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ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

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Latest post 07/10/2009 03:59 AM by Tyrs4u. 12 replies.
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Palm Springs
Joined on 07/01/2009
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ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

01 Jul 2009 03:25PM

Okay this might end up a bit long winded but I just wanted to make sure I got a correct response to my Video inquiry. & Yes I've contacted Dell via E-mail & Phone; but they made no sense & it was so robotic to get me to order something that didn't sound worth the money. However I am willing to splurge.

Here goes.

I own (two) Inspiron D530S... Each with their own Dell S2409W 24" Full HD Widescreen Monitor...

So I am planning on purchasing Two Video cards.
They both came with that "ATI Radeon HD 3400 Series" which I believe is 256 MB.
However my husband & I are getting really into MMO's...
& most of the newer games prerequisites are 512 MB however we've seen at Best Buy & on Dell 1 Gig & 2gig Video cards.
I was told by Dell to buy the "VisionTEK ATI Radeon HD2400 Pro 256 MB Dual Display DMS59 PCI Graphics Card" for gaming. However it just seems like it would be the same card if not less than what is installed.
So I found the "XFX - ATI RADEON HD 4870 1GB DDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card" which is a decent price & Cnet & other reviewers like is so far as a Gaming upgrade for Desktops that can handle it.

Now I browsed the Manual, en_dtg.pdf & om_en.pdf & couldn't find the answer...

So I guess my question is... Is my PCI slot PCI Express X 16? & Can it handle the ATI HD 1 Gig, & if so should we splurge & just get the 2 Gig one instead of the 1 gig?

The PC's already have 6 gigs of RAM & using Vista Home Premium 64-bit...

Does that also mean if we went with the "XFX - ATI RADEON HD 4870 1GB DDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card" we would get DirectX 10? & no longer be using 9.0c? Because according to ATI this card isn't D10 ready but running DXDIAG in the Run feature shows our version is DirectX 10?

Also What is my Power Supply? I guess 1 Gig Video cards require 450 Watts? Or can someone recommend a better Video Card than what I have listed?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this & possibly reply...

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Solution
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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

01 Jul 2009 07:37PM

If you have the Inspiron 530s you have the slim case and cannot upgrade to a HD 4870 since only low profile video cards will fit.  You are also limited by your 250 watt power supply which is proprietary and cannot be upgraded.   You have one PCIe X16 slot for a video card.  The 4870 is DirectX 10.1, the HD 3450 is DirectX10.1 and the HD 2400 is DirectX10 compatable.  The HD 3450 and 2400 are really about equal, but the 3450 is just a bit ahead.  The best card you can put in the 530s right now is the HD 4650 shown HERE in low profile.  The amount of video ram does not dictate the power supply requirement.  Higher-end video card chips such as the HD 4870 whether it has 512mb of ram or 2GB of ram need a higher watt power supply to run.  The HD 4650 only needs the 75 watts that the PCIe slot provides and does not need addtional power from the PSU like a 4870 would.  At the level of a HD 4650 or below, you will find very little difference in performance between a 512MB and 1GB video card.  Higher-end cards such as the HD 4870 often come with addtional options of more video ram since they can run games at the higher resolutions.  The HD 4650 is way ahead of the HD 3450 in performance. 

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12 Replies:

Solution
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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

01 Jul 2009 07:37PM

If you have the Inspiron 530s you have the slim case and cannot upgrade to a HD 4870 since only low profile video cards will fit.  You are also limited by your 250 watt power supply which is proprietary and cannot be upgraded.   You have one PCIe X16 slot for a video card.  The 4870 is DirectX 10.1, the HD 3450 is DirectX10.1 and the HD 2400 is DirectX10 compatable.  The HD 3450 and 2400 are really about equal, but the 3450 is just a bit ahead.  The best card you can put in the 530s right now is the HD 4650 shown HERE in low profile.  The amount of video ram does not dictate the power supply requirement.  Higher-end video card chips such as the HD 4870 whether it has 512mb of ram or 2GB of ram need a higher watt power supply to run.  The HD 4650 only needs the 75 watts that the PCIe slot provides and does not need addtional power from the PSU like a 4870 would.  At the level of a HD 4650 or below, you will find very little difference in performance between a 512MB and 1GB video card.  Higher-end cards such as the HD 4870 often come with addtional options of more video ram since they can run games at the higher resolutions.  The HD 4650 is way ahead of the HD 3450 in performance. 

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Palm Springs
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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

01 Jul 2009 11:17PM

Thanks for the super fast reply; it's helping the rate at which we upgrade! But I have a secondary question for you.

Is there much of a difference between
ATI RADEON HD4650 & the ATI RADEON HD4670???

Because where I work I know I get a groovy discount with them; them being the Hardware... Or is mainly the difference the fact that the 4670 doesn't offer the low profile bay?

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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

02 Jul 2009 01:32AM

JMICHAEL:

If you have the Inspiron 530s you have the slim case and cannot upgrade to a HD 4870 since only low profile video cards will fit.  You are also limited by your 250 watt power supply which is proprietary and cannot be upgraded.  

