gtx 460 vs radeon 3879x2

The 460 would be a great upgrade, it is better arcietechture, will not encounter problems where applications cannont fully utilize mulitple gpus and has dx11 support (and is powerful enough, mostly, to use it as well)

The GTX460 is slightly behind with a hd4870x2 and in cases where bith gpus are not utlized correctly the 460 will beat it.

Overall it does depend if you need the upgrade, if your getting low frame rates and cont play some of the newer games they yeah its worth the money but if your current gpu can handle everything you need then you can hold off for now.

Personally i would go with gtx460 if i were to upgrade.

You could even go a little further and get a hd 6850, or since your spending around 200.00 you could even find a hd6870, both of which beat the gtx 460, with the hd6850 being slighly ahead and the hd6870 further.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125333 GTX 460 169.99 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161349&cm_re=hd6870-_-14-161-349-_-Product Hd6870 $184.99 after reabte.

I'd definatly go with the HD6870.
 
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innercx said:
The 460 would be a great upgrade, it is better arcietechture, will not encounter problems where applications cannont fully utilize mulitple gpus and has dx11 support (and is powerful enough, mostly, to use it as well)

The GTX460 is slightly behind with a hd4870x2 and in cases where bith gpus are not utlized correctly the 460 will beat it.

Overall it does depend if you need the upgrade, if your getting low frame rates and cont play some of the newer games they yeah its worth the money but if your current gpu can handle everything you need then you can hold off for now.

Personally i would go with gtx460 if i were to upgrade.

You could even go a little further and get a hd 6850, or since your spending around 200.00 you could even find a hd6870, both of which beat the gtx 460, with the hd6850 being slighly ahead and the hd6870 further.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125333 GTX 460 169.99 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161349&cm_re=hd6870-_-14-161-349-_-Product Hd6870 $184.99 after reabte.

I'd definatly go with the HD6870.
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I used a 4870x2 and I generally had no problems with multi gpu utilization.
 
I basically have $400 to buy a new video card, and because I'm using Xp. I would want to get Win 7. Games I play are Sc2 and WoW. But I would want to play Shogun 2 and other Total War games.
I have heard good things from gtx 460's from friends, I hear Evga makes a good 460. But you're right about 6870, it seems to be a better card.
 
Rocko said:
I used a 4870x2 and I generally had no problems with multi gpu utilization.
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fair enough i was referencing the 3870x2 but i have heard of a few probs on the 4870x2, i wasnt saying it would happen alot i'm just saying that it could be problem that may arise and hence be a plus point for a single more powerful card.

If you have 400 to spend i wouldnt spend it all on a gpu, since you've put some specs up now you may want to get a core 2 quad to help boost cpu performance, which will help during some games, and prob alot in rts games, plus your cpu may be a bottleneck for some top end cards.

Since i can now see your motherboard specs you should choose an ati card, the GTX460/560 or whatever is good but your motherboard supports crossfire, so you can always add another ati gpu later, once the prices have gone down and get more performance at a relatively cheap price.

Even tho i just mentioned above about multi gpu scaling, it has improved since the 3xxx series and i believe the 6xxx series multi gpu scaling is close to 100%, a while back ati lagged behind nvidia, but things are more even now :)
 
innercx said:
fair enough i was referencing the 3870x2 but i have heard of a few probs on the 4870x2, i wasnt saying it would happen alot i'm just saying that it could be problem that may arise and hence be a plus point for a single more powerful card.

If you have 400 to spend i wouldnt spend it all on a gpu, since you've put some specs up now you may want to get a core 2 quad to help boost cpu performance, which will help during some games, and prob alot in rts games, plus your cpu may be a bottleneck for some top end cards.

Since i can now see your motherboard specs you should choose an ati card, the GTX460/560 or whatever is good but your motherboard supports crossfire, so you can always add another ati gpu later, once the prices have gone down and get more performance at a relatively cheap price.

Even tho i just mentioned above about multi gpu scaling, it has improved since the 3xxx series and i believe the 6xxx series multi gpu scaling is close to 100%, a while back ati lagged behind nvidia, but things are more even now :)
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I have been thinking about better cpu, but alas I wouldn't know what chip to put in my board. Would my mo board be good enough to crossifre gtx 460s?
Or, should I just get a new cpu, board and 2 cards?
 
