Upgrade to a HD 4890?

[z1ggy]

Not sure if this is a repost by me, but I need an answer from somebody about my system personally. I want to upgrade from my 8800gt to a better gpu. Games I play now are COD4 and TF2, but in a few months I will be buying SC2 and COD6. Should I just go ahead and buy the 4890 now, not buy it at all, or wait til the 5000 series comes out?

 

[geoffry]

Given that COD6 and SC2 aren't out yet, I would wait.

When they come out you'll be able to get more performance for less money.

 

[solofly]

I would wait...

 

[z1ggy]

About how much do you think those cards will be running price wise? Also, how much of an expected improvement over the 4890 are they going to be? I really don't want to spend over $200.

 

[TemjinGold]

Well, if you don't want to spend over $200, you might be out of luck with the new cards as, unless they are horribly underperforming, I'm guessing they should be closer to the $250-$300 mark (especially since nVidia won't have anything next gen yet.) History would place the new cards at close to 2X the performance of the 4890 but history isn't always right (and we currently have nothing other than speculation.)

I think you should consider the following:

1) Is your 8800GT not sufficient for what you currently play?

2) Is that $200 a hard limit?

If you either absolutely cannot spend above $200 or that 8800GT is too slow for you, I would catch a 4890 sale and just get it over with. Realistically, with prices so low on sales already, I doubt it'll be THAT much cheaper when 5xxx does come out. And unless 5xxx is a total letdown performance-wise, I can't see it being in your price range when it does release. If, however, you are satisfied with current performance, then there's no reason not to wait till 5xxx releases before you do anything.

 

[z1ggy]

MY 8800gt is fine for what I play now (COD4 and TF2) and I am okay with how my computer performs. However, Once COD6 and SC2 come out, I will 100% be upgrading because I know that my 8800gt won't be good enough to give me a good FPS on my 22 in HD monitor. My budget I would say is pretty tight..I am still in college and most of my income goes towards things like car insurance, cell phone bill, gas, etc. So I have maybe a grand total of 1,000 dollars for the entire school year. I don't want to wait forever for these cards to come out just so I can get it in the right price range. Plus, I will probably be upgrading my machine completely by next summer or next fall, so by then my 4890 may be a little out dated, or I can get another oen for cheap for SLI. Im leaning towards getting the 4890, do you think the prices will go down much one the 5000's come out?

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: z1ggy
MY 8800gt is fine for what I play now (COD4 and TF2) and I am okay with how my computer performs. However, Once COD6 and SC2 come out, I will 100% be upgrading because I know that my 8800gt won't be good enough to give me a good FPS on my 22 in HD monitor. My budget I would say is pretty tight..I am still in college and most of my income goes towards things like car insurance, cell phone bill, gas, etc. So I have maybe a grand total of 1,000 dollars for the entire school year. I don't want to wait forever for these cards to come out just so I can get it in the right price range. Plus, I will probably be upgrading my machine completely by next summer or next fall, so by then my 4890 may be a little out dated, or I can get another oen for cheap for SLI. Im leaning towards getting the 4890, do you think the prices will go down much one the 5000's come out?

By COD6 I'm guessing you mean Modern Warfare 2? If so, your 8800GT might be enough - I doubt MW2 will be much more demanding than COD4. As for SC2, I almost guarantee you an 8800GT will run it with ease. If I was in your shoes, I'd wait till the games came out and try running them with the 8800GT, and only upgrade if performance was sub par.

 

[z1ggy]

^^^ True statement, but I did see a trailer for SC2 and it did look much more graphic intense than I expected. Also... I really don't want to just "get by" with the card I have on some of the newer games. I still want them to run as best as possible, without breaking my wallet. Besides, I will prob get bored of SC2 after playing it a lot, it gets pretty repetitive, I may want to branch out into dif. types of games.

