4870 owners - what did you upgrade to? (kept your CPU)

T

TroyTalksNoMore

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I'm looking for first hand experiences to this question:

4870 owners - what did you upgrade to & was it worth it to you?

Please share any other relevant info...

PS - I have a Q9550 & I'm not going to upgrade my CPU - or anything else...
- if you added an i5 or something, I don't know if that will really help us decide.

Here's my game list... playing @ 1920x1080 on 47" TV
http://steamcommunity.com/id/videogameracing/games?tab=all

THANKS! :D
 
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upgraded to a 6950 2GB

Very happy with the upgrade

still using the same quad core AMD CPU in sig.

just the gpu change alone was well worth the price imo
 
A few years ago i was running a HD 4870 with an I7 920 CPU. I eventually did a side grade to a HD 5770 and then moved up to my current GTX 470.

I also switched from the i7/X58 platfrom and moved over to my current 1055T/990FX platform (getting ready for Bulldozer):)

And yes it was all worth it.
 
went form a 4870 to 6950 2g unlocked xf and i noticed a very very big jump in fps in most games. cpu is a amd x6 at 4.5. just got get a 6950 or a 6870 if you want to save a few $$ but any thing will be a big upgrade form a 4870

yes i think it was worth it
 
Thx guys... I did some searching and think I am probably going to order this 6870:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125357

I've been waiting for DIRT 3 to go on sale, but if I buy it now @ $50 - that makes the card $109!
- after mail in rebate...

For anyone considering this kind of move... here's a few graphs - 6870 vs 6950
http://www.hwcompare.com/6217/radeon-hd-6870-vs-radeon-hd-6950-2gb/
http://www.overclock.net/graphics-cards-general/943091-what-am-i-missing-here-6950-a.html
 
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I'm in the same boat as you TS :).
Luckily my 4870 is still hanging on (apart from making wierd sounds, but don't we all do that as we get older... ^^) and it can handle all my games. I hope the new graphics cards from AMD come out around BF3 though :/.

Anyway, I never found a review of the gigabyte OC6870. I'm very interested in the sound & heat levels. Would it be possible for you to PM me those for idle and load?

Good luck with the card! :)

/edit before anyone mentions, I already saw the SOC version here on Hardocp, I'm more interested in teh OC version ;).
 
My 4870x2 died so I just bought a 6970. I'd still have the x2 if it didn't die.
 
I replaced my 4870 with 2 Radeon 5850's. Have been good for me since 2009. If your looking for a modern equivalent, I'd say the 6970 is comparable.
 
Wish something would give on the info on the next card lineup cuz all the cool games are coming and I'm still rocking a 4870 as well. Just finished Deus Ex and thanks to FXAA it looked pretty nice all the way through, but I know Rage, BF3, Skyrim are all going to tax the shit out of it and I really wanna see some fancy DX11 wizardry. If nothing comes up by beginning of Oct I'll probably jump on the 6950 2GB.
 
I only had my 4870 briefly, it worked fine, but I was offered a 4870X2 for a very cheap price (£255 when at the time they retailed for £370), so I used that, and added a second in crossfire a few months later. Earlier this year I swapped the pair of 4870X2s for a pair of 6970s, and am happy with that decision.
 
I don't think there will be any new video cards until xmas at the earliest. Are there still any 6950's that can be unlocked out there?
 
Please share any other relevant info...

I assume you were all gaming on 24"+ LCD's or TV's & 1920x1080 or above?

Did your new cards allow you to boost AA & AF or just make games "feel" smoother?

I never ran AA & AF very high on my 4870 because I would get heat reboots.
- usually ran about 2x-4x with no problems & my games looked great...
- I would also turn shadows down one setting to boost my FPS sometimes

Games with "auto detect" would typically set themselves one level below max.
- like HIGH vs. MAX or MAX vs. ULTRA, etc.
 
An HD4870 won't heat-reboot until you go over 110°C, so something is rather wrong if you reach those sorts of levels. I never had any heat issues with my 4870, and the only issue I had with my 4870X2 was not cleaning the dust out after 2 years, once I did that it was fine again (if rather noisy).
Autodetect is completely variable by game, and does not always choose appropriate setings. As for whether games feel smoother or not, generally if fps goes up, the game feels smoother. Microstutter isn't too big an issue on single cards outside a few rare examples. So if you get a faster card than a 4870, games are either going to feel smoother, run with higher detail, or both. My experiences are at 2560x1600.
 
Went with a cheap 5870 when a deal finally came along. Very happy with this. Quite the upgrade from the 4870. Prices have gone up, so it no longer makes sense to get the 5870.
 
The HD5870 was a great upgrade from the HD4870 at the time, 80% raw performance increase, and 45% performance per watt increase. With newer cards out though, it doesn't make so much sense. HD6950s which offer a 70-90% performance increase depending on resolution (and 50-65% performance per watt) can be had for just over $200 after rebate, and HD6870s (60-70% and 60-70% per watt) for well under the $200 mark even before rebates.
 
4850->GTX460->GTX570 (the diff between the 570 and 4850 is nearly double if not more though). Also changed from a dual e8400 to q9550 and again bc2 frames sky rocketed.
 
