4870 or 4850 CF?

4850 CF would give you better results than a 4870, but your stuck with them.

Getting a 4870 will play any game maxed out ( besides crysis), work in older games that dont support CF(and future, but most, hopefully will support CF) and when the price drops in 6 months you can get a 2d.

I would get a 4870- also has dual slot cooler so all the heat gets dumped outside the case which makes a huge difference.

A 4870 will tri-crossfire with a 4870X2. Future generations I'm not sure about. I would expect it to be generation based as in you couldn't crossfire a 3870 and a 4870. I agree with shening in getting the 4870. But, if the prices are close enough, it would be worth waiting for the 1GB versions of the 4870 (or even the 4850 for that matter). The 4870 also uses GDDR5 as opposed to the 4850's GDDR3. The 1GB versions would really come in handy with higher resolutions and and higher AA and/or AF.

Thanks for the help guys, the mobo I'm getting is ASUS P5Q, so i will have crossfire..

as for the 1gb version, will it really help me? My monitor goes 1680x1050 max.

Cool, I guess I will just drop in another gpu in a couple of months, hopefully the prices will go down by then

Stupid question: Does it REALLY matter what monitor you have in conjunction with the cpu/video card that you have? I'm going to build another gaming system and I was looking at the 4870, 4870x2, and the 4850x2. I was going to pair it with a E8600 or Q9550 (FSX). My monitors native resolution is 1280x1084 (19" Viewsonic VX922). Right now I'm running my monitor on a E6300 and Saphire x1900xtx. I'm dying to go to the Penryns and I was thinking of either getting a 4870 and when the prices drop; get another. I want to build a new system and keep it a very long time (past when Nehalem is released).


(Games I play- Civ 4, Sims2, FSX, 18Wos: Haulin, Simcity 4, Simcity Societies, Wildlife Zoo, Zoo Tycoon 2, RollercoasterTycoon 3) Future Games that I will play: Sims3, Star Trek Online, APB, and probably go back to City of Heroes). My future list can change though. I don't play FPS's and I don't surf the net while Im playing a game. I think this year and beyond, I will be playing more MMORPG's.

Another stupid question and I promise this is the last one: If you build a system, then decide to build another, what do you guys do with your other system? I'm scratching my head on the person who built 3 computers, what do you do with the other 2. Ive been reading xbit and going through the forums and I've got the itch to build another Especially since the 4870 looks really good.