4870s

[stb1swat]

I was looking on the egg today and I saw that the 4870s were rolling in at around $150-$160. I got really excited and wanted to buy one. Every since I got my Biostar T-power I've been planning on switching to ATI. But I've been looking at charts and I'm a little worried about actual performance increase. I know Crysis doesn't treat ATI very well, but this chart does not show the increase I expected.
So...I'm a little concerned...half my sources praise the 4870 and half just show it as a moderate increase.
I can't afford the 4890s. Basically $150-$160 is acceptable as long as I can sell my 8800GTS for at least $60, and the main reason for going ATI is to crossfire...eventually.

 

[meat_helmet]

The drivers are more mature these days and the difference between say a 260 core 126 and a hd4870 in crysis is pretty small. From memory it has been winning more lately than the 260.

What version of the 8800GTS do you have? 512, 320 or 640??

Assuming its the 512mb i would think you would get better results than that chart shows. Its possible they were done when the card was just out and the drivers werent as good as they are now.

 

[stb1swat]

Yeah its the g92 512. So the 4870 is comparable to the 260? that's what I thought all along. So you think the chart was just due to poor drivers?

Yeah these seem more impressive.
Crysis is on the next page. I think it did stay ahead by a few frames.

 

[kobe24]

just getting back into things abit coz i havent been on here in a while but 4870's are old. whats wrong with a 8800gts 512 there still fine no point upgradin to a 4870. if you want to go crossfire why dont you just get one 4890

 

[stb1swat]

I can't afford a 4980. The 4870s are still good cards, and now that I can drop $154 and get a sapphire they're becoming worth it. From what I see there's quite a bit of upgrade to be had in moving from an 8800GTS to 4870. And the link I posted showed it beating the the 260 in some areas.

I said I WOULD crossfire eventually. Now, I might still wait and try and get a 4890 later. I'm not one to to buy the latest and greatest usually...its why I didn't wait for the i7s or the GTX cards. I like to buy slightly dated stuff for less lol.

 

[hikaricloud]

just getting back into things abit coz i havent been on here in a while but 4870's are old. whats wrong with a 8800gts 512 there still fine no point upgradin to a 4870. if you want to go crossfire why dont you just get one 4890

You serious? The 4890 is a different GPU than the 4870, but with the 4870 price drop, it's hard to justify it for that much extra money, hence while he is getting a 4870. It's a nice upgrade from the 8800GTS.

The OP already said he can't afford a 4890, and he'll Crossfire later when he has money.

 

[dario03]

I went from a 8800gt to my Sapphire 4870 and there was a performance increase but it wasn't really all that much. Of course I'm use to huge increases because in the past I've gone from Radeon 9800pro to very overclocked x1800xl to 8800gt so those were large increases.

Also I don't recommend Sapphire personally. Mine came with a bad fan or fan sensor and I was not impressed with their tech support. Personally I'll probably be going with HIS with my next ATI card.

 

[stb1swat]

So from this list you'd suggest the HIS?

 

[hikaricloud]

The HIS 1gb looks good. It's too bad the XFX card is too expensive.

 

[stb1swat]

Ohhh crap...I forgot about the 512 and 1GB versions. I should probably definitely go with the 1GB, right? What about when I SLI?
Gahh...$180 is pushing it. I know I'm not buying right this minute so hopefully the price will drop soon.
Either way, its still worth it to me.