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How future proof is the 4870?

Kua

Kua

Kua

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21 Jul 2008
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Thinking of upgrading my 256MB 8800GT. I think actually the 4850 would be a massive step up, but I think I'll probably go for the 4870.

Word on the street is that graphics cards upgrades will become less and less essential as more and more PC games are ports of console games and games makers just realise people can't afford to keep playing the upgrade game. If thats true the 4870 should be able to perform pretty well for a decent while.

On that note how long have people managed to keep their cards going if they've not put too much strain on it and looked after it?
 
The 4870 X2 will do for like 2yrs IMO. But with the news that the 4890 are due for release in the next few months...it might be best waiting to see what the prices will be on the new ones.

I had two HD 2600XTs for just over a year before I got my 4870 X2 earlier this year...I am going to see what the 4890 will be priced at and may get it when I upgrade to Core i7 later this year...
 
The 4870 will be fine for a while. A lot of games people play are years old anyway and we can see from benchmarks that the 4870 is still competitive. Its not that graphics cards get slow its that people just want faster ones lol. The 4870 will be enough for anyone for ages.
 
More cards are going to come out every 6 months which will be more powerful.

But the majority of games are still going to be console ports, which shouldn't be too hard for any current GPU to run.

Even the next years worth of PC exclusives will be more than playable on a 4870.
 
Kua said:
Thinking of upgrading my 256MB 8800GT. I think actually the 4850 would be a massive step up, but I think I'll probably go for the 4870.

Word on the street is that graphics cards upgrades will become less and less essential as more and more PC games are ports of console games and games makers just realise people can't afford to keep playing the upgrade game. If thats true the 4870 should be able to perform pretty well for a decent while.

On that note how long have people managed to keep their cards going if they've not put too much strain on it and looked after it?
Click to expand...


My 8800GT is still going strong 18 months on. Clocked as in sig and is still managing to play latest titles at 1600 x 1200 pretty much maxed out and at 4x AA.

Cracking card for the money.

Can't see myself upgrading until DX11 becomes established. Probably have it at least another year then!
 
KelticDaz said:
My 8800GT is still going strong 18 months on. Clocked as in sig and is still managing to play latest titles at 1600 x 1200 pretty much maxed out and at 4x AA.
Click to expand...

The main reason for upgrading is that I'm thinking of getting a 24" monitor to replace my 19" (native 1440*900) and I'm worried about stressing it. And actually I'm thinking of getting a 42" 1080p as well for gaming with the controller and movies. 1080 isn't all that high a res but I don't know whether using an HDTV or a larger screen adds extra stress...

Mines got half the RAM of yours. I tend to think 256 MB is pretty weak nowadays. I really have to compromise with Crysis and now, Empire: Total War.

Also according to ebay I should be able to sell it on for a decent % of what I bought it for. It was a steal at ~£50 on OCUK a few months ago.
 
Sash said:
The 4870 will be fine for a while. A lot of games people play are years old anyway and we can see from benchmarks that the 4870 is still competitive. Its not that graphics cards get slow its that people just want faster ones lol. The 4870 will be enough for anyone for ages.
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I think this is probably bang on :) . I like to think I'd be *satisfied* with a 4870 but in all honesty I'll probably want something better later on :p .
 
I reckon NO comp. hardware is futureproof...simply because around the corner there will always be something new and better! ;)
 
Indeed, although some hardware is relatively future proof in terms of the timescales most people are thinking of. Things like graphics cards definitely aren't as that's arguably the fastest moving part of the industry in performance terms. Even 'legendary' cards like the 9700pro or 8800gtx become too slow eventually.

There is one school of thought that says you should always buy the best you can afford in order to future-proof, but IMO a better option is to buy fast but good value stuff, meaning you have more money to upgrade in the future. I've seen people on here with very expensive / high-end rigs at the time of purchase (say FX-57 with 7800GTX-SLI) asking for advice on what to replace it with.
 
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HangTime said:
Indeed, although some hardware is relatively future proof in terms of the timescales most people are thinking of. Things like graphics cards definitely aren't as that's arguably the fastest moving part of the industry in performance terms. Even 'legendary' cards like the 9700pro or 8800gtx become too slow eventually.

There is one school of thought that says you should always buy the best you can afford in order to future-proof, but IMO a better option is to buy fast but good value stuff, meaning you have more money to upgrade in the future. I've seen people on here with very expensive / high-end rigs at the time of purchase (say FX-57 with 7800GTX-SLI) asking for advice on what to replace it with.
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Yeah - I think that buying the best you can spend your money on is a silly way to go about things. Just my opinion, but why get the incredibly fast high-end product that will ultimately get taken out by the same wave of games as the mid-range one that cost half as much?
 
HangTime said:
but IMO a better option is to buy fast but good value stuff
Click to expand...

What fits the bill here, considering I want to upgrade from a 8800GT 256MB? I've spent 9 months out of the graphics card market. Which, as you mention is a long time...

I'm assuiming 4850/4870 still have the best money/performance ratio but could well be wrong...
 
KelticDaz said:
If you have to replace your card now, my advice would be to buy this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927

Stonking card for the money.
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OK. Actually that's almost as cheap as a used one on the bay...

I'm just slightly worried about my power supply.

I have an E6600, 2*160GB HDDs and 1*1TB and 2GB DDR2 RAM (looking to increase this) with a 550W Thermaltake Power Supply. A quick search tells me the 260 would use up about 180W and the E6600 is already using up about 120W. Apparently the 1TB HDD alone only uses about 5W! (is that right?). Couldn't find anything for the RAM. But assuming thats low enough (couldn't even make an estimate) I should be good to go.
 
Already ordered. Alongside a Samsung Samsung SM-2443BW. And Akasa AK-955 CPU Cooler. I hope you fellow forumites realise I wouldn't buy this stuff if it weren't for you :p . In fact I've got some buyer's remorse this morning! Oh well, when the shiny things arrive it will make it all worthwhile >.> .
 
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Only way of getting anything like a future proof card is to simply buy the fastest card out at the time ie. GTX295 or 4870X2 or SLI a couple of 260's. I've had my 280 for nearly a year now and it's still doing the job very well!
 
rounddodger said:
Only way of getting anything like a future proof card is to simply buy the fastest card out at the time ie. GTX295 or 4870X2 or SLI a couple of 260's. I've had my 280 for nearly a year now and it's still doing the job very well!
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+1

Which means overkill now so that you wont have to upgrade until the last moment, unless features become a factor that you must have.
Yes! newer cards will come out that may be faster than the combination that you have but you don't have to upgrade to them as what you have still does the job.
 
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DirectX 11 is probably going to be unremarkable. I dont think many people really care whether a game is written with DirectX9 or DirectX10 so upgrading for DirectX11 is just upgrading for the sake of it.
 
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