What brand of ATI 4870 1GB is best????

[Pat22]

i am soon upgrading to a 4870 1GB(maybe 2GB) and i was wondering what brand is best.some poeple say visiontek, others say saphire or XFX. really need help with choosing a good brand and a good PS to.

 

[flyinfinni]

Don't get the 2GB version- it really doesn't give much, if any, improvement and costs WAAYY more than the 1GB. As far as which is a good brand, there won't be much difference between any of the good ones. Sapphire has a good reputation, XFX does as well. The only thing I know of that would really differentiate any of them in general is that XFX has a double lifetime warranty, which means you get a lifetime warranty, AND the person you sell/give it to later ALSO gets a lifetime warranty. Other than that, its really personal preference.

 

[capt_taco]

Well, Visiontek and XFX are the ones that come with a lifetime warranty, so that's what does it for me.

I don't know what you'd be doing with a 2GB graphics card unless you have a HUGE monitor and want to play everything at ultra-high settings. For most normal setups, 1GB is plenty, so something to keep in mind. There's a pretty good article about different levels of video card RAM here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-ram-4870,2428.html

 

[coozie7]

Do not bother with the 2Gb card, it's wasted money.
As for 'best' it depends on your country.
In the US/Canada XFX have the double lifetime warranty but BFG and EVGA also have lifetime warranties. These three would be my best choices with one condition from personal experience: Avoid XFX cards like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150436

The cooler is just hopeless: Noisy and hot.
As for powersupply, PC Power and Cooling, Antec, OCZ, Corsair, Seasonic and Silverstone are amongst the best.
Make sure whichever unit you purchase has two 6 pin PCI-E connectors ( required for the HD4870) and about 550-600Watts output, more might be nice but might be wasted money.

 

[flyinfinni]

Do not bother with the 2Gb card, it's wasted money.
As for 'best' it depends on your country.
In the US/Canada XFX have the double lifetime warranty but BFG and EVGA also have lifetime warranties.

BFG and EVGA do not make ATI cards, so they don't really matter here ;-)

 

[Noobster15]

The best AT 4870 card would definitely have to be the Vapor-X. (Sapphire)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102826&Tpk=ati%204870%20vapor-x

and for brand XFX and Sapphire all the way!

 

[EXT64]

4870s seem to be going up in price and down in stock. you may want to consider something like this as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102852&cm_re=4890-_-14-102-852-_-Product

 

[Noobster15]

Yea deffs agree with EXT64 here, thats a great deal.

+1

 

[Pat22]

i have a 1680x1050 monitor so i guess th 2GB would be slite overkill. the 1GB should be perfect for this sized monitor.anyways does the 4890 have the same connectors as the 4870s??

 

[flyinfinni]

4890 has everything a 4870 does, plus a higher clock on core and memory. Its basically an super- overclocked 4870 with a lightly improved core.

 

[capt_taco]

By the way, what are the rest of your system specs? If it's a new i7 machine, you may consider a 5xxx series card so you can get DirectX 11. Your system will last you longer without having to upgrade again.

If it's a Core 2 or quad core, a 4870 or 4890 is an excellent choice.

 

[Pat22]

Copied from enpowering Technology

Product Name
Aspire M5201
Operating System
Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium , Service Pack 2 (64xbit)
Chipset
ATI RS780+SB700
Processor
AMD Phenom(tm) 9650 Quad-Core Processor
System Memory
4096 MB
Hard Drive
WDC WD6400AAKS-22A7B0 ATA Device, 596.17 GB
CD/DVD Drive
PIONEER BD-ROM BDC-202 ATA Device
KPGB OHMNO1Y3ST SCSI CdRom Device
Video
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
ATI Radeon HD 3400 Series (256 MB)
Total Available Graphics Memory
1919 MB
Audio
ATI HDMI Audio
ATI HDMI Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
Network
Marvell Yukon 88E8071 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
D-Link WUA-2340 USB Adapter
UUID
00226803EF0720081018074903000000
Serial Number
PTSAZ0X02584106A922702
BIOS Version
R01-B2
BIOS Release Date
08/15/2008

 

[flyinfinni]

4870 or 4890- would be good for your system.

 

[tuesday0180]

I had one by XFX. Their customer service is good. Double lifetime warranty plus they answered my customer service emails within 24 hours.

Only thing is the XFX 4870 cooling sucks. It blows hot air back into your case.