So I recently got a 4870 IceQ 4+ and am loving it! The card runs very cool and I've actually been able to max the clock sliders in Catalyst Control Center to 790/1100 at just 40% manual fan speed, under 70degrees during heavy load!
I chose this card even though I wanted a 4890 for heat concerns. I've had many friends with decent cases who've had heat issues with just their 4870s using stock coolers, some of which were forced to buy aftermarket VGA coolers just to quell their graphics issues. I did my research and found that the IceQ line of Radeon cards from HIS was one of the highest rated cards with a special cooler built-in. HIS didn't offer a 4890 with the IceQ cooler from what I could find, so I decided the slower clocked 4870 with an IceQ cooler was for me.
I'm happy with my choice, but I still want a little more power. When pushing heavy AA/AF on some games I've seen the FPS dip below 30 average, which is a little too noticeable for me. Because it pertains to the situation, here's the rest of my rig:
Corsair 750w PSU (4 PCIE connectors)
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe (supports crossfire)
Phenom 9950 2.6Ghz
8GB DDR2 1066
So my question is how much will crossfire improve my performance? Will my CPU bottleneck it? I haven't done heavy research on it, but it appears crossfire really helps most with high resolution displays. My 22" monitor only supports 1680x1050. Does my low resolution make crossfire a less desirable choice for me?
Thanks for the help, guys.
I chose this card even though I wanted a 4890 for heat concerns. I've had many friends with decent cases who've had heat issues with just their 4870s using stock coolers, some of which were forced to buy aftermarket VGA coolers just to quell their graphics issues. I did my research and found that the IceQ line of Radeon cards from HIS was one of the highest rated cards with a special cooler built-in. HIS didn't offer a 4890 with the IceQ cooler from what I could find, so I decided the slower clocked 4870 with an IceQ cooler was for me.
I'm happy with my choice, but I still want a little more power. When pushing heavy AA/AF on some games I've seen the FPS dip below 30 average, which is a little too noticeable for me. Because it pertains to the situation, here's the rest of my rig:
Corsair 750w PSU (4 PCIE connectors)
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe (supports crossfire)
Phenom 9950 2.6Ghz
8GB DDR2 1066
So my question is how much will crossfire improve my performance? Will my CPU bottleneck it? I haven't done heavy research on it, but it appears crossfire really helps most with high resolution displays. My 22" monitor only supports 1680x1050. Does my low resolution make crossfire a less desirable choice for me?
Thanks for the help, guys.