Worth upgrading an X1950XT to HD 4850?

[Moose1309]

Greetings all,

I haven't upgraded my video card in a few years, and haven't been on AT in at least that long I'm just wondering what the actual performance diff is between the current generation and ... 3 generations ago?

My 1950 XT runs games fine, I run a 1920*1200 - but I'm not obsessed with running native res since the monitor scales nicely.....

Or should I spring for the 4870?

 

[josh6079]

I'm in a very similar boat, gaming on a X1950XTX, and recently decided on the GTX 260. I'm in the process of saving up.

The 4850 is a good card, faster than a 9800GTX+ but slower than a GTX 260. The 4870 is about on par with the GTX 260. I'd just look at the games you're playing or plan on playing and see which card can give you the best IQ per performance, then consider the price per performance.

 

[vj8usa]

I'd ballpark a 4850 as being twice as fast as an X1950XT on average. I went from an X1900XT (which is just a hair slower than what you have) to my 4850, and the difference was very noticeable. If you can stretch your budget a bit though, a 4870/GTX260 class card would be a great match for 1920x1200 gaming.

What're the rest of your specs? When I originally built this system and first got the X1900XT, I was running a single core A64, which would really hold back a 4850, let alone a 4870.

 

[Moose1309]

Yeah until recently the card was in an Opty X2 at 2.4. Now I'm running Penryn C2D 3.0, 6 GB DDR2800... so a midrange machine

Games I like:

UT 3
Mass Effect
G.R.I.D. (this is the main driver for upgrading)
Random Steam / Source games

Might start playing COD4...

So I probably don't NEED the upgrade, but yeah I think I may just go with a 4870 1 GB...

 

[Denithor]

The previous generation 3850 will beat an x1950xtx. So the 4850 would be a dramatic upgrade, 4870 even more so. Most people will recommend a 1GB 4870 for 19x12 in today's games.

 

[octopus41092]

I went from an X1950 Pro to a HD4850 and it's a huge difference. The difference between yours and a HD4870 should be just as much if not more. You just want to make sure that your CPU isn't bottlenecking the GPU if you're gonna get an HD4870

 

[Cookie Monster]

Im guessing that the performance increase should be somewhere in the region of 2~3 times. Maybe even more so when you crank up the AA. Id say go for it, unless your the type that dont upgrade as often. In that case going all out for an HD4870 1GB (or GTX260 c216) should be a good option for that res.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

It should be a big jump. Don't forget that if you OC you can pick up a 4830 for 30-50% less and get the same performance.

 

[polarbear6]

i dunno but i think u should give 4850 x2 a shot i heard its better than a 280gtx
and here in my country it is selling at the same rate as a 260 gtx
and slightly costly then a 4870

 

[nerp]

I went from an x1950Pro to a 4850 and the difference was quite noticable. I was very pleased with the upgrade and felt it was money well spent. The 4850 is a GREAT card. It's probably the best midrange card I've ever had and a real great performer. I don't see myself swapping it out for quite some time. I'm not much of a heavy gamer so it's more than sufficient for my needs.

 

[Moose1309]

cool, thanks everyone for your replies.
If anything I'll go with a 4850.

 

[bigsnyder]

I went with a crossfire 4850 setup from the X1900XT. The 512MB cards will do fine at 1920x1200 as long as you keep moderate anti-aliasing settings. Check the 1920x1200 benches from the latest MultiGPU article on the site.