4870 on way back...

[gurusan]

i've been through 3 different 8800 cards, all massively overclocked and some even voltmodded.

The 4850 even at stock crushes all of them once you start piling on AA and 16xAF...the 4870 should do even more.

I run at 1680x1050 as well, but definitely do not play with vsync..I'm not surprised you didn't find much of a difference since you use vsync...your min fps is probably due to your CPU and memory setup.

 

[Kalpsn2000]

As others have mentioned you will only really see the benefit of the 4870 over the GTX if you game at 1920 x 1200 with lots of AA.

I saw a big increase in performance over my 8800 GTS 320MB (as I was expecting)

 

[Biffa]

So the moral of the story is: If you have a 8800GTX O/C, game at 1680x1050 or below, keep vsynch on, have a slow CPU and are happy with the quality settings you use.... don't bother upgrading to any of the new cards from ATi or Nvidia.

Great thanks

 

[Diggsy]

Thanks for the replies guys. I kind of thought that posting this would cause a bit of a stir, but I stand by my remarks, and that is in my setup, the gains just aren't there to justify the cost.

Now, I know I can turn vsync off, but I don't see the point, as I prefer it on. I know I can use more AA, but I find 4x is more than enough, so again the upgrade is pointless.

Don't get me wrong, I don't for one minute think the card isn't good, I just don't think it's all that at MY resolution in MY setup. Each to their own.

Please don't think i'm slating the card, because at no time was that my intention. All I said is that I didn't find the improvements that good.

With regards to IQ, as asked above, I always did find ATi's IQ a little better than nVidia, and the 4870 is no exception, but that still doesn't make it a keeper, at least not at the moment.

Maybe if I move to Vista, and start using DX10, then I would see the benefits more, but for now (and the foreseable) i'm sticking with XP and my GTX.

 

[J.D]

Thanks for the replies guys. I kind of thought that posting this would cause a bit of a stir, but I stand by my remarks, and that is in my setup, the gains just aren't there to justify the cost.

Now, I know I can turn vsync off, but I don't see the point, as I prefer it on. I know I can use more AA, but I find 4x is more than enough, so again the upgrade is pointless.

Don't get me wrong, I don't for one minute think the card isn't good, I just don't think it's all that at MY resolution in MY setup. Each to their own.

Please don't think i'm slating the card, because at no time was that my intention. All I said is that I didn't find the improvements that good.

With regards to IQ, as asked above, I always did find ATi's IQ a little better than nVidia, and the 4870 is no exception, but that still doesn't make it a keeper, at least not at the moment.

Maybe if I move to Vista, and start using DX10, then I would see the benefits more, but for now (and the foreseable) i'm sticking with XP and my GTX.

You can't get fairer than that .

 

[The_Abyss]

Thanks for the replies guys. I kind of thought that posting this would cause a bit of a stir, but I stand by my remarks, and that is in my setup, the gains just aren't there to justify the cost.

Now, I know I can turn vsync off, but I don't see the point, as I prefer it on. I know I can use more AA, but I find 4x is more than enough, so again the upgrade is pointless.

Don't get me wrong, I don't for one minute think the card isn't good, I just don't think it's all that at MY resolution in MY setup. Each to their own.

Please don't think i'm slating the card, because at no time was that my intention. All I said is that I didn't find the improvements that good.

With regards to IQ, as asked above, I always did find ATi's IQ a little better than nVidia, and the 4870 is no exception, but that still doesn't make it a keeper, at least not at the moment.

Maybe if I move to Vista, and start using DX10, then I would see the benefits more, but for now (and the foreseable) i'm sticking with XP and my GTX.

The original post and this are quality to be honest.

So refreshing to see that someone who just laid out nearly £200 is willing to admit that by suddenly installing the card in their own PC doesn't make it 10 times better than it already is.

 

[Tooks]

The original post and this are quality to be honest.

So refreshing to see that someone who just laid out nearly £200 is willing to admit that by suddenly installing the card in their own PC doesn't make it 10 times better than it already is.

I'd be amazed if anybody did expect it to be 10 times better to be honest...

Hardware upgrades most of the time are about incremental improvements anyway, the jump from 7800 to 8800 series GPU's and P4 to Conroe CPU's excepted.

Each to their own though.

 

[Rroff]

When I spend £200 on a new GPU tho I expect a jump in performance comparable to the 7800/7900 to 8800 series... even if you have an 8800GT the jump in performance to the 48x0 cards isn't even close to that kinda jump - so it seems silly to me to buy one if you already have a decent 8800.

 

[The_Abyss]

The 10 x was a little tongue in cheek, referring to most who upgrade and their new card is suddenly the OMG ROXXOO00RR1555!!!11! card (I feel dirty now).

I wasn't debating the cost of the jump up vs performance - far from it. There are many compelling reasons to upgrade, but the top end of the old generation cards are hanging on well.

 

[Biffa]

When I spend £200 on a new GPU tho I expect a jump in performance comparable to the 7800/7900 to 8800 series... even if you have an 8800GT the jump in performance to the 48x0 cards isn't even close to that kinda jump - so it seems silly to me to buy one if you already have a decent 8800.

Why the focus on the 48x0 cards? Isn't the same true if you dropped £200 on a GTX260?

