Should I purchase a HD4890 or Wait

kstud

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Hi guys,

I'm currently debating if I should buy a HD4890 for $100 or wait for the ATI 58XX.

I'm currently using a HD4850 (overclocked 730/1130 with Accelero S1) with a Q9550 @ 3.6ghz.

All this talk about DirectX 11 and next gen card is really hindering me from upgrading.

Any advice to help me decide would be appreciated!
 
A 4890 IS an overclocked 4870...

Cool story bro?



Yeah I would take up that offer for $100 for an HD4890.

You can easily make $60 with your 4850 so the total cost to you would be $40 for a pretty big upgrade.
 
Cool story bro?



Yeah I would take up that offer for $100 for an HD4890.

You can easily make $60 with your 4850 so the total cost to you would be $40 for a pretty big upgrade.

Techically it's just a 770 core (4870) pushed to it's maximum limits (minus some, for CYA).
 
this is how you do it

coolstorybro.jpg



This is posted because no one was asking what a 4890 is. The OP asked if he should buy one for $100 or wait for the next gen card.
 
I've seen an official looking power-color release which slated the HD5870 at $299, and I've also seen an official looking AMD slide which slated the same card at $399. Rumors are going both ways. If the latter is correct, $100 for an HD4870 isnt a bad idea, if the former is true, your going to see the 800SP Juniper priced at ~$100 anyways, so get that instead.
 
4890 for $100 that is a good deal, sure it is an o/ced 4870, but didn't they do something with the shaders, if I recall correctly they "made them more efficient".
I mean at that price it is a really good buy, and would easily hold you over till the 5xxx series comes down in price.
 
this is how you do it


This is posted because no one was asking what a 4890 is. The OP asked if he should buy one for $100 or wait for the next gen card.

Should of been able to infer, as he has an OC 4850, that an OC 4870 isn't that much hazoo.

Considering the 5870 seems to run circles around the 295 (so far) in Tom's hardware.
 
No need to infer anything as the OP seems to know what he has, what a 4890 is and that the 58XX is better. Yes the 5870 looks great but the question was, one good card for $100 (excellent price) or one card that is a lot better for a lot more money.


I've seen an official looking power-color release which slated the HD5870 at $299, and I've also seen an official looking AMD slide which slated the same card at $399.

Will the 5870 come with more than one memory configuration? How about the outputs?
 
If you want to spend 100 dollars on a card that is an amazing price. If you want to spend around 300 dollars on a 5870 that will come close to doubling the speed of the 4890 then wait. It's all up to your wallet.
 
Unless you really want to have 5xxx series GPU, there is no card that is going to give you more power for 100 bucks than 4890, i'd be all over that deal.
 
Hi guys,

I'm currently debating if I should buy a HD4890 for $100 or wait for the ATI 58XX.

I'm currently using a HD4850 (overclocked 730/1130 with Accelero S1) with a Q9550 @ 3.6ghz.

All this talk about DirectX 11 and next gen card is really hindering me from upgrading.

Any advice to help me decide would be appreciated!

Well, at this point in time, waiting won't hurt you, since:

1) HD 4890 prices will lower as soon as new cards start popping up
2) One of those new cards may be within your budget and faster than a HD 4890.

DX11 isn't really important at this point, since there's NO game that supports it. You should be thinking about performance improvements in the games you play right now and the new cards will certainly be better than a HD 4890. So, bottom line, wait for prices to come down as soon as the new cards hit the market and get the HD 4890, or simply buy one of those new cards, that is in your budget.
 
Q: What will the 58xx give you?

DX11 - no games, buy the time games come out that really require DX11 (i.e. it's more then another DX9c console port with a meaningless DX11 label on the box) and are good enough you want to play (e.g. compare to physx - they spent about 2 years adding it to average games till they finally got a hit with batman) you'll probably find the 58xx's have got faster/cheaper.

Opencl/havock - no games even planned with it yet, see above.

Peformance - 4890 is plenty fast enough for all games, unless you want to play stalker or crysis again at slightly higher settings you will not notice the difference. Again by the time a game comes out that a 4890 can't play the 58xx will be faster/cheaper.

Eyefinity - yes, if you want 3 monitor gaming the 58xx is the only way to go.

Hence basically you might as well save your money and get a 4890 unless you want eyefinity.
 
I'd rather spend those $100 on the first sub-100 Quad Core by AMD. Wait it out because DX11 cards will hit sales very soon and that's when you should actually contemplate which one of the evergreen series you wanna go for.
 
