4870 or 4870x2 ?

B

Brusher

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 5, 2005
Messages
82
I'm getting ready to upgrade from a GeForce-8800 GTX-ACS editon.Think I'm going to go with the ATI 4870 this time. But while checking out the pricing I found the 4870x2. I don't mind the extra bucks but is it really worth it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103067

x2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103066

This would've been a no brainer had it not been for one of the feedbacks left from a buyer.

He said x2 was a great card but that games do not utilize the extra proccesor anyway so it is only playing on one proccesor . So why spend the extra bucks for x2 prossecors when the games only use one of them?

I have no clue if this is true or not and could use some input. Like why would they make a bad a$$ gaming card with 2 proccesors if the games only use one of them?

Also, all feedbacks say they both run super hot so I could use some suggestions on cooling systems for either card. Never used one before other than what came on the card.

Also, I'm not totally against NVIDIA. It's just that the numbers say that the 4870 is the best for the bucks right now.

Thanks for any input, or ideas on anything else I may need to take into consideration.
 
It really depends what resolution your playing at. I have a 512MB 4870 and I'm upgrading to a 22" monitor soon so that should do me just fine. Although, once 4870 prices drop below the $200 mark next year I'm gonna buy a 1GB 4870 and run both in CrossFire.
 
I like my 4870, but I am going to upgrade soon as the 512mb will not push my 24" with the aa levels I want. My advice is to go with the 1gb at least.
 
One thing I forgot to mention. I'm currently running at1080x1920 on a 32" monitor. I will be using the same monitor.

Thanks for the info and the link. It appears that a large majority of the most popular games do support the x2.

I found this from that site as well:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/4870-x2-amd,1992-5.html

Didn't see any mention about overheating problems either.

Any compatability issues?
 
The main issue with the X2 is more on the software side of things. Games will work with it but not as well as they could. This is probably due to less time being put into optimizing for a card which so few people have as compared to the more popular single card setups.

I would go with a 4870 1gb or 260 gtx 216 right now. There is very little improvement in games b/w the X2 and 280gtx in games like crysis even though there should be.

Get the 4870 1gb or the 216 260 or 280. Atm there is no real use of the 4870x2s total power or at least not enough to be worth the hassle unless you just want one.
 
I RMA'd my Visiontek 4870x2 last week when it started making some squealing sounds; probably just a bad fan. Instead of getting another one, I opted for a Diamond 4870 w/1GB. I ended up saving about $250 which I'm going to spend on a new PC case. The 4870 plays every current game <insert Crysis disclaimer> at high to max settings on my Dell 2407. I expect to be able to play the upcoming new games well, too. I'll look into another 4870x2 (or its successor) when I upgrade to a 30" LCD, next year.
 
Brusher said:
One thing I forgot to mention. I'm currently running at1080x1920 on a 32" monitor. I will be using the same monitor.

Thanks for the info and the link. It appears that a large majority of the most popular games do support the x2.

I found this from that site as well:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/4870-x2-amd,1992-5.html

Didn't see any mention about overheating problems either.

Any compatability issues?
Click to expand...
Depends on what games you play, a 4870 should be good enough.
 
elito said:
a single 4870 should be handling anything you throw at it...
Click to expand...

Definitely. Unless you plan to be running Crysis at max settings, the 4870 should handle 99.9% of what's out there. Currently, the 4870x2 seems like overkill.
 
4870 is not much from 8800GTX, so I say 4870x2 for maximum improvement. New games are coming out, we will start to see 4870 age at high settings.
 
Brusher said:
I'm getting ready to upgrade from a GeForce-8800 GTX-ACS editon.Think I'm going to go with the ATI 4870 this time. But while checking out the pricing I found the 4870x2. I don't mind the extra bucks but is it really worth it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103067

x2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103066

This would've been a no brainer had it not been for one of the feedbacks left from a buyer.

He said x2 was a great card but that games do not utilize the extra proccesor anyway so it is only playing on one proccesor . So why spend the extra bucks for x2 prossecors when the games only use one of them?

