Second 4870 or 4890

So ive been out of the game for a while, and i would like a few opinions on a possible upgrade. I currently have a 4870 512mb video card, and there are a few games where i dont get the kind of fps i want at maximum settings. I game at 1920x1200 and would like to run 16x af and 4-8x aa. I know i wont get crysis at that setting, but my minimum fps in games like far cry 2, wow ( in dalaran on a busy day) or left for dead dip below 30 fairly often. Overall the games are playable, but i would really like to see my minimum fps be in the 40-45 range.

My two choices are as follows, buy a second 4870 512, or buy a single 4890 1gb, which would allow me to sell my current 4870. I could probably get about half the cost of a 4890 for my used 4870 as its in good shape, leaving me looking at about 100$ to get a 4890. So, would I see any kind of real gains at 19x12 from the extra 512 of vram ( and the higher clocks), or should i just go for a second 4870 512, assuming my 550 antec can even take a second 4870 ( opinions on that are welcome as well).

my Left 4 Dead running at 1680x1050 with full aa and af almost never drops below 60. Its averagely around 100. Same card, though I've got the 1gb model.. Dunno how much of a diff that would make.

Back to the original topic: It's entirely up to personal preference.. The 2nd HD4870 will easily give you better performance than the HD4890. but It depends if your PSU will handle it well enough? 550w is cutting it close for a OC'd quad system.

That said; the HD4890 is probably not enough of a leap in terms of performance from the model JUST below it. But again maybe that extra 512 of ram will help you a lot more considering the res you game at (as we all know RAM comes more into play at/after the res I play at)

If you can get a really good deal on the HD4890 that'd be your 'smarter' choice overall. because no I doubt that 550W PSU will handle it. I remember seeing how my 550 would handle xfire with a OC'd tri-core; as well as 2 hdds; 2 dvd drives, 4 fans, etc. And It was over 550. And I'd easily say that your quad being both a quad and a higher manufacturing process (65 compared to my 45) would draw more power thus limiting your potential output for the xfire.

So yes HD4890 is my choice here.

EDIT: http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine

I did an 'approximate' calculation of your setup (1.5v on the OC around? I have no idea) using your setup as a 'high end' motherboard (to make sure it covers it) and capacitor aging at 20%.

Also 2 HDD's; 2 DVD drives; 4 120 MM regular fans. With the vid card and all it was not far from 500 (around 470). With xfire option selected it hit 600W. So you'd be out of luck there!

Buy an HD4890 and you will notice a large improvement in FPS due to the extra memory and clock speed. They can also overclock quite a bit more than an HD4870.

Quailane said:

Buy an HD4890 and you will notice a large improvement in FPS due to the extra memory and clock speed. They can also overclock quite a bit more than an HD4870.

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(1) 4890 > (2) 4870, is that the consensus here?

DohDoh said:

(1) 4890 > (2) 4870, is that the consensus here?

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Only for this situation; as the 2nd HD4870 wouldn't have enough juice from his power supply. Thus he'd be better off with a single higher card, rather than a multi-gpu solution.

Naturally 2x HD4870 > HD4890! But for this purpose/situation the single HD4890 seems the smarter option.

If you had a 1gb 4870 I think we would all go the other way and say get a 2nd card. But at the resolution and with any AA the double memory makes a massive difference. If it makes ya feel good I game @ 1920x1080 with 4aa and 16af in L4D and peg out 60 constant and run 40-60 on farcry 2. this is with vsync enabled and with a mild oc of like 900 core 1050 mem

Mjolnir said:

Only for this situation; as the 2nd HD4870 wouldn't have enough juice from his power supply. Thus he'd be better off with a single higher card, rather than a multi-gpu solution.

Naturally 2x HD4870 > HD4890! But for this purpose/situation the single HD4890 seems the smarter option.

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I am thinking about switching to the HD4890 from a x850XT PE. However, I am concerned about my power supply. I used the extreme outervision calculator and it recommended a 430 watt p.s. using extreme loads. I currently use a 430 watt p.s. so maybe I might be able to get away with it.

DohDoh said:

I am thinking about switching to the HD4890 from a x850XT PE. However, I am concerned about my power supply. I used the extreme outervision calculator and it recommended a 430 watt p.s. using extreme loads. I currently use a 430 watt p.s. so maybe I might be able to get away with it.

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Depends I guess. How old is the PSU? Did you factor in capacitor aging and such? the HD4890 is a pretty big leap from that lol. What res you game at? Perhaps save some money and get a HD4850?

EDIT: 1680x1050 is the same res I game at (which your screen can take); and with my HD4850 it was generally perfectly fine. Ran most things quite well; Crysis on High no aa; etc (medium shadow*) at around 30-40 fps. with the occasional drop. Was playable though. 512 mb version by the way. So have a look around. See what benchmarks suit you.

Yeah, i find myself leaning more towards a single 4890 1gb, now i just need to decide if i want one that comes stock with fancy cooling (and, it seems, a factory overclock) or a free game.

if you're willing to spend the bit extra, I'd go for a 1GB sapphire 4890 with the vapour cooler, very quiet, and gives you plenty of overclocking headroom, there are plenty of 4890's hitting over 1GHz on the GPU, some even allow volt mods in the BIOS I believe.....

Supertrucker said:

Yeah, i find myself leaning more towards a single 4890 1gb, now i just need to decide if i want one that comes stock with fancy cooling (and, it seems, a factory overclock) or a free game.

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Buy a generic REFERENCE HD4890 and put your own cooler on it. That would be my choice... OR!!!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127439

That looks like a good one! Reportedly good cooling whilst remaining fairly silent..

Mjolnir said:

Buy a generic REFERENCE HD4890 and put your own cooler on it. That would be my choice... OR!!!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127439

That looks like a good one! Reportedly good cooling whilst remaining fairly silent..

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Okay, I am going to pull the trigger. Somebody better reach me before I press buy!

I would get one, after the next gen cards are out, should be even cheaper and will last until the industry switches to DX11.

I ended up buying the MSI HD 4890 Cyclone OC @ zipzoomfly. They had free shipping and a $30 rebate.

Supertrucker said:

Yeah, i find myself leaning more towards a single 4890 1gb, now i just need to decide if i want one that comes stock with fancy cooling (and, it seems, a factory overclock) or a free game.

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The XFX hd4890 is a reference card with a fancy cooler AND a free game ( Hawx ) ... screams with a little help from Riva Tuner ( with both OCing and fan control ) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359
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I actually ended up ( am in the process of) buying the visiontek 4890oc that a member had for sale here in the classifieds, the one that comes with a zerotherm cooler and a 950 core factory overclock

DohDoh said:

I ended up buying the MSI HD 4890 Cyclone OC @ zipzoomfly. They had free shipping and a $30 rebate.

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I would also like to add that BING shopping is giving me cash back, $12.60.

$209.99 (free shipping)
- $ 30.00 (MIR)
- $ 12.60 (BING)
=$167.39 Total ($42.60 SAVINGS)