What do You Guys Think of the ATI Radeon HD 4890?

It's only about 5-10% faster than the 4870.

definitely it's a good performing card, but i won't buy it because it's HUGE power requirement (but NV's too, not just this 4890).
i believe, that these semiconductor companys (NV,ATI) just don't care about the power optimisation of their chips. a car with a very bad fuel efficiency will eat a lot of petrol, so are computers. 300W for a video card in use ? (in SLI or CF the double or tripple) come on ! 300W of power is enough to heat a smaller room

Video cards serve a dual purpose, a heater can't render anything. Excessive power consumption is by design

It's really a matter of pay more, get more. The 4870 is great if you want to save some cash, but the 4890 is better for those with more flexible budgets.

If it were just 1 company, I maybe could consider that company didnt really care about power consumption. But since theres 2, if 1 comes in at only 50% power usage with the same perf, whod you think would sell? And before anyone says its all about preferences, and theyd sell to those "fans" anyways, the OEMs would simply put the other company out of business, as they usually dont have decent psu's in their rigs

I have a 9600GT and I think a 4870 would be the lowest viable upgrade. The 4890 is 100AUD more (~$400) and 15% more performance at 33% higher cost is not very justifiable to someone as stingy as me.

The GTX285 also OCs.

I think you will get more bang for your buck going with a second 4870 (or saving your money for the next iteration), unless you have someone you can sell it to.

Thanks for the info guys! Looks like I'm going with the 4870

What would be a good NVIDIA equivalent, btw?

The nVidia equivalent would be the GTX 260. Read the 260 reviews.

why not replace with a nice single 4870 x2 (or 4850 x2) with plans to add a second one in 6mos or so when they are ~$150-175?

There is no reason to believe crossfire will work with 4xxx to 5xxx series. You cant CF a 3xxx with a 4 and they are both dx 10.. Besides that the performance of a 5870 with a 4890 would problaby be lower than just the 5870....

And to the guy sayign get a 4870 x2 with plans to get a second later... he is using 1680*1050..... What planet are you from?

For that res, a nice 1gig 4870, or a core 216 260 would be great, and enough for any game.

Edit: DAMN you retarded newbs. Why the hell would you bump this.. making me look like an idiot replaying to sometihng I see is 2 months old... Burn in hell kokin.. He obviously has a new card already.. don't bump old useless threads, specially to ask a qustion beyond stupid.