I have no clue if this is true or not and could use some input. Like why would they make a bad a$$ gaming card with 2 proccesors if the games only use one of them?

Also, all feedbacks say they both run super hot so I could use some suggestions on cooling systems for either card. Never used one before other than what came on the card.

Also, I'm not totally against NVIDIA. It's just that the numbers say that the 4870 is the best for the bucks right now.

Thanks for any input, or ideas on anything else I may need to take into consideration.
Click to expand...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4037097&Sku=D10-4876 its 50 dollars less then new egg after rebate. and yes it would be worth it to me as given your low resolution to screen size you will be able to crank up the AA and use CFAA better. But that is me, you could run 85% of the games just fine with a 4870 1gb. And most of the games will make good use of the dual GPU solution.
 
Thanks for the reply and link. I'm all but convinced to go ahead and get the 4870x2. Guess I'll find out if it has any compatability issues myself. That's the best price I've seen yet. Ebay is offering a cross the board 10% discount on any purchase right now so I'm going to check that out too.
 
Brusher said:
Thanks for the reply and link. I'm all but convinced to go ahead and get the 4870x2. Guess I'll find out if it has any compatability issues myself. That's the best price I've seen yet. Ebay is offering a cross the board 10% discount on any purchase right now so I'm going to check that out too.
Click to expand...

If you have the 10% coupon, combine with MS Live Cashback of 30% for this card:

http://cgi.ebay.com/POWERCOLOR-AX4870X2-HD-4870-X2-2GBD5-H-2GB-512bit-DDR5_W0QQitemZ220297157273QQihZ012QQcategoryZ3761QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

$520 - $156 (Live Cashback) - $52 (Coupon) - $20 MIR + $13 Shiping = $305 (+Tax if in California)

eBay store front is for MWave so should get an invoice for the MIR and full warranty coverage. Hard to beat that :)
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
The only downside to the X2 is some games won't come out of the box supporting dual GPU's, this used to be very common, but not so much anymore since the dual GPU market has essentially sky rocketed.

The problem is getting games and drivers to support quad crossfire, if you wanted to get a second X2 for 4x GPU goodness, you'll find yourself very dissapointed :(.

I have to say though I'm loving my 2x 4870's, running the same resolution you are with 8x tent up most of the time (you have to see some of these games running 8x tent .. wow)
 
Lomic said:
If you have the 10% coupon, combine with MS Live Cashback of 30% for this card:

http://cgi.ebay.com/POWERCOLOR-AX48...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

$520 - $156 (Live Cashback) - $52 (Coupon) - $20 MIR + $13 Shiping = $305 (+Tax if in California)

eBay store front is for MWave so should get an invoice for the MIR and full warranty coverage. Hard to beat that :)
Click to expand...
Damn! That's an amazing deal!!

<< slowly reaches for MasterCard... not exactly fighting the urge to get in on this deal... >>
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks Lomic. Wow that's a great deal! Never heard of that brand name but I guess it's just the GPU that counts. I may have to try to order that tonight. Hopefully I can get it just in time for FarCry 2. :)

Trimlock, that's what I want, full 8x AA. I'm runnng at x2 AA with Stalker CS so I can't wait to see what 8x looks like. :)
 
Wait a minute. I've never heard of live cashback.

Nevermind, I found it.

Thanks again. :)
 
My wife got one of those 10% coupons, so she ordered this for me. Anyone know where to find the rebate form?

I just got the 3008WFP a week ago (before the 10% coupon arrived), and I can't wait to pair up my two new toys!

This 30% eBay deal is just incredible. We're normally quite thrifty, but we've been buying things left and right. Our new purchasing chant, best performed while rolling your eyes and clicking 'Buy it now', is "The more you buy, the more you save!"
 
My 10% discount code/coupon came via e-mail with a code to type in when I use it.
 
Get a 4870x2, future proof your machine. A 4870 isn't going to last too long with these new games coming out that requires more GPU power.
 
