Replace my 4870 crossfire with single card?

Joni Nitro

Gawd
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Messages
820
I am reconfiguring my system after I had to dismantle it for a move to a new state. I am now rebuilding the system and thought I would look into updating my gfx card with something that was a little better and used less power. I am not a huge gamer, but I like having the option to run current games. My hole setup is water cooled with 2 MCR320s and 2 655s.

Specs:
24in Dell 1900x1200
700w seasonic psu
Asus rampage formula
Q9550@4ghz
8gb ram
120gb ssd
300gb VR
2 4870 1gb in xfire

Probably going to hold off for another year before upgrading the rest of the system. I would like to play current games on high settings but I don't need things completely maxed out.
 
I just went from a 4870x2 to a GTX 580. I am more than happy with the upgrade. Don't know if you are interesting in switching brands though. It is definitely faster while using less power.
 
At this point I am not brand specific. Looking for more bang for buck, so it matters where I can get a decent deal. The GTX 580s are nice. Are there reference and non reference cards with nvidia. I want to run a water block on it.
 
I recently upgraded from dual 4870s to the single 6950 in my signature, and it was an amazing upgrade. Crank all games up to the max at 1080p. My system is similar to yours.
 
You can buy a card today that is "faster," but not a massive increase. Most early reviews pegged 5870 performance at about the same as the 4870x2 (could be a much larger gap if you are currently vram-limited...but you have 1GB, so not an issue at that resolution), and a 6950 is only slightly faster than a 5870. The only card out today that would be worthwhile to upgrade to would be a GTX 580.

BUT

If you are comfortable with your cards right now I would keep them a few months. AMD is supposed to release new cards by February/March of next year, and they should be even faster.
 
Last edited:
With current drivers, a 6870 is only a tiny bit slower then a 4870x2.

edit: the dx11 support and not having to deal with some games not scaling well in CFX more then makes up for the very slight speed deficit of the 6870 vs 4870x2.

The 6xxx series also supposedly scales better then the 4xxx and 5xxx series as well. I am very happy with my dual 6870 cards.
/edit

With that in mind, you should see a decent increase if you go with anything faster then a 6870. A 6950 or 6970 would be a pretty decent upgrade.

Like others said, if you can hold off for a couple months when the 7xxx series are out, you should be able to get an even better deal on the 6xxx series of cards.
 
Went from a pair of 4890 1GBs to a single 6950 2GB (unlocked). Not a ton quieter, but definitely less heat and power draw. Worthwhile I think.
 
Thanks guys. I may end just keeping these for a bit and ocing them as far as I can. Maybe by then i will just build a newer rig.
 
At this point I am not brand specific. Looking for more bang for buck, so it matters where I can get a decent deal. The GTX 580s are nice. Are there reference and non reference cards with nvidia. I want to run a water block on it.

As long as your system can handle the power requirements (and it should given your Xfired 4870s use a LOT of juice) there should be no reason not to move to a current-gen ATI/AMD or nVidia card. Both companies provide excellent single-card performance greater than or equal to your Xfire'd 4870 setup.
 
Keep your eyes peeled on hot deals that come up in the next few months. I just upgraded to a gtx 480 for $182 AR shipped last month, and I've seen many gtx 560 ti's and 6950's for ~ $200 AR lately as well. We should see even more deals in the coming months as 28nm approaches, too.
 
You can buy a card today that is "faster," but not a massive increase. Most early reviews pegged 5870 performance at about the same as the 4870x2 (could be a much larger gap if you are currently vram-limited...but you have 1GB, so not an issue at that resolution), and a 6950 is only slightly faster than a 5870. The only card out today that would be worthwhile to upgrade to would be a GTX 580.

BUT

If you are comfortable with your cards right now I would keep them a few months. AMD is supposed to release new cards by February/March of next year, and they should be even faster.

I don't know.... it was a MASSIVE increase in performance for me, although I was able to unlock and overclock to past 6970 spec. Not sure how much of an affect that has.
 
I upgraded from a pair of 4870's to a single 6970 which I ran for a while and decided to add a second one. I'm very happy. I'm also waiting on my new Dell U3011 to be delivered, which is why I needed a second card. See sig for system specs. 1920x1200 ran everything with a single 6970.
 
Back
Top