Anybody with ATI Radeon video card experience, please help.

I've seen numerous benchmarks, and they vary significantly. I've seen tests with it at 35fps and at 45fps in Crysis at 1280x1024

Is the Radeon HD 4870 really worth the extra hundred?
http://www.legitreviews.com/images [...] crysis.jpg

In all other games I see that the 4870 does have significant FPS improvements, but in all other games the 4850 already runs at 60+ fps. I do want to keep my computer very fast for at least the next 10 years, so I do always have an option of just getting a second card for CrossFire.

With my motherboard, how does the CrossfireX work? Will I be able to eventually add two 4870s to my one 4850? The TigerDirect video review seems to indicate yes. If this is possible then I think the best choice is to go with a single 4850 for now, and later just add some better cards in as needed? Link to mobo: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] CatId=1572

My computer specs:
Core2Duo 3.0GHz
2GB DDR3 RAM
X48 Motherboard

Resolution: 1280 x 1024

omg of course 4870 is better

But is is worth the 100 bucks extra? Can someone seriously tell me if it's worh it.

No one out of the four hundred who viewed this thread will help???

At 1280x1024, it won't be enough of a difference in all likelihood. At higher resolutions, the GDDR5 would help out quite a bit, but for you, I would just recommend the 4850.

I will help

Well personally I would try to shoot for the 4870, if your funds allow you to.

But then again, your gaming at a lower res, so a 4850 would work really good also.

And to answer you question of Crossfire X, yes you can simply add another 4850 or 4870 later if you so choose. But at your resolution, Crossfire would be a waste.

Any more questions?

The reason I want crossfire is so that my computer is future-proof, because games will get better, and even at a lower resolution i'll still need to step up performance over time.

What settings do you think I could run Crysis on with a 4850? Most benchmarks say 35fps on max settings (high DX9). So i could just lower to 1024x728 and get good fPS?

I'd like to keep my native resolution (1280x1024) if possible. Postprocessing and shaders are something I want to keep nice and high, but shadows at low still look very nice.

At 1280x1024, I would guess it would be pretty smooth on fully cranked settings, with no to low AA. Very high everything, 2xAA maybe? Of course, the 4xxx series are good with AA, so you might be able to do 4x. That's a fairly low resolution though, so I wouldn't be too surprised if you could pull it basically fully cranked on very high and maintain >25fps at almost all times.

Keep in mind that crysis has motion blur implemented quite well, which allows an occasional dip down to 20fps to still feel smooth.

"I do want to keep my computer very fast for at least the next 10 years"

- i think the 4870 will devour crysis7 and in 2018.

Alright, so I think $100 is not worth the +3fps in Crysis?

In the future I think my motherboard will let me add more video cards and stuff so i'm keeping my comp open for upgrades.

I'm thinking about saving the $100 by getting an 4850 instead of 4870 for a better case, is it worth it?

I meant more like 5 years I guess, and I am going to upgrade in the next 5 years, just keep it upgradeable for at least 5 years.

If you're looking to keep it that long, I'd spend the extra dough on the 4870.

5 years is a bit much... if i was you id just wait for the 4870x2 than...
and i wudnt be surprised if you were insanely outdated by 2010-2011, ray tracing is just on the horizon

I cant believe no one has burst this guy's bubble. To upgrade a rig in 5 years and hope its lasts for 5 more, is impossible. If by upgrade you mean everything but the case(??) then i guess it will work.

You are going to come to the point of needing to upgrade everything (read new build) before ten years if you want to do more than type and surf the net.

it's only an extra 100 dollars over 10 years guys, go for it..hehe

I think i'm just gonna go for the 4870, and I seriously think my comp will be able to be upgraded for 5 years, the only major thing that'll need upgrading is the video card and processor, which probably won't take any major turns in the next few years.

Crysis laughs at any GPU or CPU thrown at it... be it 8400GS or GTX280 or 4870X2..... ... 2 or 3 FPS difference between 4850 and 4870 may not mean much... but if you look at the benchies of other games, 4870 does outperform the 4850.

Moreover since you'd be keeping that rig for a long time, it would be a better investment to get a faster GPU. If anything, future games won't possibly run faster on 4850 than on 4870.

Just to let you know, future proofing your system for more then a year is very difficult- nonetheless 5 or ten lol.

Look at this thread.
http://www.computing.net/answers/g [...] /7260.html

In the thread some Joe, about two years ago, when the x box 360 first came out, wanted to know what system he would have to buy to equal that consoles performance in games. Some other Joe posted as a joke the top of the line system back in the day. According to that other Joe in the thread, that system would cost 3000 dollars. Out of curiosity I put together a wish list of a similar system on newegg. That same top of the line system back then came out to 400 today (for the tower) 700 for the whole package, although without speakers. Keep in mind, this was posted just two years ago.

I would get the 4850, because it can play all but one or two games on the highest settings, very comfortably, on obnoxiously high settings (minus AA for some at really high resolutions...certainly if you keep the resolution low for you sub par monitor), and its cheap. In six months everybody will be talking about how much better the new cards are anyway and you can upgrade then, or six months after that when all those cards are obsolete, or six months after that when those cards suck too... ect. Consider this- the oh so popular and powerful 8800s had a grand lifespan of about two years- with plenty of reworkings to keep them going. They can still run well now, but fall well short of the new cards by a huge margin. The top of the line card listed in the thread about (a 7950 gtx ), is nothing compared to a simple 3850 for a hundred dollars now. That thread was posted about two years ago. You make your choice based on that.

EDIT: the 8800s are not dead... fanboys don't flame me please. They are, however, no longer top end.