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Is this gfx card good value?

fozzybear

fozzybear

fozzybear

Soldato
Joined
27 Mar 2004
Posts
7,653
Location
Manchester
Gigabyte 1gig HD4650 for around £56.

I was going to get onboard graphics for the time being but have decided to go for a cheaper board and a separate gfx card.

I won't be playing many new games atm. Mainly just UT2004, BF2 and Football Manager 2009.

I'll also be using the card for bluray playback. I'm also slightly puzzled by the way some cards use the HDMI to carry sound. Does the above card do this?

Finally, I'm wondering why this 1gig 4650 costs less than some 512mb 4650's.

Cheers.
 
I just noticed the above 4650 is GDDR2.

Would a Gigabyte 512mb 4670 with GDDR3 be a better choice for £62 (£6 more than the 4650).

Or anything else for around £60?
 
Im looking for a card around this price too so i'll watch this with interest as i dont have a clue. Id like to play the new GTA when it comes out!
 
It's a bit of a minefield nowadays. :) Forgot to add that i'll be playing at 1920 x 1080.

//edit. Just seen a HIS 512mb hd4670 for £55. Is that decent?
 
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fozzy, personally I`d be looking at something with a bit more beef at that res mate :) The absolute minimum card (at least brand new) for that res would be a 4850 or a 9800GTX.

What you got now m8?
 
fozzybear said:
I just noticed the above 4650 is GDDR2.

Would a Gigabyte 512mb 4670 with GDDR3 be a better choice for £62 (£6 more than the 4650).

Or anything else for around £60?
Click to expand...

auraindigo said:
fozzy, personally I`d be looking at something with a bit more beef at that res mate :) The absolute minimum card (at least brand new) for that res would be a 4850 or a 9800GTX.

What you got now m8?
Click to expand...

Its part of an iminent new build.

As I say, I won't be playing new games at the moment.

Surely i'll get away with the games I listed at 1920 x 1080 with a 4670?
 
Aye, you`ll be able to play them OK. Be prepared to run at medium settings with little or no AF though foz :) But it will play those games ;)
 
what about x1950 pro? it can run even crysis on medium, better on minimal settings, cod4 on high settings, almost all new games: assassins creed, pure, racer grid, cod:***, hitman 4..etc...

you can get it for £50, it will be best for such price
 
Appreciate your on set budget but I'd be inclined to agree with the 4850 / 9800. It usually pays to upgrade as far ahead as you can. If you go for a very mid range card and play games at what is after all a high resolution then it probably won't be that long before you back at square one again. As an interim card then I guess it would suffice.
 
Sorry, I wanted a 'newer' PCI Express 2.0 card. Ive just had a look at benchmarks. At 1920 x 1200 with Crysis on very high settings, the 4670 gets around 10fps. Thats a pretty good guide that i'll be fine with BF2, UT2004 at 1920 x 1080 on high settings.
 
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But is the 4850 twice as quick as the 4670? Is it worth paying twice the price? Its just that I am on a budget with this build and a 4850 may be overkill to what I need at the moment. I'll probably upgrade to one after a few months or when I fancy having a go at some more intensive games.
 
fozzybear said:
But is the 4850 twice as quick as the 4670? Is it worth paying twice the price? Its just that I am on a budget with this build and a 4850 may be overkill to what I need at the moment. I'll probably upgrade to one after a few months or when I fancy having a go at some more intensive games.
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Suck it and see mate and quoting your OP, yes it is :) You`ll probably get half your money back selling on anyway after a few months ;)
 
The HIS 4670 Ice Q turbo 512mb looks a good buy for around 67 quid but...its currently out of stock so maybe the Gainward or Asus ones could be worth considering. Didn't realize how punchy those cards look. If its just a temporary card then stick to a 4650 or something equivalent. For a rough guide just check the specs and see if they approx match. This is by no means a guarrantee but you should be able to pick out higher and lower specs around the price range you specified. The 4670 1gb probably isn't worth it if like I said, its a temp card, but if you were happy to stick with your new card for a while then for a tenner or so more a 1gb 4670 wouldn't be a bad card at all.
 
I've seen the HIS 1gig 4670 for a shade under £70. It only has 2 x dvi connectors. Would I notice any reduction in picture quality when using a dvi-hdmi adapter?
 
fozzybear said:
I've seen the HIS 1gig 4670 for a shade under £70. It only has 2 x dvi connectors. Would I notice any reduction in picture quality when using a dvi-hdmi adapter?
Click to expand...

None whatseover. They both use the same encoding system with the exception that HDMI can also carry the audio.
 
You'd be surprised how much performance you'll get for mid range cards nowadays. 4670 would be more than enough for UT2004, BF2, and football manager even at 1920x1200. Of all the cards OP mentioned the HIS 512Mb 4670 for 55 sounds the best value, as long as it's DDR3 of course. Although I agree you can probably get a 2nd hand 8800GT for just a little extra and it will give you a lot more kick.
 
Also look at the 9600GT. Is available for around £70 and in gaming terms it is better than the H4670.

I am not sure how each card handles blu-ray playback although i know both have dedicated hardware to do this.

I would look at reviews of both and make your decision from that.
 
fozzybear said:
I'll also be using the card for bluray playback. I'm also slightly puzzled by the way some cards use the HDMI to carry sound. Does the above card do this?
Click to expand...
All ATI HD 4000-series cards have 7.1 surround sound output (LPCM, AC3, DTS) over HDMI built-in. That means no cable required from mobo to GFX.

Don't forget also UVD2 which supports full bitstream decoding of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1 video streams. Its BD-Live compliant.
 
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