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Cheap upgrade from 4890 x2?

M

MBizzSnizz

n00b
Joined
Jul 22, 2013
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Currently running 2x Radeon 4890HD 1GB cards in cross fire in my i7920 oc'ed @ 3.8ghz w/ 4gb and 750w PSU. I've been running this rig since 2010 and haven't had any problems running games at full speed. I don't really play much that really taxes my system @ 1680x1050 w/ high settings. Last thing I played was Borderlands 2 a few months ago and it played flawlessly.

I want to upgrade so I can stick one of the 4890's in another PC*. I can get a third 4890 for about $50-$60 on ebay, but I figured for a little more, I could just upgrade my main PC's vid card to just 1x card and sell one of the 4890's for $50 to subsidize the upgrade

Whats are some of the cheaper cards that would outperform 2x Radeon 4890's in crossfire mode? Is there anything in the $100-$150 range that would do better? Also, the heat and power drain from this rig is pretty substantial. My PC/study/gameroom runs a good 10 degrees F hotter than the rest of my house. A reduction in heat/power consumption coupled with a mild (10-15%) increase in performance at the above price would be worth it to me also.

(*Yes, it has to be a 4890 that goes into the other rig. No other card will do what I have planned for the other 'rig)
 
Buy a used 4870x2 for <$100 and run that in Triple-Crossfire with one of the 4890's in your rig, moving the 2nd 4890 to the other rig. a 4890 is fully compatible with a 4870x2 for Triple crossfire. Though that wouldn't help your heat or power consumption. I ran 2x 4870x2 in Quad Crossfire for years so I can relate. Actually, the reason I got a 2nd GTX680 is because a single GTX680 simply wasn't an upgrade coming from the Quad-CF setup.

The 2x 4870x2 cards are still going strong in a secondary computer I have setup for when friends come over, and I'm still impressed by the performance when I see them in action.
 
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GotNoRice said:
Buy a used 4870x2 for <$100 and run that in Triple-Crossfire with one of the 4890's in your rig, moving the 2nd 4890 to the other rig. a 4890 is fully compatible with a 4870x2 for Triple crossfire. Though that wouldn't help your heat or power consumption. I ran 2x 4870x2 in Quad Crossfire for years so I can relate. Actually, the reason I got a 2nd GTX680 is because a single GTX680 simply wasn't an upgrade coming from the Quad-CF setup.

The 2x 4870x2 cards are still going strong in a secondary computer I have setup for when friends come over, and I'm still impressed by the performance when I see them in action.
Click to expand...

I ran 2x295's and 2x4870x2's both and my upgrade to a single 680 was massive in BF3 minimum framerate.. What are you playing?
 
MBizzSnizz said:
This looks very promising - in my price range, allows me to sell 1x of the 4890's and sounds like lower temps.

Thanks!
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IF you are going to spend money out of pocket, then I would not buy a 1GB card..It makes no sense not to spend the small amount more for a 2GB card..1080P with AA will eat up 1GB in many, if not all newer titles..
 
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raghu78 said:
http://www.amazon.com/HIS-Mini-DiplayPort-Express-Graphics-H787Q2G2M/dp/B007HYIRES/
Click to expand...

I have one of these and while it is a good card, the fan does not push enough air. Even maxed out, the card still get's over 70C and the fan is super loud at 100%. It's been like this ever since I bought it last November, but It's hot summertime now so it really came time for me to do something.

The heatsink itself is decent, though. This is a situation I've encountered before, with turbine/blower style fan/heatsink setups. Decent heatsink, inadequate airflow from fan. For this 7870 I took the fan and shroud off, applied Arctic Silver Ceramique (It comes stock with the thick grey junk) then twist tied two 80mm fans on top of the heatsink. My sustained 100% GPU load temps (MSI Kombustor and/or AMD "Leo" tech demo) are 10C lower, average in game temps are at least 10C lower, and it makes about 1/3 the noise. and I just used some cheap fans that I have had in a box for probably 8 years. It also idles about 5C lower.
 
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