The newer Dell slims use standard TFX power supplies, available from Newegg and other suppliers. They are available up in wattages up to 300 watts in North America and 400 watts in certain Asian countries.

The most powerful low profile video card currently available is the Sparkle 9800GT. Newegg reviews indicate that it works well with the Vostro 220S, similar to the 530S.

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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

02 Jul 2009 09:03AM

Tyrs4u:
Is there much of a difference between
ATI RADEON HD4650 & the ATI RADEON HD4670???

Basically, the HD 4650 is just a step down from the HD 4670.  However, there are more options with full size cards like the HD 4670.  Full size cards will perform better than the low profile ones anyway so it would be hard to compare the two.  Depending on the game, you could see anywhere from 5 FPS to almost 20 FPS increase with the HD 4670 when looking at both full size cards.  Maybe they will come out with a low profile HD 4670 in the future.

 

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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

02 Jul 2009 09:18AM

rdunnill:

The newer Dell slims use standard TFX power supplies, available from Newegg and other suppliers. They are available up in wattages up to 300 watts in North America and 400 watts in certain Asian countries.

The most powerful low profile video card currently available is the Sparkle 9800GT. Newegg reviews indicate that it works well with the Vostro 220S, similar to the 530S.

There are not many choices for a TFX power supply and I certainly would not buy one of those cheap ones just to gain an extra 50 watts.  The Seasonic brand would be the only one to consider as you would probably be better off with the Dell 250 compared to those others as I'm sure their specs and actual performance just would not add up.   

I generally do not recommend the 9800GT on the 250 watt power supply even though the low profile cards do not draw as much power as the full size cards.  I also do not care for the Sparkle brand.  Over the long haul, I just don't see it as a good option.   I am sure the 9800GT would produce more heat and in a small case like the 530s, you just would not want more heat build up.

 

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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

02 Jul 2009 10:08AM

JMICHAEL:

rdunnill:

The newer Dell slims use standard TFX power supplies, available from Newegg and other suppliers. They are available up in wattages up to 300 watts in North America and 400 watts in certain Asian countries.

The most powerful low profile video card currently available is the Sparkle 9800GT. Newegg reviews indicate that it works well with the Vostro 220S, similar to the 530S.

I generally do not recommend the 9800GT on the 250 watt power supply even though the low profile cards do not draw as much power as the full size cards.  I also do not care for the Sparkle brand.  Over the long haul, I just don't see it as a good option.   I am sure the 9800GT would produce more heat and in a small case like the 530s, you just would not want more heat build up.

The Dell power supplies are underrated. As for the video cards, Newegg users are reporting good results, and there are less demanding cards like the 9500GT and 9600GT available as well.

 

 

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Palm Springs
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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

02 Jul 2009 12:43PM

Games: Anything by Blizzard...

Hardcore World of Warcraft addicts... Would love to see it on it's highest setting or get a high FPS...

Still play old school Starcraft & Warcraft, Diablo... Cannot wait for the new ones.
But I also play Unreal Tournament 3, Hellgate, Witcher, Vampire the Masquerade, Guildwars, LoTR Battle for middle Earth, LotROnline...

If that helps... I basically need a card in this machine that runs those games better if not meet their Recommended Requiremints not the Minimum Requirements... 

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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

02 Jul 2009 02:56PM

I play World of Warcraft with an ATI 4650 512mb card ... my maximum  playable resolution is 1400x900 at medium settings ... 1400x900 is the native resolution of my monitor so it looks good.

It looks pretty nice

chris in kansas

dell Inspiron 530 with quad core and 2gb RAM

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Palm Springs
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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

03 Jul 2009 05:29PM

Well my Display on everything is 1920 x 1080 since that's the Max the "Dell S2409W Full HD Monitor" can go... 

  • Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution
  • 16:9 dynamic aspect ratio
  • HDMI high quality digital connection

    So generally all my games are set to 1920x1080... Would love to see a framerate increase or just higher settings enable in the video interface ... 

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Palm Springs
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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

08 Jul 2009 03:27AM

Ok; problem of sorts...

I installed the HD 4650, using my Dell S2409W with a Rocketfish HDMI cable...

I have it set to 1920x1080... BUT... I have about half an inch of black screen around my desktop? Anyway to make this normal? I mean the last card was full mode I guess you can call it... ? 

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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

08 Jul 2009 06:14AM

Low end cards are not designed to give high frame rates on monitors with high resolution like 1920 x 1080

800 x 600 or 1024 x 768 max.

Running WOW in windowed mode at 1024 x 768 might help framerate.

Max Framerate with Vsync on LCD's is 60fps.

If you turn vsync off it goes higher and you get tearing.

 

 

 

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Palm Springs
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Re: ATI Radeon HD2400 Vs. ATI Radeon HD4870

10 Jul 2009 03:59AM

ok, but what about the boxed in thing? If I use the DVI cable everything is normal. But if I use my HDMI looks like I'm letterboxed?

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