Radeon HD 4870 512MB Video Card $179 after $10 rebate

[quote name='kellehair']Great card. Runs games like Fallout 3 and Crysis Warhead without a hiccup for me.[/quote]


Aww dude im so envious. I wish I had the funds right now to get this deal. Maybe next paycheck. tisk tisk
 
[quote name='AwRy108']Nice card, but unfamiliar 3rd party manufacturer. Thanks for the post, but the price isn't worth the risk.[/QUOTE]

wouldn't exactly call HIS "unfamiliar". they're fairly well-known as a 3rd party; maybe not on the level of Sapphire or Gigabyte, but a decent enough middle-tier manufacturer.
 
[quote name='AwRy108']Nice card, but unfamiliar 3rd party manufacturer. Thanks for the post, but the price isn't worth the risk.[/quote]

HIS is a pretty good 3rd party manufacturer. Diamond is probably the best, Sapphire isn't too bad.

Ones you need to stray away from are any with Vision, Power, or Color in the title :p
 
when buying a new video card, what should you look out for besides the memory (ie 512 mb)? i

Also i have a old sony vaio from 2003, and supposing i buy this card, would there be reasons for it not to work?

- will it fit in my tower ? im currently using an ATI radeon 9200. are they the same size?

-will i somehow have to adjust the amount of electricity my computer uses?
-do i gotta change my main processor to accomodate a different video card?

any help is greatly appreciated.
 
[quote name='Warpath01']when buying a new video card, what should you look out for besides the memory (ie 512 mb)? i

Also i have a old sony vaio from 2003, and supposing i buy this card, would there be reasons for it not to work?

- will it fit in my tower ? im currently using an ATI radeon 9200. are they the same size?

-will i somehow have to adjust the amount of electricity my computer uses?
-do i gotta change my main processor to accomodate a different video card?

any help is greatly appreciated.[/quote]

The memory isn't as important as what kind of memory it uses. The 4870 is a top of the line card. It's one of the best if not the best single card with no frills like the OC or OCX cards Nvidia has.

Is your ATI Radeon the Xpress kind? A chipset? Or do you have an actual video card?

Give us the specs of your computer or the model number (ie. Dell Inspiron 530) for us to see if you could use this card.
 
[quote name='Warpath01']when buying a new video card, what should you look out for besides the memory (ie 512 mb)? i

Also i have a old sony vaio from 2003, and supposing i buy this card, would there be reasons for it not to work?

- will it fit in my tower ? im currently using an ATI radeon 9200. are they the same size?

-will i somehow have to adjust the amount of electricity my computer uses?
-do i gotta change my main processor to accomodate a different video card?

any help is greatly appreciated.[/quote]

I'm going to hazard to guess that if your system is from '03 that radeon 9200 is either AGP or PCI card type. The 4xxx series radeons (as well as the past couple generations) do not support AGP and only the lower-end models will support PCI. The 4870 itself, is a PCI-express card. This is a newer type of architecture which is much faster than PCI and AGP. You really didn't see PCI-e start showing up on mainstream consumer PC's until around '05-'06. If your CPU is too old to support the video card you want to upgrade to, you might as well buy a new machine (new CPU usually means new motherboard and new memory as well). A lot of times with retail PC's you will need to upgrade the power supply to support a high-end video card. In general, the only way to know what you will be able to support with your system is to look up the specs for your system online by the model number and match that up against the minimum specs required by the card.
 
wow 2009 is starting off nice

Core i7 for $200 now an ATI HD 4870 512MB for $179

this is crazy, Both my CPU and GPU are faster than a 360 and a PS3 combined and less than half the price.

Now its too bad DDR3 RAM is so pricey.

Sucks I have to use DDR2 800 RAM oh well its free
 
[quote name='Ice Cold']wow 2009 is starting off nice

Core i7 for $200 now an ATI HD 4870 512MB for $179

this is crazy, Both my CPU and GPU are faster than a 360 and a PS3 combined and less than half the price.

Now its too bad DDR3 RAM is so pricey.

Sucks I have to use DDR2 800 RAM oh well its free[/QUOTE]

As long as you don't want top-end DDR3, it's pretty cheap.
 
[quote name='Warpath01']my model is the sony vaio PCV-RS 430G[/QUOTE]

Looks like via google that you have a 300 watt psu and an AGP 8x board.
I was kinda in the same situation and I got a Radeon 2600 Pro HD... it's the 512MB version. You're pretty limited to the types of cards you can get since we both have againg machines.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...9&cs=19&c=us&l=en&dgc=SS&cid=30322&lid=680413

or a cheaper price at an pricegrabber storefront:
http://www.pricegrabber.com/user_sales_getprod.php?masterid=48683366&lot_id=8365417
 
Last edited by a moderator:
yes i think you have to get an AGP gpu. I was in the same situation in 2007. I had pcv-rs530g, tried to upgrade i with 7600gt but couldn't do it because of psu limitation and ultimately had to build brand new pc.I learned my lesson to never buy branded pc,its better to build by own or buy separately
 
[quote name='dreamer2050']yes i think you have to get an AGP gpu. I was in the same situation in 2007. I had pcv-rs530g, tried to upgrade i with 7600gt but couldn't do it because of psu limitation and ultimately had to build brand new pc.I learned my lesson to never buy branded pc,its better to build by own or buy separately[/quote]

There's no problem buying a branded computer if you know exactly what specs it has, what you want, and what you need.

Sometimes you can save over hundreds of dollars by buying a Dell that Best Buy has on sale and just upgrading the memory or video card and getting a mid-tier gaming machine.
 
[quote name='BarryC']HIS is a pretty good 3rd party manufacturer. Diamond is probably the best, Sapphire isn't too bad.

Ones you need to stray away from are any with Vision, Power, or Color in the title :p[/QUOTE]

I've never had a problem with Visiontek or Powercolor. Great price though when that's almost same price the 4850 is going for still.
 
thanks for the help. so i'll have to just look at cards that are AGP then.

some of you guys mentioned PSU, which i googled up to be power supply unit. i dont know anything about PSU and limitations on videocards. Could someoen give me a quic kexplanation or some website on this? how do i know what PSU my comp uses?


also i have another ? when it comes to videocard requirements for games. according to wikipedia, COD4:MW needs a minimum of ATI radeon 9800 pro. this thread is pointing to a sale of radeon 4870. since 4870
 
Well if you open up your case it'll tell right on the side of the PSU (it'll be a box where the plug goes into) things like wattage. For requirements if it is indeed a 300w you have you really shouldn't be limited if you're on AGP since you'll have a hard time finding a card that would actually task that. Provided it's not running really poorly from age.

Unfortunately you can't go by model numbers to tell where things fall. The 9xxx series for ATI is at least four generations old while the 4870's are their top end cards right now. Check out http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/benchmarks,30.html which will let you see some different games at different settings and how various cards stack up.
 
Thanks, this will help me out! Was about to buy one for my pc
2.gif
2.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top