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Moving from 4850s (crossfired) to single card..

Biglunn

Biglunn

Biglunn

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Joined
26 Aug 2005
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Slough, Berkshire
... either to a GTX 260 or HD4870 1gb, HD4890 or GTX 275.

Reasons? I dont game too much these days, and Im prepared to trade off some performance (if indeed I do) for a simpler one card solution which will be quieter (important) and less power hungry.

How much performance would I lose? Some games nowdays need more than 512mb, and either cards mentioned will provide a boost in them.

Also, shall I stick with ATI or jump ship to nVidia? This hardware assisted video encoding is really tasty as far as Im concerned, as I do a lot of video conversion, and while ATI is not well supported yet (will it ever be?), nVidia already has support in this respect (CUDA).

I can sell the 4850s here on MM and lose nothing moving to a GTX260 or HD4870, or pay a little more and get a GTX275 or 4890. Need to make a decision TODAY and all advice would be welcome :) :) :)
 
If you want quiet, then Id say go NVidia as they tend to be quite a bit quieter than their ATI counterparts, also Id go for the best you can afford, so the 275
 
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How about just sticking with 1 4850 if you don't game much? It's not too far off from the cards you mentioned and with a bit of oc it should handle most games just fine.

what res are you gaming at?
 
I play all my games either on my monitor or the living room TV at 1920x1200(1080).

I think a single 4850 is rather pushed at this res with a bit of AA, so I want to avoid that.

If I stick with ATI, I will still have the opportunity of going crossfire in the future, but I dont really want to go down that route anymore, and Im equally happy with an nVidia (and video encoding).

As the PC is on nearly all the time, the energy saving going from 2 to 1 card for me is significant, and quietness is a big bonus. Im tempted to go for nVidia just for the sake of change :)
 
Got a 4890 today :) Will be testing it later.

I was REALLY tempted by a GTX275 but I thought Id stick with ATI - particularly with hassle free sound output from HDMI.

Performance wise, Im probably worse off than my 2x4850 setup, but Im aiming for a quieter system and lower power consumption too. Still have a nagging feeling I should have gone for a GTX275.....
 
Id say the 4890 will be better than the 2x 4850's, as you now have 1gb Ram, instead of 512mb, which would be better at higher resolutions, but seen as you don't game much, id ave just got a 1gb 4870, as its about £50 cheaper, and not much slower.
 
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