Undoubtedly said:
I have been thinking about better cpu, but alas I wouldn't know what chip to put in my board. Would my mo board be good enough to crossifre gtx 460s?
Or, should I just get a new cpu, board and 2 cards?
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You can upgrade to any Core 2 Quad CPU, however, I would not because socket 775 is dead, in so much as there is no where for you to upgrade to after you get your CPU. You would be better off, performance and future proofing wise, to go for a socket 1155 motherboard, or wait for AMD to bring out their bulldozer chips in a couple of months and go for one of those.

As for your video cards, on your current board, officially no you can not put 2 GTX460's in SLI (Nvidia's equivalent to ATI's CrossFire), however there are ways around it:

http://xdevs.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.30
 
It probably not worth to upgrade on CPU. While for full upgrade, you don't have enough money.

With $400, I suggest 6950 2GB.
 
Uh mate if your paying that much for those two things your are getting rippied off.

evga gtx 460 1gb 256bit 336 cores, with free gifts of just cause 2 and mafia 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...570&cm_re=evga_gtx_460-_-14-130-570-_-Product

$169.99 after reabate, 199.99 before

And windows 7 oem you can from $99.99 from the same site.

Once again I will say this your best bet is and ati card not only cause your mobo can crosffire the ati cards the cost simalar to what your spending (HD6850 and HD6870) are better cards, but is is your choice, if i had your mobo i would choose the ati options above over a gtx460 anyday.

Btw I know that c2q is outdated it just seemed more viable than building a budget system and having to maybe sacrfice on the gpu.
 
innercx said:
Uh mate if your paying that much for those two things your are getting rippied off.

evga gtx 460 1gb 256bit 336 cores, with free gifts of just cause 2 and mafia 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...570&cm_re=evga_gtx_460-_-14-130-570-_-Product

$169.99 after reabate, 199.99 before

And windows 7 oem you can from $99.99 from the same site.

Once again I will say this your best bet is and ati card not only cause your mobo can crosffire the ati cards the cost simalar to what your spending (HD6850 and HD6870) are better cards, but is is your choice, if i had your mobo i would choose the ati options above over a gtx460 anyday.

Btw I know that c2q is outdated it just seemed more viable than building a budget system and having to maybe sacrfice on the gpu.
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Wow, thanks again for the research, you're right, the Hd 6870 is better, but which brand would you suggest? New egg has good prices, but I'm not sure they can ship to Australia.
 
XFX are good, double lifetime warranty, sapphire, HIS, MSI are all pretty good.

sorry i thought you said your price in dollars, meaning your in the us, didnt know you meant aus dollars. :)

If you wanted to save a bit the HD6850 is also slightly better than the GTX 460.
 
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innercx said:
XFX are good, double lifetime warranty, sapphire, HIS, MSI are all pretty good.

sorry i thought you said your price in dollars, meaning your in the us, didnt know you meant aus dollars. :)

If you wanted to save a bit the HD6850 is also slightly better than the GTX 460.
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So to finish this off, you think I should get the XFX HD 6850 or 6870? both around same price. Would they fit in an Antec 182 case?
Also I see my ram is ddr2, would my mo board cater for newer ram? If so, are kingston ram still good? I would get about 4 gig of new ram
I'm grateful for your constant help!
 
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jd132 said:
Id go with 460 anyday... :)
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What? Why? that wouldnt be a wise move, more so if you have a crossfire board.

read here if you need more info.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6870/29.html


To the OP, 4gb of ram is plenty and it looks like you have DDR 800muz btw not 400mhz, you double it to get the speed as it is double data rate ram it is reported as half the speed by software like cpu-z but anyway 4 is more than enough for now and i would'nt advise you upgrade as if one day you buy a new pc you will be able to move the new gpu forward (more than likely) but all new boards are ddr3 which is incompatible with ddr2, and i would imagine you may notice that your cpu is causing a bottleneck, meaning that the gpu can go faster in certain apps/games but the cpu cant, but atm it should not be a problem and should not render anything un playable and you will be fine on wow and sc2, nothing to worry about now i'm just saying a little bit down the line if you grab a game and realise that its not working to well, and cant get a good frame rates, it will be the cpu not the gpu to look at first, as quad cores are now becoming standard.

If the HD6850 and the HD6870 both from xfx are a simalar price the most definatly go for the HD6870 as it is the more powerful.


Undoubtedly said:
I'm grateful for your constant help!
Click to expand...

No problem we are all here to help the best we can :)
 
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