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Thread ID: 104492 2009-10-29 06:17:00 4850 or 4870? dian77 (13936) Press F1
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825189 2009-10-29 06:17:00 I was thinking of upgrading my current system.
The resolution I play at is 1280x1024 and I was wondering if it was worth it to make a jump to a 4870 or just buy a 4850.

as for the rest of my system I'm looking at buying a phenom II 550 BE+785G mobo and (hopefully) unlock the other two cores with ddr3 later on?

Before you ask, yes I did look at benchmarks but all of them are at 1680x1050 or higher.

I require your wisdom PC World

Thanks :)
dian77 (13936)
825190 2009-10-29 06:32:00 Depends on what games and detail settings etc. But if i were you i'd get the 4870 because its GDDR5 and only a bit more than the 4850 whellington (15030)
825191 2009-10-29 06:40:00 Yea. 4850 used to be one of the best value mid range cards, but for a little bit extra the 4870 pwns it. Blam (54)
825192 2009-10-29 09:14:00 12x10 resolution?...if you want to throw you money away go for the 4870, however your cpu will bottleneck well before you get 75% utilisation out of that card at that res... SolMiester (139)
825193 2009-10-29 11:58:00 The fact that all the benchmarks are at 1680*1050 should be a hit that the next money you spend would be wisely put on a screen. Since it improves all of the time you spend on a pc is spent looking at the screen rather than whatever % you spend gaming also makes it worthwhile.

IMHO of course.
ScreaminGherkin (14811)
825194 2009-10-29 22:13:00 I'm also picking parts for a relative's low cost gaming computer. I was originally going to pair an Athlon II x2 240 (2.8ghz) with a 4850. So a 4870 will be over kill? And am I right in thinking the similarly priced 5000 series radeons (5750, 5770) give worse performance than their equivalently priced 4000 series radeons?

ps. I can't stand the new pricespy!
utopian201 (6245)
825195 2009-10-29 23:33:00 I'm also picking parts for a relative's low cost gaming computer. I was originally going to pair an Athlon II x2 240 (2.8ghz) with a 4850. So a 4870 will be over kill? And am I right in thinking the similarly priced 5000 series radeons (5750, 5770) give worse performance than their equivalently priced 4000 series radeons?

ps. I can't stand the new pricespy!

No, not worse performance, however @ low resolutions 16x10 and below, you are bottlenecked by the CPU for these cards....
SolMiester (139)
825196 2009-10-30 00:29:00 To elaborate a bit further your CPU will be the bottleneck at 1280x1024 but the frame rate will be way over what is considered smooth in most games anyway.

If your toying with getting a wide screen any time soon so maybe a 24" 1900x1080 etc (assuming your currently maybe 19" 4:3), grab a 4870 or better for a bit more grunt, otherwise as above don't waste your money going anything above the 4850.
Battleneter2 (9361)
825197 2009-10-30 03:09:00 Thanks for your replies :)

Would a phenom II 550be with all 4 cores unlocked bottleneck a 4850 or 4870?

Im also looking for a phenom II setup for under $450 (which has the SB710 or SB750). Anyone got any suggestions?
dian77 (13936)
825198 2009-10-30 06:44:00 Probably not-althought depends on the game...

I would go for a black edition...and OC
Blam (54)
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