Upgrading from a 4890?

Q

Quarzac

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Sep 3, 2011
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Firstly, hello everyone!

Secondly, I am looking to upgrade from a 4890. What would give me the most bang for my buck? I play at 1920 x 1080, and am looking for a bit of a bump up, as newer games are starting to slow down. I was looking at a 4890 CF, because 4890s can be had for pretty cheap, apparently. (Anyone want to cut me a deal? :p) Let me know what you guys think would be my best option. I have an Antec Truepower Blue 750W, so power shouldn't be too big of a limitation.

Additionally, could anyone recommend a cooler for the 4890? My current XFX one is running pretty hot (read 100C on full load, despite blasting it with air and removing the side panel), and I'm looking to fix that without having to go through XFX support and getting a new one again, which I already did. While it was relatively painless, it took a good while.
 
Depends on how much youre wanting to spend. If you can afford $475, a GTX580 would be the best way to go. Itll shred any game at your resolution.

If $350 is your limit, a 6970 or GTX570 would be the choice.

$250, 6950.

Under that, you wouldnt be getting a big enough bump over your still fairly potent 4890 to be worth the money youd spend.
 
My goal is to spend as little money as possible. I've read that 4890s in CF perform slightly better than a 5850 on average. Can anyone attest to that?
 
That sounds about right. Well if you want to drop $200, you could get a 6950 for $225 after a $15 mail in rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102949

That would be a substantial upgrade from a single 4890.

Or you could get this 6870 for $155 after $20 mail in rebate. Its a little faster than a 5850 so youd get better performance than a pair of 4890's and youd get DX11 not to mention use a boat load less power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
 
Alright, thanks! I'm gonna try and snag a 4890 for <$75 because I am poor at the moment, but if I manage to get a job, before then, I'll probably look at the 6xxx series. What are the equivalents for Nvidia cards? I really don't keep up with them at all.
 
The GTX560Ti maybe. Usually run around $200 and come in between the 6950 and 6870 in performance usually.
 
Alright, thanks for all your help. I don't think I'm quite prepared to drop another $200 on a card right yet, but I now have this thread as reference for when I am. I'm deeply saddened by the fact that the card I payed ~$190 for a little over a year and a half ago now has half the value.
 
Quarzac said:
I've read that 4890s in CF perform slightly better than a 5850 on average. Can anyone attest to that?
Click to expand...

Two 4870s in Crossfire already outperforms a 5870 by about 5%, so I would expect two 4890's to be even faster.
 
went to a 6950 2GB from a 4870 and I think it was well worth it. Plan to crossfire with 6950's instead of buying 7k series
 
Definitely the second 4890 if you looking at the most $/performance option, $75!
 
My budget is abysmally low right now (<$100). I was really just looking for an idea of what's on the market, but I didn't feel like putting in all the research I did the last time I bought a card.
 
Quarzac said:
My goal is to spend as little money as possible. I've read that 4890s in CF perform slightly better than a 5850 on average. Can anyone attest to that?
Click to expand...

No. Much better(4890CFX vs Single 5850). That is if you don't care about DX11. But a 5850 in CFX is much better.

I've cleaned my 4890's out. Over time they get dusty. It comes apart pretty easily allowing you to clean the HSF. I only have 4890's with the reference cooler.
 
Also keep an eye out at EVGA B-stock. Picked up a couple GTX460 for SLI for $110 each. One was defective, but will be replaced. The working one runs at GTX560 speeds (no difference between the Vanilla GTX560 and GTX460 other than clock speed - kinda like the 8800GTS-512--->9800GTX---->GTS250). Considering replacing my 5850's with them once I get the second card back
 
I will warn you that 2 4890's are power hogs. I have them with a Coolermaster 750GX PSU and runs fine, but seemed to limit overclocking on the CPU (prolly need a better PSU). When I moved my 5770s in there in CFX as well, I got an extra 100Mhz out of my PII 965.
 
My motherboard is awful for overclocking, as the MOSFETs apparently tend to overheat, so I haven't bothered, nor will I bother to, overclock my processor. Do you still have the 4890s?
 
I run 2x 4870x2 (with all 4 GPUs overclocked) on an Antec Quattro 1000w, a 750 should be fine for 2x 4890 especially with no CPU overclocking.

If the stock cooler on the 4890 is anything like the stock cooler on the 4870x2, you're going to have to remove the plastic shroud to really do a good cleaning. Blowing through the vents with compressed air doesn't always get it done. I keep my cards clean and even though they are known to run hot and are even overclocked, I rarely see any GPU go above 80C in a game.
 
Quarzac said:
My motherboard is awful for overclocking, as the MOSFETs apparently tend to overheat, so I haven't bothered, nor will I bother to, overclock my processor. Do you still have the 4890s?
Click to expand...

They are in my Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz machine. It's a good match for that!
 
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