Visiontek 3870 --> 4850?

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Crispy002

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I have the Visiontek 3870 factory overclocked edition (courtesy of Best Buy's a year ago) that has been wonderfully good to me. However, the 4xxx series of cards have had their prices drop substantially lately and it makes me wonder if an upgrade is worth it. I can tell from reviews the 3870 is dwarfed by the 4850, but I am using the reasonably more powerful Visiontek version. The reason I ask is I've seen my current card sell ala craigslist/ebay for about $100, while 4850s go on sale for around $130. Would you think it a good idea to upgrade?

I've done the measurements and I indeed have enough room in my case to accomodate the slightly longer card. I'm running windows XP 32bit with 2gb DDR2 ram (going to Vista for DX10 when I upgrade to i7) and I'm aware of memory issues (it shouldn't be a problem since I'm under the 4gb cap...right?)

One last question, I have a 450w Thermaltake PSU with ONE 6 pin pci-e power cable, however, I DO have the adapter that came with my 3870 to turn two 4 pin hard drive cables into a 6 pin pci-e cable. From what I've seen some 4xxx cards need two 6 pins to run, do you think that would be too much stress on my power supply?
 
Crispy002 said:
One last question, I have a 450w Thermaltake PSU with ONE 6 pin pci-e power cable, however, I DO have the adapter that came with my 3870 to turn two 4 pin hard drive cables into a 6 pin pci-e cable. From what I've seen some 4xxx cards need two 6 pins to run, do you think that would be too much stress on my power supply?
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Which Thermaltake PSU do you have? If it's a Purepower or TR2 version, you're gonna need a new PSU.
 
Danny Bui said:
Which Thermaltake PSU do you have? If it's a Purepower or TR2 version, you're gonna need a new PSU.
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Sorry for not being more specific earlier, I have a Thermaltake TR2 RX I purchased from a friend when I bought my 3870, I believe this is the newegg link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153057 . Back when I bought it I did a slight amount of research and didn't find anything particularly wrong with the psu, did I miss something? :(
 
Crispy002 said:
Sorry for not being more specific earlier, I have a Thermaltake TR2 RX I purchased from a friend when I bought my 3870, I believe this is the newegg link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153057 . Back when I bought it I did a slight amount of research and didn't find anything particularly wrong with the psu, did I miss something? :(
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Well the big problem is that nowhere on that PSU or the site for that PSU does it list the total amperage/wattage available on the +12V rail. So for all we know, that 450W PSU might only have a total of 25A on the +12V rail. That's my major gripe with that PSU.

However it is CWT made so it's quality shouldn't be as bad as the non-RX TR2 and Purepower PSUs.

BTW, most of the HD4850 cards only require one 6 Pin PCI-E connector. What size monitor do you have?
 
I have a 17" monitor (nothing fancy) with no intention of upgrading in the short term. I typically run in the 1280x1024 resolution.

As for the powersupply, if a lack of current seems to be an issue, what would be the symptoms? My computer runs fine while under load (I assume a lack of power would cause BSOD or related issue?). Also I believe the RX only means it has modular cabling.
 
Crispy002 said:
As for the powersupply, if a lack of current seems to be an issue, what would be the symptoms?
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You'll see a ton of stability issues.

Anyway, if you can sell yourHD3870 first for $100, then yes it is worth the $30 to $40 or so for an upgrade to the HD4850.
 
Well thanks for the input, I'll see what I can do, maybe try to get a new PSU just to be on the safe side.
 
Crispy002 said:
I have the Visiontek 3870 factory overclocked edition (courtesy of Best Buy's a year ago) that has been wonderfully good to me. However, the 4xxx series of cards have had their prices drop substantially lately and it makes me wonder if an upgrade is worth it. I can tell from reviews the 3870 is dwarfed by the 4850, but I am using the reasonably more powerful Visiontek version. The reason I ask is I've seen my current card sell ala craigslist/ebay for about $100, while 4850s go on sale for around $130. Would you think it a good idea to upgrade?

I've done the measurements and I indeed have enough room in my case to accomodate the slightly longer card. I'm running windows XP 32bit with 2gb DDR2 ram (going to Vista for DX10 when I upgrade to i7) and I'm aware of memory issues (it shouldn't be a problem since I'm under the 4gb cap...right?)

One last question, I have a 450w Thermaltake PSU with ONE 6 pin pci-e power cable, however, I DO have the adapter that came with my 3870 to turn two 4 pin hard drive cables into a 6 pin pci-e cable. From what I've seen some 4xxx cards need two 6 pins to run, do you think that would be too much stress on my power supply?
Click to expand...

dumb question but why do you need to upgrade the video card? a 3870 should do pretty good at your res. but if your PSU can handle a 3870 then it can handle the 4850, and you will be able to max everything with AA.

and as said above the 4850 only requires one six pin, or rarely an 8 pin.
 
Valset said:
dumb question but why do you need to upgrade the video card? a 3870 should do pretty good at your res. but if your PSU can handle a 3870 then it can handle the 4850, and you will be able to max everything with AA.

and as said above the 4850 only requires one six pin, or rarely an 8 pin.
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From what I've seen the 4850 is substantially more powerful than the 3870, and to be able to upgrade with such a small price difference, the question becomes why should I not upgrade. ;)

Crysis, being the beautiful game that it is, doesn't perform too well on my 3870 either. Mostly medium a few high settings nets about 25 fps, but once the carnage lets loose and muzzle flash effects are taken into consideration things drop off considerably and make play more difficult than I would like.
 
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might consider the 4870 512 for a small increase in outlay, if possible, does a lot better in some games then the 4850
 
Crispy002 said:
I have a 17" monitor (nothing fancy) with no intention of upgrading in the short term. I typically run in the 1280x1024 resolution.
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I've already done the VisionTek 3870OC to VisionTek 4850 swap. I was using a 19" LCD at running the same resolution as you ( 1280 x 1024 ). At that resolution, the difference was negligible. My 3dmark was almost the same. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed. When I upgraded my monitor to a 22", THEN the difference between the two cards became more apparent.

Yes, the 4850 is the better card, but you'd be wasting it on a 17" monitor.

If you can get $100 for your 3870, then sell it. Seems to me the going price is about $65 to $85. I've seen 4850's for sale on these forums for $125 and under, and even some 4870's for around $150 ( but you'd need a better power supply and you'd be wasting even more horsepower on a 17" monitor ).

What are the rest of your system specs, cpu, board, etc...?
 
Crispy002 said:
From what I've seen the 4850 is substantially more powerful than the 3870, and to be able to upgrade with such a small price difference, the question becomes why should I not upgrade. ;)

Crysis, being the beautiful game that it is, doesn't perform too well on my 3870 either. Mostly medium a few high settings nets about 25 fps, but once the carnage lets loose and muzzle flash effects are taken into consideration things drop off considerably and make play more difficult than I would like.
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it should allow for some high settings, provided your cpu is up to snuff. slow cpu can hurt crysis. and I don't think your going to get 100 dollars for it, be surprised if you got 75. then again you can get a 4850 for 105AR
 
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