Issue with GIGABYTE HD4870.

Snide · 12-11-2008, 10:38 AM

I just got a GIGABYTE HD4870 1GB video card along side a Corsair TX750W power supply (it was on special, I know it's overkill).

Well my system is set up with 4gb DDR 400MHz ram, Asus A8N-E motherboard and a AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ processor. I think I made a mistake of buying such a powerful video card without upgrading the CPU first because I can't even run World of Warcraft, COD4 or COD5 at max settings and my Macbook pro gets higher fps. My goal was to get a new computer but upgrade part by part.

So as of now I'm pretty disappointed and wanted my question answered. It's my CPU and ram that are holding back the full performance of the 4870, correct? Also, any recommendations to look at in the future for a new CPU/Motherboard/Ram combination would be appreciated.

**magnethead** · 12-11-2008, 01:32 PM

is the ram DDR or DDRII?

The 4870 is fairly easy to bottle neck, being so powerful. 2.2 GHz is fairly close on the bottleneck line...2.6 or 2.8 or betetr would get you more in line with the GPU, along with the DDRII-800 PC2-6400 RAM.

Snide · 12-11-2008, 01:56 PM

Thanks for your reply. The ram I have is only DDR. Before I try and gather enough money to upgrade, I just want to make sure that the issue is that the card is being bottle necked. Performance is maybe not worse, but equivalent to my previous video card, which was an X1900. I guess I expected a lot more from reading reviews and hype.

**wrench97** · 12-11-2008, 05:05 PM

Any powerful video card needs the cpu to push the data to it if it's waiting on the cpu fps isn't going to increase on a 4870 at lower screen resolutions a x2 6000 can bottleneck it the lower the resolution and screen size the more load is on the cpu the gpu won't see the higher load until you get over about 26" and the the 1900's on resolution

**FreoHeaveho** · 12-11-2008, 11:25 PM

You should be able to run WoW on max with that card regardless of the CPU i think. I would uninstall the drivers, use drivercleaner to remove the remanents and reinstall the latest drivers from the ATi website.

12-11-2008, 10:38 AM	#1 (permalink)
Snide Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Vista Business 32 bit	Issue with GIGABYTE HD4870. I just got a GIGABYTE HD4870 1GB video card along side a Corsair TX750W power supply (it was on special, I know it's overkill). Well my system is set up with 4gb DDR 400MHz ram, Asus A8N-E motherboard and a AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ processor. I think I made a mistake of buying such a powerful video card without upgrading the CPU first because I can't even run World of Warcraft, COD4 or COD5 at max settings and my Macbook pro gets higher fps. My goal was to get a new computer but upgrade part by part. So as of now I'm pretty disappointed and wanted my question answered. It's my CPU and ram that are holding back the full performance of the 4870, correct? Also, any recommendations to look at in the future for a new CPU/Motherboard/Ram combination would be appreciated.

12-11-2008, 01:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
magnethead Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Texas, USA Posts: 3,570 OS: Vista ultimate 32bit My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Issue with GIGABYTE HD4870. is the ram DDR or DDRII? The 4870 is fairly easy to bottle neck, being so powerful. 2.2 GHz is fairly close on the bottleneck line...2.6 or 2.8 or betetr would get you more in line with the GPU, along with the DDRII-800 PC2-6400 RAM. __________________ For proper support: what are you running? graphics, cpu, m/board, ram, PSU brand wattage PCI-E requires 26 amps at 12 volts. That's a 650W PSU. Power Supply Info and Selection . Info on thermal compounds & application . TEST PSU USING MULTI-METER . Bench Testing Your System

12-11-2008, 01:56 PM	#3 (permalink)
Snide Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Vista Business 32 bit	Re: Issue with GIGABYTE HD4870. Thanks for your reply. The ram I have is only DDR. Before I try and gather enough money to upgrade, I just want to make sure that the issue is that the card is being bottle necked. Performance is maybe not worse, but equivalent to my previous video card, which was an X1900. I guess I expected a lot more from reading reviews and hype. Last edited by Snide; 12-11-2008 at 02:05 PM.

12-11-2008, 05:05 PM	#4 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,441 OS: Win7	Re: Issue with GIGABYTE HD4870. Any powerful video card needs the cpu to push the data to it if it's waiting on the cpu fps isn't going to increase on a 4870 at lower screen resolutions a x2 6000 can bottleneck it the lower the resolution and screen size the more load is on the cpu the gpu won't see the higher load until you get over about 26" and the the 1900's on resolution __________________ Power Supply and Selection

12-11-2008, 11:25 PM	#5 (permalink)
FreoHeaveho TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 3,213 OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64 SP2, Windows XP Professional SP3, Mac OSX Leopard My System	Re: Issue with GIGABYTE HD4870. You should be able to run WoW on max with that card regardless of the CPU i think. I would uninstall the drivers, use drivercleaner to remove the remanents and reinstall the latest drivers from the ATi website. __________________ PC Wizard-VGA 2009 Charts-Power Supply Info-Multi/Single Rail PSU?-Speedfan-Driver Sweeper