Help please

[leishman18]

My motherboard is a Abit IP35 Pro XE with 2 PCI express slots. However, I have discovered that one runs at X16 the other at X4.

My Powercolour ATI Radeon HD 4870X2 2048mb GDDR5 card has packed in and had been returned under warranty. As you will most probably know the HD4870x2 card is no longer available.

My question is should i accept 2 single 4890 boards as a replacement (obviously one will be in the X4 slot), or would i be better with an NVIDIA card?

Which NVIDIA card would give comparable results as the 2 single 4890's with on running as a slave in the X4 slot?

Thanks for your help.

 

[SfnX]

hmmmm tricky, tbh having 2 seperate cards (cf) does weaken the price to performance ratio a bit especially since that x4 is the 2nd slot. i would say an nvidia card would be better, 285? but what is your overall budget?

 

[CyberCrow]

accept 2 single 4890's

 

[kylew]

Get yourself a refund and buy an ATi 5 series when they come out in a few weeks.

 

[Lemin]

Get yourself a refund and buy an ATi 5 series when they come out in a few weeks.

Agree with this, or maybe add a bit cash to refund & ask for a GTX 295.

 

[jigger]

Get yourself a refund and buy an ATi 5 series when they come out in a few weeks.

Thats what I would do.

 

[pastymuncher]

Get yourself a refund and buy an ATi 5 series when they come out in a few weeks.

Too right. A 4890 will be badly crippled in a Pci-e 1.0a slot running at 4x.

 

[leishman18]

Must admit i was thinking of going down the GTX295 route. Depends on how much cash overclockers would be looking for?

 

[gareth170]

tbh running the second card in a Pci-e 1.0a slot at 4x isn't worth having...

 

[leishman18]

Would the 4850X2 card that overclockers have in stock be a better option than 2 single 4890's then?

 

[pastymuncher]

For your board yes, but they won't be as quick as a pair of 4890's in a proper crossfire board.

 

[leishman18]

So 4850X2 or an Nvidia GTX285. Which would be quicker in my board?

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Buy neither, not when new Dx11 cards are a matter of weeks away.

 

[leishman18]

Overclockers currently have my 11 month old broken 4870X2 board so i will need to accept a replacement form their current stock though.

 

[dustofnations]

can you not just send them a web-note thing and ask, or have you already tried?

 

[kylew]

Overclockers currently have my 11 month old broken 4870X2 board so i will need to accept a replacement form their current stock though.

According to them that is. Your rights say otherwise. Be clever with them, tell them you'll wait until they have stock of some 5800 cards.

Seriously, anything is inferior. A GTX295 is a joke, any one who buys one, especially now is a joke also. They're one of the biggest rip offs in the last few years.

Same goes for the GTX285.

At the end of the day, you bought a 4870X2 for your reasons. Your board isn't great for crossfire.

It's not down to them to decide what's a suitable replacement and weather or not you're fine with it.

It's your money, you bought a single slot crossfire solution, you should receive the same back, or a refund if they can't offer you a suitable alternative.

There is no suitable alternative. A GTX295 costs a lot more, and while 2 4890s offer more performance it's not a single PCI-E slot solution.

Option left? Refund.

I had a 3870X2 that broke on me, I'd had it for 3 months when it broke. The 4800s had been announced and I obviously wanted some 4800s over a 3870X2.

The brand I had was a GeCube and luckily the store I bought it from had no gecubes left, I don't think they had any X2s actually, I moaned at them and they ended up refunding me £260.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Overclockers currently have my 11 month old broken 4870X2 board so i will need to accept a replacement form their current stock though.

Didn't realise that sorry, id just get the 2x 4890's then and sell one.