Ordering my HD4870 Today!!!

cornelious0_0

[H]F Junkie
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Apr 6, 2003
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Just wanted to share that I'll be ordering my Visiontek HD4870 this afternoon and will be able to offer up pics and results after installing it in my Shuttle SP35P2 Pro listed in my sig.

It's gonna be one hell of an upgrade...stay tuned! :)
 
Perhaps a whole new thread wasn't needed... but congrats. Post your scores or whatever, but I suggest placing them in an established score thread =0
 
I went from an 8800GTS to a 4870 and it was well worth it. My 8800GTS would choke during heavy smoke in COD4 with the game maxed out and 1680x1050... the 4870 does not choke at all. Make sure you build a good fan profile if its in a smaller case. They run a bit on the warm side but nothing a fan profile wont fix. Good luck and enjoy the upgrade!
 
Nice, don't forget to increase fan speed.

I'd also like everyone to know I'm making a sandwich today!
 
Put sandals on his feet and a ring on his finger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!!111111111111111111111
 

I was playing Team Fortress 2, had to download a new map, I went to get a drink and when I came back, the card was outputting a pattern of vertical black and white lines. Strangely the sound was also looping. I did a hard restart and the card was dead, no POST, nothing. Checked my mobo with the X1900XTX I had. It might have been heat, but I did use the fan fix and it was idling around 42, load at around 53 last time I checked with GPU-Z. Sadly it just couldn't handle TF2 I guess. I'm thinking it was the VRMs or FETs, but they were only around the 50s in idle too. Poor contact on the stock cooler perhaps, maybe the thermal tape on the FETs peeled off, but I didn't open the cooler up to see. It's definitely a fluke I think.
 
I was playing Team Fortress 2, had to download a new map, I went to get a drink and when I came back, the card was outputting a pattern of vertical black and white lines. Strangely the sound was also looping. I did a hard restart and the card was dead, no POST, nothing. Checked my mobo with the X1900XTX I had. It might have been heat, but I did use the fan fix and it was idling around 42, load at around 53 last time I checked with GPU-Z. Sadly it just couldn't handle TF2 I guess. I'm thinking it was the VRMs or FETs, but they were only around the 50s in idle too. Poor contact on the stock cooler perhaps, maybe the thermal tape on the FETs peeled off, but I didn't open the cooler up to see. It's definitely a fluke I think.

Bummer... I dont doubt the VRM being the problem... After moving over to an aftermarket cooler I find that they get VERY VERY hot and had to put a 60mm fan blowing on the small sinks that came with the HR-03GT. This keeps them much cooler. My idle temps are 46C and Max load is 59C with the card overclocked 790/1100. Much better then the stock cooler!
 
I'm definitely gonna be speeding up the fan on it, no worries there, and in such a small case I have no doubt that the ducted cooler will also help to remove some cool air from the rest of the system.

I will definitely be updating with lots of pics of the Shuttle before, during and after the cards installation along with benchmarks afterward.

The sweet thing is that the card is coming after getting paid $350 in advance to build a $2,000 watercooled gaming system for someone...a nice payment for me indeed!

This HD3850 really does crap out in a lot of scenarios and I'll be more then happy to get rid of it to make room for the HD4870.

PS: I'll also be starting a seperate thread soon with pics of the system that's being built, Antec 1200 watercooled system...but that's another story. :)
 
That's a good card, smart buy. I'm surprised you bought a shuttle. I use to have a shuttle xpc and their power supplies for it are proprietary...and they usually are only about 400 to 500 watts, which is why I'm not going say you should of waited for the 4870x2 coming out in a week and a half.. What kind of chipset does the motherboard on that xpc have? Were you able to fit an aftermarket heat sink in that sucker? Pretty descent oc on that q6600, but I'd at least oc to 3.2ghz-3.4ghz. My only gripe with the shuttle xpc is air flow...or the lack of it any way, because everything is just too cramped in there.
 
That's a good card, smart buy. I'm surprised you bought a shuttle. I use to have a shuttle xpc and their power supplies for it are proprietary...and they usually are only about 400 to 500 watts, which is why I'm not going say you should of waited for the 4870x2 coming out in a week and a half.. What kind of chipset does the motherboard on that xpc have? Were you able to fit an aftermarket heat sink in that sucker? Pretty descent oc on that q6600, but I'd at least oc to 3.2ghz-3.4ghz. My only gripe with the shuttle xpc is air flow...or the lack of it any way, because everything is just too cramped in there.

To answer your questions in point form:

- Yes the power supplies are proprietary and on the smaller side, but they are built extremely well and can handle system even more power hungry then what I'll end up with
- I did not want to wait for the 4870x2 because of the extra heat/power consumption, whether or not the Shuttle would have been able to handle it, I didn't want to risk it effecting my CPU overclock
- My SP35P2 Pro is a P35 chipset
- There are methods of fitting aftermarket heatsinks in this XPC, but because the mounting holes for the CPU heatsink aren't standard LGA775 I'd simply have to create my own mounting plate or something...depending on the desired cooler. I can be done quite easily and it's still on my list of things to do
- I know that I can push my Q6600 farther, as it's still undervolted and already running at 3GHz, but I'm gonna wait to get the HD4870 installed before I push it any farther so that the extra power drawn for the card is being taken into account when I'm pushing the CPU
- Everything is very cramped inside the shuttle, but they have done a very nice job of designing the airflow/fan placement so that internal temperatures are actually lower with the case on, not off.

Other then possible modifying the drive cage to install a larger CPU cooler, the one thing that's going to help a lot is when I cut a hole in the top of the case to install a 120mm fan as an exhaust fan. Even with a slower 120mm fan @ 40-50cfm the gains from having it in place are going to be great, as the biggest issue the system has is removing heat from the case.

All in all I am still very much interested in keeping this system going, after a few mods I have planned there is still the remaining upgrade of swapping the Q6600 for a Q9450, the lower heat output and power consumption of the 9450 will help out the system as a whole and will be a nice addition.

The HD4870 shipped yesterday at 4pm so I'll probably have it next week sometime, but along with the card is a $2,100 system that I'm building for someone else, including a full watercooling loop in an Antec 1200 case...so stay tuned for pics of both!
 
The card and rest of the shipment is in the city but I'm gonna be at work when it's delivered. :mad:

I'll be picking things up after work and getting the HD4870 installed so stay tuned for pics....this is gonna be the longest day of work ever... :(
 
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