HD 4870: What brand to go for?

[Levirginien]

Planing to get a HD 4870 towards end of August but can't make my mind about the brand (HIS, Powercolour, Gainward, Asus, Sapphire Gigabyte etc.). Your recommendations will be much appreciated

Processor: E 6700 (@ 3.6 )
Motherboard: Asus P5K Deluxe
Memory:Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x2GB) 
Graphics Card: NVIDIA 7900GS
Hard Drive(s): SAMSUNG HD753LJ (750 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
SAMSUNG HD502IJ (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Optical Drive(s): TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203D 
Cooling: Zalman 9700 LED
Case: Antec 900
Power Supply: JANTEC 700 Modular PSU
Monitor(s): Dell ultrasharp 2408WFP
Operating System: Vista Ultimate 64 SP1

 

[Margaret]

Just get the cheapest, they are identical anyway.

 

[ripkord]

I went for the gainward had cards from them in the past and have been absolutely fine, sapphire have also been very reliable for me and I always overclock - both come with 2 year warranties as well so you cant go wrong.

 

[icey_haj]

I think they're all the same reference cards at the moment. Just pick one with the best warranty or the best goodies included in the box. I got the Gigabyte one and I'm pleased with it.

 

[rjk]

if its based on the reference then they are all the same

if its got a fancy cooler/extra ram etc its normally a gimmick

and they bump the price up on the non reference models anyway

just get the cheapest and overclock it

 

[The_Abyss]

I went for Gainward. At the time Powercolour was £5 cheaper but back in the 9800 Pro days their quality was a bit suspect. That may well have changed since, but for the sake of £5 and quite a few beers the night of the purchase, it was an easy decision.

 

[sanofi]

Yeah just get the cheapest one.

I've got the Sapphire one and its been great so far. I've also had HIS ATI cards before which have been good too.

 

[Final8y]

I tend to go for sapphire as they have nice goodies bundled.

 

[Jabout]

If you have an Asus motherboard, there might be some small benefit in going for an Asus card.

 

[Biffa]

Is the Saphire the only one with two power adapters in it?

 

[Metalface Mark]

Asus is the best one as the fan control works properly on it, that said you can flash any of the others with the asus bios, which is easy to do.

 

[Elevon]

I went for Gainward. At the time Powercolour was £5 cheaper but back in the 9800 Pro days their quality was a bit suspect. That may well have changed since, but for the sake of £5 and quite a few beers the night of the purchase, it was an easy decision.

I went with Gigabyte 4870 card,at the time of purchase it was only 172 quid inc Vat (cheapest on the net at the time)plus the decent warranty made it even easier deciding.

 

[Roeg1]

All my aati cards have been Sapphire, never had an issue, my freind as had 2 HIS and they have been superb also.

 

[mrk]

I have a HIS 4870, was only £177 too and comes with a case sticker (Woot!) and funky box packaging.

Also HDMI adapter, DVI VGA adapter, composite and component cables

 

[darwin]

Does anybody think the overclocked Powercolor 4870 is worth buying over the stock 4870? It has an intriguing custom cooler and maybe offers more headroom for overclocking. I'm dithering between this and a GTX 280, although my PSU (Proprietary Dell 750W) may not be up to the job of the Nvidia card.

 

[sp00d]

Does anybody think the overclocked Powercolor 4870 is worth buying over the stock 4870? It has an intriguing custom cooler and maybe offers more headroom for overclocking. I'm dithering between this and a GTX 280, although my PSU (Proprietary Dell 750W) may not be up to the job of the Nvidia card.

I'd like to know this too. I was sat here waiting for the damn thing to come out, and now it's delayed. Also, is the 1gb worth it? Also, where are the new Hazros? For once, I have the damn cash, but I can't get the products I want

 

[neoboy]

So have Asus improved their RMA service since the last time OCUK stop stocking their products?

 

[Levirginien]

and finally HD 4850 1024MB or HD 4870 512MB?

 

[mrk]

512MB is perfectly fine under 1920x1200 4xFSAA testing in all games but Crysis so 1024 would not be needed up to this resolution. Also if you have 32Bit OS and 4GB RAM you're going to have less usable RAM with a 1GB gfx card.

 

[Levirginien]

thanks mrk
here is my setup:

Processor: E 6700 (@ 3.6 )
Motherboard: Asus P5K Deluxe
Memory:Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA 7900GS
Hard Drive(s): SAMSUNG HD753LJ (750 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
SAMSUNG HD502IJ (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Optical Drive(s): TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203D
Cooling: Zalman 9700 LED
Case: Antec 900
Power Supply: JANTEC 700 Modular PSU
Monitor(s): Dell ultrasharp 2408WFP
Operating System: Vista Ultimate 64 SP1