I went from a 4870 to a GTX 460. Performance wise it wasn't much of an upgrade, if at all. I swapped because my 4870 was starting to have issues, was noisy, was hot and consumed a lot of power. I'm tossing up upgrading to a 6XXX card or just waiting for the next batch of cards given there isn't much I can't play maxed on my GTX460.
 
4870/1GB -> 6950/2GB. Also upgraded only because my 4870 was having issues.
 
rdz5008 said:
My 4870x2 died so I just bought a 6970. I'd still have the x2 if it didn't die.
Click to expand...

One of my 4870 X2's has just gone wonky at nearly 3 years and RMA'd,...tested and confirmed as 'Boot corruption'..which it did, with wonky text and a couple of vertical blue bars on boot up.

So I am waiting to see what I get in exchange.
I shall keep the current 4870 X2 as I have grown rather fond of it......:D
 
samuelmorris said:
An HD4870 won't heat-reboot...
Click to expand...

OK, maybe I said that wrong... because I was over-clocking & over-volting my CPU & GPU.
It was all good when it was new, but as time passed, I started getting reboots under stress.
I saw that my temps had increased, so I turned my clocks down, then my voltage, etc.
Eventually, I took it apart & cleaned house (pics are here).
I think I also have a weak PSU for the stress that I put on this PC...

For the record - I ordered a better PSU with the new 6870 - just to cover my ass...
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182188
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125357

PS - UPS tracking looks like delivery on WED!
- I plan to install the PSU first & see if I can make repeat reboots.
- I'll still install the 6870 on the weekend & move this 4870 to my bedroom / desk box
- the bedroom box 4850 might go to my kids or one of you local guys in Chicago...
 
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I'm waiting on some funds and in the next couple weeks I should be upgrading my 4870 to a factory OC'ed GTX 570. I expect quite the boost at 1680x1050. And no I won't go with the 560ti since the GTX 570 is the lowest 5x0 series card supported by adobe premiere's CUDA engine for video editing.
 
I went from a sapphire 4870 1GB to a sapphire 6970 which gave a huge fps increase in every game.
 
Well, so far, I have stuck with my XFX 4890 and 4870 1GB crossfire setup. Yes, I would save power if I upgraded but I am just not ready to do that. I have a Phenom II 945 running at 3.6GHz which does help it.

Also, if I can get it to run stably at 3.75GHz, I end up with 5 fps more in crysis in the minimum fps with everything on Very High. That said, you would be better of with a 6870 or 6950 since you are using just one card.
 
my 4870 still works... but after 2 gens of waiting.. i bought a 6970 this past summer and overclocked it a bit...

personally at this point i would still get a 6970 because im impatient and wouldn't be able to wait for the 7000s
 
I had a 4870, got a free 5750 so bought a second and and ran crossfire 5750s. Then I upgraded both to a pair of 6850s which is what I'm currently running. Both were pretty significant upgrades and well worth it. If I were upgrading today though, it would be to a 6950, especially since at 1920x1080, you can swing the 1gb version for ~$200.
 
I have a 4870 512mb version. When i upgraded my monitor from a 20" 1680x1050 to a 23" 1920x1080 previous games actually felt smoother on the higher res. I plan to upgrade my entire system once the 7k series card come out.
 
I am currently running an ATI 4890.. which is similar to a 4870. I game at 1920x1200. If I can't run at near max game settings it is time to upgrade!

Going to hold out for the 7xxx series. CPU increase will help. Going from stock speed on my E8500 to 4ghz overclock really helps out in the FPS for most games. In the process of upgrading to 2500k system, should get another jump.
 
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i went from 4870 to 5870 (and eyefinity) and have been more than happy with the upgrade..
 
went from 4870 to 5870.

still using 5870 at the moment. (and still satisfied with it)
 
I went from a 4870 to a 5850 and it was a huge increase for me, nearly doubled my frame rates. That was on a 28" 1920x1200 monitor with a [email protected]. Oh forgot to mention I also added a second 5850 and they scale very well together.



samuelmorris said:
waiwait, the rosewill is the better PSU you ordered?
<scared face>
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking....could have bought a nice Corsair for that price or less.
 
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4870 512MB to 6970 2GB, then I added another 6970 and 2 more monitors. Kept my overclocked i7-920 @ 3.8Ghz. Eyefinity at 5760x1200 is awesome :)
 
Q6600 overclocked to 3.2GHz, 8GB DDR2, SSD 128GB ATI 4870. Two 1920x1080p monitors.

I replaced my 4870 to a GTX 570. Improved all my games across the board by 30-50% fps increase. Handels Starcraft 2, Deux Ex, Dirt 2-3, and Civ 5 smoothly, this is just a rig with left over parts laying around.
 
i had a qx9650 and a 4870, upgraded to 5870 when my friend ditched one because he gave up on cf. the difference was pretty decent (fallout 3 just came out back then and moving from 4870 to 5870 was a pretty darn noticable change 1920*1200 res)

if you plan to play skyrim id say get a used 5870 or gtx 480. i wouldnt spend more than 160 on either of those cards though
 
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