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How future proof is the 4870?
- Thread starter Kua
- Start date
Soldato
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- 26 Apr 2004
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- Milton Keynes
Exactly, I bought a 4870 512 for 179.99 when they first came out last july, and much as Id like to, I honestly dont feel a need to upgrade even though there has been 9 months since , it still plays everything well. I find the best trick is look solely at bang to buck, with a reasonable budget this will get you a card thats good for a year and a half, by which time there is usually something a jump ahead. This way I dont feel bad about changing, and dont feel the need to hold the card til its decrepit as I spent 300+ on it, I may end up sticking with ATI for the moment though, as I find HDMI audio so useful and have had less glitches with screen scaling than my last card which which was an 8800gts 512.
I reckon if someone buys a 1gb 4870 and plays at between 16XX - 1900 res with max settings in most games, you'll get about 18 months, give or take, out of it at that level of performance.
As other people have mentioned the 260 is a cracking option also. Next card I'll get will probably be Nvidia, don't want to stick with one brand all the time and miss all the fun.
As other people have mentioned the 260 is a cracking option also. Next card I'll get will probably be Nvidia, don't want to stick with one brand all the time and miss all the fun.
I reckon if someone buys a 1gb 4870 and plays at between 16XX - 1900 res with max settings in most games, you'll get about 18 months, give or take, out of it at that level of performance.
As other people have mentioned the 260 is a cracking option also. Next card I'll get will probably be Nvidia, don't want to stick with one brand all the time and miss all the fun.
Yeah I would call that fairly future proof. What more could you need? Same will apply for the 260 so it looks like I'm good to go. When I decide to build a new PC this card should still be going strong.
I'm actually a little gutted that I stumped for Nvidia yet again. But like everyone says it really is the best deal going atm. And apparently you get a free version of Mirrors Edge, which can't hurt.
There is something very satisfying about ramping a game up to the max settings and not having to give it a second thought. So I'm really looking forward to that!
As far as I can make out the 4870 1GB has a very slight edge over the 260 in terms of performance, but has a slightly better stock cooler, which will increase longevity or (perhaps) allow slight OCing without the need for purchasing a new cooler depending how you look at it...Are there any other differences worth mentioning? Basically, how can I further justify my purchase of the 260
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Like I've mentioned before if I hadn't gone for a 4870 X2 then the 260 is most certainly what I would have gone for. I think, model dependent, Nvidia are a little more consistent with minimum frame rates too. I like the ATI, only my experience, for reliablilty and raw power. They just lack a little finesse, that minute finishing touch but otherwise grand cards.
Motherboard dependant, get a 4870 1GB or the 260, and Xfire/SLi when needed in the future
Just what I have done, got a 4870 1gb and will add another in the future. tbh both the 4870 and 260 represent good value for money at the moment, sometimes it just not worth playing for the brand new tech.
Associate
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- 30 Jan 2009
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- East Sussex
Weather its a 4870 or gtx 280 you can make them last as long as you want just means that if a great game comes out like next year you may have to knock the gfx options down a peg or 2 . gfx cards come out so often now you could keep throwing money at them time after time if you wanted.
I had a his 1900 xt about 2yrs ago which i only got ride of just before xmas ,a friend of mine used it before he got his 4870 x2 and it still ran the likes of grid ok maybe not on full settings but just goes to show you how long they can last
I had a his 1900 xt about 2yrs ago which i only got ride of just before xmas ,a friend of mine used it before he got his 4870 x2 and it still ran the likes of grid ok maybe not on full settings but just goes to show you how long they can last
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1Gb 4870 for me too and I agree absolutely that it should be fine for at least another 12-18 months by which time there should be a whole new generation available. Tis a great card and unless games writers start to concentrate solely on developing for the very latest cards it'll be fine for the foreseable future.
Associate
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- 9 Mar 2004
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If I'm spending on an upgrade I want to see my current games running sliky smooth..not just stuttering less.
As my native res is 1920 x1200 I didn't bother upgrading until a card came out that could play games on max/high settings smoothly at that res and for me that was as soon as the 4870 x 2 came out. I've been very happy with it (though noisy under load..roll on the accelero extreme cooler!).
But then I have wierd perfectionist tendencies!
As my native res is 1920 x1200 I didn't bother upgrading until a card came out that could play games on max/high settings smoothly at that res and for me that was as soon as the 4870 x 2 came out. I've been very happy with it (though noisy under load..roll on the accelero extreme cooler!).
But then I have wierd perfectionist tendencies!
Nvidia have cut their prices lately so are pretty competitive, you can get a factory-overclocked GTX260-216 with Far Cry 2 for £157, or a 9800GTX+ for £103.
Obviously for people who prefer AMD drivers then the 4870-1GB and 4850 offer a viable alternative. The sub-£170 market has really started to hot up lately which is good news following a period of stagnation in part due to currency issues.
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The 4850 is slightly faster than 8800GT where do you see the massive step up
Massive step up is when you go from 8800GT to 4870x2.
That's 3DMark. :\
Besides, in actual games, the 4870 is 20-35% faster than the 4850, which isn't reflected in that graph; by extension, I'd say it's inaccurate - it doesn't even give real scores, it gives a comparison with the comparison base as the 8800 GT at 100. We don't know if the scores are reasonable or not because it doesn't tell us. Oh right, that and it's 3DMark 06, a benchmark notorious for not reflecting the performance of modern graphics cards accurately, and overexaggerating the impact of the CPU in games.
Besides, in actual games, the 4870 is 20-35% faster than the 4850, which isn't reflected in that graph; by extension, I'd say it's inaccurate - it doesn't even give real scores, it gives a comparison with the comparison base as the 8800 GT at 100. We don't know if the scores are reasonable or not because it doesn't tell us. Oh right, that and it's 3DMark 06, a benchmark notorious for not reflecting the performance of modern graphics cards accurately, and overexaggerating the impact of the CPU in games.
What benchmarking tool would you recommend?
Ditto - Crysis (flyby benchmark?), HAWX (built in), FEAR (built in), Trackmania (built in), using FRAPS during actual gameplay to log framerates in the background, anything really, just 3DMark is completely arbitrary and often doesn't reflect the performance you'll see in actual games. Personally, I wouldn't recommend using just one benchmark, but a battery of benchmarks, as you don't necessarily know where the bottleneck in any given system might lie, so you may be given an inaccurate representation of what your hardware can do by just running a single benchmark.
Your assuming that everyone will need DX11 when DX11 cards come out, which we will not.
Future proof is for your needs & not about what else is out there.
Example people who have bought 4GB of quality DDR1 ram years ago who are still using that DDR1 set-up are no worse off for using 4GB of DDR1 ram because DDR3 is now out when its the amount of ram that is important for the purpose & not the speed.