Help me choose... 4870 1gb, 4890 or 5770.

[BAMAVOO]

I have a Quad Core @ 3ghz (Xeon 3210)
4 Gig of Ram
Biostar TPower I45
1680x1050 22" Monitor and will not upgrade to bigger even if it goes out will replace with 22" as my desk will only hold a 22 because of the shelving.


Will the 5770 be enough?

 

[TemjinGold]

Upgrade your desk!

What do you play with it?

 

[Rafael]

I would go with 4890, if you do not plan on playing any DX11 games.
Generally you will get a better performance with the 4890 than the 5770 in any game you play.
If the 4890 is about the same price you will get a better performance/dollar with.

 

[sonofsanta]

From everything I've seen you'll not see the benefit of the 4890 over the 5770 at 1680x1050 a huge amount, because the memory bandwidth on the card isn't as much of an issue at that res. What you will see is continually improving performance from the 5770 and more future proofing, as well as cooler, quieter and more efficient operation.

I'm facing the same decision myself at the moment (at the same res) and unless an absolute bargain crops up on a 4890, I'm set on the 5770, particularly as it is cheaper everywhere that has stock of either card. CrossFiring 5770's down the line looks good as well.

 

[BadOmen]

Cooler and quieter sounds attractive. Is it really noticeable between both cards?

 

[sonofsanta]

Anandtech review charts here

To summarise, at load: power usage is about a third less (by the WoW figures), temperature about equivalent but at the expense of 16dB. louder 4890.

Idle power is a jaw-droppingly low 18W for the 5770 as well.

 

[BAMAVOO]

Originally posted by: TemjinGold
Upgrade your desk!

What do you play with it?

Left 4 Dead
Quake 4 Freezetag Mod
Call of Duty 4

Left 4 Dead2 upon arrival.

That is pretty much it.

 

[sonofsanta]

Originally posted by: BAMAVOO

Originally posted by: TemjinGold
Upgrade your desk!

What do you play with it?

Left 4 Dead
Quake 4 Freezetag Mod
Call of Duty 4

Left 4 Dead2 upon arrival.

That is pretty much it.

Source Engine is very easy to run for any modern graphics card, likewise COD4. You'll get blazing framerates with any of the cards judging by every benchmark available, so base it on price and featureset. My tuppence, anyway.

 

[RussianSensation]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161298
$170 4890 with 965 GPU core from the factory. Performance wise, this will be significantly faster than a 5770 in non-DX11 games. But if you are more concerned with low power consumption at idle and features, then 5770 is better.

 

[crisium]

Originally posted by: BAMAVOO

Originally posted by: TemjinGold
Upgrade your desk!

What do you play with it?

Left 4 Dead
Quake 4 Freezetag Mod
Call of Duty 4

Left 4 Dead2 upon arrival.

That is pretty much it.

The 5770 is plenty for those games at that res. 4xAA and max AF in all 3 of those titles, and I'm sure in L4D2 as well unless Valve really did something drastic with Source (unlikely).

You might as well enjoy the low power usage. Paying less $$ for the 4870 will give you better performance though - keep that in mind. I'm not sure how long it'll take before the 5770 is cheaper due to lower power cost, but it would be a while I'm sure. If you think your PSU can handle it and you either don't pay electricity bill or don't care that much about something so long term than save $ and get the 4870 and the better performance with it. A 4890 is overkill at that res with those games, imo.

 

[bryanW1995]

I did the calculations for somebody the other day and came up with about $1 a month reduced operating cost between 5770 and 4870. Figuring on a 2 year ownership period $24 will save the OP quite a bit of money, plus the 5770 should only get better over time as dx 11 titles roll out. I have to say at that res and with those games the 5770 is a no-brainer here.

 

[Ika]

There were some preliminary DX11 benchmarks showing a maximum of +20% over the DX10 pathway. This is basically what pushed me over the edge to get my HD5770 - the hope for improved performance in later games.

 

[bryanW1995]

yeah, 5770 is priced at just enough of a premium over 4870 1 gb that people have the discussion, and just enough below 4890 to make it a tough call. Honestly, however, the only reason I could see to get one of the older cards would be if you play very demanding games at 19x12 or higher, and generally if you do that then you should be looking at 5850 anyway.

 

[BAMAVOO]

I am happy with the 4850 I have now. I even ran CF for a while and didn't notice a difference, so the 5770 is going to be my choice. I can always add another one later.

Thanks

 

[bryanW1995]

why are you replacing the 4850?

 

[crisium]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
why are you replacing the 4850?

Ha, that's the first thing I thought too. My 4850 does 4xAA and max AF with CoD 4 and L4D at 1920x1080, an even larger resolution. Why the heck are you upgrading now? We assumed you either had no card or something very weak. Stick with the 4850 dude!

When you actually need better performance in x months or even year(s) for $159 you might be able to get a Radeon 5850 or better. Prices always go down. Save your cash for when you actually need an upgrade. 4850 to 5770, even when the former is 512MB, is a rather piecemeal upgrade - especially because you haven't expressed too much desire for DX11.

Wait! If your wallet is big enough to override your patience just get a 5870 right now then - it's just as questionable of a choice for you as 5770 is.

 

[BadOmen]

What about the 5750? Based on the review, seems ok too, besides cheaper. Just don't know about the performance. Too far from 5770 and 4870?

 

[bryanW1995]

well, 5750 is faster than 4850 by a few %, and 5770 is slower than 4870 1gb by a few %, so honestly I don't see much difference. If you're looking in that class of card the 5750 512 will probably be the card to get since it's only a few $$ more than a new 4850 and should have nearly identical performance.

 

[Tempered81]

$170 4890 if you want a little faster framerate. $160 5770 if you want triple monitors, dx11, 40nm. $140 48701Gb if price is most important

 

[Qbah]

Going from a HD4850 to a HD5770 is pointless. Unless your HD4850 died and you want something similar. The lowest step I'd take would be to a HD5850 or even the HD5870. Seriously, all you will gain is a frame here and there and lower your idle power consumption.

 

[Mattdoommaster]

I don't see any point in upgrading to any of these video cards from your current. Are you actually running into any issues with what you're playing right now? I can't imagine you are, you should be able to run those games at basically max details without any issues.

The problem with the Radeon 4890 is it isn't any faster and doesn't offer anything new. The Radeon 5770 does offer new features - but it isn't really fast enough to use them. If I was playing those games I would at least want a Radeon 5850 so I could use supersampling.