which card?

[j.col]

hi guys,
my kids pc has a hd 4770 (512mb ddr5)
my pc has a hd 3870x2 (1gb ddr3)

on tomshardware site, the 3870x2 is in a higher tier than the hd 4770, but i have noticed, most of the games i play are only using 1 core on the gpu.

the kids aren't using their pc anymore, so i want to get rid of one.
which would you get rid of?

kids pc only has an old P4 3.0GHz cpu, 2Gb ram.
my pc has only a E3300 overclocked to 3.0GHz and 2 gb ram.

i might just get rid of both. and buy a decent gpu.
but for now, which one to get rid of?

 

[An Exception]

get rid of the 3770x2

 

[OLDSKOOL]

Hey J col
Test them both out on your PC with games you play and make your decsion on the best gameplay experience for you!

Enjoy!

 

[j.col]

thanks guys, guess its time to run some benchmarks.

 

[95thrifles]

The 3870x2 will be the more powerful card, with ATIs numbering system the first number denotes the series, so the 4770 is a more modern card where as the 3870x2 is from the series before, however the most important number in terms of actual performance is the 2nd number, 7 denotes "mainstream" gfx 8 denotes "enthusiast" gfx (their labels not mine) and 6/5 etc is lower end for HTPC use etc, the 3rd number denotes where it sits in the series 5870>5850>5830 and the 4th is always zero
So as you can see your old 3870x2 has more brute force, and theres 2 of them strapped together on same card, the one thing which this doesnt take into account though is native DirectX support which is where the 4000 series may shine
If youre after playing modern games on higher settings then it would be worth ditching both and getting new card tbh, and now you know which to go for, lol

 

[opethdisciple]

I had a 3870x2 for two years, which i only recently upgraded.

The 3870x2 is a fairly powerfull card. It will last a while longer.

Forinstance most games I could play near maximum settings:

Crysis warhead: 1920x1200, gamer settings
MW2: Near max
BFBC2: 1920x1200 on medium...

So the card is very capable indeed.

Theo only bad thing abou it is:

Runs Hot
Lots of power needed
Loud at full loud

I read somewhere that interms of power, it is equal toa 4870 in dx9 games and a 4850 in dx10 games...

 

[Deleted member 105233]

Forinstance most games I could play near maximum settings:

Crysis warhead: 1920x1200, gamer settings
MW2: Near max
BFBC2: 1920x1200 on medium...

So the card is very capable indeed.

Very nice, I woudn't of thought it was capable of such high resolution and still playable?

Anway, I agree you should just try a few games on both rigs, see which one is more comfortable and feels better. Goodluck!

 

[proxy10]

The 3870x2 will be the more powerful card

 

[j.col]

thanks guys.
i will probably get rid of both and get a better one,
but i will need to upgrade cpu as well

@opethdisciple
i put the fan on 70% while gaming, and the card never goes over 40.C
also i have a corsair hx 520w psu

@95thrifles thanks for the info, i had an idea about the first number, but that was perfect.