which way to go ?

[chaotic_uk]

not sure which way to go gfx card wise , i had a gecube 3870 special oc model with gddr3 . when the 4870 first came out i save and purchased a sapphire 4870 512 , but at 1680x1050 in nearly all games i got some stutter . in the end i sent it back after 8 month of this and got it replaced , but while waiting for the card to be returned i got a x3 phenom II 720 and the biostar ta790gx 128m mobo .

when i got it back i did a fresh install of vista 32bit with 4gb of 1066 mhz ram etc , but the stutter returned so i put my 3870 back in and purchased a second hand matching card . running crossfire i was surprised that the stutter had gone but the fps was down a little (sorry for the babble )

now i have been offered a brand new his 3870x2 very cheap , should i get it or spend on a 1gb gfx card ? . my max £££ limit is £110 (at a push £120) , is it worth getting a 1 gb 4870 or just tri-fire the 3870 till the next gen cards come out ?

but if i tri-fire i need a new psu which has enough 6pin pci-e + 1x 8pin power connectors , the psu i am looking at is below and it will cost the same (psu + 3870x2) as the £110 for a 1gb 4870 . is a 6pin to 8pin adapter available ?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-PP&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1104

 

[95thrifles]

Very good PSU, Im using one
but Id go for the new card, 1gig 4870
however you shouldnt of had any issues in the first place, I ran a half gig 4870 at higher res's b4 and had no issues, did you do a full uninstall and driversweeper of old drivers before installing new card?

 

[varkanoid]

Could be your RAM you don't say what you are using. You dont also seem to mention what your current PSU is.

By the way I see you have a x3 Phenom have you checked if thats the one where you can unlock the fourth core and make it x4 ? Google unlock phenom II x3 and see.

The instructions are

Set the appropriate BIOS setting for the Advanced Clock Calibration feature to "Auto", save settings and restart. The system will be able to deal with the disabled core, and off load some work to it.

Then you need to use something like Prime95 to test your CPU and if its stable you have x4 cpu for price of x3 ! If it is not stable no problem just change the option above in BIOS to previous setting and it returns to original X3.

 

[chaotic_uk]

the psu i have is a seasonic 550w s12+ with 4x 12v rails which has a combined amp of 41 (4x 18a) , as for unlocking the 4th core i have tried and it will not boot into vista with all 4 cores . anyways overclocking the 4870 helps a little but still stutters but not as bad , i have had the system checked 3 times at cost £45 each time and nothing found to be wrong . the 4870 i have score a gpu score of 9500 in 3dmark vantage @ 800/1000 , all that was done with the card before it was returned is the bios was changed . the ram i have is the one below

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-039-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817

 

[chaotic_uk]

i have also been looking at the below 4870

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-108-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939

 

[varkanoid]

What is your RAM tho and is it set correctly in BIOS ?

 

[chaotic_uk]

i have linked to my ram above (Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (KHX8500D2K2/4G) ) , it is set to 5-5-5-15 and running at 1066mhz with 2.2v

 

[chaotic_uk]

i am thinking on ordering a gtx260 , what do these run like compaired to the 4870 512 ?

 

[95thrifles]

better than the half gig, theyre more on a par with the 1gig version of that card, Id spend a little bit more on one of the other 260s though, any of the other 3 in stock, theyre all clocked much higher and only a tenner more

 

[chaotic_uk]

thats the problem it may only be a tenner more but i limit is £120 (dont think i can get any more this month) , does the warrenty make any difference on the price of the gtx260's ? . i am either going to get a 1gb 4870 or the gtx260 , not sure which would be the better choice tbh