Buying a 4870 right now a bad idea?

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keldegar

Limp Gawd
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Dec 11, 2006
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Looking to build a new machine, and dual boot Vista-64 and OS X.

With the new Mac pros supporting the 4870, it seems that card would be the best compatible "gaming" card for me. (Or 9800GTX+ also has full compatibility). However both of these cards are getting older now in the Windows world.

I can get the Sapphire 4870HD 512MB version on newegg for $164.99 and -$15 rebate, so $150. Would that be worth buying right now?
 
Just found another thread about the 4870 price cut to $150. I guess now is a great time to buy!!
 
I got mine about a week ago and it spanks my 8800GT, then again I only upgraded to throw the 8800GT in my sister's desktop. You won't be disappointed.
 
keldegar said:
Looking to build a new machine, and dual boot Vista-64 and OS X.

With the new Mac pros supporting the 4870, it seems that card would be the best compatible "gaming" card for me. (Or 9800GTX+ also has full compatibility). However both of these cards are getting older now in the Windows world.

I can get the Sapphire 4870HD 512MB version on newegg for $164.99 and -$15 rebate, so $150. Would that be worth buying right now?
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Great price... it's always a time to buy if you have the $$ ;)
 
So going with the 4870... which one is the quietest without any mods? Or-- is there a simple mod / cooler for the 4870 to make it quieter?
 
You can tweak the fan speed and raise it up from the default (10-15% or something dumb like that?) up to 25-30% before you start to hear it, depending on your sensitivity and your other case fans...

Personally I dislike that one HIS model because it just dumps the card's heat into the case instead of at 'least trying to push it out like the reference design. I think the MSI 4870 has a heatsink with heatpipes on it, dunno if it's any more effective than the stock one, but it's also one of the cheaper 1GB 4870's at $199 after MIR.
 
R790 are coming out within a month. But if you must get it, the 4870 is a great card for $150. Try to get the 1 gb version.
 
ganesh21 said:
R790 are coming out within a month. But if you must get it, the 4870 is a great card for $150. Try to get the 1 gb version.
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Well the new ATI cards won't be supported on the OS X side (I want to dual boot). Do you guys think the Sonata III's 500W PSU would support a Nehalem i7 920 plus this card?
 
Wow nice, there's like three different 4870 1GB cards on Newegg that are down to $190 as of today (that one, MSI, and another I think), and the XFX (lifetime warranty) has an ETA of the 9th also at the same price after MIR... They just keep dropping and dropping.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Now I just have to decide if I want to really spend $1000+ on a i7 machine >.< or go cheaper and stay dual core...
 
You can easily go i7 for just over $1,000, but you're definitely paying a premium for it over C2Q. $290 on the i7 920, $200 on mobo, $110 on DDR3, $85 on PSU, $190 on a 4870 1GB, $75 on HD, $100 for a sound card, that's like $1050. Maybe $1100 if you go for a bigger brand name mobo like an ASUS P6T, or $1000 flat if you opt for a 4870 512MB or re-use your sound card and/or HD.

Either way, you're paying a good $250 (or 25%) premium over a Q660/P45 system, granted for those prices you're probably getting away with 6GB of DDR3 over 4GB of DDR2 ($50), for whatever that's worth. Only you can answer whether the extra cost is worth it though.

If you're upgrading the system on your sig I don't see why you wouldn't go i7, if not i7 then just stay put (or upgrade the video card only) and wait for i5 in 4-5 months... But again, it really depends on your specific needs. If it's mostly for gaming and home stuff I'd just wait for i5. As for the 4870... 1680x1050 and below 512MB is fine, otherwise spring for the 1GB.
 
There is never a bad time to buy one of the best values in video cards. The 4870 is just that. Unless the 4890 was coming out tomorrow, you couldn't really go wrong and even then it would obviously be more expensive.
 
Why not stay your current build and pick up the graphic card.

The i5 is right around the corner.
 
Thanks everyone! Bad news though, financial forecast changed, looks like I'll have to wait another year before upgrading :(
 
I was planning to upgrade from my Q6600 to i7. But because of the bad economy, I have to postpone. It is really bad news to Intel i7 and Nvidia GTX285 and up.
 
maybe they should start a trade in program? turn in a working intel cpu and get $50 off the purchase of an i7?
 
Personally I could spring for the i7 for my next rig, I just can't justify the extra cost to myself... First, I do a decent amount of video encoding and such but it's all for entertainment, other than that games are the most stressing thing my system runs. The i7 will only help significantly with one of the two, and it'd cost me an extra $250+, while the total cost of my next C2Q-based rig would be just $750, so that's a good extra chunk.

Second, the temps I'm seeing seem kinda scary even if the i7's are supposed to run fine at those temps and they have no issues with it, etc. It's simply a lot more heat to add into my case (to the detriment of the other components) and into my room, and summers are already hot enough in Puerto Rico! I'd probably get a much better OC, relatively speaking, out of a C2Q than an i7.

Lastly, the mobos just cost too much, the standouts are all $300-400 and the pretty good models are barely any cheaper at $200-250... Sure, having CF+SLI is nice, but chances are I'll never take advantage of it. I think if Intel had already released i5 + more economical P55-based boards we'd be seeing an even bigger shift towards Nehalem, but I guess they know better than anyone how much and how long they can milk the early adopter. :p
 
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