Buy Radeon HD6870 or wait? or Different card?

[hdeck]

I'm way out of the know on video cards, so I turn to you guys for help on this. Newegg has the HIS HD 6870 for $169 plus a $20 rebate card. Seems like a good price. However, Black Friday/Cyber Monday is coming up so I'm wondering if I should wait on this.

I currently have a Radeon HD 4850 (512MB DDR3) bought for $194 in June of 08 that I am looking to upgrade. COD:MW3 and Skyrim run reasonably well at 1080p, but there are some slow downs and I can't crank the settings.

Thoughts? Is it worth the upgrade? Should I wait for sales/prices to fall? Better options out there at comparable specs/price?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Skurge]

You should get double the performance for a little extra power use. So it's really up to you if the double the performance (If your CPU can push the card) is worth the $169.

 

[nitrousninja]

It doesnt sound like you NEED it so if you can hold off until the new ATI cards come out you should be able to get a better card at that price point or that one cheaper.

 

[happy medium]

Newegg has the HIS HD 6870 for $169 plus a $20 rebate card.

I would invest a few more bucks and grab the 2gb 6870 for 179$AR.
I grabbed 2 . only because 1 6870 was a sidegrade for me and it was the cheapest performance 2gb card on the internet.

 

[ocre]

Whats your CPU/RAM extra?

what do you mean by slow downs? I imagine Skyrim would be an uneven experience if its on the sane engine they have been using for yrs now.

 

[hdeck]

i have the AMD Phenom II X4 820 @ 2.8GHz and 6 GB ram

 

[ocre]

Wow, you have been playing 1080 with 512vram. Its interesting.

I think you should wait another week. There is no doubt the deals will be great. You might even be able to save up a little more cash too. Your right at that 200-250 point where the cards great. In just a week you could see these cards go down really cheap. I would get a list of venders and wait to the sale and see what you can get a great deal on.

 

[lavaheadache]

i have the AMD Phenom II X4 820 @ 2.8GHz and 6 GB ram

overclock that thing!! =)

 

[pandemonium]

I would invest a few more bucks and grab the 2gb 6870 for 179$AR.
I grabbed 2 . only because 1 6870 was a sidegrade for me and it was the cheapest performance 2gb card on the internet.

I'm still waiting for evidence that the extra memory will help at that resolution on an HD6870, or any resolution really. A waste of $20 IMO - better spent on a card that will come with a better heatsink and fan configuration or a tier up.

Google translated HT4U

I originally got two XFX 6870's and had to return them. I was then considering the HIS IceQ (I think the one you mentioned, but it's not $169-20AR any more), but decided on MSi's Twin Frozr. I'm now a strong believer that the Twin Frozr heatsink/fan assembly is amazing.

FYI, if you're looking for general "bang for your buck" video card information, see spreadsheet in sig. The 6870 is pretty good for that department.

Edit: Personally, I'd just wait until prices drop for the coming season. Even further, wait until the next generation releases.

 

[hdeck]

Wow, you have been playing 1080 with 512vram. Its interesting.

I think you should wait another week. There is no doubt the deals will be great. You might even be able to save up a little more cash too. Your right at that 200-250 point where the cards great. In just a week you could see these cards go down really cheap. I would get a list of venders and wait to the sale and see what you can get a great deal on.

yes, the game defaulted to 1080p on "high" settings, but i haven't tinkered with anything in the advanced settings or .ini file. wanting to run ultra settings with certain things turned up, because parts of the game don't look great and i do get some intermitent slow downs. definitely not unplayable, though.

think i will wait for prices to drop as most of you have suggested. appreciate all the feedback!

 

[happy medium]

I'm still waiting for evidence that the extra memory will help at that resolution on an HD6870, or any resolution really. A waste of $20 IMO - better spent on a card that will come with a better heatsink and fan configuration or a tier up.

There is a reason why no one will suggest a 768mb card for 1080p now.
A 1gb card is the minimum suggested for 1080p for todays games and one would guess that this will change in a few months.
I think NOW the extra 20$ is well spent.

 

[RussianSensation]

i have the AMD Phenom II X4 820 @ 2.8GHz and 6 GB ram

With that CPU, you are losing out on A LOT of performance on the table in SKYRIM. For MW3, the GPU is your main limitation. I would say a $150 HD6870 is a good upgrade, but you should still overclock your CPU.

If you are mainly upgrading for those 2 games, the HD6870 should net you above 60 fps in MW3, but in SKYRIM, you'll need a large overclock (although in that game, you don't really need 60 fps to get smooth gameplay). Since Black Friday is just a week away, you might as well wait since you waited so long to upgrade. I think you just might be able to find a deal on an HD6950 for $160-170 on BF. If it comes up, just be quick!!

 

[tweakboy]

I'm way out of the know on video cards, so I turn to you guys for help on this. Newegg has the HIS HD 6870 for $169 plus a $20 rebate card. Seems like a good price. However, Black Friday/Cyber Monday is coming up so I'm wondering if I should wait on this.

I currently have a Radeon HD 4850 (512MB DDR3) bought for $194 in June of 08 that I am looking to upgrade. COD:MW3 and Skyrim run reasonably well at 1080p, but there are some slow downs and I can't crank the settings.

Thoughts? Is it worth the upgrade? Should I wait for sales/prices to fall? Better options out there at comparable specs/price?

Thanks for any help!

Like the gurus said, This thing is gonna give you 3x 4x more FPS ,,, you can play all games including BF3 and MW3 @ 1080p 8xAA 16xAF game setting set to auto.

150 dollars is great. Are you paying tax on it too? You def cant get a 560 Ti for this price... and their performance is similar... gl

 

[Smartazz]

There is a reason why no one will suggest a 768mb card for 1080p now.
A 1gb card is the minimum suggested for 1080p for todays games and one would guess that this will change in a few months.
I think NOW the extra 20$ is well spent.

I agree. Especially with two 6870s, you're going to want that extra VRAM. The eVGA GTX 560ti 2Win suffers from a lack of effective video memory. I'm just not sure I'd go with two video cards, but I'm sure the performance is really good especially since X-fire scaling is usually really good.

 

[pandemonium]

There is a reason why no one will suggest a 768mb card for 1080p now.
A 1gb card is the minimum suggested for 1080p for todays games and one would guess that this will change in a few months.
I think NOW the extra 20$ is well spent.

Wasn't talking about the GTX460. /facepalm