I've been saving up for quite some time, and now that i have the money, im really hesitant to just spend it on something. Though from all my research on the net, I keep seeing that most people seem to think the new radeon 4870 x2 is the fastest card to date. I'm running AMD Phenom 9500 quad-core processor 2.20ghz, and 3.00gb of ram. I am also looking to add in a Blue ray DVD burner / player. I am also using a 32" flat screen HDTV for my monitor. So this being said, i have 2 main questions. Im looking to get an unstoppable video card, I mean i want to be able to play any game on the market today without hesitation. Do you guys suggest i go with the 4870 x2 or something else? My next question is, What PSU should i go with, Any suggestions?
How-To Geek Forums / Build Your Own PC
Looking to buy the best video card on the market.. help please.
(13 posts)
IF your motherboard supports CrossFire, then yes, 4870 x 2 is the best you can do. Please note that CrossFire and SLI are different, CrossFire is only for ATI cards and SLI is only for Nvidia cards so verify that before you drop cash on two cards.
EDIT:
As for power, I've got (and love) an Antec TPQ-850. Very efficient, modular cable design, and pretty quite too. http://www.newegg.com/Product/.....6817371009
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app.....=V261-4872 there is the link to it and all the info
Sorry, I thought you were talking about getting two cards (they made it difficult with that naming convention). If you ever plan to add a second card (for a total of 4 gpu's with two 4870's) your mobo would need to support crossfire.
I'm a big fan of Anandtech for reviews, and they have plenty of them with the newest ATI and Nvidia cards.
As you said the 4870X2 is the fastest card to date but the cost is very high. No game out yet will require that sort of power. You could get a cheaper card now and when that card starts to show its age you could use the money you saved now to buy a card that is faster again than the 4870X2.
In short If you have £200 to spend, £100 now and £100 later is often better value than £200 now. Computer parts age very quickly.
I think jonhill has an excellent point. Buying middle of the road is usually a much better deal than buying top shelf technology. The price deterioration is so dramatic, that any leading edge component will look rather dull in a year or two. Example: I bought a $1200 laptop in 3/07. The same laptop (same specifications) sells for $550 today - less than half after only 18 months.
Odiesodiecop, if you want a power supply that will support your graphics adapter, you can find recommendations from the graphics chip makers. For example, here is a list from ATI of PSUs that they recommend for use with their cards including CrossFireX configurations:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/cros.....s.aspx?p=3
Nvidia has a similar list on their website if you should end up with one of their cards.
How about the 3870, 512MB and GDDR4 that sells for around $200? http://www.engadget.com/2007/1.....ruly-prou/
Check this out for PSU's.
Blue-ray reviews are tough to find as nobody really cares, but I did find one site with reviews.
And if you are going with the high end card, check out Newegg's selection. The have 9 models and 4 of them have free shipping right now, though if you are dropping a grand on three parts I doubt it will be that much of an issue for you lol.
As much as I like to help people save money, the Radeon HD 4870 has some interesting features related to playback of hi-def video as seen here:
http://ati.amd.com/products/Ra.....index.html
"...take full advantage of Blu-ray functionality with dual-stream, picture in picture (PIP) capabilities"
"Watch the hottest Blu-ray movies or other HD content at full 1080p display resolution and beyond."
So, here's another suggestion for you. You could get a single GPU 4870 card for under $300 US at newegg. Save the remaining $250+ for a future upgrade, as suggested by jonhill987. Here's a list of candidates:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/.....0HD%204870
thanks for all the help guys! I have like 1600 saved and ill be getting like 800 more soon, so the whole waiting till something better comes along isnt much of an issue, lol, I wanna be able to play every game that there is, and watch unbelievable quality movies hahaha im even considering getting an HD projector and just selling my HDTV hahahaha
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