4870 Upgrade

[TicTac]

First off let me say hello as this is the first post I have felt the need to post on here! Been checking this forum daily for what feels like a few years now but never felt brave enough to get involved.

I have a question for those of you in the know and before you tell me to search away for the answer I would like to say I have been all over the interweb and still havent come up with the definitive answer.

My current system consists of the following:

Intel Core2 Quad Q9450 at stock speeds
4 Gigs of RAM
1x HD4870 Graphics card.
Asus Rampage Formula Motherboard

I use a resolution of 1680x1050 and like to play as much of the newer stuff thats coming out as possible, No specific genre of game just as much as I can get away with

The motherboard is Xfire compatible and I now find myself looking at a graphics card upgrade so have in my mind the idea of sticking with ATI and maybe adding a second card at a later date when the prices drop a little lower.

I have the 5870 in my sights at the moment and just wondered a few things that you all might be able to help me with.

1. Is there going to be much more of an improvement bearing in mind the resolution I use? Some forums seem to say that the card is overkill for the resolution but surely its better to have some power in reserve for the future?

2.Kind of related to the above question, Will my processor be "Man Enough" or am I better off upgrading the whole shebang in one flurry of hard earned wedge?

3. Looking around on various forums isnt there supposed to be a new card from ATi on the horizon? Obviously not aimed at myself and my tiny monitor but wondering if it will have a knock on effect on the 5870s. Would anyone reccomend hanging on if so?

Well cheers for reading this epic novel and thanks in advance for any light you can shed on my situation!

P.s are the mod`s on here Vampires? Was waiting all day yesterday to be admitted to the forums and the say so arrives in the small hours when the rest of us mortals are sound asleep

 

[pooley]

seeing as you game at 1680x1050 you could add another 4870 for not much money and wait and see how the whole 6000 series pans out and upgrade then if you feel the need. the rest of your rig it is fine, just oc your cpu to 3+ghz. hope this helps.

sorry you don't say what psu you have? it will determine if you can xfire or not.

 

[RavenXXX2]

No need to spend big bucks, pick up a 460 1GB or a 5850/470 and overclock them, they will be well faster than your 4870.

And I would like to see you push that CPU to 3Ghz which it will do easily, and no there is no need to upgrade the CPU if you can clock it.

 

[TicTac]

Cheers for the quick replies.

Power Supply is a 850 modular coolermaster one.

Hmm overclocking....Sounds like a new way for me to drop a goolie and break something

Really havent the foggiest what to do there but i thought that one of things you had to have was Water Cooling? I currently have a Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler on the CPu at the moment.

Once again, Cheers for your input as its very much appreciated and I can already feel the worries drifting away.....

Edited: to add that the 4870 is one of the first Gainward ones with 512mb of ram not a spiffy 1gig one!

 

[pooley]

you don't need to go h2O for overclocking and i believe the cooler you have is good one. you have a psu with plenty of headroom with regards to xfire so you have options open to you. oc'ing is pretty easy as long you stay within safe limits.

 

[neo-omega]

I was in a similar situation and decided to go down the crossfire route. I don't regret it at all ^_^. I got a noticeable increase in performance at no great cost (like £70 or so including a full-cover water block). I have the same motherboard as you and so if you click on my sig you'll see what kind of overclocks are possible relatively simply which gives a very good speed boost. ^_^

 

[malachi]

I added another 4870 to my current 4870 with 512mb last year to run in xfire. I was surprised at the performance boast I got. Even now it still performs great at 1680x1050 and will tie me over till the 6000 series maybe further……