Tell me why I shouldn't buy a 4890...

For that price, I would buy one if I hadn't already bought a 4870 for $250 back in January. And I've always been a fan of Sapphire. The two Sapphire 4890s on newegg are $199 with free shipping and a $10 MIR. Actually, I've never tried antoher brand except Sapphire. There are two other Sapphire 4890's but they are sold out.

It's noisy, can run hot if you do not set the fan to a higher speed (making it noisy) and needs a fairly powerful PSU to feed it;)

Well I'm not too worried about noise, my rig is watercooled. and as far as psu is concerned im ok, 750 Watt Silverstone  

i did a psu consumption calculator online and it factored all of my parts i have including the extra draw from my OC to totaling at 415 watts so im ok there.

so, anyone know what 4890 i should get? or is something new coming out really soon, ie like a month or two away?

Asus make a cool one that comes clocked at 950 standard and can overvolt for stable higher OC's... and is cheap too!


1 good reason not to buy one now...

...in a few months next gen DX11 cards will be with us



is why I am sticking with my 8800GT for now, I recomend you do the same maybe... though $169 is damn cheap.
It is only worth upgrading now if you need more power for your current games, or new monitor that needs a higher res


+ could always sell on later fairly easy and not loose too much money...

ok cool. thanks for the posts so far. ill be playin games at 1920x1080 and also my 4850 with 512 mb isnt cutting it for games like GTA IV and ARMA2. it performs pretty well but i like all details on high and its not smooth enough at that res, esp if AA is on.

i dont think ill worry bout dx11 cards yet because i dont like getting the 1st run of a big new change up. besides, no dx11 games out right now anyway and by the time a nice one comes along ill probably want a better card again anyway.

therefore, anyone else have any more suggestions?

Again, thanks in advance.

I'd like to point out that by the time actual DX11 games are out, we'll be approaching a new release of DX11 cards. I think a 4890 is a good stopgap investment.

Well I think that'll do it, I'm gonna get the 4890. Thanks for letting me bounce my ideas off you guys. Now to figure out which one I want..

I've heard good things of Sapphire's Vapor-X.

I mention next Gen DX11 cards not so much for their DX11 support as their being true next gen cards. When we get a true next gen card come out they can be 50% faster than the prev one, hopefully  

I think if thats the res you play at then you will be very happy with a 4890 though and sounds like the main thing next gen cards will bring you is cheaper prices on current stock

But... they are already So damn cheap I can't see them dropping much more, so in your place I'd go for it now

Have Fun ^^

BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4890 kicks a$$, overclocks well, and KICKS A$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you wont be disappointed and for that price, thats PC price/performance pwnage.

i cant think of anythin why you shouldnt buy it, besides maybe power consumption..?

Well, the 4890 may not help with GTA IV simply because that game has all sorts of issues. For everything else though it will be an improvement. It would definitely be cheaper to crossfire your current 4850, but hey, whatever.

Sorry but there isn't any... well its not free.

GET IT!!!

Only reason I'm not doing CF is because my board doesnt have it! hah. I'm using a mid tower so I don't want to cram too much into it anyways.

So here is the one I think I'll get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Any last opinions before I purchase this bad boy?

I don't like the cooler. It does a good job of geeting heat off of the vga chip, but it then dumps it into the case.
That heats up the air that cools both the vga card and the cpu.

I like the full exhaust double slot coolers better.

I think the 4890 is too close in performance to your 4850. You will be disappointed by the increase in performance.
I would wait for the 40nm parts coming, or get a 4870X2

I'd get one if I weren't waiting on next gen. Why not ? The black and red looks pretty good.

There's a promo code for that card that knocks off $15 I believe. I just ordered one today myself. Once I get my mail in rebate send off I would have only paid $155 total for it. The code expires tomorrow.

Going by the sum of 1900x1200 2009 charts here on Toms...

the 4890 is 40% faster than the 4850

is a worthwhile upgrade  

Good point about that asus model's cooler, and thanks for the advice based on that data from toms too. its true i dont care to wait for the next gen.

so whats the best air-cooled 4890?

Looks like you missed the deal.
This is the best I could find on the 'Egg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

The cheapest and with the longest warranty.

... because your mother's liver transplant is more important.      

errr what? lol anyhow, i meant to ask,

whats the coolest running 4890? as in which one has the best air cooler?

Sapphire toxic/atomic.

If, like me you have a 'stock' mid tower with just one front one rear you should also look at the HIS IceQ cards or, if you're not adverse to a little noise, the stock cooler does a good job, (but I wear headphones so noise is a non issue).

Got this one!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

came with HAWX which i found the demo to be mildly entertaining.

$194 after MIR and it's OCed a little too.

Nice.
Do not forget to register it for the full warranty.

Cool  

Have fun with that, am so tempted too!!

But am in the middle of a big programming project atm so can't play too much now anyways
so my trusty 8800GT will be keeping me company for a few more months yet, then will see what is about...