4870: Frame buffer+resolution, cooling

Hey guys, I am putting together an upgrade for my machine when I get home. I am pretty set on the pairing a couple 4870s on an intel chipset(x48) with a q9450, but I wanted to get opinions on a couple issues.

I use my tv as a monitor with a rez of 1920X1080. AA is not terribly important to me since I sit so far from my tv there is not a big difference, but I will enable it if my framerate doesn't dip noticably. Is 512mb going to be enough in your opinion for future games at that rez, or should I wait for the 1gb card?

My second question is about after market cooling.
I have a farily well ventilated case ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137 ) so ejecting the hot air out of the back shouldn't be necessary as the hot air will shortly be ejected regardless. That's my theory anyway, if you have a better opinion please share it. What after market cooler would you guys recommend, or is there a decent review of several vga coolers that I can check out? Apparently any cooler compatible with the 3800 series is compatible with the 4800's as well, so there are already quite a few to choose from.

Thanks guys,
Pete

P.S. I think in a month or so when I pull the trigger on this I will have another VGA giveaway for my current 8800GTX

Personally I'd wait for the 1gb version. Adding AA at 1920 x 1200 is going to tax a 512mb card, especially in shader-heavy games.

At the moment 512mb is still enough unless you got to res above 1920 x 1200.

However in a years time i think that 512mb at that res isnt going to cut it. Ive been wondering the same thing.

They dont put 1GB because DDR5 is expensive. Anyway for a person who spend the less money as he can, and the best performance/price ratio its stupid to buy more memory, just upgrade/sell it later.

Well, the best cooler you can get would definitely be the HR-03. This thing is amazing, although it is kind of expensive, and doesn't come with a fan. Although you might not even need one, as seen here. But I would still definitely recommend using one.

But really most after market coolers will work well. Like the Duorb, the Accelero S1, or the VF1000.

And about the 1gb vs. 512mg, I'd say just wait for reviews and see how much better the 1Gb will be. It also depends on how often you upgrade. I'm really thinking about getting the 1gb version, because I don't upgrade too often, and I think the 1gb will help in the future, especially since I will be using 1920x1200.

Also, since you are doing crossfire, the one gig may help a lot, since if you only had 512, it would be like an almost twice as powerful gpu with only 512mb.

You know, that kind of stuff is really awesome. I've been really thinking about doing that when I upgrade from my x1950pro. It won't be as nice as your 8800gtx.... but I'm sure someone would still appreciate it.

You could just give your 8800gtx to me . But yeah... there are a lot of people that would probably benefit/appreciate it much more than me. Anyway, I just wanted to commend you for considering that, as it really is an awesome thing to do.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Jaydee, I do like the idea of having a nice HIS (or whoever) improved cooling solution on it, how long do you think it will take before we start to see those @ newegg?

@modtech
Yeah I used one of the thermalright bigass heat sinks on my 8800 and it worked like a charm, I was afraid it would be too large for crossfire though.

When I put it all together I'll take some pics for you guys and post them up so you too can bask in the beauty of my new toy.

Take it easy,
Pete