Soldato
People are saying they are getting better fps than in the benchmarks anyway so it probably is as close as 10%. I'm guessing of course having owned neither.
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Whats going on! is the 4870 that good?
- Thread starter ripkord
- Start date
Quite pointless this debate as it's dependant on what games the person plays. If the games you play are performing near to GTX280 performance with the 4870 and you are running 1920x1200 or less then it would be wise to take the 4870, although it does require you to be able to think for yourself first
. If the games you play favour the GTX 280 more than the 15% gain (roughly) that has been shown all over the internet on the more popular titles then obviously get the GTX 280.I just hope this isn't a purchase justification debate as that would be pathetic.
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I wish people wouldn't use such blanket and simply untrue statements.
The GTX280 is faster in almost any situation than a 4870 by a fair amount, not just a 'few fps', but you do pay more for the privilege so you pays your monies you takes your choice etc.
the guy says who bought 280 look at benches plz
Sorry to hijack your thread, but I didn't really want to create yet another thread about this!
Have been considering upgrading to a 4870x2 for some time now, but have a couple of concerns. Any advice would be great
1) 500W PSU doesn't seem like it will be enough, having read a few reviews and things about the card. The other stuff in my PC is a Q6600, 3 hdds, 4GB RAM (in an antec 900 with stock fans etc if that matters).
2) My motherboard is an Abit IP35-PRO, would this be limiting in any way? Would prefer to get a single 4870 rather than change motherboard for an x2.
3) Size! I can imagine the x2 is a bit of a beast, I guess it will fit in the antec 900 without too many problems? Currently my 8800GT sits in there quite happily.
Thanks in advance
Have been considering upgrading to a 4870x2 for some time now, but have a couple of concerns. Any advice would be great
1) 500W PSU doesn't seem like it will be enough, having read a few reviews and things about the card. The other stuff in my PC is a Q6600, 3 hdds, 4GB RAM (in an antec 900 with stock fans etc if that matters).
2) My motherboard is an Abit IP35-PRO, would this be limiting in any way? Would prefer to get a single 4870 rather than change motherboard for an x2.
3) Size! I can imagine the x2 is a bit of a beast, I guess it will fit in the antec 900 without too many problems? Currently my 8800GT sits in there quite happily.
Thanks in advance
Sorry to hijack your thread, but I didn't really want to create yet another thread about this!
Have been considering upgrading to a 4870x2 for some time now, but have a couple of concerns. Any advice would be great
1) 500W PSU doesn't seem like it will be enough, having read a few reviews and things about the card. The other stuff in my PC is a Q6600, 3 hdds, 4GB RAM (in an antec 900 with stock fans etc if that matters).
2) My motherboard is an Abit IP35-PRO, would this be limiting in any way? Would prefer to get a single 4870 rather than change motherboard for an x2.
3) Size! I can imagine the x2 is a bit of a beast, I guess it will fit in the antec 900 without too many problems? Currently my 8800GT sits in there quite happily.
Thanks in advance
4870x2 should be really close to your drive bay so if hardrive is sticking outwould be a no, but then u can put the hardrive in diferent drive bay. and no 500 w would not be enough. depends what res u use 4870 should be enough
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The hard drives aren't sticking out as far as I know, fingers crossed it will be enough space
Should really have mentioned this! But I have a 24" WS at 1920*1200 as my main monitor.
Would ideally like to have a fair amount of future-proofing though, I'm hoping the Q6600 and 4GB RAM will last a long time (or at least until nehalem hehe
) but I can tell the 8800GT has already started struggling a bit since I jumped from 22 to 24", so it might be time for a sneaky upgrade!Thanks for the speedy reply
Associate
Quite pointless this debate as it's dependant on what games the person plays. If the games you play are performing near to GTX280 performance with the 4870 and you are running 1920x1200 or less then it would be wise to take the 4870, although it does require you to be able to think for yourself first
I just hope this isn't a purchase justification debate as that would be pathetic.
