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ATI HD4850 v 2900PRO?

K

Kmical

Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Messages
797
Purchased a 2900PRO PCI-E card when they showed up on NewEgg for $159.

I've currently got it paired up with a Pentium Dual Core E2200 at 3.25GHz (running Windows XP). I watch DVD's, render some video, and play games like Company of Heroes and Medieval: Total War2. My monitor is a 22" WS at 1680x1050.

If I can get the 4850 for $170 and sell the 2900PRO for $100, making my net cost $70 ... would it be worth it to upgrade? Would I see any real performace increase? Would I be able to really crank up the AA without losing FPS?

One other option - "musical video cards". My secondary system is a E8400 at 3.8GHz with a 8800GT 512MB. Would it be worth it then to sell the 2900PRO, move the 8800GT to the slower E2200, and combine the 4850 with the E8400 system? Same OS on both, same uses.

As a note, I don't consider upgrades to be "work" - I find them a hobby with the occasional challenge thrown in. Whether or not it will take me 2 hours to uninstall/move/install is not a big issue for me ... just the resulting performance matters.
 
Depends on if you overclock the 2900 or not. At 775+ core speed you can consider it the same as a 3870 (actually a bit faster), just read the reviews and see how it compares to those. We have yet to see how the 4850s overclock though since CCC limits them, might wanna wait and factor that in.

Also depends on your monitor size / native res. If you like really high resolution and AA then the 4850 jumps up a lot in value.
 
Monitor is 22" 1680x1050 native resolution.

I've got the 2900PRO overclocked to near 2900XT levels currently.
 
Consider the fact that by looking from the reviews on the 4850, it looks like ATI did infact fix their AA issue, so that fact alone will better your gaming experience over the 2900pro.
 
Trimlock said:
Consider the fact that by looking from the reviews on the 4850, it looks like ATI did infact fix their AA issue, so that fact alone will better your gaming experience over the 2900pro.
Click to expand...

And how. AA performance of the 4850 (from my own tests) is incredible.
 
from my own experience, the 4850 is hands down better than the 2900 pro. So much, in fact, that I'm selling my 2900 pro. Unfortunately I'm going to take a big hit on depreciation but oh well.
 
I totally forgot that 2900pro existed lol. This card isn't even a year old is it?

but yeah, 4850 should be a very nice boost from a 2900Pro
 
ihira said:
I totally forgot that 2900pro existed lol. This card isn't even a year old is it?

but yeah, 4850 should be a very nice boost from a 2900Pro
Click to expand...

According to my NewEgg order history, I'm coming up on six months of ownership (1/4/08 purchase) ;)
 
Just curious, why is the secondary system better than the primary system?:confused:
Shouldn't the faster CPU + GPU (E8400 + 8800GT) be more favorable for gaming?
8800GT to 4850 would be an improvement but not a drastic one...a 4870 would be a nice boost fro a 8800GT.
 
ihira said:
Just curious, why is the secondary system better than the primary system?:confused:
Shouldn't the faster CPU + GPU (E8400 + 8800GT) be more favorable for gaming?
8800GT to 4850 would be an improvement but not a drastic one...a 4870 would be a nice boost fro a 8800GT.
Click to expand...

My primary system is much quieter - and also hooked to my printer and HD-DVD drive. The two share a monitor, KB, and mouse through a KVM switch. If I'm not gaming or doing a lot of video work, then I usually only turn on the E2200 system. For multiple multi-tasking, I fire up the vacuum cleaner (the E8400 system) as well ;)

My primary system was an Opteron 165-based unit at one time, and my secondary was an X2 3800+. I upgraded the Opteron to the E2200 first. A couple of weeks later, I upgraded the 3800+ to the E8400. I would have simply swapped CPU's (since each system now has the same motherboard), but my hands are still hurting from the damn Intel pushpins :)
 
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