Will a 4870 be enough for this?

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Devilpup

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 4, 2002
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I'm looking to build a tower for gaming and don't have a boatload of money to spend. Currently I'm looking at picking up a 4870 card. The most recent game I really play is the WotLK expansion for WoW. I'm planning to play at 1920 x 1080 (WITH maxed settings), and want the game to run smooth in BGs and congested areas. This is the hardware I was planning to match it up with:

AMD P2 X2 550 black edition processor (3.1ghz)
4GB DDR 2 mem
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P mb
Antec 650w psu
WD black 1 TB hdd
Running windows vista

As I mentioned, I was kinda doing this on the cheap but that doesn't mean I can't swing a few bucks somewhere to get the most out of the system. I'm not planning to OC the processor initially, just want it to perform at stock settings for now since I am in Iraq.

With a system like this, would the 4870 card get me to where I want to be? I'm shooting for 40+ fps at a minimum in most areas, preferably with 4 x AA on. I'm not sure how realistic that goal is because I've been out of the hardware scene for a while. My last system was an AMD Athlon XP 3400+ with an Nvidia 7800GT card, but I was able to max most of the settings @ 1600 x 1200 resolution. I've never gamed at 1920 x 1080 before so I don't know what it'll take to get up there, but this current crop of hardware seems to be quite a bit more stout than my old crap.

BTW, last time I built a system from the ground up was back in 2004, with only a mb and vid card upgrade since then. So yeah, I'm not quite caught up to what the current hardware will do with older games yet :)
 
Yes that 4870 will do you just fine. WoW is NOT that GPU dependant, and you'll likely still dip to the 20-30 fps range in Dalaran still (I still do with a Q6600@3.2ghz + GTX 260 core 216 superclocked!).

I'd say you picked parts that are perfect for what you need, grab that 4870 and the phenom and crank your CPU multiplier up a little. WoW is very CPU dependent.
 
just make sure that antec 650 can crossfire the 4870 becuase that would be a great upgrade path for you.
 
Thanks guys, I wanted to try and keep everything more or less on a level playing field. I.E. I didn't want to go with a bad ass processor and be limited by my vid card, or go with a bad ass vid card and be limited by my processor. I hypothesized that the components of this system compliment each other without being too limited by any one component.

And the Antec PSU I'm looking at is SLI certified and Crossfire Ready, so I'm assuming it'd be able to handle another 4870 if I felt I needed more graphics power. My main PSU in my box at home is a 550-watt PCPower & Cooling unit that is SLI certified, so I think either way I'll be covered. I just know newer components tend to eat a lot more power than older stuff, and I've only had good experiences with Antec PSUs in the past.
 
If that's the Antec EA-650 it will run your system fine with two 4870s, I'm running the system in my sig off one. If it's the other 650 watt antec that one provides even more 12v amps.
 
Good info, I was looking at a similar setup, though maybe with the 720 x3. Can't decide between the 4870 and 4890, not too much difference in price.
 
Go with the 4890s if you can find trhem cheaper on Newegg or similar. The Crossfire setup will run smooth at those settings.
 
start with a single 4890, then down the oad cf with another when it is much cheaper. The 4870 is closer to end of life than the 4890.
 
Your power supply is just fine for a crossfire setup (as mentioned already). The EA650 is a great power supply. Its been compared on several reviews to a Corsair 650w in quality.
 
Thanks for the replies and advice guys, it helped me out. I ended up ordering the Asus Dark Knight 4870 because I got it with the rest of the parts from Newegg for about $135 after MIR. It has several good comments about being quiet, which is a plus for me since this will be in my barracks room here in Iraq. As far as the upgrade path goes, I did switch over to a DDR3 set up and actually trimmed a couple bucks off the system. Since the last time I upgraded anything was really about 4 years ago, it's not likely that I'll need or even be able to upgrade again anytime soon. Having a wife and a couple of really young children at home saps most of the gaming time, so this mostly just has to last as a gaming/movie center for the next year. After that it'll move on to being the home database/work computer :)

I debated on waiting for the new hardware, but no one even knows if this will be a launch with product available for retail or if it'll be just a preview, so i pulled the trigger. If I really start feeling bad about the gaming experience, like you guys said, I'll just snag another 4870 and go from there.

*edit*

For the curious, here's the final parts list:

Lian-Li pc 61b case
Antec TP-650 650w psu
Gigabyte UD3P mobo
2 x 2gb crucial DDR3 kit (cheap stuff)
WD black 1 TB hdd
AMD P2 X2 550 BE processor (3.1ghz)
Asus HD 4870 Dark Knight 1GB vid card
logitech G5 mouse & G11 keyboard
Acer 23" lcd monitor

plus a couple other odds and ends like a dvd burner and OS. overall cost came out to just over 1300 shipped, so right about what i was expecting to spend for a complete package.
 
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Good choice on parts. That's a perfect WoW system that's capable at playing most anything out there today as well.
 
I have nearly the identical setup. My cpu is oc'c to 3.8. And with the 4870 I have no trouble with games. I play COD4 at max res with all settings to full, with no issues at all.
 
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