 

[1ManArmY]

Originally posted by: TemjinGold
Well, if you don't want to spend over $200, you might be out of luck with the new cards as, unless they are horribly underperforming, I'm guessing they should be closer to the $250-$300 mark (especially since nVidia won't have anything next gen yet.) History would place the new cards at close to 2X the performance of the 4890 but history isn't always right (and we currently have nothing other than speculation.)

I think you should consider the following:

1) Is your 8800GT not sufficient for what you currently play?

2) Is that $200 a hard limit?

If you either absolutely cannot spend above $200 or that 8800GT is too slow for you, I would catch a 4890 sale and just get it over with. Realistically, with prices so low on sales already, I doubt it'll be THAT much cheaper when 5xxx does come out. And unless 5xxx is a total letdown performance-wise, I can't see it being in your price range when it does release. If, however, you are satisfied with current performance, then there's no reason not to wait till 5xxx releases before you do anything.

I know the OP's dilemma I just went through it but my budget was 250. I opted for a
GTX 275 SC. If my budget was tighter I would have picked up a 4890. I purchase this card to hold me over until the next gen cards come out and it looks like I made a good decision especially since GT300 wont be due until Q1 2010.

 

[California Roll]

You have nothing to gain by buying a card now. Unless you need better performance right now (and it sounds like you don't), just wait. At worst, the card you have your eye on right now will be the same price. More than likely it will be cheaper then, or something better at the same price point will be available.

If you bought a new monitor right now with higher resolution or you're looking to improve performance in the games you're playing right now, by all means upgrade now.

 

[lopri]

http://vr-zone.com/forums/441376/amd-plans-price-cut-for-hd-4800-series-in-q3.html

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: TemjinGold
Well, if you don't want to spend over $200, you might be out of luck with the new cards as, unless they are horribly underperforming, I'm guessing they should be closer to the $250-$300 mark (especially since nVidia won't have anything next gen yet.) History would place the new cards at close to 2X the performance of the 4890 but history isn't always right (and we currently have nothing other than speculation.)

I think you should consider the following:

1) Is your 8800GT not sufficient for what you currently play?

2) Is that $200 a hard limit?

If you either absolutely cannot spend above $200 or that 8800GT is too slow for you, I would catch a 4890 sale and just get it over with. Realistically, with prices so low on sales already, I doubt it'll be THAT much cheaper when 5xxx does come out. And unless 5xxx is a total letdown performance-wise, I can't see it being in your price range when it does release. If, however, you are satisfied with current performance, then there's no reason not to wait till 5xxx releases before you do anything.

Sometime the history is only 40-50% increases.

 

[z1ggy]

I already have a 21.5 inch HD monitor (asus) and I love it, it really improved my gaming experience thus far. The only thing I can really upgrade here, without doing a complete upgrade (unless I wanted to get like an e8400, but I'm not going that route) is my gpu. I guess the ultimate question here, if it can be answered, is will the time spent waiting for a new card to come out, worth the price to performance ratio? If it is, than yes I shud wait til Q3 of 2009 or Q1 2010 to save up some money and get that card. If not, then I should get the 4890 now. ( or relatively soon)

 

[TemjinGold]

It sounds like ultimately you want the card because you don't want to wait. I say that because you said yourself that you are fine with your performance right now. That's why the logical thing to do is NOT to upgrade yet. If you are still itching to upgrade then you are either not fine with your performance now or you're simply itching to spend the money right now. I'm not trying to say you shouldn't spend your money if that's what you really want to do. I'm just saying you should be honest with yourself regarding why you want to upgrade right now because I get the feeling the two games coming out later aren't the whole reason.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: z1ggy
I already have a 21.5 inch HD monitor (asus) and I love it, it really improved my gaming experience thus far. The only thing I can really upgrade here, without doing a complete upgrade (unless I wanted to get like an e8400, but I'm not going that route) is my gpu. I guess the ultimate question here, if it can be answered, is will the time spent waiting for a new card to come out, worth the price to performance ratio? If it is, than yes I shud wait til Q3 of 2009 or Q1 2010 to save up some money and get that card. If not, then I should get the 4890 now. ( or relatively soon)

i will tell you what you want to hear

Upgrade .. go for it

you will not be disappointed

4890 will make a good match for your CPU and the 5890 probably will not [if it is that much faster]
- 4890 is a good price - i just bought my HiS for $200 after MiR at NewEgg last week.
- prices are expected to drop ... and they will continue to do so .. so what?

you want it now .. buy it!

