What HD 4870 brand must i choose?

Don't really know the ATI brands, so was wondering what must i choose??

Sapphire, Powercolor, Gigabyte or Asus?.. Or wahtever else.. Are all of them more or less the same speed??

Thanx

Okay cool, i don't really care about warrenties.. I just curious which one's are the quickest?? Or are they all the same??BAm-bAM_

They're pretty much all the same.

Any ATI GPU that follows (or looks like) ATI's reference model, is built by ATI. This includes cards that have different stickers placed on the cooler, for example.

Go with whatever brand is the cheapest or has the best customer service.

[QUOTE="BAm-bAM_"]Okay cool, i don't really care about warrenties.. I just curious which one's are the quickest?? Or are they all the same??Wesker776

They're pretty much all the same.

Any ATI GPU that follows (or looks like) ATI's reference model, is built by ATI. This includes cards that have different stickers placed on the cooler, for example.

Go with whatever brand is the cheapest or has the best customer service.

Thanx so much, thats what i was wanting to know.. Wanting to go for this

http://www.prophecy.co.za/force3d-hd4870-reference-design-512mb-ddr5-256bit-p-29108.html

Will that be fine?? There a cheaper one for a R100 less but not familiar with the brand gecube?

Or Should i go for this

http://www.prophecy.co.za/zotac-gtx260-896mb-edition-graphics-card-p-29277.html

[QUOTE="Wesker776"]

[QUOTE="BAm-bAM_"]Okay cool, i don't really care about warrenties.. I just curious which one's are the quickest?? Or are they all the same??BAm-bAM_

They're pretty much all the same.

Any ATI GPU that follows (or looks like) ATI's reference model, is built by ATI. This includes cards that have different stickers placed on the cooler, for example.

Go with whatever brand is the cheapest or has the best customer service.

Thanx so much, thats what i was wanting to know.. Wanting to go for this

http://www.prophecy.co.za/force3d-hd4870-reference-design-512mb-ddr5-256bit-p-29108.html

Will that be fine?? There a cheaper one for a R100 less but not familiar with the brand gecube?

Both Force3D and GeCube are fairly good brands.

Go for the GeCube if it's cheaper.

Or Should i go for this

http://www.prophecy.co.za/zotac-gtx260-896mb-edition-graphics-card-p-29277.html

BAm-bAM_

The GTX 260 is completely obsolete to the HD4870.

how is it obsolete ? they perfomr the same and sometimes te gtx is better and other times the gtx and in crysis you'll find that the gtx beats 4870 in all resolutions (in the 1st link)!

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4870-review--asus/10

http://www.trustedreviews.com/graphics/review/2008/07/11/nVidia-GeForce-GTX-260/p5

how is it obsolete ? they perfomr the same and sometimes te gtx is better and other times the gtx and in crysis you'll find that the gtx beats 4870 in all resolutions (in the 1st link)!

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4870-review--asus/10

http://www.trustedreviews.com/graphics/review/2008/07/11/nVidia-GeForce-GTX-260/p5

sentenced83

Its not the GTX thats the bad card....Its nvidia that overprices every damn thing they release.

You have to babysit the fan speeds on the HD4870Staryoshi87

Idle mode: activate profile with 35% speed, Game mode: activate 50%. Done. Big deal.

deal with driversStaryoshi87

That's vague. ATI has had good drivers for years, but Nvidia fanboys prefer to live in the past and think that they suck. I'll take monthly WHQL drivers over quarterly drivers and plenty of beta drivers in between.

The HD4870 was not a noticable upgrade from my 8800GTS in games not named CrysisStaryoshi87

Funny because that's the game where there's the least improvement going from one card to the next superior one. All the hardware sites show a significant improvement going from 8800 to 4870 in most games not named Crysis. I think i'll trust them more than I trust you. I'm not saying you're a liar, but your results were weird and it's probably because of a bottleneck.

Power management is a million times better for the GTX260, too.Staryoshi87

38 more watts at idle and about equal under load. I'm sure you'll save the polar bears and be a lot richer at the end of the year with your electricity bills. And it's about equal in power consumption as the 8800GTX, which i don't think consumes much more than your card.

http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/Graphics_Slugfest%3A_ATI_Radeon_HD_4850_CF%2C_HD_4870%2C_HD_4870_CF_vs._NVIDIA_GeForce_GTX_260%2C_GTX_280/5935-11.html

check the link

Okay cool, i don't really care about warrenties.. I just curious which one's are the quickest?? Or are they all the same??BAm-bAM_

If you dont care about warrentys then dont bother asking your question. All the cards are the same excluding like 0.1ghz diffrence... same card design and specs. Who ever build its just gives a diffrent warrenty.

how is it obsolete ? they perfomr the same and sometimes te gtx is better and other times the gtx and in crysis you'll find that the gtx beats 4870 in all resolutions (in the 1st link)!

