canusaybimmy Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 Hey all, Been pretty out of touch with the tech stuff as of late. I have an xfx 4870 1gb video card. Getting a deal on a sapphire 4870 1gb that I can run with Crossfire however I'm wondering if that's worth it, or if I should just upgrade the card to something newer? What do you think? Thanks for any info. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disparaitre Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) ... Edited September 21, 2014 by Disparaitre Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
canusaybimmy Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 What resolution is your monitor and what do you play or plan to play? 4870 1gb crossfire is still pretty dang fast at 1920x1200 or lower. You'd be looking at roughly the performance of a GTX 460 1gb, HD 6870 or HD 5870 area with crossfire 4870 1gb cards but that would come at much higher power consumption and no DX11 which honestly is overrated in most cases. The other problem is unless you are playing a multi gpu optomized game, you will see the same performance as now or in a few cases worse performance. Currently have two monitors running at 1920 x 1080. Play a lot of battlefield 3, deus ex etc. How bad would the power consumption with the xfire over upgrading then? Would 65 dollars justify going xfire? I'm hearing differing opinions from a lot of people I have asked. Some are saying 65 is a good deal go for it. Others are saying upgrade ur current costs since the xfire will consume more power? Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disparaitre Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) ... Edited September 21, 2014 by Disparaitre Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
medbor Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) If running dual monitors at that res, definently upgrade to a single card cause you're gonna need the option to add a second card to game at 3840x1080 with BF3. I would probably look at an HD 6870 2gb card as well. If you decide to do dual monitor gaming with newer games you will need more vram. Even an HD 6850 2gb wouldn't be a bad idea once you have a second card if funds don't allow you to get an HD 6870 2gb card. Going to an HD 6870 2gb is going to run you probably in the $150 - $160 range used if you can find one and new is going to be in the $180 - $220 range. The HD 6850 2gb cards are only $10 - $30 cheaper but if you can't find an HD 6870 2gb card then I would recommend getting an HD 6850 2gb. If you are going to consider spending close to $200 for a new HD 6870 2gb or HD 6850 2gb though, a used HD 6950 2gb isn't far off BF2 has been proven to consume more vram than most games, especially when multi monitor gaming comes into play. With my single HD 5870, I often find my games pegging out close to 1gb vram useage in TF2 ( with 8x AA, 116x AF and tripple buffering ), my STALKER games with the mod's and even Fallout 3 with the HD mods and 4x AA ( which has been proven to consume almost 2gb vram with higher AA at 2560x1600 ) I have to say that more vram is always better unless you like new games at moderate resolution on a single monitor or older games without new GFX mod's which is a damned shame imho. Going forward I will always consider graphical mod's when buying a video card because once you get a taste, you're hooked but the mods can often turn a game that never exceeded 700mb vram useags into a vram hog often using 1gb - 1,5gb + vram once you start replacing world textures with ultra high res textures. Hell, even morrowind totally HD modded out the butt consumes about 1gb vram when the res and detail are maxxed out. he means BF3, 16xAA, nad i don't think gaming on two monitors is what he is actually doing since the crosshair would be right at the bezel... Please read you post before posting... @op i would not go crossfire 4870, i would wait until beginnig of february and get a HD7000 series card that you can afford. Upgrading less than DX11, and with high power consumtion and driver issues is not good in my opinion. Edited January 9, 2012 by medbor Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ir_cow Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 at this point upgrade for xfire to a single card is going to be faster, cheaper and less power. sell off your cards for $50 each and get a $300 card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disparaitre Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) ... Edited September 21, 2014 by Disparaitre Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owenisbad Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 I wouldn't go crossfire 4870s, they run really hot just as single cards and the scaling isn't amazing. What sort of budget would you have for a newer card if you sold your 4870? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 Hey all, Been pretty out of touch with the tech stuff as of late. I have an xfx 4870 1gb video card. Getting a deal on a sapphire 4870 1gb that I can run with Crossfire however I'm wondering if that's worth it, or if I should just upgrade the card to something newer? What do you think? Thanks for any info. How cheap are we talking for the other card? if its real cheap I;d say try it if you have a Quality PSU that can handle the extra load... if you have the extra money then get the better, newer, faster single card.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
canusaybimmy Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 How cheap are we talking for the other card? if its real cheap I;d say try it if you have a Quality PSU that can handle the extra load... if you have the extra money then get the better, newer, faster single card.... Money isn't a gigantic issue. I would rather upgrade to something that will keep me happy for a couple years. I figured picking up a second 4870 would help however with the power consumption and issues mentioned above I think I'm staying away from that option. Looking to go single card. As far as budget goes, I would like to stay under 200 however if there are compelling reasons to go for a card that's 250 or so I would consider that as well. Again, thanks for any and all info! Keep it coming. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 well you've gotten some good advice here.... the rest is on you now... I am sure you can find something to fit your budget and keep you happy for a while Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
medbor Posted January 9, 2012 Posted January 9, 2012 Wow, I meant BF3 too, nice job trying to be a trololol on a typo there. And since he mentioned 2x monitors with identical resolution it would stand to reason that he games or wants to game on both, and the crosshair issue shows you've never gamed on dual monitors ( psst, you can shift the center of the screen over when using 2 monitors to avoid the issue as I have done on dual monitors many times before, don't tell anyone ) Damn dude, don't be so quick to play the troll or grammar nazi, doesn't look good on you. If you want to argue and pick out errors to make your e-penis seem larger, there's a forum for that. Anyways, the crossfire HD 4870 is not a good idea for you with BF2 ( intnentional typo for trololol's and grammar nazi's ) I was just annoyed by the fact that you already had edited the post, but still missed so obvious errors. Not meaning to be rude, and if you check most of my other post i try to be helpful, as i did in my last one too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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