Upgrade from a 4870x2

[Hottybotty]

Hi guys just wanted tips on upgrading from a 4870x2. I play BC2 and get frame rates from 40+ on max settings. Im wanting to upgrade so I can play the new BF3 on High settings. I have up around £150 ish to spend. My PC is a q8300 with 6 gig ram. I can't afford to upgrade my PC and the PC is a standard build which can't be overclocked.

Ive been looking at 6870 and 560 cards any thoughts. I could wait to see if more bargains come before the release date.

 

[pumaknight]

Hello,

I have just upgraded my 4870 x2 and I too play BC2.

I went to a Crossfired pair of 6950 which has given me a huge increase in performance and fps (200 on some maps at full settings!!).

But I have also been runing one 6950 and that is still showing fabulous fps (low 100s in BC2 with all settings maxed).

I don't know if you can stretch to a 6950, but if you can I would recommend it very much. Although, the 6870 does bench mark quite close to the 6950, so you would be very happy with that card as well.

 

[Surveyor]

I wouldn't say that either of those cards is much of an upgrade on what you have now other than they support DX11.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

6870 and 560 are basically sidegrades.

I went from a 4870x2 to a GTX 470 after my x2 died and nothing really changed at all, cept the flickering on BC2 stopped which was a xfire issue back then.

Either go for gtx 570 or a 6970 at least, otherwise look into the flagships or xfire/sli again if you can.

It also depends on what res monitor you're running.

 

[arc@css]

I wouldn't say that either of those cards is much of an upgrade on what you have now other than they support DX11.

+1

A 560ti might be 'good enough', otherwise aim higher.

 

[pumaknight]

I wouldn't say that either of those cards is much of an upgrade on what you have now other than they support DX11.

I went from a 4870x2 to a GTX 470 after my x2 died and nothing really changed at all, cept the flickering on BC2 stopped which was a xfire issue back then.

Wonder why I saw such an increase then? I was runninng at 1920 and found with teh new card that I could increase all settings to the max and got a real boost in performance. Weird.

 

[Surveyor]

A HD 4870 gives around 55-60% the performance of a HD 6870.

As long as there's reasonable Crossfire scaling a HD 4870 X2 is going to be in HD 6870 territory.

 

[Hottybotty]

Very quick responses, thank you. Is the jump to Dx11 big? Would I notice I was playing in Dx11 on BC2? Ive been on some other forums and a lot has been said about bottle necking. Some people say its not a big issue. I play games at 1680 x 1050.

 

[Hottybotty]

Ive just seen a video on BF3 there is a lot of hype around Nvidia cards being the better choice. Ive had problems with my 4870x2 in the past over flickering with BC2. Wonder if Ati cards will do the same with BF3?

 

[fowler002]

just wait a few months for the new amd 7xxx and nvidia 6xx series cards, in the mean while save the cash.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Wonder why I saw such an increase then? I was runninng at 1920 and found with teh new card that I could increase all settings to the max and got a real boost in performance. Weird.

Very quick responses, thank you. Is the jump to Dx11 big? Would I notice I was playing in Dx11 on BC2? Ive been on some other forums and a lot has been said about bottle necking. Some people say its not a big issue. I play games at 1680 x 1050.

This is why I kind of asked for the res, I use 2560x1440 res for work and gaming.

Since the OP is using 1680x1050 he'd easily max things out using a 6870 or 560/Ti when gaming since that's a fairly low res.

He could always wait for the HD7xxx series which is out in a month or two.
Then he can either pick up a cheap 6970 or get a new card which I think is the best option.

On the note of DX11, it's more effecient then DX10, so you might get a little FPS boost in some games.

 

[Hottybotty]

N19h7m4r3 thank you for the advice. I think im going to wait until BF3 comes out and see how the 4870x2 plays.