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4870-review--asus/10

http://www.trustedreviews.com/graphics/review/2008/07/11/nVidia-GeForce-GTX-260/p5

sentenced83

:|

I can't believe some people are still debating this...

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15293 - HD4870 X2 Review (8.7 and 8.8 beta drivers for the HD4870 and HD4870 X2 respectively)

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14990/1 - HD4870 and HD4850 Review (8.6 drivers IIRC)

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-260-review/9

here teh gtx is better than the 487 m and so yes people are still debating this !

wrong link before , check this one

http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/Graphics_Slugfest%3A_ATI_Radeon_HD_4850_CF%2C_HD_4870%2C_HD_4870_CF_vs._NVIDIA_GeForce_GTX_260%2C_GTX_280/5935-11.html

I prefer the GTX260 to the HD4870. You have to babysit the fan speeds on the HD4870, deal with drivers, and it's just not worth it imo. The HD4870 was not a noticable upgrade from my 8800GTS in games not named Crysis. I wouldn't buy either at thsi time, though, as GTX and perhaps HD4xxx refreshes are in the pipeline. I would buy a GTX260 for $270 (MSI from Newegg) before Id buy a HD4870 for the same price. Raw performance in most games shows the HD4870 to be a better card purely in terms of performance, but there is much more to a GPU than that imo. Power management is a million times better for the GTX260, too. Powerplay doesn't work on the HD4870, but the gtx260 idles using minimal power. I nearly swung back to ATI for the first time since I got my 8800 (Radeon 9200 => X800GTO => 8800GTS), but nVidia pulled me back in. Physx seemed unimportant before I got my hands on it, now that's a key addition for nVidia too as it's won me over.Staryoshi87

I agree, raw power isn't everything. I'm waiting for GTX260+

^^ keep waiting then and enjoy the price of it also lol.

it proven that 4870 best card over gtx 260 UNLESS you can get gtx 260 version with boosted stats for same price.

On the issue of which brand personaly id get sapphie or ASus version, which you could get 1gb version which i hear is very good, and runs nearly upto GTX 280 specs from reveiws heres a link.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-091-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939&name=Powercolor%20ATI%20Radeon%20HD%204870%201024MB%20GDDR5%20TV-Out/Dual%20DVI/HDMI%20(PCI-Express)%20-%20Retail

[QUOTE="Staryoshi87"]You have to babysit the fan speeds on the HD4870matrixian

Idle mode: activate profile with 35% speed, Game mode: activate 50%. Done. Big deal.

deal with driversStaryoshi87

That's vague. ATI has had good drivers for years, but Nvidia fanboys prefer to live in the past and think that they suck. I'll take monthly WHQL drivers over quarterly drivers and plenty of beta drivers in between.

The HD4870 was not a noticable upgrade from my 8800GTS in games not named CrysisStaryoshi87

Funny because that's the game where there's the least improvement going from one card to the next superior one. All the hardware sites show a significant improvement going from 8800 to 4870 in most games not named Crysis. I think i'll trust them more than I trust you. I'm not saying you're a liar, but your results were weird and it's probably because of a bottleneck.

Power management is a million times better for the GTX260, too.Staryoshi87

38 more watts at idle and about equal under load. I'm sure you'll save the polar bears and be a lot richer at the end of the year with your electricity bills. And it's about equal in power consumption as the 8800GTX, which i don't think consumes much more than your card.

You have to adjust the fan speed every time you start your computer. Every time you want it to be cooler or quieter. It is NOT a significant improvement in ANY game at resolutions of 1680x1050 vs an 8800GTS 640mb except Crysis. Beyond letting you crank up AA and AF a little further and maintain similar frame-rates, it won't do much for you. 3.0Ghz e6600 will not bottleneck any card out there, which is what I've got. I believe anandtech more than I believe techreport, which says 46 watts idle, 16 watts load more. I think it's understated, too, as the HD4870 doesn't have working powerplay. Part of the DRIVER issue I mentioned. It downclocks the core to 500 and doesn't downclock memory at all. If you OC your card to 790/1100, you card will idle at 500/1100. It's a power-hungry beast. 2 months later and the cards aren't fully functional as advertised. Weak. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

Pretty much every one of your "counterpoints"are null and void as far as I'm concerned.

Also, to get back to the TC's question, I recommend Visiontek due to it's lifetime limited warranty or Diamond due to its, if I remember correctly, something like 2% defect rate, very low.

Overall, it is NOT worth an upgrade from an 8800 series card to a HD4850/70 if you play at 1680x1050 or less. You can play every game at high or near max settings, even Crysis, with acceptable framerates. If you must upgrade, I suggest you wait at least for the refresh of the GTX/HD48xx series. Don't let DX10.1 tempt you, either, because you should know by now that buying a video card in an attempt to "future-proof" your pc generally doesn't work out. Wait for the tech to be used, then buy the card. HDMI audio is great, 55nm is great, competitive performance is great, but unless you've got Chronic Upgrade Disease (CUD), I strongly suggest you stay your wallet for a few months.

