HD 4870 1GB vs 9800GX2

[asdftt123]

I believe these two are about the same price...which one to get?

 

[badnewcastle]

If you have 2 monitors, get the 4870 as the 9800GX2 has problems getting two monitors to work and sli.

 

[sourthings]

That's a good question, tough to pinpoint. 9800GX2 is currently the second fastest single slot video card you can buy. If you allow for multi-gpu to be scaling. It looks like this at present 4870 1GB>GTX280>9800GX2>4870X2.

The first three cards are all really close in performance as well, as in 5% differences at most between them, with some being faster than others depending on the benchmark. The 280 is $100-$150 more though, and the X2 is $200 more but considerably faster.

If you are gaming at 1920x1200 or higher and want consistent performance, probably the 4870 1GB is your best bet over the GX2. There are situations where the GX2 will choke with having a 512MB memory allotment on it. Also it might not always scale.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: sourthings
If you allow for multi-gpu to be scaling. It looks like this at present 4870 1GB>GTX280>9800GX2>4870X2.

Nvm. At first I thought you were saying that the 4870 was better than all of those.

 

[asdftt123]

Okay, thanks. I'll be gaming at 1680 x 1050...would the 1GB 4870 be the best choice?

 

[rebecca1286]

which is the best graphics card to buy for 1680*1050 gaming................

 

[Spoelie]

At that resolution, between the given possibilities, definitly the HD4870 1GB - no SLI/xfire driver support to worry about, quieter, less power-hungry, ... And more than fast enough to pull anything in that res.

Actually the 1GB is useless at that resolution, even the 512mb version will suit you fine. 1GB might be a bit better in the future, but only if you keep your video card for more than a year.

 

[Stern]

So would a 4870 1GB run Crysis at 1680x1050 with all details on? And I mean all details.

 

[badnewcastle]

Originally posted by: Stern
So would a 4870 1GB run Crysis at 1680x1050 with all details on? And I mean all details.

It should be playable at the least w/out AA and possibly with DX10 though some others would have to check that out. I can turn everything on at that res on dx9 and no AA and I'm on an OC'd 8800GT, which is going to be replaced.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Stern
So would a 4870 1GB run Crysis at 1680x1050 with all details on? And I mean all details.

Crysis is a difficult beast to manage; you will like Warhead's FPS better. .. the latest Cat 8.9 gave 4870 a boost; here are my results with the latest drivers with the video cards compared below and e8600@3.99Ghz/4GB pc8000:

GPU test 16x10 all very High - no AA nor AF

4870/512 - 24.23/19/30
GTX280 - 26.45/19/34
4870 X2 - 34.25/22/50

the above is 16x10 .. you will not like 19x12 so much i think:


GPU test 19x12 all Very High - no AA nor AF

4870/512 - 20.04/16/25
GTX280 - 21.78/16/28
4870 X2 - 29.80/19/41

EDIT: All of the above is average/minimum/maximum

 

[Stern]

I'm assuming that is average/minimum/maximum?

Thanks for the info.

 

[betasub]

Agree that 4870 1GB is the choice for multi-monitor or high-res gaming. The GX2 can easily become limited by its vRAM (either the bandwidth or 512MB buffer size), whereas the 4870 with 1GB DDR5 is much more capable in the vRAM department.

My GX2 is a great card for the games I play at 1680x1050, and can at times be limited by my C2D @3.2GHz, unless I crank up the AA and move towards vRAM limitations.