Vista - 4870x2 or the 9800GT 1GB

Hi all, fairly new to the forum, and very new to Vista AND 64 bit.
The system in my sig came with an Nvidia 9800GT 1GB card, my first NV card, I've been partial to ATI and was seriously looking at the newer X2 cards, wanted to hear of any issues with these and Vista 64? I cant run crossfire, the MB doesnt support it, my PSU should hold up to it, its only a Q9550 quad so I'm not sure if I'd be bottlenecking the board with a card that might be faster then my board can take? Advice would be great, might ask for some help in tweaking a few things in Vista and the new card ( which ever I pick..) for performance. Oh and those who are running the 4870's....are ya cooling them? My XP box had a X1950 Pro that could fry an egg, so it was running 5 fans and a Zalman GPU cooler. Was wondering if the 4870's are being cooled or if the stocker's are working well enough.
Thanks all in advance!

Blaydrnnnr, I don't know anything about ATI, NVIDIA all the way here, but maybe this site can help you with your overclocking business, helped me anyway...:

Cyb3rGlitch Tutorials | How to Overclock CPUs and RAM

Amplid

Thanks Amplid, I'll check it out. Need all the help I can get!

I was looking at getting one of those too (4870x2).

Like most modern cards they supposidly run hot. I have read that they can run higher than 100c.

Your power supply looks like it would have the current on the 12v rails and the connectors to run it.

I wouldn't think many systems would be suitable for this card if your system would bottleneck it.

The only drawback to either choice is the delay time it takes for either ATI or Nvidia to get thier drivers optimized for all the applications. Time generally fixes that though.

A good place to get the bleeding edge view of the 4870x2 would be...

Rage3D

Yeah, that's what I thought when I started thinking about overclocking... Just print it down, read it first, then take it next to you and start...

(add to rep if you feel I helped..little scale beneath stewie)

Good luck (3.2GHz should work...),

Amplid

4870X2 no question, but you must have a good quality 650W plus PSU. By this I mean something like a Corsair 650W. Secondly the X2 will be miles faster than the 9800GT as the GT 2 years old technology.

Ignore the rubbish about the cards running hot, they start hot and never get too hot. By this I mean sure it idles @ 80C but it loads about 90C. It really is not much of an issue so long as you have good case cooling. Just make sure you have not got a load of dust in your system and a intake fan blowing over the GPU.

For reference I went from an 8800GTS 640mb to a 4870 512mb and it is night and day difference. If you need any help, then I am very knowledgeable on upgrading and running high end systems.

The following benchmarks were taken by AnandTech using the listed setup. So I would assume this answers your question about the 4870x2's compatibility with Vista x64.

1st off......wrong card comparison...you should look at the gtx280 or the 9800gx2.....even then the 4870x2 will outperform them....but for a much larger amount of coin.

Nice Amplid.. giving out my Overclocking tutorial I sent you.. helped out huh. lol Good.

Well. ya either a 9800 or a 4870x2. lol the OBVIOUS card is the x2. it's 3 times better.

You're question should be more like this.
What should I get, a GTX280, or 260. or a 4870, or 4870x2.
Personally ya a 4870x2 would be nice. but it's huge, sucks TONS of power, and is hot as well.. could cook eggs on it.

a 4870 is enough for most games for now. Unless you play ALL the new stuff. you would be fine with it. 4870x2 is more for the e-peen than anything.

I'd get a 4870. or a GTX260. as the GTX260 is just as good as the 4870, but uses about 30watts less.. over time that makes a difference.

the GTX280 is almost as bad as the 4870x2 as in heat and power. I had one for a few days and it was getting to 104C.. thats HOT!

I had the option for the 4870 or the GTX260 and I got the GTX260.

Personally I'd get the GTX260. as you have an SLI board. and Nvidia would be better option for adding things down the road. give you room for improvements.

also is that an HP computer. cuz HP limits just about EVERYTHING. you can't overclock the ram, or the CPU.. the BIOS is all locked. it's lame. they limit way way to much stuff. but they are decent computers. they just take away your right to mod things and enjoy them.
You're system is strong enough for anything you wanna do. I'd upgrade the GFX card and be happy there.

depending on your PSU & the size monitor you have ...
one of the 4800s will destroy the 9800GT =(8800GT with added 512mb of pointless ram)


all high end cards run hot!!... its just a battle to find the right cooling config within your case