4870x2 still decent? or very outdated?

[Gamb311]

I got some extra 4870x2's laying around. How outdated are these? Can 2 outperform 1 gtx580? Hope so!

[jeremyshaw]

Yes, though more recent catalyst drivers have been outright ignoring HD4800 cards, much less HD4800 quadfire setups!!

[Gamb311]

can you recommend a good driver for these?

[BeepBeep2]

can you recommend a good driver for these?

Hmm...a lot of the drivers were sticking the second core in 2D mode even during 3D resulting in performance only 20-30% better than a 4870.

I think it's fixed in the recent drivers though.

[Kaldor]

Im in a similar situation with my 4870X2. I have no games that use DX11. So in order to see a real performance I would need to get at least a 5870 or better.

It boils down to how much do you feel you need? Myself, the old X2 is still doing fine by me, even though the rest of my system is pretty much brand new in the last 6 months.

[CedricFP]

Good drivers for 4870x2 are 10.8 before they started breaking the second core jumping to 3D.

[Varsos]

10.4 hotfix and 10.5 are the top drivers for 4870X2. If you want newer 10.12 is the 3rd best driver for me.

[JoeBar]

4870X2 are pretty descent cards. Without descent support from AMD though...

[ChanceCoats123]

They are still alright. I checked the HWbot... single 4870x2 vantage is on par with a single 5850 and '06 is 3k point ahead of a single 5850. Still a good performer, but not running with the big dogs like they used to. :/

[BeepBeep2]

They are still alright. I checked the HWbot... single 4870x2 vantage is on par with a single 5850 and '06 is 3k point ahead of a single 5850. Still a good performer, but not running with the big dogs like they used to. :/

Two 800 SP GPU's in crossfire on a single board
Expect 5850 performance, since scaling isn't as good as a true 1600 SP chip like the 5870.

[Chickenfeed]

My experience with my old 4870x2 makes the gtx 480 look good. Be sure you have a very stable high quality psu, a well ventilated enclosure and a high tolerance for noise as those things suck power like its going out of style and they want you to hear about.

When I rmad mine I replaced it with a 5870 and was much more impressed. All the performance of the x2 with half the power draw and a fraction of the noise output.

All this said performance wise they are still half decent cards, they are just inefficient.

As far as quad fire scaling on the hd4k series ( hell most series ) its quite poor and buggy.

[darckhart]

performance still rocks. but other features make newer cards more appealing (heat/power/noise)

[spoof]

Okay, this seems to be the appropriate thread for me.

Before switching to DX11 (when there's something to switch to, of course) i'm trying to get the maximum out of my 4870x2.

So, after playing around with the stock Sapphire BIOS i found out that 790/915 (which happens to be ASUS TOP stock values as well) is my wall. The logical step was ASUS TOP BIOS with 1.25v vcore. I did some testing and found out that 790/915 (no matter what vcore) is the maximum. Which is kinda disappointing. What is strange, actually, that past this values, the screen starts to freeze. No artifacts, blinking pixels, stretching polys, flickering or any kinda of visual problems. The screen just freeze and after that the PC lock-up and need hard restart. The most interesting part is that i can play some games without any problem (Like Trackmania Nations), other freeze without any noticeable regularity like BC2 - i can play for hours without a problem, next time i freeze after 5 minutes. The most strangest of all is Crysis 2 - freeze right after the level starts. No matter what.

In order to figure out what's the problem, my first thought was that something is overheating. Okay, but GPU-Z wasn't showing anything wrong - all measured temperatures are just in order. Anyway, i tried with 200mm fan blowing directly into the card - still can't get past 790 core AND (separately) 915 mem. Because of this i'm starting to think, that the problem is rather software. I'm using 10.4a, which seems to be the most stable driver for me. Tried with and without catalyst - nothing.

