4870 from Sapphire or PowerColor?

[ligeti]

I'm currently building a budget PC, and have found that the card I was originally looking at (Sapphire) is available $25 cheaper in a combo with my processor of choice, however, the card is made by a different company (PowerColor). I'm not very familiar with ATI cards, I just know that 4870s are about the best cards in my price range. All I really want to know is would I be making a mistake buying the cheaper card over the Sapphire?

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

PC:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131140

 

[pauldh]

Newegg is great, but I'd head to ZZF for a 1GB 4870. Just came back in stock for $120 shipped (after $20 rebate)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010111

edit: To answer your question, I've had good luck with both Sapphire and Powercolor, so personally I'd go with the $25 cheaper model.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Well I just got the Sapphire HD4870 1GB and have always had good luck with Sapphier. I let the ATI Overdrive OC it and it went from 750 to 825 and 970 for the memory.

I did get a bit different one though. I got the one with the heatpipe cooling thats $150 and it runs pretty cool.

Either way the 4870 is a great buy.

 

[coozie7]

Check the Newegg reviews: I think Powercolors customer service is quite poor, importaint with a new piece of hardware.
If the case this build is going in is small, cramped or lacks good airflow, those two cards could easily cause heating issues because neither exhausts its heat out of the case and this would be a better choice:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125225

I know you're on a tight budget but I strongly advise looking into either a GTX260 or 1Gb HD4870; 512Mb is getting small for modern games and, even at 1280x1024 some games already benefit from the larger framebuffers these cards offer.