1 gtx470 vs 2 4870 crossfire

[vectisitch]

hi,i want to get a new graphics card.i'm running 2 4870's in xfire at the moment.can't afford a gtx 480 at the moment so would a 470 give me good performance compared to the 2 4870's.or other suggestions please

 

[Freddie1980]

hi,i want to get a new graphics card.i'm running 2 4870's in xfire at the moment.can't afford a gtx 480 at the moment so would a 470 give me good performance compared to the 2 4870's.or other suggestions please

Depends on what games you play and what scaling on the 4870 you get. Given that 2 4870's would give you the same sort of performance as a 5870 and a bit more (2x4870>Hd5870>GTX470) your not really going see any improvement by going to a single card. There are advantages to moving such as less complications, consistent performance and perhaps lower noise. The disadvantages would be costs, a new GTX470 will cost you 230 notes and 2nd hand 4870 would fetch about 70/80 notes each maybe.

The bottom line is if your satisfied with the performance of your cards and you not getting loads of crossfire bugs and stuttering (common complaints for multiple video card setups) stick with what you have and look at it again next year. You have a strong setup there and so really no need to keep upgrading.

 

[vectisitch]

thing is,i'm building my son a pc and was thinking of putting 1 4870 in his for now and selling 1.so was wondering what i need to get me close to what i have now

 

[RavenXXX2]

Overcloked 470 will match 4870 xfire for the most part and will give better minimum fps and more consistent performance.

 

[vectisitch]

thanks raven.would the asus one be ok and i'll clock it myself

 

[vectisitch]

i can always buy another 470 later and sli em.wer hey

 

[RavenXXX2]

Yeah I would go Asus, great design on the card as well, below is a comparison between a 470 at stock clocks v an 4870x2 " best I could do " as you can see performance is close with the exception being mass effect 2.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/174?vs=160

470 SLI offers massive gains over a single 470 so a good upgrade path in the future if you have the right PSU for the job.

 

[vectisitch]

ok.thanks again

 

[Rroff]

To confirm what Raven said - recently done GTX260 SLI->GTX470 myself - stock for stock they are broadly similiar but the GTX470 has more consistant performance, where the 470 really shines tho is overclocked performance - most will easily hit 30% or more overclocks where it really pulls ahead of last generation multi GPU setups.

I think that ME2 result in the anandtech benchmark a bit off myself or the benchmark scene was heavily fillrate dependant - where multi GPU solutions shine - as with the GTX295 theres a massive increase in performance over the GTX470 in ME2 on anandtech - but loading up my old ME2 saved games that I used to benchmark previous the GTX470 is about 20% faster than my old GTX260 SLI in those scenes.

 

[JeffyB]

Overcloked 470 will match 4870 xfire for the most part and will give better minimum fps and more consistent performance.

This.

 

[vectisitch]

ok.ordered the asus 470.will get another when funds allow and sli myself stupid.lol

 

[1kiwi]

Interesting that at 1920 X 1200 the 4870 X 2 beats the 480 in L4D 2 & ME2. Assume that the 480 would pull away when overclocked however.

 

[vectisitch]

i'll soon find out.

 

[Nocky24]

Interesting that at 1920 X 1200 the 4870 X 2 beats the 480 in L4D 2 & ME2. Assume that the 480 would pull away when overclocked however.

Having gone from a 4870x2 to a 5870 to a 480 I can safely say the 480 is much better than the 4870x2 in LF4D2 (can't say for ME2 however). It could have been the drivers I suppose, but I had the latest cats and xfire profiles at the time

 

[JamieM522]

Well if its any consolation, I have been using a 4870 and just upgraded to the GTX 480 (Asus), I will let you know how it differs (Saturday when i get it)

 

[coupe69]

Interesting that at 1920 X 1200 the 4870 X 2 beats the 480 in L4D 2 & ME2. Assume that the 480 would pull away when overclocked however.

To be fair most half decent - recent graphics cards will run both of those games @ 60fps+ on a reasonable res and maximum settings. It's the lower fps scores you need to be investigating.

 

[Mr Krugga]

Having gone from a 4870x2 to a 5870 to a 480 I can safely say the 480 is much better than the 4870x2 in LF4D2 (can't say for ME2 however). It could have been the drivers I suppose, but I had the latest cats and xfire profiles at the time

AnandTech used 10.3a for 4870x2, 10.7 for 5870 and 258.80 for 480.