4850: Stay or Hit?

[jack_L]

Well, I have had a Diamond 4850 512 MB for about 2 months, and I am thinking, is it worth it to sell it and go for a 4870 512/1GB or even a 4870 X2 in the short term when its prices drop more? Is there a noticeable difference between the 4850 and 4870 1GB for example?

I have a 19" LCD at 1440x900 and an E7300@4Ghz.

Thanks

[cadaveca]

No, not really worth it. What makes you want more in the first place? Are you having issues?

[jack_L]

Well, there is only 1 reason: It never hurts to have a better card when prices are dropping, as the 4870 is now $200, the 4870w/1GB is about $240, not bad at all. So if I sell the 4850 for say $140 to $165 shipping included, then the difference would not that much. But I guess it goes back to the Q, will there be a big diff between the 4850@512 and the 4870@1Gb? And is that diff worth $100 or so?

[cadaveca]

Yes, there is a difference...no, I do not think $100 is a worthwhile investment based on the difference. While I understand that the pcb, memory, quality of gpu, etc, explains the gap in thier "new" pricing at retail, the cost is hard to justify in your circumstances.

Now, if you were to say, be looking for a quieter solution(ie, different cooling), then maybe my story would be different, but 1440x900 is hardly pushing that card, even in the "Almighty Crysis..."

[Thund3rball]

Not worth it imo. I am in a similar boat with my 8800GT. At 1680x1050 I can completely max out any game (sans Crysis). But Crysis is so tweakable you can make it look pretty phenomenal with a very playable framerate.

[jack_L]

Thanks for your replies.. I guess I will wait and see the coming 4890 in April or so, am SURE this card will make all prices go down, hopefully the 4870X2, since I want that card but its waaay too pricey right now.

Lets hope most new games would be handled fine with the 4850.. Games like Crysis make any video card scream for power...

[geokilla]

System specs?

And no it's not worth it.

[Bucklaz]

If you wait for the price of the 4870x2 to go down, then the resale price of your hd4850 will have gone down as well.

If you ask me, I'd just upgrade to the next generation of gpus when they do come out.

[Thund3rball]

Originally Posted by Bucklaz

If you wait for the price of the 4870x2 to go down, then the resale price of your hd4850 will have gone down as well.

If you ask me, I'd just upgrade to the next generation of gpus when they do come out.

While upgrading the rest of your machine (depending n your specs). No sense in bottlenecking a sweet GPU.

[Silvgearx]

Stay with the 4850, as other said you wont need any upgrades yet. I would recommend you wait for Ati 5xxx series or nvidia GTX3xx series, unless you bough a 24ìnch LCD, then a upgrade is a must.

Price as now for the cheapest Ati 4850 is $150CAD. So you probably wont be able to sell your diamond for more than that.