Thank you for your concern however I don't need to 'justify' my purchase (which I'm quite happy with incidentally). I'm simply stepping up to correct a statement which I think is wrong, or slightly 'exaggerated' shall we say.
Soldato
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/diamondhd4870/12.html
Its not worth £70 extra. Its not faster in every situation too.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=21
I'd say that shows the same thing too.
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yes and for the price it wicked cant get better at this price
No its not, its only around 10% faster, 4870 even beats it in some at 1920x1200 with AA on, the GTX 280 just isn't worth an extra £70+ for its small increase in performance.
You are in no position to judge that, 70£ could be a lot of money or almost nothing for any given person, if it amounts to pocket change then it would be completely pointless not to go for the 280. Besides the 280 does certain things a lot better than the 4870, including Folding.
No its not, its only around 10% faster, 4870 even beats it in some at 1920x1200 with AA on, the GTX 280 just isn't worth an extra £70+ for its small increase in performance.
I would think that holds true for the majority of people though, hence why he stated it.
Most people will buy the cheaper (better value) card if it has quite similar performance.
Hence why most people recommend the 4870.
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No its not, its only around 10% faster, 4870 even beats it in some at 1920x1200 with AA on, the GTX 280 just isn't worth an extra £70+ for its small increase in performance.
There's a lot more to the GTX 280 than just high frame-rates, 1GB memory/physx/folding/quieter fan/less problematic drivers etc.
If you just want high frame rates there's no doubt the 4870 is currently the best "bang for buck" card, that doesn't make it better though.
Soldato
You can fold on the 4870 and the 512mb is not as much of a limitation as you think.
I think ATi will have physics eventually too but thats not something that would make me buy a card.
But for me, I buy cards based on performance, and in most things the extra 70quid is not worth it.
I hear for folding the HD4870 is not good at the moment, infact I did some googling and one guy was getting more folding performance on his 8800GT, that cant be right, shows the client is not taking full advantage.
Either way I wont ever do folding, made me realise, it would increase power consumption.
I think ATi will have physics eventually too but thats not something that would make me buy a card.
But for me, I buy cards based on performance, and in most things the extra 70quid is not worth it.
I hear for folding the HD4870 is not good at the moment, infact I did some googling and one guy was getting more folding performance on his 8800GT, that cant be right, shows the client is not taking full advantage.
Either way I wont ever do folding, made me realise, it would increase power consumption.
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Caporegime
Less problematic drivers as they only release about 2-3 sets a year lol, ATi release 12 sets, so yes, id have to agree then, your not going to get as many problems out of 2 or 3 drivers as you would out of 12 drivers, also as said above, 4870 does folding/Physics and ATi's better texture compression makes the 512mb of memory no problem for it.
Soldato
Well thats the download to ATi atm, the drivers are ****, I loved NV drivers so much more, but I can live with ATi drivers if I have a powerfull cheap card like I got.
Soldato
Soldato
Apparently at 100%, just like the 4870, its loud, but the air is a deeper sound, so that must make it alright I guess
Cool, fair enough
. I think they are great cards. I'm even tempted myself between the 280 and the X2 when it's released. I just think for the majority of people the 4870 is the better buy. Only those with 1920x1200+ resolutions or those games that really play better on Nvidia should be getting the 280 IMO. It's just that the 4870 is a powerhouse and more bang for buck with the 4870 sometimes surpassing the Nvidia monster.
Associate
Funny you should say that, I've also had this nagging feeling that the image quality was slightly better as well on the ATI's I've had , although admittedly there's very little in it in reality... given that you can't point at anything specific generally.... (some time ago switched from 3850 to 8800gt... might have to consider getting a 4870 if it's as good as people say...)
No it shows that AMDs architecture needs specific optimization unless it falls drastically short of getting even close to what an Nvidia card can achieve. Not really a problem, cause those optimizations are being made, but it shows that the whole "800 shaders" thing is ******** if most of those aren't used unless the code is written very specifically.