ATI HD4870, PowerColor HD4870 PCS+ or ATI HD4890

OK so im planning to build a gaming PC in the next 6months ( i started a thread in the hardware/devices section) and i was originally going for a HD4870x2 but i dont think im going to have he funds for that so i have been looking at a few other cards: ATI 1gb HD4870 (750/900mhz), PowerColor 1gb HD4870 (overclocked 780/925mhz) and the ATI 1gb HD4890 (850/950-1000mhz? not sure). Anyway i was just wondering what people opinions were on these cards and what version or brand should i get?

Go the 4890. It's newer and quicker than the 4870. It will leave an option for 4890 crossfire down the track.

smarteyeball said:

Go the 4890. It's newer and quicker than the 4870. It will leave an option for 4890 crossfire down the track.

Thank you once again smarteyeball you posted quite a bit in my other thread and your always very helpful. I shall look into the 4890 a little further

No worries mate :)

If the budget does get a little tight, the 4870 is still a good card. When it comes time to make a decision, , just do a bit of googling when you have your short list.

Your short list will depend on where you're getting it from, which makes it a little easier

Two other alternatives would be the GTX 260 (216) or the GTX 275. Both are good cards themselves, not too expensive either. However it will rule out SLI on a crossfire board.

smarteyeball said:

No worries mate :)

If the budget does get a little tight, the 4870 is still a good card. When it comes time to make a decision, , just do a bit of googling when you have your short list.

Your short list will depend on where you're getting it from, which makes it a little easier

Two other alternatives would be the GTX 260 (216) or the GTX 275. Both are good cards themselves, not too expensive either. However it will rule out SLI on a crossfire board.

Yeah im just planning ahead in case i dont get the needed funds for my 4870x2 Nah i will most likely just get a 1gb 4890 anyway and then when i get a little extra money buy another one and run crossfire.

screwballl said:

as of right now it seems AMD is having some video card driver issues with Windows 7 but I hope they have that resolved by release time.... I use nvidia (was 8800GTS, now 9800GT) cards so no problems here,

Yea i had a few problems with my laptop card driver but that was easy to sort out. (just downloaded the ccc beta for win7)

kpo6969 said:

Wait to see what's out there when you are ready to build. 6 months is a long time to lock yourself into something now. But if you were buying now:

Have a look at these 4890's:

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Thanks for the link, im not locking my self into anything yet im just planning ahead.

MorbidGod said:

I agree. I was hoping i could get one of those 4870x2 too, but i couldnt aford it so, i was looking for the new XFX version, regardless of all Sapphire´s i had in the past. And i was afraid of regreting but i didnt. You can easily reach the golden 1Ghz clock on this chip, so my choice would go to an XFX HD 4890 1GB DDR5 BLACK EDITION (clock already @ 1Ghz). If you have mobo for that, you can later add a second.

Couldn't i just get a regular ati card and clock it to that? Or would it be better to get a sapphire or HIS card? Cause i duno if i can get XFX cards here in Aus (im talking bout the 4890)

Overclocked cards sometimes have a better heatsink/fan than stock models, but you can overclock stock cards to a certain degree.

XFX cards are available in Aus:
XFX Radeon HD4890 Black Edition XFX Radeon HD4890 Black Edition 11X-HD4890-1GBBTCH [11X-HD4890-1GBBTCH] - $459.00 : PC Case Gear, Quality case accessories and components
ouch

By the end of the year, both ATI and Nvidia should have their new range of cards hitting the market which will hopefully lower the prices of existing cards.