new vid card?

thepizzaman · Apr 22, 2009

ok so i might be getting a new card this weeked......
i'm planning to get a HD4850.....
but in the event its not in stock which is better?
the HD3870 or the HD4670 IcQ edition (1gb version)?.....
thanks! :D

Everlong · Apr 22, 2009

You're the ATI fanboy around here, you should be able to answer your own question after you recommend ATI cards to everyone else

The graphic card classification thread has the 3870 above the 4670, and it's had quite a lot of input, so I guess it's something you can go by.

But I'm sure somewhere will have a 4850 in stock.

thepizzaman · Apr 22, 2009

haha i know i am............. but i was getting conflicting reports about the two i was looking at haha.......
and yea i'm hopin for the 4850 :D

Ratso · Apr 22, 2009

I was going to get the 4850 and then changed my mind at the last minute and ordered the 4870...glad I did! :party:

smarteyeball · Apr 22, 2009

If they don't have a 4850, hold out until they do. If you can afford it, grab a 4870. Get one with 1GB if you can - your high textures will thank you

thepizzaman · Apr 23, 2009

well if they don't have a 4850 i'll go ahead and get a 3870...... and later a second and do some crossfire :D sadly i don't have the money for a 4870.......

smarteyeball · Apr 23, 2009

Fingers crossed they have a 4850 for you

thepizzaman · Apr 23, 2009

hehe thanks :D i really hope they do

sygnus21 · Apr 23, 2009

Everlong18 said:
You're the ATI fanboy around here, you should be able to answer your own question after you recommend ATI cards to everyone else

LOL :D

But, yeah another vote for the 4850, head and shoulders above the other cards mentioned.

thepizzaman · Apr 23, 2009

:D well after this upgrade goes down tomorrow..... (hopefully :D ) next on the list is the Phenom II 940 or 955 :D with a crossfire mobo...... and then maybe a second 4850 :D

Jakeman97 · Apr 23, 2009

thepizzaman,
What will crossfire actually do for you? I have seen so many posts and machines lately with two video cards either 'crossfire' or 'SLI' and a whole host of problems ie. "just installed my second 4850 and I get no video", or "just installed my two 4870's and my machine won't boot" etc. etc. For the life of me I cannot see what two 4850's or 4870's will do for you that a single 4850 or 4870 can't. Please explain the advantage as I think I'm missing something. To be frank, I had two 4850's crossfired in this machine and saw no advantage, took one out and put it in my backup machine.
Thanks,
Jakeman97

sygnus21 · Apr 23, 2009

When crossfire/SLI works, it works rather well! I'd originally intended to go crossfire myself, but as you noted, driver issues continue to plague duel GPU setups.

I was in a position to purchase a new video card and wound up getting the newly released ATI Radeon HD 4890 1gig. Had I had the confidence the Crossfire issues were/are fixed, I'd of gotten another 4850 instead.

I just didn't want to be in a position of having two 4850's in a crossfire setup and not being able to fully utilize them.

The 4850 is a great card for the price to performance ratio, two would be great only if...

Just my two cents.

Jakeman97 · Apr 23, 2009

Hi sygnus21,
Right you are......drivers.....drivers.....drivers. Two cards just can't seem to play well together, sort of like two people that just don't get along. Separately they are just fine. I'll read the review you linked me to; but think I'll just use what I have 1 card in each machine. That's not to say others posters hook these things up (2 cards) and they run fine (or they claim they do). My hats off to thepizzaman, and anyone else who runs two cards with no issues. Especially cards with ATI chips & drivers.
my two cents.
Jakeman97

thepizzaman · Apr 23, 2009

very good research guys :D haha but by the time i get crossfire....... (if ever) all the bugs will be worked out haha :D it will be at least a year or more before i could might even be two or three so yea :D

smarteyeball · Apr 23, 2009

Jakeman97 said:
thepizzaman,
What will crossfire actually do for you? I have seen so many posts and machines lately with two video cards either 'crossfire' or 'SLI' and a whole host of problems ie. "just installed my second 4850 and I get no video", or "just installed my two 4870's and my machine won't boot" etc. etc. For the life of me I cannot see what two 4850's or 4870's will do for you that a single 4850 or 4870 can't. Please explain the advantage as I think I'm missing something. To be frank, I had two 4850's crossfired in this machine and saw no advantage, took one out and put it in my backup machine.
Thanks,
Jakeman97

On games that support dual cards, the difference is:

* Much Higher max FPS on some titles (I saw a 20-30FPS jump in STALKER: Clear Sky)

* Higher MIN FPS at higher details / resolution (GTA IV has an avg min of 30FPS compared to 20FPS)

* Can actually use x4AA and VYSNC

The key point here is the "games that support dual cards". Those that do, the difference is extremely noticeable. On games that don't there is no difference as you are still only using a single GPU.

