recommend cheap replacement to faulty ATI 4870

[SweeJ]

hey there, i purchased a HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 less than 2 years ago, but since about less than a year, it has started to produce problems. later i found out, many local suppliers no longer stock HIS graphic cards due to the high return/failure rates.

while i could rma it in, i still need a replacement in the meantime.

i don't really play games much, and i have a dual monitor set up running at 1920 x 1080.

i've lost touch with the current benchmarks, so would you recommend a graphics card which isn't pricey, but would be able to run at least the same framerates as my ATI 4870? thanks! also, i prefer it if it runs cooler than my current one, it always goes above 60C.

this is my specs:

Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield Socket LGA775 2.83GHz
Thermalright HR-01 PLUS CPU heatsink
Cooler Master® 90 CFM / 19 dB-A Blue LED Silent 120mm CPU fan
Corsair™ Dominator TWIN2X2048-8500C5DF G 4GB (2 x 2GB Twin) PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 C5 DRAM (@ 5-5-5-15-2T latencies @ 2.1V)
Gigabyte™GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1 Socket LGA775 Intel® P45 Express chipset Ultra Durable™ 3 mobo with BIOS ver. F7
HIS ATI™ Radeon™ HD 4870 IceQ 4+ Turbo 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 GRAM DirectX® 10.1 PCI-Express x16 (PCI-e 2.0) (factory overclocked @ 770MHz core / 400MHz memory)
Corsair™ HX620 620W Modular SLI ready PSU

 

[happy medium]

I saw a 6790 on newegg for 109$, thats a slight upgrade and cheap. It also uses less power/cooler, and will be more quiet.

 

[podspi]

1saleaday.com has a 5850 1gb on sale for $120 (only today).

I almost went for it (I have a 5650) but I play games so infrequently that I can't justify it.

 

[blanketyblank]

5770 will be an almost exact equivalent of your 4870 so that or anything faster will work for you. On the NV side GTX 450 is a little slower while a 460 is faster.

 

[SweeJ]

kewl, many thanks for the suggestions. i will look at the temperature/idle noise benchmarks as well, since i'm bothered by the fan noise these days

 

[DominionSeraph]

1saleaday.com has a 5850 1gb on sale for $120 (only today).

This is a really good deal, and the 5850's are not known for being loud.
Although if you want quiet a good 6770 is what you want. (same card as a 5770, just rebranded) Pretty much the same performance as your 4870 but it's nearly silent with the right cooler.

 

[SweeJ]

thanks guys, i just purchased the ASUS HD 6850 today, after much reading and researching about it's balance in performed and noise/power consumption levels. and i'm happy with the upgrade

 

[Hugo Drax]

This is a really good deal, and the 5850's are not known for being loud.
Although if you want quiet a good 6770 is what you want. (same card as a 5770, just rebranded) Pretty much the same performance as your 4870 but it's nearly silent with the right cooler.

And low power consumption as well. My PC uses 68 watts (2600K)/Gene-Z and the MSI 6770 is quiet.