3870 X-fire Vs Single 4870

so which would be better for basic gaming? i like to play games @ native res, but i dont play high demanding games that often, i was able to play Mass effect 2 @ native res w my 3870 x-fire & i can play MLB 2k10 at max settings on my 3870s will i see similar performance out of one 4870? or are the x-fire 3870s the way to go?

id like to upgrade to an M17x but id rather not spend 2k if i dont have to. if i can be happy for the time being with the single 4870 card and upgrade at a later date, with maybe a 5870 or a slave 4870, id rather do that.

 

You can get a 4870 for the M17?

Anyway a single 4870 IMO would be better because it removes some of the headaches of dual gpu systems and is about on par with performance.

 

Clever - The m17 with dual 3870s is nice for 1200p screen rez. The cards only have 512mb video ram each. They do have 256 mem pipeline which is nice. The cards are aging though. I am actually about to sell my m17. They are nice but I think the 58xx series will blow them out of the water. If you can wait for those I would over the 48xx series. They run cooler, faster, dx11, etc... Best Wishes, StevenX

 

Ya true that 3870s are aged cards but performance wise they are still stronger than 4870 especially in crossfire IMO. It's a shame that Alienware did not offer 4850s for the m17 or else it would be a better machine and could last longer too. In the end, either keep the 3870s or just get a 5870m. 4870 is not great of an upgrade as feature wise it is not much different than the 3870s.

 

My 3870s play ME2 fine at native res, but that's at 1440x900. However, a single 4870 will only just about match the 3870s in power for most games. So whether you want to upgrade or not is your choice.

Oh, by the way: it's the 4850 that fits in the M17. MXM 2.1.

 

no i wish.. i have a buyer for my m17 lined up supposedly, and i can get a m17x for around what im going to sell my m17 locally, i would rather have the newer machine with a slightly better setup or slightly less powerful setup, that i can upgrade to very powerful when i can afford it. id rather not pay $800 for 4850's in this machine, when the 4870s are a little better but the machine will be able to upgraded even further eventually whilst the m17 is done growing. i like my m17 i just like the m17x more.

 

Get the M17x. /thread

 

Oh well since u said so........