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4870X2, what do I upgrade to?

T

thetruth

Gawd
Joined
Apr 30, 2009
Messages
563
First off, I have a heat issue now that summer is here. No a/c in my room. Not good. My card still does fine but the fan hits 100% at times now and that is too loud. I am afraid to mod this card dues to the issues with taking it's stock cooler off.

So what is a good sidegrade or upgrade gpu which has good cooling? I want to stay around $300 and play bf bc2 mostly. Although the game is pissing me off for technical reasons. PITA to play competitively.

I prefer a single card solution.
 
You don't need to upgrade. You need an air conditioner. Buy a window unit. Home Depot or Lowes should be running specials on them soon, if not already.
 
Sell the 4870x2 and buy a 5870. Pretty parallel graphical horsepower wise and a lot of money but you seem to have money burning in your pocket. There's no economic reason to upgrade.

Personally, I'd do nothing to the card if you're so weeby jeeby and re-up your case airflow management.

Downclock it over the summer if that doesn't work.

What monitor are you driving anyhow?
 
Krenum said:
You don't need to upgrade. You need an air conditioner. Buy a window unit. Home Depot or Lowes should be running specials on them soon, if not already.
Click to expand...

This
I had the same issue not knowing which way to go with 2 GTX 260's, so I got a case that cools a lot better instead. What kind of case do you have?
 
Sigh....Im only running a 9800GT and its hot as hell in my room. I live in Florida btw. haha.
 
I agree with the general consensus...go with a AC unit. Unless your crotch is burning with desire for DX11 your going to not really see a improvement speed wise. What makes you think that a new card is going to run cooler anyways?
 
I agree, you definately need to do something about the ambient temperatures. There isn't a whole lot you can do when it is only pulling in hot temperatures from the room. If you are unable to put an air conditioner in your room, then the other suggestion from an above poster is that you should definately underclock your card if possible.

If you live in a facility that doesn't allow you to stick a window unit in the window, you can also go with a portable air conditioner like this one

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...ang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC21733-Cat30994&topnav=

The disadvantage with these portable ones are that they tend to be a bit noisier since the entire unit is sitting in a room instead of a traditional setup where the ass end is out the window.
 
Down clock and down volt your card. It would buy you a few degree C. I use 275/300 and 0.9V, 0.89V for 2nd GPU.
 
+1 to water cooling

Who cares about the personal comfort that comes with AC. If we aren't sweaty smelly nerds, then who are we?

The only performance upgrade from the 4870x2 is to the 5970, but that won't help your heat issues...
 
A/c unit in the room is a no go. I simply do not have the power for it in that room. My pc, reciever, tv, xbox 360 pretty much max out the juice in the room. I can put a big mother in the room down the hall but yeah, that is in another room.

26" Asus, 1920x1200 native. I run low settings for competition though. Max fps and hit reg etc.

I guess I should try the accelero route then. I can and have modded cards in the past, just not one as tricky as the 4870x2.
 
Get a GTX480!....... IN4THELOL

Seriously though, either be a pussy and get an A/C or fork out for a Vapor-X 5870 which will give you on par/better performance, DX11, Eyfinity for the future and run a little cooler, especially idle.
 
thetruth said:
I guess I should try the accelero route then. I can and have modded cards in the past, just not one as tricky as the 4870x2.
Click to expand...

The accelero is a nice cooler but if your problem is high ambient temperatures, switching from a cooler that exhausts the heat outside of the case (stock cooler) to a cooler that exhausts it back into the case (accelero) isn't really going to do you any favors.
 
Actually, I think that a ghetto mod would do the trick here. I can't find a good guide as to how to remove the plastic shroud though. I recall reading that you can kill the card getting it off? I tried once before and could not get it off. I think I missed something but I am pretty sure I got all of the screws. Is it just stuck on the tight or what?
 
Get the window ac unit and an extension cord. Plug the ac in on a different circuit.
 
Sigh...I feel as sometimes pc gaming requires you to upgrade you home as well. As in....another ac unit haha.
 
Rossi~ said:
Get a GTX480!....... IN4THELOL

Seriously though, either be a pussy and get an A/C or fork out for a Vapor-X 5870 which will give you on par/better performance, DX11, Eyfinity for the future and run a little cooler, especially idle.
Click to expand...

He said he wnat to stay at 300$.

And any 300$ Vapor-X card would NOT be a upgrade, just an expesnsive side/downgrade.
 
If I can get the damn shroud off I can cool it. Going to try again this weekend. Otherwise, it is working fine, just the damn fan is literally shaking my desk at 100%. Insane.
 
If you can find a Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 4870x2 VGA Cooler in stock, get it. I can tell you from experience it works well. As soon as I can afford to get one I'm going to for my 4870x2. :)
 
Builderbobftw said:
Vapor-X card would NOT be a upgrade, just an expesnsive side/downgrade.
Click to expand...

Depends. General performance is pretty much level and the 5870 ahead in some games. 5870 supports DX11 goodness and eyefinity and the card is cooler.
I admit i missed the $300 tag, so that writes off the idea anyway. So i now suggest an aftermarket cooler. They're easier than you think to fit, jsut take your time, get some good fans on it and make sure the airflow in the case is good.
 
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