Crossfire: single 4870 1 gb or add crossfire with another 4870 512mb?

[kyleriedel]

OK, I just bought a 4870 1gb card, thinking I wanted to do crossfire with my old 4870 512mb card, but I heard it might drop my 4870 1gb down to 512mb, is this true? If so, what setup is going to give me the most benefit?

 

[kyleriedel]

Ah bummer, this is my fist comment here and I was really looking forward to your expertise, nothing?

 

[Rustyy117]

yeah you'd only get 512MB, but thats still enough for resolutions upto 1920 x 1080.

In hinesight you should have brought another 4870 512MB and saved a few £, but you can still crossfire a 4870 1GB with a 4870 512MB, you'd just get 512MB of video memory, but like I said it doesnt really matter unless your running high resolutions.

 

[Rustyy117]

You could also consider selling both of your cards and go for a HD5870 which wouldn't have any scaling issues, produce alot less heat, needs far less power and is DX11, But thats only really possible if you can get a good price for your 4870's or if you have some spare cash.
oh BTW a 5870 is roughly equal to crossfire 4870's

 

[deadlockedworld]

It sucks that you paid more for the 1gb card, but running with two 512 mb cards is still pretty sweet--I wouldnt worry about it too much unless you are running a few monitors.

 

[kyleriedel]

Thanks for the suggestions. I dont run any higher than 1920 x 1080, so I think I'm going to try it out and see what I get. I would love to have DX11 though... very tempting. My new card is still under the 30 return policy so I can easily opt for the 5870. Is the newer card worth the $$$ in your opinion?

 

[Rustyy117]

well you can get a full refund on your 4870 1GB and if you can get a decent price for your 4870 512MB then yes I think its worth it to get the 5870. Personally I would go for the 5870 as I've had crossfire 4870's and they didn't scale well in many games, but that was awhile ago now, maybe things have changed.

 

[FlorinR]

Are you asking if the fastest single video card is worth the money ?

 

[kyleriedel]

You've talked me into it! Im returning the 4870, selling the other and getting a 5870, thanks a ton! I'm so excited.

 

[Rustyy117]

:lol: your welcome

 

[deadlockedworld]

Yea.. that 30 day makes all the difference. Nice.

I dont run any higher than 1920 x 1080,

At this resolution you might be happy enough with a 5850, with the option to crossfire it in a year or so.

Tom's Best GPU for the money article calls the 5850 "Exceptional 1920x1200 performance, 2560x1600 in most titles." Obviously the 5870 would be a better card.. but its a whole $100 more.