And anyway, going from a 8800GT to a 4870 or GTX260 would only be like a £100 (£140 - GTX260) outlay at most if the GT was sold and less than half that if you wanted a 4850 for some reason.

I'm not sure about memory either, seems to me looking back at the launch day the 8800GTX was only 50% faster than the 7900GTX in some games at super high resolutions, the 8800GTS was actually on a par with the 7900GTX at some games. Yes sometimes it went up to 2X perf but not always. Similar to the 4870/260 situation now

 

[Kalpsn2000]

And anyway, going from a 8800GT to a 4870 or GTX260 would only be like a £100 (£140 - GTX260) outlay at most if the GT was sold and less than half that if you wanted a 4850 for some reason.

I sold my 8800 GTS 320MB (was the BFG OC2 version) for £73 delivered last week on a well known auction site. Imo £110 for my 4870 was a great upgrade.

 

[Scougar]

One person comes on saying that the 4870 is nothing to write home about while a lot more people and just about every review site says it is a worthwhile upgrade. Sorry m8 you had another problem that wasn't the card and as someone else said i would have done a full reinstall of the os before writing the card off.

Someone has to be first....

I would guess that your motherboard (PCI-E 1?) is holding back the newer card as well as it's a pci-e 2 card and would no doubt be slightly better on this board.

Can you not sell your current board to fund an upgrade to either x38/x48 or P45? At a guess you'd have £180 (gpu) + £50 (board) to spend and that would allow you to get a 4850 and overclock it to near 4870 levels, or higher for a lot less money.

I think that is a MUCH better approach and will allow you to get your cpu overclocked more. (possibly A LOT more).

Matthew

 

[The Asgard]

I'm finding my 4870 at stock a big upgrade from all my previous cards in the last 6 months.

Maybe people are running into CPU bottlenecks or the additional FPS are not be realised because of monitor limitations (60 HZ). I know if you don't get rid of old Nvidia drivers that can lead to problems with performance like stuttering.

Performance wise I can't see the 280 being any better than the 4870 in the real world.

 

[Diggsy]

Someone has to be first....

I would guess that your motherboard (PCI-E 1?) is holding back the newer card as well as it's a pci-e 2 card and would no doubt be slightly better on this board.

Can you not sell your current board to fund an upgrade to either x38/x48 or P45? At a guess you'd have £180 (gpu) + £50 (board) to spend and that would allow you to get a 4850 and overclock it to near 4870 levels, or higher for a lot less money.

I think that is a MUCH better approach and will allow you to get your cpu overclocked more. (possibly A LOT more).

Matthew

I actually think my board supports PCI-E 2, or at least both lanes run at full 16x speed anyway, so I doubt that's the problem.

I was considering keeping the card and upgrading my board also, and in fact had an X38 board in an e-shopping cart yesterday, but I decided to stick with what I have.

Maybe it's a bit of a rash decision, maybe not. But i'm sitting tight for now.

 

[Scougar]

PCI-E 2 is like a PCI-E 1 slot running at 32X, and can provide more power to the card (upto 150W I think).

I'd still say sell the motherboard and use it to help fund another. After selling it may cost you what... £50 for a new better board!?

Matthew

 

[Diggsy]

PCI-E 2 is like a PCI-E 1 slot running at 32X, and can provide more power to the card (upto 150W I think).

I'd still say sell the motherboard and use it to help fund another. After selling it may cost you what... £50 for a new better board!?

Matthew

Yeah, I know it makes sense, but i'd rather just leave as is for now. And anyway, wouldn't I see a nice jump with my GTX in a new board along with the Quad clocked higher?

Will await the next generation now I think, and then do a full upgrade, including my screen. I have already arranged the RMA for the 4870. It's going back today.

 

[Scougar]

Wasn't trying to force you to spend money

You would likely see an increase with the GTX, but I would expect higher from the 4870 if you had a better overclock.

One thing to consider though as someone has mentioned, your comparing your highly o/c'd gpu to a stock 4870. Did you try o/c'ing the 4870 to see how much it changed things?

Anyway.. your clearly happy with what you have now so have fun playing You have a better setup then me lol.

Matthew

 

[Diggsy]

Wasn't trying to force you to spend money

You would likely see an increase with the GTX, but I would expect higher from the 4870 if you had a better overclock.

One thing to consider though as someone has mentioned, your comparing your highly o/c'd gpu to a stock 4870. Did you try o/c'ing the 4870 to see how much it changed things?

Anyway.. your clearly happy with what you have now so have fun playing You have a better setup then me lol.

Matthew

Cheers! No I didn't try clocking the ATi card. To be perfectly honest, I was that disappointed that I probably didn't give it much of a chance really.

Oh well, it's done now, back to the games

 

[Vir]

To be honest I think a lot of people just WANT to upgrade but if you really look at the performance gains you can ask yourself, is it really worth it? At this point I can run all games on my rig perfectly... I guess with some newer games and at high resolutions it might really be worth it...

 

[SS-89]

Cheers! No I didn't try clocking the ATi card. To be perfectly honest, I was that disappointed that I probably didn't give it much of a chance really.

Oh well, it's done now, back to the games

I can see why you wouldn't consider it much of an upgrade since you use vsync and game at 1680 but you throw disappointed around quite a lot. What were you honestly expecting when you cap at 60fps and the gtx would already manage most games bar crysis at 60 at 1680...I really would like to know.