Well it's time. New build, need a new card.

[Hayabusa Rider]

I'm building a system for the kids and I'm giving them my 4870 which I've had for years and frankly I'll miss it.

They are getting my q6600 and 8 gigs of ram, so I know it's going to work pretty good for them

So to my build-
Coolermaster Cosmos case
I7-875K
8 gigs g.skill ram
P7P55D Deluxe
Tuniq Tower cooler.
4x WD Caviar Black 1.5T drives.
1 LG Blu-ray 10x burner.
1 Lite-On 24x DVD drive
Intel G2 25M 80gig SSD
750 watt PC Power and Cooling PSU

Bunch of other stuff
Win 7 Ultimate.

Anyway, that's the setup and I need a replacement for the 4870. I've dropped a few bucks here (fortunately some of it I had lying around) and I don't want to spend top dollar, however I do want a significant increase in performance.

I'm thinking < $400 here, and less is better.

Suggestions?

 

[Sp12]

You have the PSU/mobo to do multi-GPU, and honestly your best bet would've been 4870 (assuming it was 1GB) crossfire.

I'd grab a new card for the kids (~5750/5770) and a second 4870 until either price wars or the next-gen architectures. 2x 4870s are equal to (sometimes above, often just below) a single 5870, and then you'd be able to grab a next-gen GPU with the ~300 saved from a second 4870.

On the other hand, you lose Dx11, have more energy/heat, and have to deal with game-dependant scaling compared with a single 5870.

What size monitor do you run?

 

[happy medium]

Grab this 5870 for 389$ and 10&#37; off code. 350$ for this card is great.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161329

gtx 470 for 295$ AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127501

Thats a great deal also.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

You have the PSU/mobo to do multi-GPU, and honestly your best bet would've been 4870 (assuming it was 1GB) crossfire.

I'd grab a new card for the kids (~5750/5770) and a second 4870 until either price wars or the next-gen architectures. 2x 4870s are equal to (sometimes above, often just below) a single 5870, and then you'd be able to grab a next-gen GPU with the ~300 saved from a second 4870.

On the other hand, you lose Dx11, have more energy/heat, and have to deal with game-dependant scaling compared with a single 5870.

What size monitor do you run?

I either use a 22 inch IPS or my 61" HDTV, usually the latter.

I'll check out the links for the 5870 and the 470 too

 

[StinkyPinky]

IMO a blu-ray burner is a waste of money. 25 gigs isn't even that much storage.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

IMO a blu-ray burner is a waste of money. 25 gigs isn't even that much storage.

For most purposes I'd agree, but I think it will work for me. I work with fairly large image files and I have a lot of them. I can back up a lot of pics including edits on one, where I just rip through DVDs.

 

[ModestGamer]

For most purposes I'd agree, but I think it will work for me. I work with fairly large image files and I have a lot of them. I can back up a lot of pics including edits on one, where I just rip through DVDs.

I have a small home studio. Same situation. one song umixed with stems is easily 1 dvd. I can fit a whole unmixed album on a blue ray.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Well I settled on one quicker than I thought. Thanks Happy Medium! I looked at the 5870 and noticed that the discount ran out at midnight so I snapped it up.

I think I'll be pretty happy

 

[ModestGamer]

Well I settled on one quicker than I thought. Thanks Happy Medium! I looked at the 5870 and noticed that the discount ran out at midnight so I snapped it up.

I think I'll be pretty happy

I am happy with my hd5770 x2 setup the power consumption is nice. I did test drive a 5870 for a week. Nice card.