Looking to revive my 939 setup. Can I power a 4870?

J

johnnq

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The 4870's have been coming down to the 120 price mark which is quite nice. My computer is in my sig.

I was wondering if my 430 psu would be enough to power the 4870.

1. The 4870 requires 2 6 pin power plugs. My psu has 1, but I think i remember being able to combine plugs to make a second 6 pin? (Does anybody have information on the seasonic s12 430?)

2. Are the fans typically loud? I couldn't stand the fan on my 7800gt, but they were known for being very loud. I don't mind a little noise, as long as I don't' have to dump another 30 bucks on this 4 year old computer.

3. With my cpu at 2.5 ghz and a 4870, would crysis run smoothly on med-high settings at 1680x1050?


Thanks for the help.
 
#1 not sure
#2 yes they can get loud
#3 wouldn't count on it
 
#1 Not sure if that PSU would be enough, but there are adapters that can convert two molex connectors into one 6-pin connector.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rder=BESTMATCH&Description=molex+6pin&x=0&y=0

#2 I have a 4850 with the stock cooler and it gets pretty loud above 60% fan speed. If it's folding it usually runs about 80C with the fan at 60%.

#3 I've tried the Crysis demo on my 2.4GHz Opty and 4850. It runs fairly well on medium settings at 1280x960, if I recall.
 
the stock fans tend to run loud imo. the fan speed should be adjustable using Catalyst so you can set it to run at a lower speed when demand is lower. My HD4890 idles at around 35% and I can't hear it.

you'll see some definite improvement over the 7800gt, but your cpu will become a big bottleneck.
 
Yeah, I upgraded from a 7800GT to a 4850. It was a really big upgrade. If you're not folding the fan speed can probably be set below 50%, it's pretty quiet at the lower speeds.
 
Is fan speed that loud?
Im thinking about getting 4850 and alot of complain about fan noise.
which one is quieter
slot cool or regular heatsink
 
I would replace the PSU. As PSU ages, their ability to deliver power decreases slightly. They also become less efficient with age.

If you do not want to replace your PSU, then I suggest buying a HD 4770 instead which uses about 55w of power compared to 130w of the HD 4870. But it's performance is about 6% less than the HD 4870 on average.
 
JaguarSKX said:
I would replace the PSU. As PSU ages, their ability to deliver power decreases slightly. They also become less efficient with age.

If you do not want to replace your PSU, then I suggest buying a HD 4770 instead which uses about 55w of power compared to 130w of the HD 4870. But it's performance is about 6% less than the HD 4870 on average.
Click to expand...

+1

The 4770 is a remarkably efficient card, and your processor is going to be the bottleneck with either the 4770 or the 4870, although I personally think the performance margin would be greater than 6%. I would count on the 4770 being a little quieter as well, since it uses less power.

EDIT: Okay, 4770 if you can GET it. There's only one available at Newegg and it's sold out. Now that I think about it, availability is a serious issue with these cards. You can also consider the 4830 which should offer comparable performance to the 4770 at a similar price, but it's probably loud as hell. It still only uses a single 6 pin power connector, though.
 
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If you get a new card you will definitely see a difference, but your processor is going to bottleneck the card.
 
I think that you are very CPU limited. You would get the same performance out of a 8800gt due to your CPU.
 
HD 4770 is a good choice for gaming, less good for benchies. it will bottleneck his cpu. i ran one with a passive Antec 500w. A Seasonic 430 should be gtg. i'd try it.
 
A 9600GT is a very good low power card... Not problem at all with your PS. Still a huge step up from the 7800. They usually OC pretty decently too.
 
What about an XFX 4850? I purchased one from zipzoomfly when they were $55 AR and it's extremely quiet and cool. My clocks are 750/1000 and temps never get past 52c playing games.

On that note, even the 4850 will be bottlenecked by the Opteron. I had an 8800GTS 640 which I ran behind an Opteron 165 @ 2.7 and purchased an Asus 4850 thinking it would be a noticeable upgrade. In a sense it was, but not in terms of fps. I hardly saw a difference between that card and my 8800GTS fps-wise, but I was able to crank up AA settings way higher which was nice. In the end I returned the 4850 and stuck with the GTS because 4850's were going for ~220.

Anyways, my point is that you can probably get away with a 4850 behind that PSU. I would get the XFX one or another brand with a dual slot cooler over the others because of noise issues. As for Crysis running smoothly, I dunno about that. I'd say ~20-25 FPS on medium but don't quote me on that. Everything else should run ok at that resolution though.
 
Your PSU could probably power the 4870, thought it might be pushing it...

The 4870 is probably quieter out of the box than the 7800gt, though it also tends to run pretty hot out of the box w/o modifying the fan speed. This might've changed as manufacturers update their BIOS, maybe they're running faster now, I wouldn't know... They were pretty quiet at release tho.

Your CPU/mobo will seriously bottleneck the 4870 imo. Put it this way, it won't even perform like a 4850 would on a more powerful rig... If you're planning a CPU upgrade down the line go for it, if not then I'd consider a cheaper alternative as mentioned above, since you're not gonna be getting anywhere near max performance out of that 4870.
 
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