No Reason to buy anything other than a 4870 now

beef5stew

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May 8, 2008
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I've spent most of the summer so far slowly building a computer for fun. I'm pretty much done with everything except the video card and got into a very heated discussion with a co-worker about the best video setup. Here's my rig:

-Thermaltake Armor tower
-4 WD 640G HDs in RAID 5
-Gigabyte GA-x48 mB
-4GB OCZ Memory
-Intel Q9450
-Vista 64
-2 22" Acer LCD

I've found a variety of places where I can get a HD 4850 for around $150. Or I can go and get a single 4870 for around $300.

I'm thinking if I go for the 4870 I have an opportunity to upgrade with another one in the future. With 2x 4850s, I'm locked.

He thinks that the performance 2x4850 is more than anyone needs, and that the next upgrade I would need would be to some new chipset in the future.

Who's right? Computer is used for EVERything. Games, video, photo, etc
 

ovaltineplease

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May 9, 2008
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+1 to the 4870x2 - its supposed to be far superior technology to the 4870 CF solution

I wouldn't recommend a 4870 to anyone with the 4870x2 this close to release (mid/late August)

eds, one thing I guess:

If you are planning to build the PC imminently then either 4850 CF or 4870 is a good choice. The 4850 CF will outperform the 4870 by a good margin, but as you said you won't have that free gpu slot for an upgrade later. Its really up to you as to what you prefer.
 
What games do you want to play? If your addiction is Diablo II, pick up an 8600GT or 2600Pro and have done with it.
If it were me, I'd buy one 4850, but then I don't play Crysis. Maybe I'd buy two, then if one croaked I'd STILL have decent graphics while waiting for the RMA.
 

Slobogob

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I would suggest a 4870. Crossfire is nice and everything but the drivers need time to mature so you don't want to jump on that bandwagon right away.
 

Annisman

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??????



You would buy 2 Video cards for the purpose of having one that works if the other dies ? I don't think anybody in the history of computers has bought a second video card for SLI or Cf, for THAT reason. You're loony! :pt1cable:
 

ram1009

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I've owned several ATI cards and they were all flaky. I'll stick with Nvidia. Whatever advantage ATI may seem to have in reviews is transient. A bargain isn't what you pay but what you get. IMHO, ATI cards are NOT a bargain at any price.
 

ovaltineplease

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Haha actually to tell you the truth I have. But not just for the sake of RMA, but also for Step-ups; so that I would still have a graphics card while my other card was in the mail, then when the first one arrived i'd mail off the second :p

I only ever did that once, but it worked out for me!
 

maximiza

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Mar 12, 2007
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I have always been a Nvidia man but ATI makes a good product. If there are major defects or failures in a month then you will be right but I don't see that happening.
 

Turas

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See my experience has actually been the other way. ALmost every Nvidia card I have had has given me a hard time. The ATI ones I have never had one single problem. Had the Radeon 1800, x300, X700, 2900XT and now the 3870. I honestly can't remember the 3 Nvidia ones i had althought they were all pre 8800 cards.
 

ovaltineplease

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Pure opinion with no substance; when you are recommending hardware to people you should deal in facts and not hearsay. I've owned tons of ATI cards and tons of Nvidia cards and i've never had a flakey card produced by either manufacturer.
 

Hovaucf

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Well since your 'personal' experience says neither is flaky then we should all take that as how it will be for everyone else, lawl.
 

gaiden

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Jun 23, 2008
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4870 can consistently perform between a GTX 260 and 280 and with 4870x2 coming out it would be interesting to see if there would be another price cut from nvidia on their cards. this could be great news to us all.



i have no words for you. except... please keep your non constructive, senseless, and biased comments to yourself fanboy. the fact that you dont offer enough facts to supports your point nor any details of your personal 'flaky' experience made your post worthless.
 

ovaltineplease

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Buy garbage out of a bargain bin and you'll get garbage. Buy from a reputeable manufacturer and you won't. :pfff:
 

Hovaucf

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Oh I agree i just thought the first 'personal' experience was funny and that you followed up everyone should now expect your exact experience either way there is RMA for a reason and hardware sometimes just plain fails i should know I work for one.
 

ovaltineplease

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You find that funny and not this?



This quoted msg is just pure ****, don't troll me when I have a legitimate point that many end-users will be able to consistantly back.

I have seen consistant problems with failing cards when they were bought from shady manufacturers or from shady resellers, but that is the exception and not the norm and people who buy into these sort of things are just setting themselves up to begin with.
 

dmacfour

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Well I have had 3 ATI cards over the years and 3 Nvidia cards, and haven't ever had an issue with any of them. No more fanboy comments please.
 

Hovaucf

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I find his funny but in all honesty it doesnt really matter b/c I can say I've never had hardware failure since 1989 with any computer I've owned but to state bad experiences about hardware as he did is not justified since most hardware failures are very few and far between. Except in the case of hardware re-spins with new components that screw up everything.

But you shouldnt take anything i say the wrong way i had no intention of trying to state your info as false or any of the sort.
 

Shodar

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Sep 19, 2006
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Quick question.... what's a "step-up"?

And if it is what I think it is, how do you get one of these done?

--Shodar
 
Step up is a program that EVGA does (Nvidia only unfortunately) in which if a better card comes out within 90 days of your purchase of an EVGA card, you can send your card in to EVGA, pay the difference, and get the new card.
 

jonyb222

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My personal experience with ATI has been fairly excelent, I've only had ATI in my computers (2 computers/3 cards) (not by choice really, just coincidence) and none have failed, the latest is an asus 9550 gamers edition (comes with a lil fan).

Funny story, first time I was OCing (year ago) it I put it way too high (in the range of 450/600) now for ovious reasons I had artifacts, not a whole lot of them though. Now I was fairly ignorant at the time so I kept it at those settings for a good 1-1½ hour (while gaming), surprisingly enough the card survived with no damage. (though last week the fan was starting to make too much noise so I replaced it with and old cpu one) :D