its about the the right chip + the right bios.

last time, i OC my gigabyte 4870 512 (TOP bios) to 865 stable.
as for memory, i dun bother to OC pass 1000, coz u wont gain much improvement from dat.

technically, flashing bios means void warranty.
but if anything goes wrong, just flash bck to ori bios b4 RMA.

i tested quite many bios last time, asus TOP really oc the best.
but it is also the 1 dat killed my card........

u can get the bios here.

asus TOP still has the highest factory OC compared to the rest.

btw, u need help in how to flash the bios or how to mek a bootable thumbdrive, feel free to ask.

This post has been edited by tech3910: Jun 24 2009, 06:21 PM

its the same.

but different bios might means different fan control, different power usage & different OC ability.
but the differ is minor.

as long as stock PBC, same size.

depends on your monitor size/resolution.
if => 1680*1050, u shud change.

mod the bios fan speed den flash it.

wat brand & distro?

4850 or even2nd hand 4870 is well within reach.

1gb for higher resolution & if u wanna enable high AA with less performance impact.

technically, it "doesn't" void the warranty coz u can flash bck to ori bios if u ever needed to RMA.
& it i absolutely not risky @ all.

worst thing dat can happen is bios flash fail or not compatible den resulting in blank display.
even then, it can b recovered easily.

8.5"

wast brand? wat distro?

no wonder.
most probable, ur GC sits in the shop for months b4 dey actually sent it.
wen it com bck, it sits there for another month b4 calling u.

dis is true.
coz wen u RMA through shop, dey dun immediately sent it.
instead, dey'll wait for next "in stock" from the distro & giv it to their delivery man.
wen it comes bck, it will sit idle again in q for the warranty department to sort out all RMA item.

typos edited.

This post has been edited by tech3910: Jul 18 2009, 02:05 PM

sapphire non reference design/pbc is usually shorter, or @ least same length wit the ori design.

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Added on July 22, 2009, 2:37 amMushkin 4850

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14738/1/


This post has been edited by tech3910: Jul 22 2009, 02:37 AM

see the distro....

just tested 9.6 vs 9.7 on RE5 benchmark.
frame rate drop by 3 after upgrading the driver........

usually dis is wat i do:
1) run the setup, choose uninstall.
2) reboot
3) run the setup again, install driver
4) reboot, done

i nvr had any driver installation issue b4.
if got problem, use driver sweeper.

bcoz there is no news.......
if u wanna go for 4890, i do recommend non reference coz the reference is just too noisy.
btw, compare the performance here....
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,691052/...viewed/Reviews/