Looking for something more up to date to replace a hot running 4870x2

[-BA-]

Hi all. I have an aging Sapphire 4870x2 that has done me fairly well but has always run hot. I have been toying with the idea of pulling off the heatsinks and replacing the thermal paste but can't help thinking that it is time to start looking at a new card to start the ball rolling towards a new system.

I am still running the Q6600 system but can't afford to do a full rebuild. I am curious to know if the Sapphire or MSI 6950s would comprehensively outperform the 4870x2 (i.e. am I going to see a huge improvement bearing in mind I game at 1920x1200 and would like to multi box Eve Online accounts). Would I be better off moving up to a 6970?

I have seen a couple of threads that seem to indicate some of these 6950s can still have their shaders unlocked does this improve their performance or just allow them to make prettier graphics?

Feedback welcomed as always

 

[Freddie1980]

The only card that's going to give a massive increase in performance will the 5970/6990/GTX590 but all of these are 300 watters so run hot by default (not mention there expensive). If you just want a cooler card that uses less power and doesn't have the hassle of crossfire and associated headaches (if any) a 6950 will give you comparable performance to your currant card.

The cheap option of course will be to replace the cooler on you 4870X2 with something better and wait and see what the 7000 series brings.

 

[-BA-]

The other "disadvantage" of my card is that it isn't dx11 compatible. I really am not sure what advantages dx11 brings simply because I haven't really paid attention to the graphics card industry for a year or two.

I read in another thread about the 7000 series possibly being PCI-e 3. If that is the case, I presume they won't be backwards compatible with PCI-e 2?

 

[Freddie1980]

It will work fine with PCI-E 2.0/1 you just won't get the same bandwidth (but you won't need it). I wouldn't really upgrade to my video card for the sole purpose of playing Shogun 2, Dirt 3 Crysis 2 etc with DX11 as you might be disappointed and wondering you bothered as ultimately performance is what your looking for and with that in mind hold out for the high end 28nm cards.