New Card Query

Proc · 8 Sep 2008 at 19:39

I'm currently running an 8800GTS 320mb, i'm looking at getting a new card for things like Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2 etc. Looking at a card around £120-£150 and the obvious choice seems to be the 4850, would just like to know would the change of cards be worth it, would i notice a jump in performance. And can i run the 4850 on a P5NE-SLi board with the Ati card being PCI-E 2.0?

jak731 · 8 Sep 2008 at 19:44

the jump in performance is definatly worth it, just dont rely on a 3dmarks 06 score as a measurement of the improvement.

ive ran a 4870 on a pci-e 1.0 slot before without any compatibility issues, so i dont see why it wont work.

LoadsaMoney · 8 Sep 2008 at 19:50

Definately, will be an absolute huge boost in performance, not only that as you won't be memory limited either, and the 4850 will work on your board fine.

Rroff · 8 Sep 2008 at 19:55

If your upgrading with those games, etc. in mind it seems silly to buy a 512Mb card... you'd be better off waiting for an affordable 1gig card imo.

Proc · 8 Sep 2008 at 20:29

Rroff said:
If your upgrading with those games, etc. in mind it seems silly to buy a 512Mb card... you'd be better off waiting for an affordable 1gig card imo.

Is the jump from 512mb>1Gb and the price increase worth it? I've seen the 1Gb Sapphire card which is about £158, but also seen the HiS card with the Iceq cooler on this week only for £130, which is tempting.

TheCenturion · 8 Sep 2008 at 20:49

what res, depending on res, @ the higher res you might want to spend the bulk of your budget

[TW]Fox · 8 Sep 2008 at 20:49

Which is the better buy for £170 - 4870 512mb or 4850 1gb?

Fire Wizard · 8 Sep 2008 at 20:53

[TW]Fox;12461655 said:
Which is the better buy for £170 - 4870 512mb or 4850 1gb?

Hi [TW]Fox, the ATI Radeon 4870 without a doubt. The performance difference between the ATI Radeon 4850 512mb and the 1GB edition is extremely small.

Here is a review of the ATI Radeon 4850 2GB edition if you are interested, which shows very little gains over the standard 512mb edition.

Proc · 8 Sep 2008 at 21:06

anant_shah94 said:
what res, depending on res, @ the higher res you might want to spend the bulk of your budget

I'd be playing at 1680x1050, so looking for as much performance for the price as possible.

TheCenturion · 8 Sep 2008 at 21:36

Proc said:
I'd be playing at 1680x1050, so looking for as much performance for the price as possible.

then tbh , either 4850 or 70 will be good, that res is the kind of the drawing point between the two cards, 50 manages fine, but this is the first res that the 70 starts to shine over the 50

Phatzy · 8 Sep 2008 at 21:42

the 4850 512mb and the 4850 1gig came at around the same speed, well i'm just going off reviews

Proc · 9 Sep 2008 at 00:34

mmm actually quite tempted to save up a bit and go for the 4870, I'll see what my funds are like once i get paid, cheers for the help guys.

Proc · 12 Sep 2008 at 21:33

Quick bump, just seen the Leadtek 260 gtx on offer this weekend at £164 which is very tempting. Just want to know for that sort of price which would be the better purchase, the 4870 512mb or the 260 gtx 896MB? Need a quick decision please guys as it goes off monday.

TheCenturion · 12 Sep 2008 at 21:37

Proc said:
Quick bump, just seen the Leadtek 260 gtx on offer this weekend at £164 which is very tempting. Just want to know for that sort of price which would be the better purchase, the 4870 512mb or the 260 gtx 896MB? Need a quick decision please guys as it goes off monday.

it depends the 260 and 4870 and pretty neck and neck, the 260 runs cooler and has better drivers, but when big amounts of aa are applied (8x or more) then the 4870 pulls ahead

LoadsaMoney · 12 Sep 2008 at 21:38

Go for the 4870.

queamin · 12 Sep 2008 at 21:48

Proc said:
Quick bump, just seen the Leadtek 260 gtx on offer this weekend at £164 which is very tempting. Just want to know for that sort of price which would be the better purchase, the 4870 512mb or the 260 gtx 896MB? Need a quick decision please guys as it goes off monday.

It can depend on what games you play but the 4870 doesn't take so much of a hit with AA

Proc · 12 Sep 2008 at 23:45

Well never really use more than 4xaa unless its an older game, so we're saying the 4870 then?

rounddodger · 13 Sep 2008 at 00:29

Proc said:
Well never really use more than 4xaa unless its an older game, so we're saying the 4870 then?

The 260 is still a good card and tbh theres not a lot in it between it and the 4870. 4870 has the edge in a lot of stuff and also performs very well with 8xAA+. If you want to play Warhead, bear in mind that the NV cards tend to fare better in Crysis, plus the extra RAM couldn't hurt etc.

ACESHIGH · 13 Sep 2008 at 02:37

Proc said:
Well never really use more than 4xaa unless its an older game, so we're saying the 4870 then?

Yep the 4870 is generally the quicker card. Id go for that.

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Proc · 13 Sep 2008 at 10:37

Pity that HIS card doesn't come with the Iceq4 cooler like the 4850, but suppose i can always put on some aftermarket cooling if needs be. Looks like that will be my purchase then, thanks guys and will post up what i think when it arrives. Can't wait now lol.