Which 4870 to get?

[janc]

Hey there.

I am looking at building a new system, and now I am having problems picking the graphics card.

I am looking at those 2:

EAH4870 DK/HTDI/1GD5
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&l2=8&l3=726&l4=0&model=2614&modelmenu=1

SAPPHIRE HD 4870 1GB TOXIC Edition
http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=278&grp=3

The price is pretty similar, so that can’t help me to pick. In the system I have now, I have a Sapphire x1950xtx and I have been pretty satisfied with it.. besides the noise from the fan.

But I have often bought Asus, and my new system will also have an asus motherboard. The fans on the 2 cards look pretty similar. The Sapphire looks to be a little over clocked. But on the Sapphire page, I can’t see what is in the box, and the Asus seems to have all the cables and adapters needed. I would think the Sapphire also has that, but I just can’t see it from their homepage. I couldn’t care less about the mouse pad Asus bundles..

Well I would like to hear some recommendations and experiences from you guys.

Thanks in advanced.

 

[Techno-boy]

From what I know is that Sapphire standard stock version has the best deal with best price with many reviewers/customers on newegg.com.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801

for only $200

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810

for only $165

The Sapphire Toxic edition has a good cooler but it normally cost more because it is factory-overclocked card. I personally don't recommend people to buy factory overclocked cards because anyone can get cheaper card and manually overclock it unless if they lower the price of factory overclocked cards. You could also get cheapest HD 4870 and buy aftermarket VGA cooler which will be cheaper and faster than Sapphire Toxic edition. Sapphire Toxic edition also comes with about $50 of free software on 5 discs which has something useless like futuremark rating which is part of the bundle. This is why I think that it is not worth to pay more and get the Toxic edition.

And the ASUS HD 4870 1GB version also cost more on Newegg.com which cost like $250! And ASUS HD 4870 512MB for $235! ASUS cost $35-$50 more in comparison to Sapphire standard stock versions which only cost $200 (1GB) and $165 (512MB).

Anyway, this is just to share with you about what I saw on US Newegg.com and what I read from other threads and it depends on who offers the best deal or best price/performance.

 

[janc]

Thanks for the reply. I am from europe so the prices you find doesnt apply to me. However there is a 80$ difference on the stock version vs the overclocked. then there is a 30$ difference on the 512mb and 1gb version.. but well i dont care that much about the 30$ even though i may not get 30$ worth of performance improvement

 

[coozie7]

What resoloution are you using janc? And do you intend to use a larger monitor in the future?

 

[janc]

I am using 1920x1200 I have a 24" monitor that I don’t plan on changing in the near future.

Maybe I should add what I am going to use it for. The reason I am actually getting a new system, is HD video editing. I can do it with my old system, just not as smooth and fast as I would want to. That’s why I want to build a core i7 system.

The setup will be this:

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
WD VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150 GB
Antec Performance One Mini P180 - EU
Core i7 920 8 MB (Intel Boxed)
Corsair XMS3 3 x 2 GB
I also didn’t make up my mind on the psu yet, but it will probably be a Corsair TX650W/TX850W or TX850W.

Besides video and picture editing, I will probably use it for games also. Not fps though, but maybe mmorpg or strategy games.

A 4870 1 GB is probably overkill, unless the video editing program can take advantage of it. But I still like to keep it pair with the rest of the system.

I may do some overclocking, but it’s not essential.

 

[coozie7]

It`s overkill, but good overkill

 

[Helloworld_98]

don't bother with velociraptor's, the caviar black models, excluding the 1TB, have the same sort of performance figures and you get a load more space for a lot less.

Back to GPU's though, over here in the UK i'd get the toxic since it's only £5 more expensive than the non-oc'd one but since your price differences are so huge go for the standard clocked one.

 

[janc]

don't bother with velociraptor's, the caviar black models, excluding the 1TB, have the same sort of performance figures and you get a load more space for a lot less.

Back to GPU's though, over here in the UK i'd get the toxic since it's only £5 more expensive than the non-oc'd one but since your price differences are so huge go for the standard clocked one.

How do you figure the black model has the same performance as the velociraptor? The black is a 7200rmp and the velociraptor is 10000rpm. Also on all the charts here on tomshardware, the velociraptor beats the black by a good margine.

I am not buying the hd for storage, i am buying it to speed up the os and programs. For storage i would never buy a 10000rpm disk.

Do you have some good links to online uk shops? It may be worth, paying for the shipment to Denmark if its cheap.

 

[coozie7]

Some of my usual places in the UK:

http://www.scan.co.uk/
http://www.cclonline.com/
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/index.php
http://www.ebuyer.com/

Hope this helps.