Hi, I am currently using an Asus P5N-MX Motherboard along with an Asus EAH HD 4670 Graphics card.
I have been thinking about un upgrade with the sales being on at the moment.
I have a few questions though that I hope someone can answer regarding compatability etc.
I have noticed that Ati Radeon cards are made by different companies such as Asus,XFX,Gigabyte,Saphire etc. and was wondering why so many companies make the same series card?
As I have an Asus Mobo I chose an Asus model card but was wondering If I could use any companies card or are Mobos only compatible with certain cards?
I am currently using the drivers from Asus Site as my card is Asus, but is it possible to use the drivers from Ati Radeons site and would there be a difference?
How much do these cards really improve with every release as they seem to release new ones all the time,for example : how much of an improvement is there with a 4650 over a 4550?
Any info is appreciated.
Although I can't answer to the specifics of how certain cards perform better than others, I can hopefully clear up some of you're queries, to begin the maker makes no difference to the card type, it is simply some makers are better than others, exactly the same as in motherboards, all make the same socket types, yet some are better than others, same as media types and memory, they will all work fine (generally speaking if suitable for that build), but some will perform better than others, and this can often be reflected in price, but not always.
As to ATI v Nvidia, it is the same as Intel v AMD, they all work fine, but some are better than others, you're probably getting the pattern now lol, but it is a never ending battle with frequent changes in the lead at times, and graphics cards are probably the fastest changing most over priced things out there IMHO, you could easily spend £600 on a card today, then find it half that within a matter of month's, so unless you need the absolute best and have the money, just stick with cards that can do what you need for a sensible price, it's only really top end gamers and the like who need the performance with more money than sense (more often than not) who get such cards lol.
So basically, you can use any card that will fit you're board that you like, as long as it's the same format as the board required (probably PCIe in most cases), it will work fine, about the biggest thing that will be suggested is to uninstall the older cards driver(s) before adding the new card, apart from that it will make no difference as long as it's what the board can take, drivers included.
Now there may be rare exceptions that a card wont play nice with a board, but it would be such a big issue you'd probably see it posted everywhere, but I have never seen such an issue, this kind of thing is more likely with ram TBH.
The difference between the 2 cards you mention is probably not worth the money, but this is where I am getting out of my depth as I don't know such specifics myself enough to say for sure, of course there will be a difference, but how much I can't say, but my gut says not that much, if you compared with say a 460GTX then you'd probably see a difference, but you need someone with a better understanding then me to guide specifically there, although Sapphire are considered to be a very good maker, not all the answers you need, but hopefully enough to move you onto the next stage.
Tom's hardware is a great place to find reliable reviews and benchmarks on hardware. It might be worth looking at their latest line up of comparisons too :
If you skip to the very last page, you'll see a hierarchy table.
A Radeon HD 4670 is about the same as a GTX 240. It's fairly low down the list.
As for improvements, a 4650 will show some improvement over the 4550. The major chip and feature updates tend to come in with a new series, rather than a specific card within a series. This doesn't really hold true for the new Radeon HD 6xxx series (Where there are two graphics chips, Barts and the Cayman).
You also have to remember that the world of graphics card is ruthlessly competitive and commercial. ATi and NVidia are the ones who devote time and money in creating and developing the reference cards, as in the base design, but they then license hardware manufacturers to actually make the product. Some companies have better build qualities and may offer overclocked version of the reference card. They may also offer different cooling designs to accommodate certain computer cases or designs.
The most important thing in choosing which graphics card you want is to read plenty of reviews by places such Tom's Hardware and Cnet. The next best thing is to read reviews by people who have actually bought the product. This will let you gauge whether it is worth spending your precious money on a card.
Hi, thanks to all of you for answering my questions and providing so many useful links to information.
I was considering the hd 5670 but am going to have a read at all the info before parting with the cash.
Again thanks for taking the time to help out.
One more question that I forgot to ask was My current card is in a Pci Express x 16 slot.
Will I then only beable to use a PCI-E x16 card and not cards such as PCI-E 2.0,2.1 etc. or is any PCI-E card compatible?
All new graphics cards use the PCIe 2.0 hardware standard. This is backwards compatible with all previous versions of PCIe.
The major differences between PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 1.1 is how much data can be moved between the graphics card and the motherboard. By using a newer graphics card in an older motherboard you'll just notice that it's a bit slower. Everything else should work without a problem.
