To upgrade or not to upgrade . . .

[raphael67]

Hi;

I built a great gaming rig a few years back. For the money I spent I would really like some insight as to anyone's thoughts (anyone fairly knowledgeable) regarding whether or not I need it. I know many will say just compare the specs but to be frank..I haven't seen any comparisons on a rig with two HD4870X2's. Since it was pretty cutting edge when built I just need to know if it will still rip on some of the newer games so that I can hold out another year or so before the new build. My setup follows...

ASUS P6T Deluxe (PCIe 2)
Intel I7 940 @2.93ghz
WD Velociraptors x2 in RAID 0
6GB Corsair 1600
A nice Coolermaster 900W PS (forgot model)
Monster CoolerMaster CPU heatsink (forgot model)
ATI HD 4870 X2 (X2) Four cards in Crossfire
CoolerMaster HAF tower
Windows Vista Home Premium (yea . . I know...)

Thanks for any help!

 

[noob924]

The 4870X2 is a great card but i think you should upgrade to something modern like a GTX 670 GTX 660 TI or the HD 7850

 

[noob924]

If you have no PCI-E 3.0 you can use your 2.0 slots the difference is just memory bandwidth

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Windows Vista Home Premium (yea . . I know...)

That would be my first upgrade.
4x4870s should still be very powerful, but yes, replacing them would lower your power bill and make your PSU last longer.

 

[noob924]

anyway 4 HD4870X2 is is gonna be great on games but its old and airflow with 4 gpu's crammed in a case is really going to be hot

 

[noob924]

That would be my first upgrade.
4x4870s should still be very powerful, but yes, replacing them would lower your power bill and make your PSU last longer.

i agree 4 cards uses a lot of POWER

 

[Someone Somewhere]

According to the GPU hierarchy chart the 4870x2 is similar in power to a 7850. Not sure what 2x7850 is simlilar to. Probably around 7970, so $400 for a sidegrade.

 

[swifty_morgan]

think your raptors are fast now ? toss in a cache drive and see what happens..... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171667

and let me not be the last to say dump the video cards. they may have been "great" 3 years ago but by today's standards ( and the use of DX11/tessellation ) they suck. Have money to spend ? throw in 670.

crap, gotta edit ///// cache drive.. W7 only. sorry, you lose. but I have a copy of Vista to sell you..... really cheap.

 

[noob924]

if you have $1000 to spend on get a GTX680 and 512GB SSD

 

[raphael67]

Got the 670 but ended up putting it in my other gamer since I tested out my dual 4870X2's and it has no issues with the latest FPS'. CoolerMaster V8 and HAF tower so no issues with heat. Funny that I was looking for the FTW version of the 670 and settled due to unavailability. Next day I'm there again for something else and they have one on the shelf (already fired up the vanilla too). Little bummed but at least happy times on the gaming front.

Yes . . . next major changes will be new OS' and a little SSD.

 

[FlintIronStagg]

The main reason I would upgrade from what you have is power draw and also dx11.... 2 cards to replace 4 would be my choice