ATI 4870: XFX vs SAPPHIRE

sanchz

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I can't decide which card to get:
Ati 4870:

XFX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150394&cm_re=ati_4870-_-14-150-394-_-Product

or
SAPPHIRE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102849&cm_re=ati_4870-_-14-102-849-_-Product

-Sapphire has more experience with ATI cards
-XFX has double lifetime warranty
-Sapphire supposedly has a cooler/quieter design, but exhausts half the heat into the case and the other half out of it
-XFX has the reference cooler: exhausts air out of the case but runs hotter/louder
-I tend to believe XFX's fan may get clogged with dust more easily...
-Both cards are priced $144.99

Anyone has some experience with these cards? Any comments? Suggestions on what to choose?
Please guide me on what to choose.
 

darkvine

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It really comes down to which you want, better customer service and warranty or better performance.

I would go with the Sapphire because it has one of the best no reference coolers made for ATi cards. I want performance, cooler for overclocking and the fact the card looks fairly nice is great. Once the Vapor-X 5870 comes out I will likely get it (unless they make an Atomic in which case there is no way I am missing that.)
 
G

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Sapphire card, I have it and it overclocks great, mind you mine has reference cooler, also the dvi-hdmi adapter they supply allows full 5.1 dolby sound passthrough, other adapters do not!
 
I would go with the XFX regardless, the OC that you get when you compare both cards is minimal... Another drawback is Sapphires weak warranty... there is a reason why they don't offer a lifetime warranty..... The XFX's dont run hot so the whole fiasco that Sapphire has a better cooling solution is BS... I have built systems with XFX's and Sapphires and the difference is about 3/5c max.... Both cards never reached 65c at load running PCmark06 (65% fan speed) .....
 


Another thing you have to take into consideration is the fact that you are comparing the NEW Sapphire 4870 vs. an old deativated XFX 4870.... XFX is about to release the REV.2 version of the card you posted so you can either go with the sapphire or wait till the new XFX 4870 is released.....
 
That XFX 4870 has a horrible cooling design... You might as well get the sapphire if you cannot wait..... The only issue I have with Sapphire is the warranty, some might tell you that they will last forever and some might tell you to stay away from purchasing that brand all together... I have seen them fail and once the 2 year warranty is over you end up having to buy a new GPU.....

Here is an example : Since I started building back in the 90's I have purchased EVGA, XFX and BFG cards ONLY.... The reason? Easy, I have had several cards die on me after 2/3/4/5+ years of heavy use... When you have a lifetime warranty and this happens, all you do is submit an RMA and you get a new GPU in the mail 2 weeks later (might take longer depending on manufacturer) .... On the other hand when you buy a GPU that has a 2 year warranty and it dies after the warranty expires you kinda feel that the money spent was a mistake and that the company is not taking care of their customers.... There is absolutely no excuse for Sapphire to sell GREAT GPUS's at such high prices and not have a decent warranty.....Of course this is my opinion and by no means I state that Sapphire is an inferior brand, their warranty just sucks and that is what makes their GPU's unacceptable......

 

darkvine

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The warrenty is 2 years and they are fairly good about it, but like Ovr said once that 2 years is over your screwed.

Don't worry to much about pumping it into the case, it runs so cool that it won't do much. Weather or not you are overclocking you should get the best cooling cooling possible in case you do or just so it doesn't heat up your case. And running cooler if you plan to play for long amounts of time could save your card in the long run.
 

sanchz

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Well, thank you all for your suggestions.
The XFX has a horrible cooler as OvrClkr said, and I agree; so I am leaning towards the SAPPHIRE.
I'm quite sure the 4870 is not going to receive a price cut, especially since the 5850 (cheapest ATI Evergreen GPU) will sell at $300. And the 4870 has gone down a LOT in price since January (like $100 less?).
As to the warranty, is there other ATI manufacturer with lifetime warranty?
Anyway I think that, if the warranty expires and the card goes bad in 2 year's time, I'll be happy to get a new one...
One last thing, since I live out of the US and a friend of mine will be getting the card for me, I'll have to buy it by the first week of October. Will "rumoured" price cuts be applied by that time?
And how do you RMA (under warranty) with newegg? Do you ship the GPU to them or to the manufacturer? Do you have to pay for the shipment?
 

soundefx

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Visiontek also has a lifetime warrenty. I bought a 3870 and I am waiting for it to DIE....

