upgrade to 4850 or 4870?

Nuby1Canuby

Nuby1Canuby

Gawd
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Mar 4, 2008
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I'm trying to decide which to upgrade to. I'll be running my Q6600 at stock speeds while it is still under the 2 year warranty. I have no plans to upgrade my 22" LCD for the next few years which has a max resolution of 1680x1050. My power supply is a 485 watt Enermax EG495P-VE(18A on 12V1 and 2 to a max of 32A).
The games I'm currently playing online are: COD4, TF2, ETQW and FEAR.
 
The 4850 is plenty for that resolution and those games and will work fine with that psu. A 4870 would be overkill imo.
 
For sure 4850. Its a great card. Not that far behind a 4870 once you O/C the 4850.
 
For those games, and at that resolution, the 4850 is more than enough. The 4870 might be a little more future proof, but I think the usable life span of the cards will be about the same, because 4870 users typically have bigger monitors and play at higher resolutions. It's also possible that you'd see bigger gains with a 4870 than a 4850 if you upgrade/overclock your CPU later. If you can afford it, why not go for a 4870? Both are great cards though, you'd not be disappointed with the 4850.
 
Hmm it seems like your an FPS fan. If I were you I would stick to your 7900 until the next FEAR game, Project Origin, which comes out in October mainly because even though you are upgrading your cpu, for the games you are playing, your 7900 does fine. At the very least, wait until the 4870x2 comes out because the prices of the 4870 and 4850 might drop. However if you were to pick now, I highly suggest you go with the 4850 just like many others above suggested mainly because at the resolution you are playing, a 4850 does just fine and the $100 upgrade to a 4870 over a 4850 could be better spend on an aftermaket cooler on your cpu so you can overclock it =).

Seriously though, a 4870 will most likely be future proof, and its a terrific buy right now, but if you dont plan on playing on a resolution greater than what you are playing now, you won't be using the full potential of the 4870.
 
Strongly disagree with the majority here. The 4870 is worth the extra $100 or so dollars. It has a better heat sink and fan. As long as you learn how to change the fan speed manually in the ccc profile to 35%, your going to see low temps at idle and load.

Plus, it has gddr5 and essentially almost twice the bandwidth of the 4850...which can translate into huge gains even at lower resolutions when you use AA/AF. I think the 4870 is simply a better card bar none...I'd say twice as better than the 4850. I mean come on, the 4870 is keeping up with the gtx280 at times.
 
BigCactus said:
Strongly disagree with the majority here. The 4870 is worth the extra $100 or so dollars. It has a better heat sink and fan. As long as you learn how to change the fan speed manually in the ccc profile to 35%, your going to see low temps at idle and load.

Plus, it has gddr5 and essentially almost twice the bandwidth of the 4850...which can translate into huge gains even at lower resolutions when you use AA/AF. I think the 4870 is simply a better card bar none...I'd say twice as better than the 4850. I mean come on, the 4870 is keeping up with the gtx280 at times.
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You make a really good point, the 4870 is a powerful card indeed and competes very closely with the gtx260 and sometimes even the gtx280 but dont forget you can overclock the 4850 to very near 4870 speeds. I'm not saying that you cant overclock the 4870 pretty high as well, im saying that for the resolution he games at and his statement that he is going to keep his monitor for a few more years, overclocking a 4850 seems like the cheaper option. I you can have the 4850 for as low as $150 after MIR.

Plus that extra $100 he saves could be spent toward Crysis or UT3 or various other FPS. Or it could be spend on aftermarket cooling =).
 
Just buy the best you can afford. It's really that simple. That way you don't fret about the price because it was in you budget and you can enjoy your games!:D
 
heatlesssun said:
Just buy the best you can afford. It's really that simple. That way you don't fret about the price because it was in you budget and you can enjoy your games!:D
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Bingo, give or take a real deal, but this is always the best policy as it allows you to get the most enjoyment and life out of your purchase :).
 
