Upgrading graphics card

[narmer]

I want to upgrade my Gigabyte Ati 4870 512mb card. My system board has 1 x 16 pcie slot.Psu has 650w rating.
What is the best option at the moment?
Any thoughs on a 4870 x 2?

[Pottypete]

Preorder only -Gigabyte GVR4891GHB Radeon HD 4890 1GB ATX DVII Graphics Card
Supposed by some to be the "DB"
Cheers

[Badbonji]

Do you only stick to one brand?
What brand is the PSU? And what rating does it have on the 12V rails (amps)?
The 4870 is a strong card, equal to roughly a GTX260 core 216.
So possible upgrades will depend on budget and how much more performance will be.
What is the rest of the system also?

You could get a HD4890, but is only an overclocked HD4870 so it wont be a huge jump...
A GTX285 will give a larger jump but costs alot more...
HD4870X2 is a very good choice to upgrade IMO and the best, for how cheap it is and the performance gains which is much more than the previous two cards.
The GTX295 just launched as a single PCB card, cutting down manufacturing costs so might be worth holding out for the new prices to settle, should be lower to compete with the HD4870X2 (it is a more powerful card, but atm is £100 more expensive on average so it is hard to justify the extra money).

However, you might want to consider sticking to your current card for at least a few months.

[Badbonji]

Something went funny with the post (hit the limit???)
As for holding on to your current card, DX11 is around the corner with both Nvidia and ATi getting ready to offer 40nm GPU's both supporting DX11, which will be much more future proof than upgrading right now. Sure newer games will still support DX10, and possibly 9 still but 11 will offer benefits both to performance, with better hardware acceleration and enhancements for a better gaming experience but also new features, such as a better GPGPU for many other tasks, such as transcoding and use in photoshop. Even though this is available now the new cards will do a much better job at being a general processor I am guessing. So it is up to you basically. If you buy a new card now, keep in mind it wont support DX11 and also will drop in value considerably at the new cards launch dates, estimated at August-September from many sites.

[narmer]

  Hi to all,
I dont do folding or benchmarks so this may help to decide which card I need.
The advice on DX11 cards is noted and I think I should wait a while till they arrive.
My current system is Windows Vista Premium sp2 32 bit using a Gigabyte 775/ P35 Intel chipped board and will be holding on to this system and board the rest of the year.
Regards to all for the advice