4870, 4890, or 5770?

[Drosenthal]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to get a video card, and I'm not quite sure what to get. I think I want to go the ATI route, but i'm not sure exactly which card. I'm on a budget, but I can justify the higher cost if there's a true benefit. Between the 4870 and 4890, is there a real boost in performance?

For the 4870, I was looking at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161294
Or something similar

And for the 4890...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102848

Is stepping up to DirectX11 worth it? I see that the 5770's have smaller interface. How much of an impact would that have on performance?
For the 5770's, I was looking at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102858

They're all priced pretty similarly. So that isn't really a concern. But between those choices (or other similarly priced ones) what would you recommend.


Thanks in advanced.

[David M]

There are a number of comparisons on the internet which benchmark these cards. Their speeds compared to each other varies depending on the applications that you intend on running. The other components of your computer also makes a difference. Unfortunately the 5000 series cards are too new for Tom's Hardware to have added it to their bench testing charts. Tom's is my favorite website for comparing graphics cards...they are just a bit slow at testing and publishing the results when a new card comes out. They publish results once a quarter. Tom's does have the results of the 4000 series cards. You will need to look for a website that has tested all three in the same comparison so you are not getting apples and oranges caused by different websites using different computers to benchmark the cards. Google can help.

[pam123]

Tomshardware has the best general review : http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...5770,2446.html

and my reason for choosing the 5770 was pretty much theirs :

The second group of folks is upgrading from older graphics technology, or perhaps even building a first system. They don’t have a good point of reference, so they’re seeing Radeon HD 5770/5750, Radeon HD 4870, and GeForce GTX 260 on the shelf next to each other for the first time. Available for $145 online, and with consistently better performance than the 5770, ATI’s Radeon HD 4870 remains a good buy. But paying an extra $15 for Eyefinity, bitstreaming, and the promise of DirectX 11 should really be a no-brainer.

Seeing as how I'm going to upgrade from a 2600XT it wasn't a difficult choice for me.