I still think he is going to see a dramatic difference in overrall smoothness especially in cod4 with the 4870. But like you guys said, he will still get a great experience with the 4850 at that resolution as well. I still think the 4850 cooler is weak, and that he should probably get a accelero s1 rev. 2 for $25 at directron.com if he decides to go with the 4850.
 
i bet he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the 2 cards in cod4 at those resolutions. of course unless he was running fraps or something with a fps counter in game
other than that you only need 60fps anything beyond that is overkill
 
i don't understand why its better to go with a 4870 at 24" and 4850's at 1600x1200 resolution? i've been browsing toms and 3d guru and charts always seem to indicate that at larger resolutions the cards get closer to each other in performance. at 1600x1200 and below the gap between the two widen.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-4850-and-4870-review-force3d/8

i'm not saying you guys are wrong. i'm just trying to wrap my head around this stuff before i make a purchase of my own.

123Lanoix said:
other than that you only need 60fps anything beyond that is overkill
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if he was a "serious" gamer he'd want at least 125fps in Unreal engine games :p
 
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-4870,review-31046-19.html

4870 is 30% faster than the 4850 at 1600x1050 with AA and AF enabled, and 14% faster at 1600x1050 no AA or AF. The gap increases to 36% & 21% at 1920x1200.

Whether the 4870 is a "better card" depends on how much you're willing to spend.. The 4870 will give you a nice performance boost over a 4850, which it should do given its higher selling price. A 30% performance improvement means nothing if you're already getting 90 FPS, but if you're close to the 30 FPS mark, it might help (unless you're CPU limited).
 
4850 x 2 and its still cheaper then 1 4870. I will let you know I just ordered my 2 and hope to have them today someone.
 
4850 handles 1920x1200 fine

i play ut3 cod4 and tf2 all run great at max settings
the difference might be like 60fps w/ 4850 and the 4870 90 fps
but i doubt at those speeds you can tell the difference
 
I would get the 4870.The extra muscle will allow you to play future games with higher settings.
 
Thanks for the input. I forgot to mention I also have UT3 and MOHA. My main concern is my minimum FPS when I'm in a firefight. Right now I'm having to do some major uglifying on my 7900 to keep it above 40.
I would prefer the dual slot 4870 venting air outside of the case but I'm a bit concerned if my power supply could handle it. I think the 4850 is probably the best bang for the buck.
 
ATI "recommends" a 500W PSU for the 4870, but I think a 485W PSU is close enough. Make sure you distribute the components evenly on the two 12V lines, though..
 
I had decided to get the 4850, then NCIX went and put the VisionTek 4870 on sale for $250. I bought the 4870 and will pick it up in a few days. I like the lifetime warranty and the dual slot cooler, plus it comes with racedriver Grid. Thanks for all your help.
 
i have the 4870 with 22" and it's really doing good at this resolution with all the current games, but if u are buying a card u should be thinking about future games as well.
if u can afford it and a new PSU go with the 4870 specially that u're having a good CPU and memory.
at 22" the 4850 looks interresting in CF since the performance per $ in this case is very attactive but u're MOBO should support CF to consider that.
 
4850 is $150 at ncix. I don't know, both are good choices. 4870 completely destroys a 4850. That said, 4850 is the best bang for the buck. I went back to the 4850 this time around because the video market is a bit too insane and there seem to be huge price drops every two weeks. I'm going to wait it out with the 4850 for a few months, wait for things to settle down and see how nvidia responds after the 4870x2 comes out. Plus the only games I plan on playing is cod4 and grid...so it also boils down to what games you play. It also pays in the long run to stick it out with mid-range in the long run...but some people just can't wait. I usually can't wait myself but this time...I'm waiting for the storm to clear.
 
BigCactus said:
4850 is $150 at ncix. I don't know, both are good choices. 4870 completely destroys a 4850. That said, 4850 is the best bang for the buck. I went back to the 4850 this time around because the video market is a bit too insane and there seem to be huge price drops every two weeks. I'm going to wait it out with the 4850 for a few months, wait for things to settle down and see how nvidia responds after the 4870x2 comes out. Plus the only games I plan on playing is cod4 and grid...so it also boils down to what games you play. It also pays in the long run to stick it out with mid-range in the long run...but some people just can't wait. I usually can't wait myself but this time...I'm waiting for the storm to clear.
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show me a credible source where the 4870 'completely destroys' a 4850 pls.
 
I'd go with a 4870. You won't notice the difference too much right now, but in a year's time you'll thank yourself for spending the extra $100.
 
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