Is it worth the upgrade?

[maney266]

I am thinking of buying a 1GB ati radeon 4870
My specs
8 gb corsair/dell ram
Intel core 2 quad q8200
1 TB sunsung f1
Gigabyte ep45 ds3p
600W Corsair IGREEn
XFX 8800GTS 320mb

Is it worth upgrading and selling the old 8800gts

 

[hunter315]

What isnt it doing that you would like it to? What resolution do you play at? Its a 6 tier jump based on the hierarchy chart, but the c2q q8200 isnt a very fast quad so that may be your limiting factor. Consider getting a heatsink to OC a bit too.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2404-7.html

 

[maney266]

What isnt it doing that you would like it to? What resolution do you play at? Its a 6 tier jump based on the hierarchy chart, but the c2q q8200 isnt a very fast quad so that may be your limiting factor. Consider getting a heatsink to OC a bit too.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2404-7.html

I can play crysis at 800x600 res which is very low i would like to play new demanding games at a better res and higher detail
Also i am getting a new core cooler so i will be overclocking q8200 from 2.33 to 3ghz

 

[hunter315]

Whats the max resolution of your monitor? Dont use crysis at very high as your benchmark, it requires obscene amounts of horsepower. Assuming you arent running into a CPU bottleneck you will be able to play crysis on high at 1280x1024 with a 4850, and at 1680x1050 and possibly 1920x1200 with a 4870. Whats the native resolution of your monitor?

 

[coozie7]

The OC is a good idea.
For 16x10 or less I'd recommend something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161244

It's not the cheapest but makes up for it with a very good cooler.

And at 1920x1200/1080 resolution:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161265

Unless someone can tell me different, avoid this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150436

I had one and returned it after 2 days, 92c at 100 LOUD percent fan was just not good enough!

 

[maney266]

Whats the max resolution of your monitor? Dont use crysis at very high as your benchmark, it requires obscene amounts of horsepower. Assuming you arent running into a CPU bottleneck you will be able to play crysis on high at 1280x1024 with a 4850, and at 1680x1050 and possibly 1920x1200 with a 4870. Whats the native resolution of your monitor?

My native resolution is 1920x1080
could i play crysis at this res? (1080p) on high
my relative said it could easy even with the 512mb one
New question should i get 1gb or 512mb (1gb is 20 pounds more)

 

[maney266]

The OC is a good idea.
For 16x10 or less I'd recommend something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161244

It's not the cheapest but makes up for it with a very good cooler.

And at 1920x1200/1080 resolution:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161265

Unless someone can tell me different, avoid this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150436

I had one and returned it after 2 days, 92c at 100 LOUD percent fan was just not good enough!

These cards are not available in the UK to my knowledge i was looking at either the XFX eddition or the saphire edit

 

[hunter315]

For 1920x1200, you can run it with a 512MB card but the minimum FPS will be significantly lower, stick with the 1GB card though as it provides a boost in most other games
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-ram-4870,2428-5.html

By the sapphire edition and the XFX edition do you mean these two?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-188-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-120-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939
As the sapphire one doesnt come with a vapor-x cooler or anything i would go for the XFX since its cheaper and has the better warranty.