HD4830 xFire v HD4850 xFire

[gurusan]

I know the 4770 CF will outperform a single 4890...however the 4890 will still give awesome performance and you can always thrown another one in later.

 

[snowsurfer]

The 4890 has the worst bang for the buck out of the single GPU ATI lineup IMO. I think the star of the range at that price level is by far the 4850x2 (the single card one I mean). It is roughly the same price as a 4890, and it beats it by a HUGE margin in almost any game.

 

[baron5]

1st of all, yes the 4850 is better in crossfire. But if you can get 4830's brand new on newegg for $75 (sometimes, I haven't looked recently) and overclock them close enough to a 4850, then maybe it is worth getting 4830 crossfire instead.

I noticed 4830's overclock great also. I had 1 4850 that did 710 on the core with stock cooling, and another I can't even get stable at 690 at stock voltage with an aftermarket cooler.... had to pencil mod.


2nd, that is completely wrong. Cross firing "low end" cards can give GREAT bang for buck. (If you are grouping the 4830,4770,and 4850 into the low end...)
Look at scaling on the 4770! Look at scaling on the 9600gt's back a bit ago!
My 4850's gave me some great performance in new games, I actually played crysis pretty high and that game isn't supposed to play nice with crossfire.

The 4890 is a bargain though when it can be had for $180ish on newegg at certain points in time (look for deals everyday!)

You could have easily got a 4830 that wont clock good. Crossfire is not a good option for graphics unless you use two high end cards. What happens in a year when new games come out that a 4770 really cant handle very well, your dual gpu solution proves to be virtually un -sellable and extremely low end. Also when you play games that dont support dual dpu as well as others your suffer performance, and ontop of this you have alot more heat,power and require a sli motherboard, which means nForce chipset for socket 755, = problems, fsb holes etc. (for SLI) There is more to consider then just performance at current. A 4890 is better becuase, it still offers great performance and is single , which means less power heat and reliablilty.

The 4890 has the worst bang for the buck out of the single GPU ATI lineup IMO. I think the star of the range at that price level is by far the 4850x2 (the single card one I mean). It is roughly the same price as a 4890, and it beats it by a HUGE margin in almost any game.

WHAT! a 4890 is a great card for about 220-20. They overclock grat and can gain an additional 10-15% ontop of the original performance. The 4850x2 is a bad card because 1) it gets as hot as a habachi 2)high power consumption 3) driver problems.4) loud as a jet engine. This is why they are so cheapm they are trying to get rid of them, noboody wants them and many people that bought them at release have sold them for single GPU solutions.

 

[chesirecat1701]

Alright, baron5 I'll have to disagree with that, crossfire works good for someone like me, who doesn't have but about $120 to spend which is a reason why I'm looking at a low-end xFire set up, but one now and the other later on.

Also I already have the Gigabyte EP45-UD3P which is crossfire ready so that's not an issue. I don't why you said nForce when I haven't mentioned any nVidia cards.

The HD4890 is a great card no doubt but I don't want one because I'm holding out until the end of summer because I'll be going i7 then and only HD4890 I'm considering then is the 1 GHz Sapphire Atomic which should drop a decent amount in price then.

My aging 9800GT hasn't had any problems with newer games besides the infamous crysis where I have to settle for 1440*900 at high specs

thanks to DPG991, those charts/graphs are exactly what I was looking for, those are on up to date drivers I can assume? with ATI it's all about those drivers

 

[Drizzt]

Alright, baron5 I'll have to disagree with that, crossfire works good for someone like me, who doesn't have but about $120 to spend which is a reason why I'm looking at a low-end xFire set up, but one now and the other later on.

Also I already have the Gigabyte EP45-UD3P which is crossfire ready so that's not an issue. I don't why you said nForce when I haven't mentioned any nVidia cards.

The HD4890 is a great card no doubt but I don't want one because I'm holding out until the end of summer because I'll be going i7 then and only HD4890 I'm considering then is the 1 GHz Sapphire Atomic which should drop a decent amount in price then.

