Upgrade From an HD 4870 to HD 6870?

H

haon8

New Member
Hey all, I've been using my HD 4870 512MB card since it was first released back in 2008. The card has been great for me, but I'm getting the feeling that I might want to upgrade soon. The problem is that, as a student, I don't have a huge amount of money to spend.

Newegg is running a deal for the XFX HD 6870 1GB card, and it's very affordable to me. I've tried researching it, but have been getting some conflicting advice regarding whether or not the upgrade is feasible, and how long the technology will keep me for. The card is only $130 after mail-in-rebate, so you can understand why this card is appealing to me.

So, I'm wondering what kind of performance increase this would give me, and if it's worth it for the price. Thanks!
 
Yeah it would be a definite increase. Almost double performance I think. I may be wrong but I think that's right. I'd say go for it. Don't completely bank on the rebate however.
 
Yeah, though I've had good luck with rebates in the past and most Newegg reviewers say that they got their rebates back.
 
vistakid10 said:
Yes the 6870 would definitely be a big upgrade from your 4870. You can see some comparison benches between the two cards here http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/513?vs=540
Click to expand...

And I'm running the 512MB version, so the benefit would likely be even larger.

Question, though; how beneficial is it to have more than 1GB of VRAM at this point? I know that in less powerful cards it's useless and is nothing more than a sales gimmick, though is it actually helpful in more powerful cards these days? Keep in mind I'm running a single monitor at 1920x1080.

I'm actually watching a few cards on Ebay (HD 6950, 6970, GTX 560ti), so if those finish up out of my price range I'll likely go for the 6870.
 
1GB is enough for 1080, my 560 Ti 1GB chews up every game I throw at it. It benefits when you have higher resolutions, be that a single monitor or running a multiple-display setup, and also in games with higher-res textures with more detail
 
Yeah. I just want to make sure that I'm not going to need to upgrade a year from now just because 1GB of VRAM isn't enough to adequately run new games. I bought my 4870 512MB when they were brand new, and just a few weeks later they released both the 1GB version of that and the HD 4890 :(.
 
Hey everyone, I just wanted to thank you all for the help. I ended up spending a bit more than I had in mind and getting the Gigabyte HD 6970 2GB. I think I made a good choice, though, as I got a killer deal on it (only $190 including shipping on Ebay). It is used, but the seller says that it's only slightly over a year old so the warranty should still be good for another couple of years.
 
JLuchinski said:
The 6970 is a good card, is it the one with the 3 fans? If so then that's even better.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is. At first I thought it was aftermarket, but it was stamped "Gigabyte" so I assume it's factory. How much more beneficial is it for overclocking as opposed to the standard, single-fan cooler?
 
I dont know if you considered it but your Motherboard is probably from 2008 also I assume?

Does it have a PCIe slot on there?

Be sure to find out if you have a 6 pin power connector because most likely that card will need its own power source.

Just saying. Better check it out.
 
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