4830 or 3870 or Ucallit

[bylanta]

Ok I'm new at this, I'll try list as much useful info as I can. I have an older Dell e510 running xp. Basics: pentium d 820 (2.8ghz) 5x512 mb ram, 160 gb Hdd, 305 watt power supply, and 42 inch lcd.

I want to replace the video card but I have some hangups: case size, case shape( I need a single slot solution), power supply(does it have the watts/amps)( and does the new card require a 6 pin connector that I don't have)

I am leaning towards something in the region of a 4830, stepping down to a 3870 or a 4670 If I have to.

Looking at this linky I get a headache. I don't know which categories outweigh others. I had been certain the 4830 was the way to go, then some of the areas it loses to the 3870 in.

I will mostly be playing team fortress 2 at 1920 x1080(windows resolution) and I am hoping to increase my FPS to something beyond 30. Is there a realistic/reliable way to attempt to determine where my cpu will bottleneck me as opposed to what I believe to be a video card bottleneck now? Sorry if this is a lot of questions, buying a new video card is a big purchase and I want to do my research and get it right.

 

[cubeless]

your cpu is a bottleneck... and u will need a better psu regardless, methinks...

u usually get a 2x4pin to 1x6pin adapter in the vid cards lately... pm me and i can send u one for a couple bucks if u need one, i have lots of them...

i would say go 4830... when u do your next upgrade u can get a xfire board and cpu, and then add another 4830 at some point...

but the 3870 is a good board... i have a 3.2 x2 with one that will run tf2 at 1920 real well...

i just think that he 4830 takes u down the road a bit further...

your biggest problem is that u r in te dell netherland... it is hard to upgrade a propriatary pc...

 

[yh125d]

I'd probably go with the 4830. Newer process, new tech, etc.

You might be good on the dell PSU. Could you find the manufacturer and amperage on the 12v rail?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I don't see anything confusing about that review. It's clear the HD4830 is better than the HD3870 in every way, except for price. If you can afford it, the HD4830 would be the better choice. However, you will need a new power supply to get either the HD3870 or HD4830. The Pentium D 820 is a power hog, and if you throw either of those video cards into your system you would definitely approach (and very likely exceed) the maximum recommended power output of that 305W power supply.

So if you're not interested in changing power supplies, you should look at the HD4670, which needs half the power of the other cards and should work just fine in your system, especially considering you're already running a 7600GT. The HD4670 would actually consume about the same or less power than the 7600GT and is about twice as powerful. Oh, and no 6-pin PEG connector is required for the HD4670 while you would need it for the HD3870 or HD4830.

You should see framerate improvements in TF2 with the HD4670, but when there are a lot of people and action going on, your processor will be the bottleneck in your system. You should try setting mat_queue_mode to 2 in the console for multi-threaded support. This will increase your framerates, but it will also make the game unstable and cause random crashes.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

My vote if you get a new power supply: 4830

Current system? A 4670, or a 4650 if the price is right. The 4670 directly competes with the 3870 and uses much less power, for the same price. Dont be scared away by the 128-bit memory. Cards haven't been able to fully use 512mb of 128-bit memory until the 4670. And with 256mb 128-bit memory cards didn't have enough bandwidth with the GPU, so there were bottlenecks within the card itself. The 46x0 class changed this.

 

[bylanta]

You all are a wealth of information. Thanks for the replies! I looked up my power supply and it is 22 amps, but I can't find out who made it. Says made in China and has a nice Dell logo on it.

As for the reviews confusing me: the 3870 has a higher memory bandwidth than even the 4850, higher peak fill rate, higher gpu, memory, and shader clock. It has more ROPS, and a smaller die size. So maybe you can understand why I don't know how much weight to put behind certain numbers, but I was under the impression the 4830 was "better" despite losing in these particular battles to the 3870.

So I am using Newegg as a reference for prices and likely purchasing. Looking at these cards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...7394%2CN82E16814121289

I am a fan of sapphire and according to this: http://www.epinions.com/review...d/content_456863551108

it is a single slot cooler, but the user comments on newegg say it is not. SO if am set on a 4830, then now the task is selecting one that fits etc...

 

[yh125d]

The short answer as to why the 4830 is better, is that it has about 300m more transistors

 

[gdextreme]

I'd say buy a G31 mobo + E5200 + 4830. I think you could use your old PSU but I would buy a new one just to be on the safe side. You coul sell your current parts on ebay.

Edit : that Pentium D is really slow (E5200 is easily 2 times as fast) plus consumes around 2 times the power an E5200 would also E5200 can downclock to save power.

 

[lookouthere]

which one has better price/performance? 4830 or 4670 if the power is not a problem.

 

[imported_Asianman]

I would say 4830.
Oh yes, the 3870 is a worthwhile card. Even though its about 15% slower, its much cooler. However, the 4830 will easily over clock around about 20% (575-700) and that will make it comparable (almost) to a 9800 GTX

 

[Denithor]

Well, it really comes down to how much you want to spend.

Right now you're limited harshly by needing a single-slot cooler (why, exactly? do you have the two lower PCI slots filled?). I couldn't find any 4830s that meet that requirement and only two 4670s that do (granted, I'm just looking at newegg).

Gigabyte 4670 512MB $81
Sapphire 4670 1GB $90

The bigger problem for you for future upgrades is that this machine uses a mBTX motherboard so there's not going to be an easy "drop in this motherboard + cpu" upgrade for you. When it gets too slow you're going to have to completely replace it as there aren't any good mBTX motherboards (it's a board layout that Intel pushed [unsuccessfully] a few years back).

EDIT: Might also consider this Sapphire 3870 for $70AR (with single-slot cooler).

 

[lookouthere]

if the RV740 rumor is true, would it be better to wait for it?

 

[nemesismk2]

I would go with 4830 if you get a new power supply but if you don't then a 3870 or 3850 (think you might need a new PSU for these too though).

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: bylanta

As for the reviews confusing me: the 3870 has a higher memory bandwidth than even the 4850, higher peak fill rate, higher gpu, memory, and shader clock. It has more ROPS, and a smaller die size. So maybe you can understand why I don't know how much weight to put behind certain numbers, but I was under the impression the 4830 was "better" despite losing in these particular battles to the 3870.

All of that is meaningless if you looked at the actual benchmarks.

 

[bylanta]

Honestly I have just read from other e510 users on the net that it needs a single slot cooler. I really wish it didn't because that is the main thing holding me back from just buying a card right this second. I don't know how you could tell those couple cards from newegg were single slots.... One of the ones I saw made in clear in red text, but the rest.. I don't how you could tell.

Text
case look
that is someone else's e510 case.. As you can (barely) see the video card is the top slot and there is room underneath it.. but the cooler sits on top of the card facing up towards the PSU. I am limited in length as well before I run into that black plastic thingie.

 

[yh125d]

Ugh, I hate OEM's non standard layouts so bad. They go through such lengths to limit what we can do in the future upgrade wise