My aging 9800GT hasn't had any problems with newer games besides the infamous crysis where I have to settle for 1440*900 at high specs

thanks to DPG991, those charts/graphs are exactly what I was looking for, those are on up to date drivers I can assume? with ATI it's all about those drivers

Cat 9.2 without hot fix (not needed for our cards)

Just keep in mind that 9.3 drivers dropped performance of the cards, and 9.4 raised them back up to 9.2 standards. Nothing really changed on the programs and things we tested.

Sorry, it is really hard to do up to date drivers when your getting a combined effort from a bunch of different people I started that thread a few months ago.

You could have easily got a 4830 that wont clock good. Crossfire is not a good option for graphics unless you use two high end cards.

(I am assuming you consider 4830/8800gt low end cards)
Your just 100% wrong. I've done 8800gt sli and 4850 crossfire and I have gotten great results both times both in games and benchmarks. And I saved money. I don't know how you came up with that opinion. But some benchmarks and research would be nice.

What happens in a year when new games come out that a 4770 really cant handle very well, your dual gpu solution proves to be virtually un -sellable and extremely low end.

K Wut???? That happens with ALL gpu's. They go down in price! And they will be able to handle games fine. People still game with 3870 crossfire fine. People still game with 8800gt sli fine. I know someone who still plays with 8800gtx sli just fine. Proof please?

Also when you play games that dont support dual dpu as well as others your suffer performance, and ontop of this you have alot more heat,power and require a sli motherboard, which means nForce chipset for socket 755, = problems, fsb holes etc.

Just stop, please.
1. You can force crossfire in many games
2. Any current game that will stress one of these cards WILL support crossfire.
3. Power isn't a very big problem for most, you should have a good PSU if you learned from this forum. But I can understand that being a slight problem for some.
4. We are talking about multi GPU solutions..... So you don't need an nForce chipset for crossfire, you need it for SLI, and then only for 775. And even then, you can use mobo's that support both when you switch to x58.
5. I have an x38 with my q6600 and I have 3.85ghz stable and I can get up to 4.1ghz for benchmarks AND I run crossfire.

There is more to consider then just performance at current.

I can agree with you here

A 4890 is better becuase, it still offers great performance and is single , which means less power heat and reliablilty.

Almost agree with you. Except 4830,4770, and 4850 all seem to be great choices to compete with a 4890. And you haven't given any real reasons besides less power/heat and no problems with scaling. But someone needs to see how much the 40nm 4770's produce in heat compared to a 4890.

WHAT! a 4890 is a great card for about 220-20. They overclock grat and can gain an additional 10-15% ontop of the original performance. The 4850x2 is a bad card because 1) it gets as hot as a habachi 2)high power consumption 3) driver problems.4) loud as a jet engine. This is why they are so cheapm they are trying to get rid of them, noboody wants them and many people that bought them at release have sold them for single GPU solutions.

4850x2 with drive problems? I haven't heard that in a while since it's fully supported by AMD now, not just sapphire.
Your WRONG. 4850x2's are great cards, and I know tons of people who are happy with the purchase.

The 4850x2 was obviously a success because sapphire made it independently, and then AMD adopted it and started giving it support when it started winning awards and doing well in reviews.

 

[snowsurfer]

WHAT! a 4890 is a great card for about 220-20. They overclock grat and can gain an additional 10-15% ontop of the original performance. The 4850x2 is a bad card because 1) it gets as hot as a habachi 2)high power consumption 3) driver problems.4) loud as a jet engine. This is why they are so cheapm they are trying to get rid of them, noboody wants them and many people that bought them at release have sold them for single GPU solutions.

I am sorry my friend but that is just not true. Tomorrow when I getter better from my flu I will dig out several different comparisons from the likes of Hexus, etc that all say otherwise. The 4850x2 and 2 4770s both eat the 4890 for breakfast, except in Crysis due to the 4770 only being available in 512Mb versions.