So, after the above said, i think i have some kinda of software problem, as i said. Anyone possibly have an idea or suggestion?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post :R

[STEvil]

my advice is lose the overclock on the card

[Andrea deluxe]

sell it and get a gtx 560/hd6950

[Chodi]

I bought the 4870x2 right after they came out. I don't have any use for multiple monitors I use one monitor at 1920x1200 and that is just fine for me. I am usually the first guy to upgrade anything, but I have been at a loss to do so since my 4870x2 plays everything smoothly on high settings. As for the noise comments, I took off the fan assembly and cleaned everything then re-assembled using AS5. My comment would be what noise? This thing idols in the 60c range and never goes above 90c with the fan set to 35%. I can barely hear it. The design does cause the front heat sink to clog with dirt which will make the fan spin up. I just clean it when that happens. Until there is a DX11 game I can't live without I am a happy camper with my 4870x2.

[VIctorj]

I have a 4870x2. Noise is unbearable, even after cleaning the 5H1T out of it, and replacing the TIM.
What i did to get rid of the noise was loose the fan casing, and add a 120mm right on top of the card.
I just got a U2711 and the card is struggling with newer games, so im thinking about getting a second one. Strong PSU is recommended tho.

[Chodi]

I have a 4870x2. Noise is unbearable, even after cleaning the 5H1T out of it, and replacing the TIM.
What i did to get rid of the noise was loose the fan casing, and add a 120mm right on top of the card.
I just got a U2711 and the card is struggling with newer games, so im thinking about getting a second one. Strong PSU is recommended tho.

I too have experienced noise with this card but in a smaller case where things were crowded. I got into larger cases and found the 4870x2 fan was much less active with good airflow. I also had occasion to change motherboards and found that the layout can impact the airflow. All of which is to say that good airflow in the case keeps the fan from spinning up to overcome heat. Mine is a reference design so nothing special there.

[armeniandave]

I have my 4870X2 with a 4870 in trifire.
It runs a U3011 Dell in BFBC2 and works fine.
I can't use any driver past 10.5 or I get CTD.

I'm waiting till BF3 is about to come out before
I get new cards. I have mine all watercooled so
no issues at all with noise or temps.

[antiacid]

I have my 4870X2 with a 4870 in trifire.
It runs a U3011 Dell in BFBC2 and works fine.
I can't use any driver past 10.5 or I get CTD.

I'm waiting till BF3 is about to come out before
I get new cards. I have mine all watercooled so
no issues at all with noise or temps.

I used to have that setup and swapped to a 5970 (everything watercooled too). I got fed up with buggy drivers but recently 11.2-11.3 seem to be getting better. Have you tried those?

[Blkout]

The 4870x2 will still play anything out there today with good framerates but damn its a HOT card! A 6950 or 6970 will be faster, draw less power, run cooler and won't rely on crossfire profiles. That being said, the 4870x2 is still an awesome card, way ahead of its time when it was released, most cards don't have that kind of relevant speed years after release.

[almighty15]

I moved from an ASUS 6950 with unlocked shaders to a PowerColor 4870x2 and damn.... The x2 is kicking out higher frames in pretty much every game!

As for drivers the 11.2's are by far the best.

[CedricFP]

I moved from an ASUS 6950 with unlocked shaders to a PowerColor 4870x2 and damn.... The x2 is kicking out higher frames in pretty much every game!

As for drivers the 11.2's are by far the best.

Interesting.

I loved my x2 but started getting bored so moved to 2 295's for some quad GPU action. Then decided I didn't like multi and went GTX 580.

[almighty15]

Interesting.

I loved my x2 but started getting bored so moved to 2 295's for some quad GPU action. Then decided I didn't like multi and went GTX 580.

It's a personal thing but I love my x2

[CedricFP]

It's a personal thing but I love my x2

So did I. Was a great card for it's time and had a shelf life far longer than many other high end cards before it, though that will be by virtue of being dual-GPU with ever improving SLI/CF scaling.