which brand of 4870 1GB should i buy?

[ilikepure]

does there exist a brand with slightly better reviews than others?

 

[thilanliyan]

Visiontek has a lifetime warranty...what kind of "lifetime" it is I have no idea. Most cards are reference so the card itself doesn't matter too much. For warranty support someone mentioned Gigabyte was alright.

 

[ilikepure]

is HIS any good?

 

[Machine350]

As far as the card goes, all the name brands are the pretty much the same, reference. The only differences are the support/warranty (which generally/hopefully, you'll never have to use), bundled games/accessories, and sometimes slightly different clock speeds. I usually shop at newegg.com and look for cards that have lots of reviews.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: ilikepure
is HIS any good?

I have an HIS 2900Pro... no complaints about it at all, but it's just a reference design as most of the 4870's are too. I haven't had to use their customer service, so no idea how that is. I think most of the 4870's are reference design, so it's identical except for the sticker they put on it. Go for the best bundle and warranty.

 

[imported_Biggie]

Just to hijack a thread, do you think it is worth $50 to jump from a HD4870 512MB to the 1GB version? I can't make up my mind, and I always suffer from buyers remorse no matter what I chose. I like to game at 1900x1200, and as I understand it at higher res the 1GB gives you a little more FPS.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: Biggie
Just to hijack a thread, do you think it is worth $50 to jump from a HD4870 512MB to the 1GB version? I can't make up my mind, and I always suffer from buyers remorse no matter what I chose. I like to game at 1900x1200, and as I understand it at higher res the 1GB gives you a little more FPS.

I had the same dilemma a couple of days ago. I really think that the 1 gb is more for extreme use of AA ( more then 8X ) and very high resolutions 2560X1600 or so. At normal resolutions and lower levels of AA, the 1 gb version shows only a small improvement over the 512 mb card and by the time games will start using 1 gb of video memory on a large scale, the 4870 GPU would already be obsolete and the card will start to choke no matter the Vram density .
So , by thinking this way, I've convinced myself to keep those $ for myself and just enjoy my fast 4870 with 512 mb. Now, if I was to buy a 4870 today, there would be no doubt that I'd get the 1 gb variant, but upgrading a card from 512mb to 1024mb for 50$ seems silly for a 20 inch monitor.

 

[deerhunter716]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: Biggie
Just to hijack a thread, do you think it is worth $50 to jump from a HD4870 512MB to the 1GB version? I can't make up my mind, and I always suffer from buyers remorse no matter what I chose. I like to game at 1900x1200, and as I understand it at higher res the 1GB gives you a little more FPS.

I had the same dilemma a couple of days ago. I really think that the 1 gb is more for extreme use of AA ( more then 8X ) and very high resolutions 2560X1600 or so. At normal resolutions and lower levels of AA, the 1 gb version shows only a small improvement over the 512 mb card and by the time games will start using 1 gb of video memory on a large scale, the 4870 GPU would already be obsolete and the card will start to choke no matter the Vram density .
So , by thinking this way, I've convinced myself to keep those $ for myself and just enjoy my fast 4870 with 512 mb. Now, if I was to buy a 4870 today, there would be no doubt that I'd get the 1 gb variant, but upgrading a card from 512mb to 1024mb for 50$ seems silly for a 20 inch monitor.

Spot on. I got the 512MB 4870 and game at 1920x1200 and it runs any game I throw at it smooth as butter with 4xAA/8xAF. No need to go to 1GB right now if you are upgrading for sure.

 

[Butterbean]

Originally posted by: ilikepure
does there exist a brand with slightly better reviews than others?

Some people like the Asus because it comes with its own software to tweek fans. The Powercolor non ref cards seem to do very well on temps and noise:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131120

 

[sttubs]

I like HIS brand, only had to RMA one card & it was very ez & had a quik turn around time.
I wanted this card, not even on the streets yet: http://www.hisdigital.com/html...ov.php?id=406&view=yes
Now with DX11 coming soon, I don't think I'm going to upgrade my 3870 at all.

 

[udneekgnim]

for reference boards, I think most people go VisionTek due to it being the only supplier offering a lifetime warranty

I don't really ever see complaints about VisionTek too

I also own a VisionTek 4870 512

 

[Quiksilver]

Personally I'd go with Visiontek, HIS, or Diamond.

I'd avoid sapphire whenever possible; they charge RMA fee's which is retarded.

(I got more to add to this post but I gtg to work).

 

[Vaktathi]

On Newegg right now you can get the overclocked (800mhz versus 750mhz) PowerColor 4870 1gb for the same price as the other (non-OC'd) 1gb cards ($300), and its cooler works better than the others too

review: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=15463

link to card on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131120


Now I really don't know much about their warranty, so that could be an issue to keep in mind.

EDIT: Apparently PowerColor has a 2 year warranty.