I think that you are right about the xfx cooler, but if your case has good air flow, you wouldn't have anything to worry about. Cards putting heat back into the case only causes problems to people who dont' have a good air flow in the first place.

If I were in your shoes, I would get the xfx 4870 so that I wouldn't have anything to worry about.. forever.....



 
Well that makes it even worse (if you ever have to RMA the card) but, if you play your cards right and make sure you take care of your hardware then you should be fine. I suggested a card that might not be as powerful as a vapor-x but does have a flawless warranty. So you decide what will work better for you in the long run...

As far as the rumored price "cuts", it will happen eventually, of course not anytime soon.... Look at AMD's x4 965, it is still priced at 245.00$ and many are ditching AMD for the new i5 750.

Neweggs warranty is 30 days from the date of the purchase. After that you deal with the manufacturer.....With XFX , BFG and EVGA you do not pay shipping, or shall I say I have not paid any shipment fees other than when I traded in my GTS 250 for a GTX 260. All 3 companies sent me a UPS or Fed-Ex label to cover the shipping charges. Not that I have had to RMA a whole lot but in about 14 years I have had 3 cards go bad out of 10.
 


I bought a 3870 and I am waiting for it to DIE....

LoL ......

I had the same issue a while back, and it never DIED.... (8800GTS), ended up selling it to a neighbor that still has it and it is running strong...... ;)

Kudos for the Visontek info, totally forgot about them...That is sweet news to the OP :)

VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113&cm_re=visiontek-_-14-129-113-_-Product

eggcellent reviews [:jaydeejohn:5]
 

sanchz

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I'll have to make up my mind on either the XFX; Sapphire or Visiontek:
-XFX: Good warranty, underpowered cooler...
-Sapphire: Good cooler, 'mediocre' warranty.
-Visiontek: Good warranty, good cooler, but only 512MB...

If only Visiontek had the 1GB version at a cheap price!!!

Well, I'm actually balancing the Visiontek vs the Sapphire. My apologies for bothering you with my 'dilemma'.
The 2 year warranty of the Sapphire just doesn't bother me a lot.... and on the other hand I think the 512MB Visiontek will handle my resolution just fine...

Final suggestions?
 

darkvine

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the 512MB should do for your res but with the price difference so small pick up the 1GB. Besides you might over up in res later on and this way you will have it.

Though I would put out that at that res you should be able to max out almost all games on a 4850. But again if you move up later on the 4890 now would be a good move I guess.

Then there is the 4850x2 which is about the same price as that Vapor-X. But that card runs hot and loud, though it would beat the living crap out of the 4890. But again that is overkill unless you plan to move up in screeen size.
 

sanchz

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Well; I'll just pick the 4870 over the 4850; and the 1GB over the 512MB; so that it is overkill, even if my Athlon X2 bottlenecks it, hoping it'll be fine for the following year and planning on a CPU upgrade. My monitor is new so I'll stay at this res for a loong time.
Anyone knows when the first DX 11 game will hit the market?
 

sanchz

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I'm with an Athlon X2 5200+ 2.7GHz (cannot overclock; overheats terribly).
And an Asus M3A which did not receive support for 45nm CPUs.
I might upgrade both next year.

PS: The Sapphire 4870 has gone up $10!!!!!! :S
 

sanchz

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Well, it seems like more budget-oriented ATI 5770 cards are comming in October. I'll wait.
As to the CPU, where I live, $1 dollar = $3.9 local currency; yet $1 dollar i the US has the same value as $1 local currency in my country. This means that any hardware I buy is almost 4x as expensive to me than to US citizens.
I'll aim at an i5 or at a Phenom II (if they lower prices).
The CPU is Ok, just no possibility to overclock.