4870 1GB or 4870x2?

[daz.rathbone]

I've decided to sell on my GTX280, for no other reason than to get an ATI card to go with my AMD CPU and chipset.

I'm undecided between the 1GB 4870 (prob Powercolour and maybe with an aftermarket cooler like the Twin Turbo), or the 4870x2. I think after selling the 280 it'll cost around another £100 for the X2, or save me about £10-15 for the 4870 1GB.

Res is 1920x1200, and games included CoD series, Grid, Wow, PES2009, well just about anything to be honest. Not played Crysis for a while (or Warhead at all) so may give them another whirl too.

Any thoughts, or will it not make that much difference to me either way?

Cheers

 

[zytok]

from what you're playing, one 4870 1GB should be fine though I'd have thought that you wouldn't gain anything from ditching the 280 imo.

 

[mike gunnz]

Seems like a pointless move just to get a card that has the same name as your CPU tbh.

 

[ro55o]

You'll lose some performance dropping from a GTX 280 to a 4870, the only ATi card that'll you see any gains from is the X2, but it won't be a cheap upgrade.

The 4870 would be enough at the res you play at, but would be a step down from the 280.

Any reason why you want everything to match? To me performance is a bit more important than making sure everything is AMD Honestly you won't get in trouble for pairing up an AMD CPU and an Nvidia GPU.

 

[daz.rathbone]

Well it's a semi-pointless exercise I know, however the motherboard supports quad crossfire, so it opens up the potential for adding cards in the future.

I'm probably leaning more towards the 4870x2 route.

I've temporarily swapped out the 280 for a 4670 I had, and it's hard to explain but general os use seems snappier.

 

[lunarwolf]

4870x2 all the way at 1900x1200, getting regular would be a sidestep/minor downgrade

 

[zytok]

You'll lose some performance dropping from a GTX 280 to a 4870, the only ATi card that'll you see any gains from is the X2, but it won't be a cheap upgrade.

The 4870 would be enough at the res you play at, but would be a step down from the 280.

.

Depends on what you're playing and at what res. The two are about equal tbh.

 

[reflux]

X2....regular = fail.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

4870X2 is a great card. For the bit extra, the X2 will last you a lot longer. The drivers have really matured too.

 

[ro55o]

Well it's a semi-pointless exercise I know, however the motherboard supports quad crossfire, so it opens up the potential for adding cards in the future.

You could get a 4870 just now (would be enough to power any game at that res), then later down the line pick up another one and crossfire them.

It just depends really on what you want to spend, if you're willing to part with the extra £100 (from the sale of the 280) then go for the X2, if not then choose the 1gb 4870 and crossfire later on down the line.

 

[daz.rathbone]

You could get a 4870 just now (would be enough to power any game at that res), then later down the line pick up another one and crossfire them.

It just depends really on what you want to spend, if you're willing to part with the extra £100 (from the sale of the 280) then go for the X2, if not then choose the 1gb 4870 and crossfire later on down the line.

Yeah that's pretty much why I asked the question, I worded it very badly

I could certainly stomach the extra £100 for the X2, I'm just trying to work out if I'd immediately benefit from it (other than benchpeen waving), or should I get a 1GB 4870 with a nice cooler, and look to get another in a few months time.

Am definately leaning more towards the X2 tbh, even if just for the fact that I've never had one of the X2 cards (something new to play with and all that).

Cheers for all the responses btw, much appreicated just to throw ideas/options around.

 

[Jon1818]

You could get a 4870 just now (would be enough to power any game at that res), then later down the line pick up another one and crossfire them.

It just depends really on what you want to spend, if you're willing to part with the extra £100 (from the sale of the 280) then go for the X2, if not then choose the 1gb 4870 and crossfire later on down the line.

Could do that but youd probably need to upgrade psu aswell as 4870s are power hungry sods.

 

[psychas]

well if u get 4870 1 gig it would be small downgrade maybe not noticeable in games u play as they favor ati cards. how ever 4870x2 would be nice upgrade.

 

[jolie77]

isnt this like changing your GC as another card matches your PC case colour. daz for mod !

 

[daz.rathbone]

Well part yes, part no. See above about potential upgrades for Crossfire too - unless I'm missing something and this board also supports SLi

 

[philip j fry]

To be honest i would have stayed with the 280 over a 1gb 4870 its better performance overall , but if u realy have to upgrade just to have ati/amd then the 4870x2 is the way to go.