4870 crossfire

[FTM]

I have 4870 in my system..rather than upgrading my entire system again what are the merits of just adding a second card (you pick them up used for less than a hundred quid)

are the drivers stable now? do you need specific patches for games?

or is it really not worth it and should I just get a new card..or will the performance gain not be worth the cost?

and would I have to get exactly the same type of card?! manufacturer and memory size?

 

[95thrifles]

You dont need to get exactly the same card no, any would do, but ensure memory are the same (half gig, full gig or even 2 gig) else the one with more will just throttle to the lower value
You'll gain a decent boost, most games support them, can get a new one for a ton now, used less, though if you wait til early next year when I expect 5 series card prices to come back down you could sell your current card and get a 5850, not saying you should, just an option

 

[FTM]

I was just looking at used card prices and as you say they are available for under a hundred quid these days

I suppose what I am asking is will spending 80 quid give me enough of a boost not to justify 200 hundred quid or more on a new card!

will a few extra fps be worth the outlay

I'm running with 4 gig and a q6600 at 1680*1050

I'm just not sure I can bear to spend a big wad of cash upgrading the lot to eke out an 10fps! (especially when I can see a 4870 buy it now on the usual place for 60 quid!)

 

[magicroundabout]

at that res i'd say one is enough. That's if it's a 1gb version.

I had 2 4870's 512mb versions (see build log in sig) in my system before having a single 5870 and the performance was ace from two cards.

Power and heat were the issues though. as for drivers everything ran fine with no issues ever.

if you can pick one up cheap it's well worth doing. i sold my two though for £77.50 each.