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Considering downgrading...

londonbairn

londonbairn

londonbairn

Soldato
Joined
29 May 2005
Posts
5,622
Location
West London
I have a X2 and been very vocal about how good it is, no doubt it has been fantastic for me.

However, I am considering that given the fact I don't play many games much, I'm not sure it's worth keeping a top end card when I could still sell it on for a good price, downgrade and pocket the difference. I got the card for cheap (misprice on another site) and I think I could get £300 for itI guess.

I am quite tempted to go for a OCUK Value 260 216 to try Nvidia's offering this round and to give me enough oomph as I was tempted to get a 4850. (I've already been through 4850s and the X2)

I'm not brand specific, I just like to get what's good for my budget at the time.

Good call?
 
Well, I inderstand where you're coming from. Mine sits idle in its box atm. Unless a heavy duty game comes out I don't think I'll be needing it. My 30" monitor isn't arriving anytime soon so my 4870 512 is quite powerful enough with my o/c cpu.
I think you're making a good decision. You can sell it or keep it for that rainy day or if you get a super monitor (you may already have one).
Including myself I've noticed a few of us high-end card users now starting to experience the not needing quite so much power. As long as you have a 260 or a 4870 you won't go wrong. They may not be 'extreme' video solutions but they are still high end parts for high end gaming rigs.
 
There's really nothing coming along this year which will require much above a single 4850.

The best games will be Diablo III and Starcraft II in my humble opinion.

I have a 4850 I was going to upgrade but there's really nothing out there on the horizon which requires me to upgrade it so I spent the spare cash on a 360 instead.

I'd defo go for it if I were you.
 
You could probably trade with some one? Someone with a single 4870/4850 would probably be quite tempted! Hell i would be :p!
 
I was in the same boat as you a few months ago. In the end I sold my X2 and bought a GTX280. That died last week, so I bought a GTX260, and there's no difference in enjoyment in my gaming.

Crysis is the only game that needs an X2. As C64 pointed out, there is nothing due this year that will stress out even a 4850.
 
I play at 2048x1152 and really only play CoD4...but so far not much has worked my 4870 1gb too hard.....if there are 1gb 4770s I might even be tempted to get one of those.

I've even downgraded my CPU....in the last few weeks I've gone from an E8500 @ 4.6 ghz to a Q9450 to 3.6ghz to an E6750 @ 3.8ghz to an E7200 @ 3.8ghz.

I honestly can't tell any difference between them, although when running at stock the E8500 is noticeable the fastest. I think as long as you have a C2D above 3.3-3.5ghz and a 4850 or better there's not much you can't max out...provided it's not a stupidly inefficient game like GTA IV or Crysis.
 
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I'm 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 depending if I play on my TV. To be honest I didn't notice a difference between CF 4850 and a X2 much, only in Crysis really.

If I find a bargain card I'll do it....if i do....
 
^^ Ditto ;)

Seriously though GTX260 or even a 512MB 4850 would be a reasonable swap if you don't game much. If you want a change (like I did, the other way round:D) go for the nvidia, if you'd prefer to stick with ati, go with a 4850 or even a 4870 (still make over £100 in difference) and you'll be more than happy with the performance against your old (and better) card.
 
rafster said:
I have a X2 and been very vocal about how good it is, no doubt it has been fantastic for me.

However, I am considering that given the fact I don't play many games much, I'm not sure it's worth keeping a top end card when I could still sell it on for a good price, downgrade and pocket the difference. I got the card for cheap (misprice on another site) and I think I could get £300 for itI guess.

I am quite tempted to go for a OCUK Value 260 216 to try Nvidia's offering this round and to give me enough oomph as I was tempted to get a 4850. (I've already been through 4850s and the X2)

I'm not brand specific, I just like to get what's good for my budget at the time.

Good call?
Click to expand...


No disrespect to anyone at all, but this thread really underline how sensible it is to simply buy what you need when you need it. It saves money too.
 
rafster said:
Absolutely, I got greedy and didn't really need it, still don't really need it!
Click to expand...


I'm only upgrading to a 260 on the 14th becuase my card isn't cutting it anymore, and it's running real hot.

I could have bought a 260 a year ago for what £250 +??? i was sorely tempted, but i held off and can now get one for £130-160, and grab a E7400 for around a £100 - two for the price of one.

I do know what it's like when you have the dough and new cards hit though.
 
Well, I am doing it. Picked up a 260 216 for very cheap and the X2 will go. Sad, but I don't need the power, barely game.

Rroff, are you happy? :P

PS - what is the best driver to use for Vista x64? There are so many drivers, don't know wether to use 180.328327238923 or maybe 182.3293480324824380243....:P
 
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CaptainRAVE said:
Have to admit I see where you are coming from. Not really anything that is worthy of the X2 this year. A shame indeed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, fantastic card, but would rather cash it in now than later. 260 216 at 1920x1080 should be fine, might not be able to bump up AA etc to max but will be sufficient on the rare occasion I do game.
 
It's in, seems good, slightly less noisier but the X2 didn't bother me before. The drivers for multi screens are way better than when I had the GTS. My Sony 40X3000 works nicely with it via DVI->HDMI. The X2 has sadly hit the bay.
 
Good choice, I doubt you'll have many problems as I game at the same res as you. Most games I play with 4-8xAA without too much trouble at high fps. That 260-216 is a bit of a bargain atm in places.
 
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