8800gt in the pc above. A 4870 would allow You upgrade to a bigger monitor tho. You could wait for 2 weeks for the release of the 4850x2 and 4870x2, the 4870 should drop a bit in price then.

either of the X2 cards would well last you a few years, even if you decide to upgrade the PC

PogMoThoin · 17-08-2008 05:13PM

Not all games support dual gpu's and some are optimised for Sli not Xfire, therefore some games would actually run slower on an X2 than a single card. Therefore it can't be said as futureproofing. HD4850/4870 is fine for your needs, whichever fits with your budget.

Spunge · 18-08-2008 04:14AM

probably gonna get the 4850, dont see any games coming out between now and start of september so gonna wait till then, hopefully a price drop before then too.

4850 vs 4870

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