New card time....again.

TerrorFirmer

Well, this time not out of necessity of performance, just practicality. I had GTX260 Sli but I have a P5N-D, and the layout is abysmal - the 2nd card covers all the sata ports, making it impossible to have anymore then 1 sata device (and even then, its a tight squeeze even with a corner cable). I plan having several sata devices so this wasn't really acceptable. They were the 192SP edition by the way, still have 1 in there on its lonesome but it just doesn't have the grunt I need. Specs are 750w Quad Silencer, E8600, 8Gb ram and....here's what I have in mind. The X2 seems a winner, but I was a bit concerned about noise levels. But then again I've got noisy case fans going at full whack so I think it's not really a deal breaker. Nvidia just seems like a loser....with the X2 at 199, the 4890 at 169 and the 1GB 4870 at 150, I can't see myself buying any Nvidia card right now - the GTX 275 alone is barely faster then the 4890 costs about 50-60 more. Ridiculous.

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/1909482/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-4850-x2-2-gb-gd.html

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/2955756/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd4890-vapor-x-1-g.html

Any further ideas?

StopNotWorking

I have the 4850x2. Don't get it. End of. Horrible card for the money I payed. Loud and a good amount of games treat it as one 4850. Not to mention it's huge. I have a P5Q Pro and it's in the top slot, it is so long that it clears the MoBo and leaves no cable routing space between the edge of the MoBo tray and the drive cages in my cooler master 590.

It's a money sink unless you have a lot of screens and even then there are probably better solutions..

That 4890 doesn't look too shabby. Good price too.

TerrorFirmer

Meant to say that I'd be playing entirely mainstream games i.e most likely to have full crossfire support. I'm an FPS junkie...don't really play anything else. I'm not too bothered about clearance as the bays are nice and roomy and the cables can be pushed back easily enough...but I'll keep that in mind. The 4890 is really looking good to be honest.

StopNotWorking

Just take my word on it lol, better to have the one card that runs everything great instead of a card that only runs some stuff great. And it's loud as f***. On boot up it goes to 100% and if your MoBo is anything like mine then the boot up time will be a good few seconds.

IMO the only thing I like about this card is its looks. It's the sexiest gpu I've ever seen. Much better then those VHS nvidia cards. They just took that design too far..

AlmightyCushion

If I were you I'd get the 4890. I've the 1GB 4870 and it's maxed pretty much everything I've played at 1920 x 1200 (can't remember what I use aa/af wise). So the 4890 would be a nice step above that.

TerrorFirmer

I'm really anal about my games. I run everything at 1920x1200 maxed out with AA/AF. At the moment my 896MB GTX260 is struggling a little at those settings in some games. The 4890 is a considerable improvement, but the 4850x2 on paper, in compatiable games, easily trumps the 4890 - but hardly hearing good things here.

It's not that I don't know how the cards perform, it's just the last thing I want to do is buy something and end up upgrading in month or two again. That's why I'm interested in the X2 - for 199 it offers unbeatable performance. It soundly cripples the GTX280 in pretty much all mainstream games for example; there's very little in between the price range of say, the 4890 1GB and the GTX285, the latter being crap value for money in terms of performance per euro against the 4890. So I'm in a position where my budget (about 200-220) offers me either the X2 or the 4890 - with the 4890 being way below budget but without anything else in my price range that offers a better price: performance ratio, and the X2 being perfect in theory but flawed in practice.

StopNotWorking

What benchmarks have you gotten those results from? Anything I found compared the 4850x2 against older cards due to its release date.

AlmightyCushion

I didn't know the x2 was only €200. My 4870 cost me 190 when I bought, right pain in the arse. With the x2 being €200 it's a tough decision. I'd probably go with the x2 myself.

PogMoThoin

I got a 4870x2 delivered to a friends house in the UK (got it ordered with a UK cc) and forwarded here for under €300 a few weeks back. Currency rate isn't as good now though, You can now add €20, but still great value, cheapest one on komplett is €360 + postage for the cheapest Sapphire one

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-XFX-HD-4870-X2-PCI-E-20-3600MHz-GDDR5-GPU-750MHz-1600-Cores-CrossFire-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDTV

AlmightyCushion

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Thats the 4850x2, not the 4870x2. 4850 has Gddr3 not Gddr5 and is a good bit slower

That's what I get for not reading his post properly. In that case I'd go with the 4890.

Overheal

I like running games at outrageous settings too: I just do it years after the game has been launched and hardware to run circles around it is just pennies

But if you're fortunate enough to have the budget to go that route, Can you not just build a GPU enclosure or something, and use a ribbon cable/extender from the card slot? GPU gets its own cooling, doesnt bleed heat into the system, doesnt take up space in the case, etc.

AlmightyCushion

Overheal wrote: »

I like running games at outrageous settings too: I just do it years after the game has been launched and hardware to run circles around it is just pennies

But if you're fortunate enough to have the budget to go that route, Can you not just build a GPU enclosure or something, and use a ribbon cable/extender from the card slot? GPU gets its own cooling, doesnt bleed heat into the system, doesnt take up space in the case, etc.

How much would that cost though?

Overheal

Good question tbh. Its the kind of thing youd want to speak with a professional about. Defnitely still a custom job, till the manufacturers cop the **** on.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch_v3.asp?scriteria=BA22813

thats your building block anyway.

TerrorFirmer

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I got a 4870x2 delivered to a friends house in the UK (got it ordered with a UK cc) and forwarded here for under €300 a few weeks back. Currency rate isn't as good now though, You can now add €20, but still great value, cheapest one on komplett is €360 + postage for the cheapest Sapphire one

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-XFX-HD-4870-X2-PCI-E-20-3600MHz-GDDR5-GPU-750MHz-1600-Cores-CrossFire-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDTV

Pixmania have the 4870X2 in stock @ 299. Hate them, but their prices are unbeatable. I find Komplett are rubbish, generally.

What benchmarks have you gotten those results from? Anything I found compared the 4850x2 against older cards due to its release date.

Any pro reviews, and that was with older drivers - the situation can only have gotten better. The X2 in question is a 2Gb model. The main complaint with the X2 was 1) Noise/Heat 2) price - but the latter isn't applicable anymore when its only 199.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/sapphire_4850x2_2gb_pcie_graphics_card/1

TerrorFirmer

Went with the 4890 1GB Vapor-X - 195 delivered. Should be able to clock that thing to the heavens.

cherryghost

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Went with the 4890 1GB Vapor-X - 195 delivered. Should be able to clock that thing to the heavens.

http://guru3d.com/article/sapphire-toxic-hd-4890-vaporx-review/

TerrorFirmer

That's a different one, this is the one I bought. Looking forward to seeing how far I can take it - the vapor x cooler is meant to be pretty much the best gpu air cooling available.

PogMoThoin

Good choice, beast of a cooler