Should I Upgrade My 4890?

[Thermia]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within the next couple of weeks

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming/movies, mostly SC2, WoW, HoN, TF2, maybe some other more graphics intense ones if I would have the power for them

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Radeon 4890 / Corsair TX 750W

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: i7 920 @ 3.8 GHz, Gigabyte UD3R Mobo, 6GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM, case is a CM Storm Scout(e.g., make/model of CPU, MoBo, memory - this can help us determine whether or not a given card is compatible with and makes sense for your system. For high-end cards, knowing your case/cooling setup may also be helpful)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: none

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: I currently am running two 22 inch 1680x1050 monitors, but will be upgrading to either 3 for eyefinity, or changing one to a 28 inch @ 1080p

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Obviously I would need a new card if I were going to move up to 3 monitors for eyefinity, but what about if I was just running a 28 and 22 (I do sometimes run games on both of them at once).

 

[Maziar]

And how much do you want to spend ?

 

[Griffolion]

Try this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127554&cm_re=6970-_-14-127-554-_-Product

Will do eye-finity to two or three monitors nicely.

 

[photonboy]

Do NOT get that card if you can avoid it.

The GTX560Ti is $100 cheaper AND a better card. Here's the proof: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-12.html

You'll need to investigate multi-monitor setup further for card support.

**Unfortunately, NVidia does not easily support more than TWO monitors:
http://www.slizone.com/object/sli_multi_monitor.html#confoptions

If you absolutely need three monitors, I guess you need to go with AMD but make sure you get the best value. Check prices and compare to online benchmarks for relative performance.

I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT STAND GAMING ON MULTIPLE MONITORS, ESPECIALLY THREE OF THEM DUE TO THE BEZELS BEING IN THE WAY.

I have a 27" 2560x1440 U2711. It was expensive but overall I love it. I mainly hate the anti-glare coating which creates a dust-like appearance that you peer through (mainly only noticeable with white screens and you do get used to it.) The Apple 27" monitor has a better picture in a very dark room but it has a glossy screen which has lots of reflections if there's much light.

27" monitors which only have a resolution of 1920x1080 don't look good to me as I can see the spacing between pixels.

(If money's no option the 27" high-resolution monitor with 2x560Ti is what I'd get)

 

[zodiac321]

Do NOT get that card if you can avoid it.

The GTX560Ti is $100 cheaper AND a better card. Here's the proof: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-12.html

You'll need to investigate multi-monitor setup further for card support.

**Unfortunately, NVidia does not easily support more than TWO monitors:
http://www.slizone.com/object/sli_multi_monitor.html#confoptions

If you absolutely need three monitors, I guess you need to go with AMD but make sure you get the best value. Check prices and compare to online benchmarks for relative performance.

I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT STAND GAMING ON MULTIPLE MONITORS, ESPECIALLY THREE OF THEM DUE TO THE BEZELS BEING IN THE WAY.

I have a 27" 2560x1440 U2711. It was expensive but overall I love it. I mainly hate the anti-glare coating which creates a dust-like appearance that you peer through (mainly only noticeable with white screens and you do get used to it.) The Apple 27" monitor has a better picture in a very dark room but it has a glossy screen which has lots of reflections if there's much light.

27" monitors which only have a resolution of 1920x1080 don't look good to me as I can see the spacing between pixels.

(If money's no option the 27" high-resolution monitor with 2x560Ti is what I'd get)

The 6970 is in competition with the GTX 570, the 560ti is not better than the 69xx series, especially at high resolutions. If going with 3 monitors, AMD will destroy any NVidia card. With One moniter, and especially if its at a higher resolution than 1080p, the 6970 actually does better then the 570. BTW, the 560ti isn't listed in the charts that you showed. What is listed is the 570, which is a slightly better card than the 6970. BTW, here is the real proof: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-gf114,2845-5.html
The 6950 2GB is the best price/performance, and if you get a reference model, you can unlock it to a 6970. If you are scared of unlocking, just overclock it.

Bottom line: Get a 6950, overclock/flash and you won't be sorry. If not a 6950, 6970 is the way to go

 

[cronos177]

If I were to upgrade from a 4890, the least I'd get its a 6950 2gb version, or a nice GTX 570.

 

[Dominaz1]

Do NOT get that card if you can avoid it.

The GTX560Ti is $100 cheaper AND a better card. Here's the proof: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-12.html

You'll need to investigate multi-monitor setup further for card support.

**Unfortunately, NVidia does not easily support more than TWO monitors:
http://www.slizone.com/object/sli_multi_monitor.html#confoptions

If you absolutely need three monitors, I guess you need to go with AMD but make sure you get the best value. Check prices and compare to online benchmarks for relative performance.

I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT STAND GAMING ON MULTIPLE MONITORS, ESPECIALLY THREE OF THEM DUE TO THE BEZELS BEING IN THE WAY.

I have a 27" 2560x1440 U2711. It was expensive but overall I love it. I mainly hate the anti-glare coating which creates a dust-like appearance that you peer through (mainly only noticeable with white screens and you do get used to it.) The Apple 27" monitor has a better picture in a very dark room but it has a glossy screen which has lots of reflections if there's much light.

27" monitors which only have a resolution of 1920x1080 don't look good to me as I can see the spacing between pixels.

(If money's no option the 27" high-resolution monitor with 2x560Ti is what I'd get)

The 6970 is more powerful than the GTX 560 ti.

 

[Thermia]

Sorry, I didn't see a price thing anywhere in the template - I'm leaning toward the one large/one small monitor setup, as I don't think 3 would fit very comfortably on my desk and I don't want to get a new desk as well. I also could get a 1920x1200 monitor, as that seems to also be an option and would fit better with a lot of 16x10 setups that I already have on different games. From the limited amount of research I've done, I was planning on going with a 6950, and it seems like people are saying the 2GB model is better because you can unlock it to 6970 specs? Either way, that's probably about the upper limit of what I'd like to spend on that, and about 350 for the monitor.

 

[chriskrum]

If those are the games that you're playing there really isn't much reason to upgrade. A 4890 should do 60+ frames in most of those.

I'd get the monitors first. You can upgrade if it turns out that the card isn't sufficient.

 

[Thermia]

If those are the games that you're playing there really isn't much reason to upgrade. A 4890 should do 60+ frames in most of those.

I'd get the monitors first. You can upgrade if it turns out that the card isn't sufficient.

That's what I was planning on doing, although a good part of the reason why I don't play more graphics intense games is because I wouldn't have good fps on them, which would obviously change if I got a better card.

 

[chriskrum]

Well, with the exception of BFBC2 there really aren't any good games that need more than a 4890. Most of what is out there is a console port. All the COD games will be maxed by that card. Any game powered by Unreal or Source will be too.

Crysis 1 is meh. Crysis 2 is double meh. Metro felt like a shooter on rails.

Hoping that BF3 finally makes my own investment in graphics hardware worthwhile.

But that's just my opinion. I upgraded a while ago from a 4850 not sure I would have from a 4890 (I really needed more vram than the 512 on the old card).

 

[The Halo Don]

If I were to upgrade from a 4890, the least I'd get its a 6950 2gb version, or a nice GTX 570.