Which brand off HD4850 should I get, want technical input

[Bold Eagle]

Okay after seeing all the reviews on the HD4850 and HD4870 I just can't help myself and have to get one. I currently have a Crucial x1900xtx and it's getting dated and holding back the rest of my system. Also I have Crysis coming in 2-3 days and don't want to play it on mid-low settings.

I have a choice of the following 5 Brands and would really like some technical input into which may be the better choice, especially after noting some reviews talk about the heat being generated from these cards:

GeCube
Gigabyte
Hightech
Powercolor
Sapphire

I come from Australia and we wont get some of the brands that you may, here is a link from on online retailer that carries the most brands of HD4850:

http://www.onlinevip.com.au/advanced...fe9ec7&x=0&y=0

All suggestions greatly appreciated.

[akhilles]

I beat you to the punch. Mine is in the rig. Tried out 2 games. Looks great. But I'd love to see the glory of DX10 since it's a DX10 card.

Mine is Sapphire. The price is $160. :D :D :D No stupid rebates. I paid taxes. That's it. Came out to $192 which is the asking price at most places around here & online.

FWIW, I have always used Sapphire ATi cards without any issues whatsoever. Maybe I'm careful when it comes to pc parts.

[Bold Eagle]

Wanna see a benchie!!

[Fred_G]

So is the 4870 better than the 3870 X2? Dang video card names and numbers are confusing! I remember when the 9800 was ATI?!

Bold Eagle, you are getting jacked on prices down under! I just ordered an ASUS 3870 X2 with 2 games for $308.54 shipped with a possible $30 rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121247

You are going to love Crysis! It is amazing on my soon to be old 3850 card.

E

[Bold Eagle]

Originally Posted by Fred_G

So is the 4870 better than the 3870 X2? Dang video card names and numbers are confusing! I remember when the 9800 was ATI?!

Bold Eagle, you are getting jacked on prices down under! I just ordered an ASUS 3870 X2 with 2 games for $308.54 shipped with a possible $30 rebate.

Can't answer the first question but here's some reviews and ATI caught many with their pants down for this series :

ATI Radeon HD 4870 Review/Preview Listing

I'm hearing you we do get shafted down under so I bought my RAM direct from Micron and saved a bundle and it was here in 3-4 working days, damn it can take longer for national post!!!

Here is arguably one of our better PC suppliers, I have spent almost 3k with them and have a look at our prices, 3870 x2 $485-$527AUD at 96.05 USD exchange rate =~548USD.

http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=5

Last time I got my Video Card from Crucial as well only to find out by the time my package arrived in Australia that 1k+ purchases attract 10%GST (below that and it's free), mine cost $1078AUD . But then this year I got more RAM from Micron at about $70USD, paid $470AUD in August 2006 same RAM kit....ouch.

[Bold Eagle]

Originally Posted by Fred_G

You are going to love Crysis! It is amazing on my soon to be old 3850 card.

E

Looking forward to it as they utilise the 64Bit environment. Have been a WoW tragic for about 18months but had a gutfull of the end-game RAID dramas (had got to 5/6 in SSC). OUCH just checked your link that really hurts thanfully the 4850 aren't priced at to great a difference, ~$229AUD no rebates, nothing but the store is 4km's away and have been solid in the past.

[akhilles]

I don't wanna do benchies cuz they'll look more or less the same as what we've seen so far. I'm using Catalyst 8.6 which should have been used in some reviews that give RV770 a bad rap. There are TONs of benchmarks on the web:

http://www.3dfxzone.it/news/puntatore.php?uid=7580
http://translate.google.com/translat...sl=zh-CN&tl=en
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...rd-review.html

I would've gone HD4870 but the extra $100 is a bit too much and pushing the ToC close to a current-gen game console. The only difference is the GDDR5. $200 is the most I'd spend on a cpu/gpu/mobo. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the kingpins overclocks the HD 4850 to nearly a 4870.

One thing that stands out is anti-alias. AA is pretty taxing on Geforce, but not Radeon. I turn it to 2x. Gameplay is still smooth. All other video settings maxed out. at 1440x900.

I'm beginning to think AMD knows they'll lose the cpu battle to Intel so they focus their resources on the gpu battle.

[Bold Eagle]

Well for any that are interested here are some benchies for my new Sapphire HD4850. Damn I love theses sort of upgrades,

1. With Crucial x1900xtx and Cat 8.6
2. Sapphire 4850 with Cat 8.6
3. Sapphire 4850 with "hotfix" Drivers!!!! You have gotta get these!

[Bold Eagle]

Damn these cards come with an appalling Fan profile and sadly RivaTuner (and similar software) doesn't support the 48xx series yet.

Some of these cards are idling at 79C mine was at 69C and I have been able to reduce it to about 50C by following this thread (I set my Fan speed to 40% and really can't hear any difference):

http://www.rage3d.com/BOARD/showthread.php?t=33926633

Furthermore I removed the stock heatsink and applied Acrtic Silver 5, went from 69C to 55c by modding Fan profile and then 55C to about 51C with thermal paste, be careful the RAM pads are very sticky and it took a bit to get the heatsink off.

[akhilles]

Welcome to the RV770 clan! :D

Mine idles at 75C. Don't know about load. Thanks for the heads-up on the hotfix & tweak. On my way to get them.

[Bold Eagle]

Got 14k+ 3DMark06 with a little OC now that I have the temps under better control.

[akhilles]

Nice. My card now idles at 52C!

[Bold Eagle]

It works really well but just keep your eye on it as it has been pointed out their is no temp controlled profile now (fans wont change speeds at certain temp ranges) because we switched from Automatic to Manual, but as someone else observed it never went above 37% Fan at 100C+ now something is wrong there. Hopefully wont be long before the new version of RivaTuner comes out and we can make proper temp range profiles.