Thoughts on this Video Card?

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[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 13, 2005
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I am piecing together an i5/i7 building and am having trouble deciding on the video card. I have a Sony Bravia 32' 1080p HD TV that will be my monitor.

Anybody have any thoughts on this particular card? Budget for the card is around 200 the first round, but I intend to put a monster in there when I am ready.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150438

Game I play:

Emulators (All the way up to dabbling with PS2)
Dragon Age
and some older stuff that I know will not have a problem (Starcraft, Company of Heroes, Flight Sim)
Would also maybe like to run through crisis to see what it is all about
Overall I will play more on PC once I get the new one

Future games:

Starcraft 2
Diablo 3

(Regarding these two, i hope the nursing home i am in has good broadband when these finally come out).

Anybody have any other suggestions?
 
The HD 4890 is a good card and until recently it was AMD's single GPU monster.

Don't know how soon you expect to put a "monster" in your system, but if I were you I would probably just buy the HD 4870 to save a decent amount of $$. Personally I don't mind buying a temporary card that may not allow me to play games with every graphics setting maxed out as long as the "monster" I want to buy isn't too far away.
 
HD4890 is more than enough and will hold you over easily ...
 
4890 is nice but it's not very future proof.
I'd say a 5850 ($260) or 5770 ($160) would probably be better for you.
The 5770 is also cheaper although it's performance is not as fast as the 4890.
However it will be able to play Alien v Predator and Dirt 2 in DX11.

In fact if you're just getting a holdover card, a 5750 might offer enough performance for you and costs only $130.
Then you can get bigger video card when you have more money.
 
A couple other things to consider. I love XFX as a company, but their claim to fame is the transferable warranty. If you are buying this card and plan to sell it when you get your 'monster', then this might be just great for you. If you plan on buying it and holding onto it as a back-up card, I would go with something else. Don't pay a premium for a card thats not going to see a lot of time in your case. I would get with this for 110 bucks (even though HIS isn't my first choice of GPU). A 4870 for $110 with free shipping, that will hold you over and make for a great back-up card in case you ever have to RMA whatever you eventually settle on.
 
vjcsmoke said:
4890 is nice but it's not very future proof.
I'd say a 5850 ($260) or 5770 ($160) would probably be better for you.
The 5770 is also cheaper although it's performance is not as fast as the 4890.
However it will be able to play Alien v Predator and Dirt 2 in DX11.

In fact if you're just getting a holdover card, a 5750 might offer enough performance for you and costs only $130.
Then you can get bigger video card when you have more money.
Click to expand...

Basically this.

The power consumption v performance compared to the 5850 is redic. Considering your getting bleeding edge for 60 bucks more, I would go for that....

As stated prior, even the 5770 would be the better buy.
 
First of all, thanks to all for the replies.


What about this card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...would push my budget and it is never instock.
 
I would either get a 4870, if the HD 4800 series is what you're going with, or a 5700 series board (if thats what you're going with), but either way, I'd pass on the HD 4890, the price/performance ratio just isn't great today

for the games you've listed, the 4870 wouldn't be an issue, and StarCraft 2 shouldn't be a problem (it may not run maxed out, but it should run), no idea on Diablo 3 (thats years out), although the HD 5700/5800 series might be worth a look if you're more in the $200 range, like the 5770 or 5850
 
I just grabbed a 4890 myself. so far at 1080p it has been great. much better than my original 8800gt sli setup.
 
it's a powerhouse of a card.
just remember that most games work better with nvidia cards, even though ATI has more horsepower.
 
Majinhoju said:
I just grabbed a 4890 myself. so far at 1080p it has been great. much better than my original 8800gt sli setup.
Click to expand...
even at 1080, with your 5600 X2 you are throwing away about 30-40% of what a 4890 can even do in many games. you would have gotten the same performance from a 4870. the only reason its better(if it actually is) than your 8800gt sli setup was that your cpu had trouble dealing with overhead of those cards in sli. ;)
 
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