1GB HD 3870 vs 512MB HD 4870 vs 2GB HD 4870

Here's the situation...my new desktop got shipped back to the factory due to mega problems. Tech support called and said they need to downgrade my computer in one aspect but will upgrade my video cards to compensate for the downgrade. The problem is i'm not sure if the supposed upgrade is actually an upgrade. Here is a list of the video cards in question.

These are my orginial cards.....

DUAL 1GB ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2-Quad GPU Technology

These are the cards they say are an upgrade....

DUAL 512MB GDDR5 ATI Radeon HD 4870 with Crossfire Technology

These are the cards i think would be an actual upgrade...

DUAL 2GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 with Crossfire and Quad GPU Technology

I'm not that tech savvy, but need to know the facts before making a decision on what to do. Any feedback is appreciated and thanks.

i have a 3870 512mb
will the 4850 1gb crossfire with the 3870?

BTW, even if works, it would waste half of that 1GB on the HD 4850

aw man...
well idk
i done orderd it! lol
i guess ill use the 4850 and just use the 3870 in my other pc

lol yea i know...im still gonna try CFing it an just see if it works lol
but umm yea u got msn u can add me at atix1800xl@hotmail.com

A dual-GPU setup is going to always work better than a quad-GPU setup; a single 4870 is superior to a single 3870X2, and a pair of 4870s would be far better than a pair of 3870X2s. Note that the memory given for the 3870X2s is the total between the two GPUs, and only the memory-per-GPU matters, so no, it would not be a memory downgrade, since you'd be staying at 512MB per GPU.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3415&p=9

check load readings.

I'd prefer a HD 4870 X2 to two HD 4870 1GB too. That's a good idea especially if you're going with a P45 motherboard. However, at current Newegg prices ($530 vs 2*$220) the two-card version is better bang for the buck.

I wouldn't worry about the power consumption differences.
Based on the charts you've found, the power consumption with two HD 4870 1GB cards should be 273.1 + (204.1-203.7)*2= about 274W. That's 274-249=25W more than the same system with a HD 4870 X2. Under load, the difference is about 30W.

25W or 30W is not really worth worrying about IMO even if we're talking about 24/7 operation, it means around 250 KWh/year which is about $40 where I live. Since nobody sane keeps a gaming machine open permanently, I'd say in real life we're talking about $20/year or less.

And thank you very much for pointing it out. +1 to that

i would say that 2 4870s in crossfire are better, but you payed for a system with high end cards which at the time was 2 3870x2, and i would say that today's equivalent is 2 4870x2, they are going by speed and that does make 2 4870s faster, but i would want to go by cash payed at time of purchase, whether they would be willing to except this is a different matter, you can but try

given the choice i'd still get a 4870x2. i slot to rule them all.

Nah, you'd be disappointed.

For one thing, two HD 4870 X2 cards will give you nowhere near twice as many fps as one HD 4870 X2. Maybe later, if games start paying serious attention to scalability beyond 2 GPUs.

For another, the difference between 4 GB and 8 GB of RAM is minimal in games. I'm guessing 28 GB would be just like 8 GB.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2 [...] y-better/5

Sure. There's this guy "roadrunner" who posted this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] oadrunners

It's got 139 posts and 2097 views. If you think you can beat that please try

You mean your HD 3870 X2, right? The HD 4850 is not a piece of ****. At today's price of about $150 it's way better bang for the buck than your HD 3870 X2 was when you bought it. It's a little better than my 8800GTX that cost $651 when I got it.

If your MB supports Crossfire and your case has decent cooling and your PSU is 550W or bigger, consider keeping the HD 4850, buying another one, and selling the 3870 X2. The HD 4850 Crossfire combo is pretty awesome.

Is it? In which games? Looking at this chart, the HD 4850 beats the HD 3870 big time in Call of Duty, and almost matches the 3870 X2.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=14

Look at the table column for 1680x1050: HD 3870 X2 88.4 fps, HD 4850 78.2 fps, HD 3870 47.7.

Same thing in Crysis: 30.5 vs 29.8 vs 22.7
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=13

Something's odd then, because in basically every way, the 4850 should be faster than the 3870, and nearly the match of the 3870x2 in many cases.

yeah i know...i just put it in and im gonna mess around and see if i can get it working right

the newest ones ati has.......it wont even boot up anymore..its a peice of crap dude