Probably a local deal.

If you find that you need some more horsepower, the 4890 would help a bit, but I don't think it'd be that dramatic over your HD 4850. I say wait.
 
4890 for 100 is great deal
but id probably wait a bit and get a new one for the same price
 
Don't wait. Get the 4890. Even after the release of the new cards the 4890 will not be that cheap.
 
If I recall, the 5800 series will release next week.
If you can wait, the details will help you decide.

I'd be all over a couple of those 5800 cards IF......
they are improvements and or beat up a 295
crossfire actually works
I have enough money to buy two more 24" monitors
eyefinity works with crossfire.......ie you can run crossfire and attach three monitors to the "master" card.
That would be slick.
 
Ditto. Care to share the deal?

I wanna know too! Hah, yeah, prolly a local deal though.

If I were you;

I would grab the 4890 for $100, sell off the 4850 for as much as you can and get back most of your money. Wait until the 58xx launch (Tuesday), get your preferred 58xx card(s), sell off the 4890 for what you bought it for (to me!) or possibly more!

If you decide to not get it, gimme the guys Paypal and I'll drop $100 in his account ASAP :D.
 
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Well, I'd pick up the 4890, seeing that not everyone will either want the 58XX at launch or won't be able to afford it. You could selling the 4890 then for half the 58XX and profit. That's just me and what I do on just about every card launch ;)
 
Should of been able to infer, as he has an OC 4850, that an OC 4870 isn't that much hazoo.

Considering the 5870 seems to run circles around the 295 (so far) in Tom's hardware.

Can you post the link of where you are seeing the 5870 run circles around the GTX 295? I've only seen the leaked benchmarks and it appears the only thing the 5870 is beating the 295 in is 2560x1600 with 16xaf and 8xaa.. I am checking tom's and I don't see anything about it.
 
Hi guys,

I'm currently debating if I should buy a HD4890 for $100 or wait for the ATI 58XX.

I'm currently using a HD4850 (overclocked 730/1130 with Accelero S1) with a Q9550 @ 3.6ghz.

All this talk about DirectX 11 and next gen card is really hindering me from upgrading.

Any advice to help me decide would be appreciated!

where can u get the hd4890 for 100
 
4890 OCs better than the 4870 and can reach core speeds of 950-1000 Mhz. You can't get that with a 4870.

But honestly a 4850 is not a dog of a video card either, so i'm not sure it's worth the upgrade for you even though $100 for a 4890 is a great price. Does that mean your 4850+$100 or just flat out $100 for a 4890?
 
I just got the 4890 in. Thanks for the advices fellas.
Some of you have very valid points...

I was debating holding on to the overclocked 4850 for a while longer until the 58xx comes down in pricing but that may be quite a while.

Since there are no dx11 games available and may be some time before an interesting game is release I’ll wait until then to grab a 58xx.

I got the 4890 ($100 no trades) today. The person I got the 4890 from stated that it was used briefly in cross fire but he decided against it so it’s basically brand new (it does looks brand new).

Some pros and cons of the 4890

Pros:

3dmark Vantage @ Extreme
a. 4850 (730/1130) vs 4890 (950/1150)
b. Over 50% improvement going by 3dmark Vantage

Cons:
a. Heats up my entire system a few degrees

I’ll do some bios mod, install the accelero s1, and more overclocking after I find some time.
Overall, I’m quite content and really appreciate you guys responses and advices. Hopefully the 4890 can keep up with games until the 58xx comes down in pricing.

BTW, will a Q9550 @ 3.6 bottleneck ATI’s next gen offerings?
 
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your q9550 @ 3.6 will likely be fine (almost the same as i7 for gaming). You could try clocking it closer to 4.0Ghz - sometimes that helps minimize stuttering...
 
You got a very good deal and as others pointed out if you change your mind you can always get the 5870 and sell the 4890 for more than 100$.

Let us know if you find any more of those 100$ 4890 ;)
 
Hi guys,

I'm currently debating if I should buy a HD4890 for $100 or wait for the ATI 58XX.

I'm currently using a HD4850 (overclocked 730/1130 with Accelero S1) with a Q9550 @ 3.6ghz.

All this talk about DirectX 11 and next gen card is really hindering me from upgrading.

Any advice to help me decide would be appreciated!

Just wait until Tuesday.
 
Well you sure as hell won't get a 5870 for $100 next week.

Glad to see it worked out for you, OP.
 
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