8800 GTX to a new 4xxx ATI model.

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Sky15

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How much of an improvment would it be to upgrade from a 8800 GTX to a 4850 or 4870 ATI card. I want another new card becasue I want to use my older 8800 GTX for my other rig. Also seeing how great the pices are now. Any bencmarks available
 
I'd consider the 4870.
I had two before I bought the 4870 X2 and the card is very capable. The price is low now as well. Low enough to make it a great choice over the GTX 260.

The advantage over the nvidia cards right now is wild AA levels.

Guru 3d and PC Perspective have benchmarks comparing the 4850,4870, and GTX cards.

Depends on your needs.
 
you will need to upgrade to at least a 4870 to see a noticeable/significant improvement
 
How much more power would 2 4870 over a 8800 GTX be. The price seems really good.
 
I was going to ask a similar question, but mine is from an 8800GTS, 640mb. There are rumors of a 1GB 4870 on the way, but I haven't seen one for sale. This means I am going to take a video memory hit if I go that route, is it worth it in the end? I know the 4870 is quite a bit faster, at the raw vertex/fragment processing level, but games are so texture memory strapped these days, going backwards in memory, seems to be a two steps back, one step forward sort of thing.
 
Well, that's a good way to put it I guess.

I could get a 4870 x2, but I am afraid my 700W PSU would vaporize under the strain. Has anyone heard more about the 1GB 4870's? I've seen it talked about several times in previews/reviews of the 4870, but no dice on actually seeing one.
 
Calefaction said:
I was going to ask a similar question, but mine is from an 8800GTS, 640mb. There are rumors of a 1GB 4870 on the way, but I haven't seen one for sale. This means I am going to take a video memory hit if I go that route, is it worth it in the end? I know the 4870 is quite a bit faster, at the raw vertex/fragment processing level, but games are so texture memory strapped these days, going backwards in memory, seems to be a two steps back, one step forward sort of thing.
Click to expand...
The 4870 has about 80% more memory bandwidth than the 8800GTS though. I don't think the extra 128MB of memory will make that much of a difference for awhile to come, and when it does, you'll need a new core just to be fast enough to take advantage of it.
Calefaction said:
Well, that's a good way to put it I guess.

I could get a 4870 x2, but I am afraid my 700W PSU would vaporize under the strain. Has anyone heard more about the 1GB 4870's? I've seen it talked about several times in previews/reviews of the 4870, but no dice on actually seeing one.
Click to expand...
A 700W PSU from any quality manufacturer is more than enough for a 4870X2.
 
The 4870 all by itself it very capable.
Mine OC'd as far as the CCC would let it.
The memory is wicked fast. It would eat the 8800 for breakfast and look for seconds.

I was very impressed and was coming from triple-SLi with 8800 GTXs.

Crossfire with two 4870s is very capable, but if you have only 1 PCI-e slot, then the X2 is your best bet. The drivers need work, but that's coming.
 
Calefaction said:
I was going to ask a similar question, but mine is from an 8800GTS, 640mb. There are rumors of a 1GB 4870 on the way, but I haven't seen one for sale. This means I am going to take a video memory hit if I go that route, is it worth it in the end? I know the 4870 is quite a bit faster, at the raw vertex/fragment processing level, but games are so texture memory strapped these days, going backwards in memory, seems to be a two steps back, one step forward sort of thing.
Click to expand...

Went from an 8800GTS640 to a 4870... My frame rate in Oblivion @ my chosen settings almost doubled (1650x1080, 4x AA, 16x AF, HQ everything + HQ texture mods). I was able to play Crysis fairly well with everything set to high, 2xaa. I get around 24fps for a normal min frame rate, around 31 for a normal average... Compared to the 7 minimum and 17fps average...

So, yeah. Amazing upgrade IMO.
 
Sky15 said:
Hell, if I would get two 4870's, I might as well get the 4870x2.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree, but right now, August 27,2008, there are some driver issues that are noted with the 4870 X2 that are not interfering with 4870 single cards in CrossfireX.

I have two X2s in Crossfire and I think they are excellent and will only get better with time.
However 2 4870s from VisionTek can be had for less than the price of one X2.
Check this out:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113
 
the 4870x2 was a huge improvement over my 8800 gtx. I can play crysis on very high compared to Medium/high
 
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