It also depends on your mobo. If your 2nd PCI-e slot only runs at x4 instead of x16, or even x8 when crossfired, then performance will suffer.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones as I've had zero issues with crossfire. I was worried at first, especially since I'm using Vista x64 which had the most horror stories, but those worries were unfounded. I've even installed Vista and Seven with crossfire enabled

Jakeman97 · Apr 24, 2009

thepizzaman said:
very good research guys :D haha but by the time i get crossfire....... (if ever) all the bugs will be worked out haha :D it will be at least a year or more before i could might even be two or three so yea :D

Hi pizzaman,
Oh, I misunderstood you. thought you would be jumping on the band wagon immediately. Well, hahahaha by the time you get there (1-3 years) crossfire will be like the 486 chip of yesteryear, and people are going to say, "what are you fooling around with that old stuff for"? I'll bet there will be cards so big, powerful, and so utterly e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e, only one will be needed; or afforded may be a better word here. :D
Jakeman97

Jakeman97 · Apr 24, 2009

smarteyeball said:
Jakeman97 said:

thepizzaman,
What will crossfire actually do for you? I have seen so many posts and machines lately with two video cards either 'crossfire' or 'SLI' and a whole host of problems ie. "just installed my second 4850 and I get no video", or "just installed my two 4870's and my machine won't boot" etc. etc. For the life of me I cannot see what two 4850's or 4870's will do for you that a single 4850 or 4870 can't. Please explain the advantage as I think I'm missing something. To be frank, I had two 4850's crossfired in this machine and saw no advantage, took one out and put it in my backup machine.
Thanks,
Jakeman97

Click to expand...

On games that support dual cards, the difference is:

* Much Higher max FPS on some titles (I saw a 20-30FPS jump in STALKER: Clear Sky)

* Higher MIN FPS at higher details / resolution (GTA IV has an avg min of 30FPS compared to 20FPS)

* Can actually use x4AA and VYSNC

The key point here is the "games that support dual cards". Those that do, the difference is extremely noticeable. On games that don't there is no difference as you are still only using a single GPU.

It also depends on your mobo. If your 2nd PCI-e slot only runs at x4 instead of x16, or even x8 when crossfired, then performance will suffer.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones as I've had zero issues with crossfire. I was worried at first, especially since I'm using Vista x64 which had the most horror stories, but those worries were unfounded. I've even installed Vista and Seven with crossfire enabled

Hi smarteyeball,
Thanks so much for explanation, now I at least know what crossfire is used for. I definitely don't need it at this time. My board the ASUS M3A78-T is really not a good candidate for crossfire even though ASUS says it can because it has very confusing expansion slots.
There are two PCI slots, one PCIe 1x slot, and three physical PCIe 16x slots that have certain limitations.
The blue PCIe 16x slot is electrically 16x, however if you have more than one GPU plugged in, it drops to 8x
The white PCIe 16x slot is electrically 8x, and the black 16x slot is actually only 4x electrically.
Your board is probably better equipped to handle crossfire and thus no issues. If I ever find a need for crossfire I will do better research on the mobo first because it all starts there.
Thanks for the explanation,
Jakeman97

thepizzaman · Apr 24, 2009

Jakeman97 said:
thepizzaman said:

very good research guys :D haha but by the time i get crossfire....... (if ever) all the bugs will be worked out haha :D it will be at least a year or more before i could might even be two or three so yea :D

Click to expand...

Hi pizzaman,
Oh, I misunderstood you. thought you would be jumping on the band wagon immediately. Well, hahahaha by the time you get there (1-3 years) crossfire will be like the 486 chip of yesteryear, and people are going to say, "what are you fooling around with that old stuff for"? I'll bet there will be cards so big, powerful, and so utterly e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e, only one will be needed; or afforded may be a better word here. :D
Jakeman97

hehe very true..... right now there is one thing that could shoot this down......
ie parents haha

smarteyeball · Apr 24, 2009

Jakeman97 said:
Hi smarteyeball,
Thanks so much for explanation, now I at least know what crossfire is used for.

Your welcome mate. I had a quick look at your board and it looks like if you used the blue PCI-e and a white PCI-e, it would run at x8 which is what my board runs at in crossfire. From what I understand, the lower x8 bandwidth really only affects frame rates at much higher resolutions like 2560x1600. At 1920x1200 and below, it's only a few FPS lower than x16 if that.

thepizzaman said:
right now there is one thing that could shoot this down......
ie parents haha

Lol. Ask for a 295 gtx and then say "how about this 4850 then...

sygnus21 · Apr 24, 2009

smarteyeball said:
Lol. Ask for a 295 gtx and then say "how about this 4850 then...

Hmmm....I'll have to try that one on my wife or daughters....I want a 4870x2 for fathers day...too expensive? How about a 4890 than? Cool. (snickers as I get my crossfire setup

)

Wishful thinking :D

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