 

[SickBeast]

I say open up a savings account and dump the $200 you would spend on the 4890 in there. Then, when you actually need to upgrade, it will be a start for you.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I say open up a savings account and dump the $200 you would spend on the 4890 in there. Then, when you actually need to upgrade, it will be a start for you.

I strongly agree. Words of enlightment.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: evolucion8

Originally posted by: SickBeast
I say open up a savings account and dump the $200 you would spend on the 4890 in there. Then, when you actually need to upgrade, it will be a start for you.

I strongly agree. Words of enlightment.

who wants enlightenment?
- life is short .. your mama's savings are gone in the financial meltdown

Play games have fun.

4890 is AWESOME bang for buck at only $200 and [at least] TWICE faster than the one he has
:thumbsup:

. .. what do you think his CPU will do with a much faster videocard anyway?; and the only thing that is sure is that 5890 is not $200

 

[SickBeast]

My 8800GTS 320mb still runs all modern games, most on high settings. Crysis will run on my computer at 1080P on medium settings. It's good enough for me, and it's just one game.

 

[Jabbernyx]

You don't need to but personally, I felt it was worth the $90 it cost me to upgrade from a 4850.
My setup is similar to your's in performance (965P-DS3 Rev 1.0, E6600 @ 3.6GHz).

Oh and in case you were wondering, I don't have a noise problem with the 4890. It's quiter and cooler than the 4850 (which was being run at a fixed 40% fan speed) when running with the stock fan profile. It does ramp up to ~2200rpm under full load (in Crysis and Furmark) but that's still only ~38% and not very obtrusive.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
My 8800GTS 320mb still runs all modern games, most on high settings. Crysis will run on my computer at 1080P on medium settings. It's good enough for me, and it's just one game.

i got a 2900xt that will match it

Sure it is fine for you; but you are not the OP, asking over and over - begging someone to tell him it is OK to upgrade

4890 is a great upgrade. BtW, you would also like a 4890 for 1080p and you could play on high

i love both of mine
:heart:

 

[z1ggy]

I think most of you are right in that I should wait..I am not in a rish, i guess I just have an itch to always have a better performing computer, but I guess since its not really needed, i can hold off, atleast til prices go down. When they do drop, what price range are we looking at? I feel liek these cards right now are pretty inelastic, so companies may still charge pretty close to the $200 range even with the new 5000's out.

@apopping: Thanks for being the devils advocate here! HAha I will end up waiting..it can't hurt right? Plus I am trying to learn better money management...

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: apoppin
i got a 2900xt that will match it

You mean outperform it, specially at that resolution which the 320MB card will run out of VRAM.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: evolucion8

Originally posted by: apoppin
i got a 2900xt that will match it

You mean outperform it, specially at that resolution which the 320MB card will run out of VRAM.

Well, i was being polite.

no one wants their bubble burst. i doubt SB is playing med details at 19x10 in DX10
- i couldn't even do that with my 2900xt

@apopping: Thanks for being the devils advocate here! HAha I will end up waiting..it can't hurt right? Plus I am trying to learn better money management...

Yes it can hurt; if you have "money issues", you may end up spending that well-saved money on a wild woman - with nothing to show but an STD for it; and maybe a baby 9 months later
:Q

- $200 dropped on a 4890 is a much safer expense; what are you going to save in the next 3 months - $40? maybe?

 

[JJ650]

Just do it!
There are some killer deals on the 4890 right now. I should be getting my HIS 4890 today and got it for under 200 after instant rebates and MIR.

I'm upgrading from a 8800GTS 640 and I'm sure I'll be happy in doing so.