HD4870?? bogged down

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toonttm

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# 33133 30-Apr-2009 18:30

I have a core 2 quad Q6700 processor with 4Gb DDR2 ram, currently with Nvidia 8600GT gfx card. monitor is HP w2408h HDMI, 24" factory res 1920 x 1200

I am looking at buying a new gfx card and decided to go the whole hog and buy the HD4870 1GB DDR5. However, I have found around 5 brands with an assortment of prices, i.e:

Hightech, Sapphire, Palit, HIS iceQ4t and the Asus darknight.

Any ideas which one to go for? They all look the same for specs but as I say the price variance is quite wide.

I did find that the darknight was quieter? just how noisy is noisy?

Games: Age of conan, wwii online, farcry2, COD4 etc

(or should am I doing an overkill and maybe look for something else? HD4850?)

heavenlywild

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# 211007 30-Apr-2009 19:53

I personally am using a Gigabyte HD4850 512MB DDR3 video card and it is running like a dream.

To be honest, I haven't heard of Hightech, Palit, HIS or iceQ4t. I would say go for either a Sapphire or an Asus. Gigabyte is great too.

I think the HD4850 card is sufficient for your needs. It runs Flight Simulator X very well on a 19" wide screen and the FSX sucks out a lot of juice from video cards.

eXDee

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# 211092 30-Apr-2009 23:27

Palit and HIS are good brands, as are Sapphire, Asus and gigabyte. Chances are they are all reference coolers/boards so they are the same anyway, obviously except the ones that aren't.

The HD4770 is a good buy atm, its almost the power of the HD4850, with a 45nm process so less power consumption and a better cooler. You could overclock it to an HD4850 speed easily if you wanted.

Adamal

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# 211103 1-May-2009 01:04

heavenly_wild:

To be honest, I haven't heard of Hightech, Palit, HIS or iceQ4t.

What rock have you been hiding under? Hahaha

Palit also own Gainward. (Own as a company not 'own/pwn')

I've got a Palit, its a Dual Sonic 1GB. Overclocked with a non reference cooler that cools better and is quieter than the reference cooler.
And this must be like the millionth time I've praised it on here :P haha

Ragnor

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# 211107 1-May-2009 01:28

Since you're running a 24" I would probably favour the 4870 1GB over a 4850.

As for which brand it doesn't make a huge difference they rarely change the reference design for the board other than changing the cooling.

toonttm

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# 211479 1-May-2009 23:17

yeah, i read Tom's hardware site today. They said that companies are generally sticking to ati boards but cooling is an 'enhanced' option and sapphire is great. Still can't figure why the darknight board is nearly $200 more than the standard ati board. thanks for feed back though

Ragnor

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# 211907 3-May-2009 18:24

Asus cards might have a 3 year warranty vs the standard 1 year, can't remember..

toonttm

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# 211942 3-May-2009 21:11

it gets better. was trying to future proof myself a bit and try and get a 2nd card later and cross fire. All shops i talk to say no probs but the further i research it seems i may not be able to.

Ragnor

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# 211964 3-May-2009 22:07

What motherboard do you have?

Crossfire only applies to two ATI cards, you have a Nvidia card currently which rules out crossfire with your existing card.

Nvidia call their multiple card solution SLI and it requires some extra chips on the motherboard or an Nvidia chipset motherboard.

Intel P35 or P45 chipset motherboards can't do Nvidia SLI but can do ATI crossfire. Newer intel chipset motherboards will do both since Intel did a deal to cross license the tech from Nvidia.

Trying to future proof with computer hardware especially video cards is fairly foolish, there will always be something significantly better just around the corner in the next quarter or half year.

I recommend a single video card for your situation unless you want to spend over $500.

Adamal

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# 211992 4-May-2009 03:30

Ragnor:

Trying to future proof with computer hardware especially video cards is fairly foolish, there will always be something significantly better just around the corner in the next quarter or half year.

I recommend a single video card for your situation unless you want to spend over $500.

I agree with this.
You're not getting double the performance out of 2 cards, so unless you're a hardcore gamer with money to burn, a good single card is fine for all games.

toonttm

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# 211995 4-May-2009 06:16

yeah, i'm learning more, damn the internet, lol, but here is the questions I put to 2 shops today, one shop i actually went into, found a HD4890 card, put it down, walked around 3 times, then left...nobody would talk to me, so I got in my $130,000 car and went home...(yes, that was you extreme PC in Mt Albert, $500 to spend in my pocket and 3 staff and no one would talk to me, and I was keen to talk motherboard and ram upgrade), but anyway..the questions I posted today and I have learnt a lot since then as well...
Hi, I am looking at buying the ASUS HD4870 1GB darknight card.
I have a Compaq Pressrio. Q6700 2.66 GHz, 1066Mhz FSB, socket 775 with Intel G33 express chipset, 4 x 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2, 32 Windows Vista and standard 350W PSU.I want to future proof myself a little, so my questions before purchase are: (1) Can I install a 2nd HD4870 latter in crossfire configuration? My expansion slots listed on the internet are 1 x PCI, 1 x PCI express x 16. (2) Should I upgrade (price $?) to Vista 64 bit and then change to 4 x 2Gb ram modules (price?). My use is gaming (fps) so want to get the best I can. I also want to avoid noisy fans. Help appreciated and returned by purchasing through you guys. Thanks
So after that I spoke to some guys and they said...if I want crossfire, new motherboard and PSU..but I could run a single card now with my RAM and PSU but need to later change motherboard, goto new PSU if I want crossfire, then later look to 64 bit and 4 by 2 Gb ram. Still open to suggestions. Still struggling to work out why ASUS 4870 is $200 more than sapphire card....things used to be easier, lol (so says the fella who still has a Z80)

Batman

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# 212019 4-May-2009 08:52

crossfire? why not invest in a 4870 x2!

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

Ragnor

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# 212318 4-May-2009 23:31

I heard the distributor for Asus brought in a bulk shipment a few months ago when the exchange rate was quite a bit worse.

Anyway I recommend you check out Computer Lounge they are at 83 New North Rd, Eden Terrace if you want to check them out in person otherwise they actively answer questions on their forums too.

I always buy my parts from there now, they aren't the cheapest on pricespy but reasonable.. and more importantly good service.