Overall, it is NOT worth an upgrade from an 8800 series card to a HD4850/70 if you play at 1680x1050 or less. You can play every game at high or near max settings, even Crysis, with acceptable framerates. If you must upgrade, I suggest you wait at least for the refresh of the GTX/HD48xx series. Don't let DX10.1 tempt you, either, because you should know by now that buying a video card in an attempt to "future-proof" your pc generally doesn't work out. Wait for the tech to be used, then buy the card. HDMI audio is great, 55nm is great, competitive performance is great, but unless you've got Chronic Upgrade Disease (CUD), I strongly suggest you stay your wallet for a few months.

Staryoshi87

Why would u wait for refresh? If these cards aren't fast enough, according to you, then refresh won't be fast enough either. At least not the one that's coming out soon.

[QUOTE="matrixian"]

[QUOTE="Staryoshi87"]You have to babysit the fan speeds on the HD4870Staryoshi87

Idle mode: activate profile with 35% speed, Game mode: activate 50%. Done. Big deal.

deal with driversStaryoshi87

That's vague. ATI has had good drivers for years, but Nvidia fanboys prefer to live in the past and think that they suck. I'll take monthly WHQL drivers over quarterly drivers and plenty of beta drivers in between.

The HD4870 was not a noticable upgrade from my 8800GTS in games not named CrysisStaryoshi87

Funny because that's the game where there's the least improvement going from one card to the next superior one. All the hardware sites show a significant improvement going from 8800 to 4870 in most games not named Crysis. I think i'll trust them more than I trust you. I'm not saying you're a liar, but your results were weird and it's probably because of a bottleneck.

Power management is a million times better for the GTX260, too.Staryoshi87

38 more watts at idle and about equal under load. I'm sure you'll save the polar bears and be a lot richer at the end of the year with your electricity bills. And it's about equal in power consumption as the 8800GTX, which i don't think consumes much more than your card.

You have to adjust the fan speed every time you start your computer. Every time you want it to be cooler or quieter. It is NOT a significant improvement in ANY game at resolutions of 1680x1050 vs an 8800GTS 640mb except Crysis. Beyond letting you crank up AA and AF a little further and maintain similar frame-rates, it won't do much for you. 3.0Ghz e6600 will not bottleneck any card out there, which is what I've got. I believe anandtech more than I believe techreport, which says 46 watts idle, 16 watts load more. I think it's understated, too, as the HD4870 doesn't have working powerplay. Part of the DRIVER issue I mentioned. It downclocks the core to 500 and doesn't downclock memory at all. If you OC your card to 790/1100, you card will idle at 500/1100. It's a power-hungry beast. 2 months later and the cards aren't fully functional as advertised. Weak. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22

Pretty much every one of your "counterpoints"are null and void as far as I'm concerned.

Also, to get back to the TC's question, I recommend Visiontek due to it's lifetime limited warranty or Diamond due to its, if I remember correctly, something like 2% defect rate, very low.

Overall, it is NOT worth an upgrade from an 8800 series card to a HD4850/70 if you play at 1680x1050 or less. You can play every game at high or near max settings, even Crysis, with acceptable framerates. If you must upgrade, I suggest you wait at least for the refresh of the GTX/HD48xx series. Don't let DX10.1 tempt you, either, because you should know by now that buying a video card in an attempt to "future-proof" your pc generally doesn't work out. Wait for the tech to be used, then buy the card. HDMI audio is great, 55nm is great, competitive performance is great, but unless you've got Chronic Upgrade Disease (CUD), I strongly suggest you stay your wallet for a few months.

At startup CCC automatically loads the last profile that was used before shutting down the computer. I only change the fan speed when i'm gaming, and activating a profile takes 2 seconds. I don't check the temps often, it's not like it's gonna melt. And don't you have a fan controller you have to babysit too ?

This is how much the HD4870 is faster than the 8800GT, which is a little faster than your 8800GTS 640, at 1680x1050 (Anandtech):

Crysis: 37%
Call of Duty 4: 69%
ET Quake Wars: 97%
Assassin's Creed: 37%
Witcher: 71%
Oblivion: 38.5%
Bioshock: 98%

vs 8800GTX (Tech Report)

Half-Life 2: 59%
Grid: 68% (1920x1200)
Assassin's Creed unpatched using DX10.1: 91% (2560x1600, props to them for doing that benchmark)

If that's not significant then I don't know what is.

About PowerPlay, it will probably be fixed in future drivers. Until then I won't lose sleep over that matter. The idle power consumption of a video card means nothing if you use a big monitor, overclock a lot, have a big set of surround speakers, etc. And the HD4870 consumes about the same as the 8800GTX that was released nearly 2 years ago. Imo you're just nitpicking.