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4870 Upgrade?

Axel40

Axel40

Axel40

Associate
Joined
26 Jun 2004
Posts
182
Currently have a 1GB 4870, great card but gaming at 2560x1600 is starting to take its toll!

Is there anything good out there at the moment which won't cost too much and would be a good upgrade?

Preferably ATI!!
 
5870, it's not cheap tho but that's your only option if you want an upgrade.

Cheapest would probably be adding a second 4870 which you should be able to find for around 60-70quid and that would give similar performance just without dx11.
 
Hmmm a second 4870 isn't a bad idea!

Would there be any point of adding a 2GB version of a 4870 to the setup? As the second card? Would it even work?!
 
It would work, but theres no point. Another 4870 is a great idea, it would give you performance that's around a 5870. That is a big resolution :o Maybe trifire it with a 4870x2 :p?
 
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It will be fine unless he wants to max out AA/AF which at this high res isn't needed really.
I'd try 2nd 4870 definitely before buying anything else, it should be ok and if you're not satisfied you can always sell it for same price you bought it as they're quite hard to get nowadays and a lot of ppl buy them.

Regarding the mem question, it will work but the card will be only allowed to use as much memory as the lower spec card so there is no point unless someone will sell you one for same price ofc or unless you get 2 of the 2gb versions.
 
What PSU and cooling does he have?

The 4870 is power hungry and hot so two is hard work on the system and you need 4x 6pin connectors (I think).

Because of that I'd sell the 4870 and get a single 5870 or 5850 overclocked to 70 speeds.
 
I replaced my 512mb 4870 for a 1gb 5850. I play BF:BC2 and i can now play at 1920x1080 with AA and AF on full settings.
I'm happy with my upgrade. I did, however toy with getting another 4870 for xfire.
Might be worth doing that, and if it's not good enough, sell em on and buy a 5850/70?
People will still pay for xfired 4870's.
 
opethdisciple said:
A 2gb 5870 or a gtx 480
Click to expand...

me personally i would get the 5870 2GB as the extra Vram will come in handy especially if you have a lot of AA /AF

Saying that the 480 has nearly 1.6GBVram which will also be more benefical to the OP 4870s 1gb.
 
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Cheers for the replies!

Bleek said:
What PSU and cooling does he have?

The 4870 is power hungry and hot so two is hard work on the system and you need 4x 6pin connectors (I think).

Because of that I'd sell the 4870 and get a single 5870 or 5850 overclocked to 70 speeds.
Click to expand...

Currently have a Seasonic x650 PSU and just regular air cooling....

Will have a look at getting another 1GB 4870 if i can. I presume that I will be able to utilize the combined 2GB of the cards if i run them in xfire? Which is beneficial for the hig res....?
 
No it dosent work like that you will still only have 1gb vram available even though you have 2 cards with 1gb vram.

For example If you buy the the 5870 2GB card you will have the whole 2gb vram available as the ram is dedicated to the one card.

2 Cards with 1gb vram will not give you 2gb vram im afraid it just means the 2 cards share the GPU loads
 
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i have the 275gtx which has 896mb and adding a second card defo helps i only game at 1080p though
but a single card with games like metro maximum dx10 settings stuggles add another smooth as silk
i would defo go CF just make sure its 1gb as SLI and CF have to work at the setting's off the lowest card ie memory size or gpu speed for factory oc cards
 
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