HD4870 in 2011

[bezzy3004]

Hello.

I built a gaming system a few years ago, at the time the HD4870 512mb was one of the most powerfull cards on the market. I have a 17" monitor set at 1680x1050 and can play cod mw4 at max settings with very good framerates and most newer games can turn settings fairly high without issue. How does the 4870 compare to todays cards i apreciate its going to be lagging behind but by how much, id like to think it is still a respected card thats a great value for money buy.

 

[Adster3000]

4870 vs 6970:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=292

4870 vs GTX 580:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=305

More than double performance.

 

[iostream]

welcome to the forums see the links above, anandtech's bench is great.

your 512mb vram buffer will most likely be your downfall with upcoming games being released this year. on the flipside your resolution isn't too crazy, so you should be fine on medium settings.

you looking to upgrade?

 

[malachi]

I went from a 4870 512mb running in crossfire to a 6970 2gb single card. The performance increase was very noticable and I used to game at 1680x1050.

 

[bezzy3004]

welcome to the forums see the links above, anandtech's bench is great.

your 512mb vram buffer will most likely be your downfall with upcoming games being released this year. on the flipside your resolution isn't too crazy, so you should be fine on medium settings.

you looking to upgrade?

No will be with th 4870 for a good while yet.

 

[bezzy3004]

4870 vs 6970:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=292

4870 vs GTX 580:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=305

More than double performance.

Wow the 4870 is way behind,

 

[Temi_D]

I game with my 4870 at 1080p and its fine, although I will be upgrading when the 7000 series come out

 

[iviv]

Wow the 4870 is way behind,

Its a 3 year old card now, technology always moves quickly with things like this. That said, if you aren't having any problems its usually best to hold off for as long as you can. There's always something newer and better around the corner, for instance AMD's 7xxx series are due out in the upcoming months which will be faster, and likely lead to price drops for the 6xxx series to an extent. But then by the time you've waited for that, Nvidia will have something due soon, and so on.

As you said in your first post, I'd recommend holding off while you can. If you're still playing games at a quality you're happy with, save the money and spend it when you do start hitting problems with games. That way you'll get the best possible value for money.

 

[Vimes]

Wow the 4870 is way behind,

It might well seem that BUT remember what you have written in your first post as that one left me with the impression that you are getting good performance out of the card that you have got and the games and settings that you use.

Whilst that linked site has a value I tend to believe that the best judge of how good your card is comes from its use and the type of games and settings you use.

Good luck

 

[Yaayuh!]

I upgraded from my overclocked HD4870 over a year ago to a GTX470 and recently upgraded to a GTX580. I couldn't imagine using the 4870 still lol.