On the other hand, and talking about the heat and noise, are you aware that there are non-reference cards out there with very good cooling solutions, both heat and noise wise?

You really need to get your facts straight, the 4850x2 is at this moment probably the best bang for the buck from any lineup, by far.

 

[chesirecat1701]

You really need to get your facts straight, the 4850x2 is at this moment probably the best bang for the buck from any lineup, by far.

The 4850x2 is a different card that's wothout a doubt but the best bang for buck might be a stretch but I'm sure he was referring to the 4850 in xFire

 

[Thresh25]

I am sorry my friend but that is just not true. Tomorrow when I getter better from my flu I will dig out several different comparisons from the likes of Hexus, etc that all say otherwise. The 4850x2 and 2 4770s both eat the 4890 for breakfast, except in Crysis due to the 4770 only being available in 512Mb versions.

On the other hand, and talking about the heat and noise, are you aware that there are non-reference cards out there with very good cooling solutions, both heat and noise wise?

You really need to get your facts straight, the 4850x2 is at this moment probably the best bang for the buck from any lineup, by far.

I am sorry my friend but that is not true. When you turn up the resolution the 4890 wins in just about every game, in many by a noticeable amount. (over the 4770s in crossfire). The 4850x2 is still slightly more expensive than most the 4890s. It's also a huge card, not fitting in many cases.

It is a great bang for the buck, and one could debate it's a better buy. But, the 4770's are not at all. Like baron said, as newer games come out the 4770s will show the reason they are so cheap. And at that point you will not be able to sell them because they will be so old and low performing. One 4890 is the smarter situation as you could then grab another in a year or so when they become much cheaper.

A single gpu is almost always a smarter decision than buying two low end cards.

 

[gurusan]

I disagree. 4770 CF is awesome bang/buck and will stay ahead of the 4890 in nearly all situations for some time to come.

I mean 9600GT cards are midrange yet in SLI they are still up there with the top dogs like the 280 in some situations...and they are pretty old cards now.

 

[baron5]

Almost agree with you. Except 4830,4770, and 4850 all seem to be great choices to compete with a 4890. And you haven't given any real reasons besides less power/heat and no problems with scaling. But someone needs to see how much the 40nm 4770's produce in heat compared to a 4890.

They are pretty much exactly the same. Both are low fifties at idle and mid 70's at load. Well besides more heat and power and obviously support, there isn't much else to consider, but those alone are enough to turn me away from crossfire unless I'm using high end cards becuase i'm loaded with cash. I really just don't see the point in crossfiring these mid end( your right, the 4770 etc should not be classified low end) cards when you can get single solutions for not much more that are nearly as good.

What i was trying to say before was that your going to be left with two really old low end cards in about a year. TThis is the same situation as the 9600gt sli vs 9800gtx+ situation, many people went for 9600gt sli over the single card, are not to say many people were happy, but if you look back now, i would rather have had a 9800gtx+ at this time then two9600gt's. This is just my opinion i guess, it's fair for us here to agree to disagree.

I am sorry my friend but that is just not true. Tomorrow when I getter better from my flu I will dig out several different comparisons from the likes of Hexus, etc that all say otherwise. The 4850x2 and 2 4770s both eat the 4890 for breakfast, except in Crysis due to the 4770 only being available in 512Mb versions.

On the other hand, and talking about the heat and noise, are you aware that there are non-reference cards out there with very good cooling solutions, both heat and noise wise?

You really need to get your facts straight, the 4850x2 is at this moment probably the best bang for the buck from any lineup, by far.

I did not say that 4850x2 is worse then the other cards i said in my eyes, its a bad choice because mainly it's high power consumption, heat and driver problems that it used to have/may have. (as far as these problems go i know there were a lot of people unhappy with both 4870x2 and 50x2's who ended up gettin different cards). Assuming you don't care about power consumption, older games, temperatures (or have a w/c setup or something planned) then it is a good card for 270, but i would take a gtx 280 over that card for the same price anyday.