HD4830 xFire v HD4850 xFire

[chesirecat1701]

I am about to go xfire but I'm at somewhat of a stump.

I already have the EP45-UD3P mobo so I'd like use it for xFire,
which is why I'm not going to just get a GTX260 (although it'd still be fine).

so disregarding price which is better,

HD4830 in Xfire

or

Hd4850 in xfire


I know at first the answer seems simple so before someone shoots an insult at me let me explain.

as a single card I know the HD4850 is a no brainer but

I can't find any newer reviews of an HD4850 xFire set up so forth all the results aren't great in the review I can find because the drivers weren't ripe, the HD4830 came out AFTER the HD4850 so the HD4830 xFire reviews are impressive because the drivers are newer versions and better optimized for the crossfire.

Now I don't want to just assume the HD 4850 in crossfire is going to scale the same as the HD4830 with newer drivers so could I can some clarification?

as it is now from the reviews I've read the HD4830 crossfire rig would easily win but the HD4850's reviews aren't current so I have nothing to go off of.

 

[Tenenbaum]

Could always wait for better drivers, for 2 of these?

Newegg.com - XFX HD-477A-YDLC Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

 

[chesirecat1701]

Yes an option I've considered, I should of mentioned 2 things

1. I'm gaming @ 1920x1200, and the 4770 is just lack luster as that res, would be useless for me

2. I didn't say price mattered between those two because I can get either or for almost the same price as the HD4850 has bigger MIR's than the HD4830 so in the end I'll end up paying maybe $15more for a HD4850 crossfire set up vs the 4830, but only if it does scale as well as the 4830.

 

[gurusan]

I would start off with a single 4890 .....it will handle pretty much anything at that res.

I am using an overclocked 4850 1GB and game at 2048x1152...it plays everything very, very well...so a 4890 would be even better.

 

[Drizzt]

If you would like a comparison.... I started one over at Overclock.net

The 2x4830 vs 2x4850 vs 48701gb vs 4890 Thread - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

The 4830's overclocked really compete with the 4850's. Stock isn't so great.

I would consider 4770 though because they would run cooler in xfire and they look like they scale better.

Also, I agree with gurusan... 4890 would be a better choice. I just sold one of my 4850's. Crossfire is fun, but it really isn't amazing.

BTW! gurusan, I am going to re-pencil mod this current 4850 since I am putting it under water by adding it into my cpu only loop. I'll try to get it close to 850 mhz

 

[gurusan]

Good luck with that I recommend one of the Zalman RHS50 heatsinks for the vrms. I've got one on mine and also a spare 4870 vrm sink in case I grab a 4870 again or possibly 4890. They are cheap and well worth it.

 

[Drizzt]

I already hack sawed my stock heat sink in half to use it to cool the vrms It works very good.

 

[baron5]

looks liek the 4850 crossfire is better out of those two, but like guru said, the 4890 would be bregat, it's not worth cross firing two low end cards anyway.

 

[Drizzt]

looks liek the 4850 crossfire is better out of those two, but like guru said, the 4890 would be bregat, it's not worth cross firing two low end cards anyway.

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!)

 

[hikaricloud]

Might want to check this out here, shows how good the 4770s are in comparison to the 4890, among others.

ATI Radeon HD 4770 In CrossFire: Unbeatable At $220 : Introduction - Review Tom's Hardware