What happened to the Radeon 4870?

[vinegarjoe]

I built a system a year and a half ago with a Radeon 4870 512mb card in the hopes of eventually adding a second card and running crossfire. I noticed that Newegg now only sells 1 4870 and it's a 1gb HIS. What happened? I woulda thought that this GPU would still be around. Has it been discontinued or renamed? I can't really afford to buy a second card right now, but I don't want to get screwed out of not being able to finish my crossfire build. Any suggestions?

850w Antec PSU
DFI LP DK 38x-t2rb
e8400 cpu OC to 4.0ghz
HD 4870 512mb

 

[tekkitan]

I built a system a year and a half ago with a Radeon 4870 512mb card in the hopes of eventually adding a second card and running crossfire. I noticed that Newegg now only sells 1 4870 and it's a 1gb HIS. What happened? I woulda thought that this GPU would still be around. Has it been discontinued or renamed? I can't really afford to buy a second card right now, but I don't want to get screwed out of not being able to finish my crossfire build. Any suggestions?

850w Antec PSU
DFI LP DK 38x-t2rb
e8400 cpu OC to 4.0ghz
HD 4870 512mb

The new series is the 5800 series. If you are going to run Crossfire, it is best to save up enough for the cards to buy them at the same time or within a couple months of each other. Unfortunately technology moves fast and if you wait too long, hardware gets outdated fast. You may be able to find your card on the internet somewhere I am sure if you still want to go that route.

 

[jonpaul37]

they are still available but the the new 58xx series are begining to phase out the 48xx series cards thus raising the prices as well, so get one as soon as possible as prices will rise for the next year or so. Also, ATI is not like Nvidia, they do not re-brand older cards to newer ones.. yet...

 

[jay2tall]

The 4870 was replaced with the 5870. I was in the same boat as you about 3 months ago. I bought a 2nd 4870 on ebay and ran them in Crossfire. Had HORRIBLE heat issues, the time card would overheat. They also suck quite a bit of power. The 5870 had just come out so I ended up selling both cards and getting a 5870. BEST choice I made. That is what I usually do, sell my current card and get a better one. The 4890 is still around because ATI really doesn't have anything that performs and is priced between the 5770 and 5850.

To be honest, I would never crossfire or SLI unless you bought both cards at the same time or a few months apart because a models of cards usually don't last more than a year until their replacement arrives. The only other exception would be if you got the 2nd card for a REALLY good price.

 

[jay2tall]

The 4870 was not replaced with the 5870, lol.

It was replaced with the 5770.

The 4870 was replaced by the 5870 (just like the 3870 was replced by the 4870)
The 4770 was replaced by the 5770

Notice the model numbers are the same? Why would they replace it with a card that doesn't keep the same model number scheme and doesn't outperform it?

 

[renz496]

in terms of performance you can say that 5770 is a replacement to 4870. but if you're talking about 4870 replacement for the next series or successor it must be 5870

 

[jaguarskx]

The HD 4870 has been discontinued... Let's leave it at that...

If you can only find a HD 4870 1GB version, you can still use that in X-Fire with a 512MB version, but both cards will be limited to 512MB.

 

[jay2tall]

The HD 4870 has been discontinued... Let's leave it at that...

Because it was replaced by the 5780

If you can only find a HD 4870 1GB version, you can still use that in X-Fire with a 512MB version, but both cards will be limited to 512MB.

I've been down that road, it takes alot of cooling and airflow. I turned my PC into an easy bake oven for a few days.

 

[jaguarskx]

I've been down that road, it takes alot of cooling and airflow. I turned my PC into an easy bake oven for a few days.

Maybe because your case's ventilation wasn't very good. But at least you could make some brownies in PC while fragging enemies...

 

[jay2tall]

Maybe because your case's ventilation wasn't very good. But at least you could make some brownies in PC while fragging enemies...

Mmm Brownies. Oh! Muffins, I love muffins.

 

[jay2tall]

The 4870 was discontinued and replaced by the 5770. The 5770 is cheaper to produce and uses less power but it occupies the same price point and the same performance level. Hence the replacement.

Just like the 4770 replaced the 4830 and the 5750 replaced the 4770. Its how they stay a step ahead of nvidia by offering a card with similiar performance at a similiar price point that's more efficient and offers new features but is cheaper to manufacture.

Oh and I dont think the 4870 replaced the 3870 either.

The 4870 was discontinued when the next generation cards came out. The 4800 series was replaced by the 5800 series, hence the 5850 an 5870 replaced the 4850 and 4870.

The 4830 was introduced later on and then discontinued. It will be placed by the 5830, due out later this month.

The 4770 was a NEW card, with no previous generation from the 3xxx series, however it will be replaced by the 5770. The 5750 is a new addition.

Just like the 4670 is now being replaced by the 5670.

 

[jay2tall]

A card is replaced by a newer model that fits in the same price/performance range and is cheaper for ATI to produce.

A card that's more than twice as fast as a 4870 (5870) and twice the price should not be considered a replacement, but rather an upgrade.

The new generation card (58xx), replaces the last generation card (48xx). Why wouldn't they be better and faster, it's the next advancement in technology? If you have your mindset, where is the replacement for the ATI 9800? The 4870 was $300 when it first came out, as the 5870 will not be $400 in a years time.

The Nvidia model numbers are not so easy to figure out, as they got away from the 4 number sheme. If you go by 3 generations ago, the 7600GT was replaced by the 8600GT, as the 7800GT was replaced by the 8800GT. Granted there are all sorts of other models thrown in there that were never continues and that were not direct replacements. Teh 7950GT was never given a direct replacement, they consolidate models and such. They had a 7800,7900, and 7950GT card, but the 8800GT sorta replaced them all. Granted they later came out with a 9800GT, but it was just are die shrink of the 8800GT. That was a "replacement" as well, but not a next generation replacement.

We could argue about this all day. but the 4870 was NOT replaced by the 5770.