New Graphic Card ~$160-180

[lazz]

Hey -
I am looking to put a new card(or two) in my new system:

AMD Phenom II x3 720
ASUS M4A78T-E
2 GB Corsair XMS
80 GB SATA I HDD
__________(Graphics Card)

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had input on what to get or whether one of these 3 choices I have thought through would be best! Thanks

2x ATI Radeon HD 4850 in Crossfire:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161244
(My motherboard only supports x8 Crossfire, would this be a problem?)

1x ATI Radeon HD 4870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161265
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121291
(Should i get one of these or the XFX with double warranty?)

or

1x ATI RAdeon HD 4890
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127427

--------------------------
Is the HD 4890 overkill for my system especially considering I use 1680*1050?
Would it be better to go with an HD4870 that is OCed or better cooling?
Or is crossfire the way to go?!

Thanks for your input!

 

[Jaysin]

I'd go 4890. At that price, if you don't mind rebates, it is an amazing value. It is going to be a touch slower in some benchmarks than the dual 4850s but then you have zero crossfire issues to deal with only having one GPU.

It is a little more than that resolution needs but extra power at that price shouldnt hurt.

 

[AlphaOmegaX]

4870 xfx or 4890 xfx.

The warranty > all other ati warranties.

The 4870 is 60ish cheaper which means for 70 bucks more than a 4890 you could crossfire some 4870's (which is what I kind of wish I'd done atm)

But seriously why do you have an 80gb hd? I haven't even come across one of those in awhile. My oldest pc is from 2003

 

[gkay09]

+1 for the HD 4890s...Though you have 1650X1050 resolution, future games will only become more demanding...So having some extra horsepower is always good...

 

[neon neophyte]

i cant suggest crossfire over a single gpu solution. if you can obtain the performance level you want from one gpu, do it. sli and crossfire are to be reserved for ultra performance, i feel.

issues like microstudder have never been fixed.

 

[invisik]

A cheap 4870 1 gig should do he trick at that resolution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161269

 

[invisik]

no dont go ati they have big heat problems over 150 dergrees c its like valcano

How much is nvidia paying you?

 

[IzzyCraft]

Not enough to make one of the more legit reasons not to do it, as we all know gpus are getting hotter and hotter thus the term "hot running gpu's". Such as games bias or pricing although pricing is like 10 dollar diff woop de f doo.

Really at that rez 4870 1 gig should do fine. But for not too much of a big diff in price now you can get a 4890 which is a we bit better and we all like better.

 

[geofelt]

1) I like a single card solution whenever possible.
2) You mostly get what you pay for in video cards. It is very competitive nvidia vs. ati. Don't sweat the minor differences, and get the best card you feel comfortable paying for.
3) Consider spending a bit to upgrade to 4gb. Here's why:
http://www.corsairmemory.com/_appnotes/AN804_Gaming_Performance_Analysis.pdf