Radeon HD 4850 versus Radeon HD 4870

[DarkDwarf]

I'm building a PC on a budget and I want to know how much more power I'm getting for my extra $200. (I'd buy either 2x 4850 or 2x 4870, hence $200, not $100)

While I don't know what the y-axis in these charts is (http://www.nordichardware.com/news,7854.html), there doesn't appear to be much of a difference in performance, though looking at the specs, the 4870 beats the 4850 by 200 mHz on clock speed.

Is the 4870 really all that much better? Is it worth the $200?

 

[SpinachEater]

What resolutions are you going to use?

 

[Guest]

Nobody can tell you that yet.

You're going to have to wait until the cards launch to get real reviews.

 

[Nik_I]

the 4870 isnt even out yet, so you wont find any real/credible reviews or benchmarks of it. it will be a fair bit faster, but if you dont play at really high resolutions, (i believe 1680x1050 is the cut-off point). if you play below that, the 4850 would probably be a better buy for you. otherwise, the 4870 is the best choice.

 

[DarkDwarf]

I play on a 19 inch CRT monitor... the desktop is around 1280x something....

 

[DarkDwarf]

Though I just discovered that one of my two monitors (the one I will be gaming on), can go up to 1600x1200. I just recently hooked up two monitors to my old computer...

Though I thought that this was negligible. I thought that the game automatically changed ones resolution....

 

[Conumdrum]

Playing a game on a WS at 1600x1200 is supported by most games now. it's an incredible difference. You can set the resolution in 90% or more of the games.

The big key is at above 1680x1050 or so and very high settings you need a fast card, and 1 gig of memory starts to make a diff for loading frames etc.

As long as your not a resolution freak and need to see every pixle in a game at it's most highest setting (expensive) the two 4850's will be plenty.

I'm looking at a single card solution tho, always easier.

Waiting for the 4870x2 and the GTX280 to be shown in head to head battle before I make my decision.

 

[Dalyinx]

The 4870x2 should mop the floor with the GTX280, even if it only scales 30%.

 

[ovaltineplease]

There have been a few previews of the 4870, and it is markably better than the 4850 however something you have to understand about computer hardware is that the higher you go on the performance scale the more it will cost you with the less return

If you are building a //BUDGET// gaming PC the first thing to think about is what kind of games you like to play - if you are not that interested in new games coming out like Fallout 3, Farcry 2, or Stalker: Clear Sky ; then single 4850 or 4870 is probably enough for you for now. Either plays Crysis quite acceptably, apparently.

You can always add another video card later on if your gaming needs increase - but basically just build to your current needs and if you want to make a performance upgrade then Crossfiring would be your most cost effective later increase.

Thats my opinion, in a nut shell - and it pretty much goes for any hardware. Build to your needs, then you won't be regretting your decisions later; the fundimental idea is to make well educated decisions with your money regardless of what performance level you are trying to target~

 

[DarkDwarf]

I am very interested in the newest games coming out. I'm an avid gamer and have a large collection of games, which I continue to add to. May I ask what the average time before one sees a price drop in a newer card is?

Another thing: how quickly are GFX cards evolving these days? For instance, how well will lets say dual 4870s be able to run games a year from now? Two years? I understand that no one really knows, but calculating using previous data... I haven't really shopped for new GFX cards for a couple years.

 

[bydesign]

The 4870 is about 5% faster than the 4850, not sure what ovaltineplease saw.

Unless you are at 1600x1200 or greater one will suite you just fine. If you pickup a 4850 get one of the dual slot cooler models or go after market for cooling. The 4870 just doesn't make sense from a cost perspective.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/25/ati-radeon-hd-4850-and-4870-reviewed-all-that-and-a-bag-of-rv77/

 

[copasetic]

That review you linked says it's 20% faster, most of the others do too.

 

[bydesign]

I stand corrected even at 20% it's not worth the price. In the games that bring them to there knees that's about 5FPS and the game would still be unplayable or hinder your playing. Not worth $100 in my book and if you go crossfire to solve issue I have a stronger argument. The problem is crossfire is very title specific.

The 4870 is a great card but just not good enough because the 4850 is such a great value. The real issue to me is that crossfire doesn't work worth a crap in anything I currently play. I will hold out for the X2 version reviews if they keep there word that will cost around $399 and may avoid their crossfire issues in many games.

 

[DarkDwarf]

The X2 version would only cost $400... wow. Any idea when the estimated release date would be?

My current plan is to buy one 4870 and wait until the price drops to buy another card (though this all depends on when I buy, as it may be a bit).