Lomic said:
$520 - $156 (Live Cashback) - $52 (Coupon) - $20 MIR + $13 Shiping = $305 (+Tax if in California)

eBay store front is for MWave so should get an invoice for the MIR and full warranty coverage. Hard to beat that :)
Click to expand...

That's exactly how I got mine. Mwave is great with this promotion, and they aren't jacking up their prices to compensate. I sold my 8800 GTX for $160 (on ebay) and so in the end I paid $145 out of pocket to upgrade from an 8800 GTX to a 4870x2.

I am still amazed by it all. Its one of the best deals I have ever been part of. The downside is I am constantly looking for more things to buy lol.
 
John Vuong said:
Get a 4870x2, future proof your machine. A 4870 isn't going to last too long with these new games coming out that requires more GPU power.
Click to expand...

Not quite possible to "future proof" a PC nowadays considering how quickly technology moves. As soon as he gets the 4870x2, 2 or 3 months later a new card will come out. Future proofing is mindless, especially if the 4870x2 isn't something that he needs at all.
 
I'd say get a gtx260, the extra vram could prove useful over the 4870 512mb. If you get a 4870,
get the 1GB version. Don't try to future proof....just turn some of the in game settings down as
your card gets older. It's not like there are a bunch of great games coming to the PC any way.
 
I'd say it depends on the games you plan to play as well as the resolution you plan to play them at. The 4870 is fine for most things, drop a thermalright on it and OC a bit heheh. for resolutions 1920 and higher go for the X2.
 
Yah, you can always turn the resolution down on your monitor as well. My native resolution is 1920x1200. Dropping the resolution to 1680x1050 doesn't look bad at all in games on my monitor, and yet the performance increase is huge. So when newer games come out and my graphics cards can't handle all the settings, turning the resolution down is a good option.
 
Thanks for all the good advise.

However, no offense, but turning game settings down is not an option. haha Not for me anyway. If I have to then I have to, but only as a last resort. That is the reason for the upgrade. I want to be able to enjoy all games to their fullest potential if at all possible. But I know that this won't always be possible as game creators are continuously pushing the edge of the envelope so to speak.

As far as future proofing. I know that is a hard thing to do with any certainty but, based on what's out there, would you say that the 4870x2 is the closest thing to it? Especially if games start becoming more compatable with, and utilizing dual core, and/or crossfire technology to it's fullest potential?

Just to name a few potentially great pc games I'm looking forward to in the near future.

FarCry 2:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/farcry2/index.html?tag=similargames;img;4

Fallout 3:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/fallout3/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames;img;3

COD: World At War:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/callofduty5/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames;img;1

Legendary:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/legendarythebox/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames;img;1

Dead Space:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/deadspace/news.html?sid=6199628

Cryostasis:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/cryostasissleepofreason/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames;img;2
 
Imperfectlink, yeah I'm looking into OCing. :) I found out on the ATI forum I can get a lot more out of my system (cpu,ram) so I think I'm going to see if I can crank it up a bit. :)
 
Just thought you all might want an update. I went ahead and purchased the Powercolor 4870x2 that Lomic suggested.

I got a great deal on it just as he said using Live Cashback(($156.00), the Ebay coupon
(10%-$52.00) and the $20.00, mail in cash rebate. That's an amazing deal! I ended up getting it for $291.00 before shipping and taxes. WOW!.

I have it installed now, with the new Vista64 hotfix 8-10 installed. I have FarCry 2 running in 1920x1080 resolution, maxed out on every setting including full 8X AA and it doesn't studder a bit. Didn't check the FPS yet but it's running very smoothly.

Thanks for all the tips and help. :)
 
how do you get Live cashback to work with the ebay auction? I can't seem to get ebay to show up under the store listing on the cashback page.
 
zrike, I don't think it has a listing of stores. You just use it like any search engine. Type in the product you're looking for and look for the links with the Live Cashback emblem beside it.

You can't use it for an item you bid on in an auction. At ebay you can only use it with the "Buy it Now" tab.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top