PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 DirectX 10.1 AX4870 1GBD5 1GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Pros: Upgrading from an HD2900 XT it was a big difference. Yes I know the new 5800 is coming out, but this is a current generation power house for a low end price. It's about as loud as my 2900, and runs at least 2x the frame rate in DX10 games (like Farcry 2 dx10, 50fps with ultra settings at 1920x1200, compaired to 19fps on the 2900)

Cons: none

Overall Review: with the 5800 now out those wanting the first two in the door to dx11 might want to wait for those to drive price down. But at around $130 price point, to get a 1gb card that smokes dx10 you can't beat it with a stick (beating things with a stick is a bad idea anyway)

Pros: Great value and performance.

Cons: Doesn't come with a CrossFire bridge, so for the price-sensitive shopper, factor in a few extra $$ if you're planning on running 2 or more of these in CrossFire.

Overall Review: I bought 2 of these to CrossFire. Just wanted to let people know that these DON'T come with a CrossFire bridge. Also there doesn't really seem to be a consensus about whether to use 1 or 2 CrossFire bridges. Using 2 CrossFire bridges seems to increase performance a tiny bit, but some people report some graphical glitches when using 2 bridges. I went ahead and bought 2 bridges to go with my 2 4870s. Also, if you're going to run 2 of these in CrossFire, make sure to get a motherboard with dual PCI-E 2.0 16x lanes. If you run 2 of these in 8x/8x, they won't perform nearly as well as running on 16x/16x. I use an Asus P5E Deluxe motherboard with the X48 chipset. It has 2 PCI-E 2.0 16x lanes.

Pros: Decent cooling destroys all the games I play. Ran furmark for 10 minutes never went above 62.

Cons: None other then no crossfire connector not a big deal since Ill probably never do it.

Overall Review: I dont know why those other guys are having trouble cooling seems fine to me unless they have no fans and a micro atx case. The driver disc doesnt seem to work with vista 64 but I just grab the newest drivers from ati.com and it works great.

Pros: These cards are a great buy. I have 2 of them in CrossFireX and my CPU is holding them back. Here are some of my 3DMark06 scores: CPU @ 3.0GHz: ~15,500 CPU @ 3.6GHz: ~18,500 CPU @ 4.0GHz: ??? These cards are so powerful that the performance just keeps scaling. Reading about 4870s in CrossFireX, they just keep scaling even up to 4.0GHz and beyond. Awesome, crushing graphics power! My Computer: Intel E8400 @ 3.6GHz Asus P5E Deluxe (2 x PCI-E 2.0 16x lanes for maximum video bandwidth) 8GB RAM 5-5-5-15 1.8v 850W PSU

Cons: None.

Overall Review: Due to the heat pipes sticking up past the PCB, one of my 2 CrossFire bridges is resting on one of the heatpipes, which gets pretty hot. Hope this doesn't cause any problems. No problems so far. To get the most out of these cards (especially in CrossFireX) you're going to need a motherboard with 2 PCI-E 2.0 16x lanes and a fast CPU. Otherwise you're going to be handicapping these awesome cards and won't get the results that they are capable of delivering. This is my first time using ATI video cards, and I have to say the driver suite is pretty nifty (Catalyst 9.9).

Pros: Great performance does everything I expected and stays cool. I dont get why some are complaing about the size you should know how big it is if you have done any research and know if it will fit or block anything before ordering. I thin most the heat issues are most likely from people who have bad air flow in there case and dont manage there cable as is the case with most my friends who complain about temps and are shocked how much cable management can effect temps when I clean it up for them.

Cons: None

Overall Review: Would of been nice if the included a cross fire bridge can't complain though as i knew going in that it wasn't included.

Pros: First time builder here, and this thing is freaking awesome. It may not be the top card, but coming from somebody who's played console games his whole life, playing Crysis at Very High settings at 30fps is mindblowing.

Cons: Nothing so far, but I hear it can get quite hot...

Overall Review: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P Intel Core 2 Quad 8200 2.33Ghz Powercolor HD4870 1GB OCZ 2x2GB DDR2800 OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W PSU Antec 300 ATX Mid Tower

Pros: 1. If ventilated well the card will run a medium temps (56C-63C, idle-heavy load) 2. ATI is the bomb 3. Great value

Cons: 1. The included S.T.A.L.K.E.R. DVD won't run the game, it only installs it (weird). 2. If not adequately vented it will run HOT (70C-80C)

Overall Review: My problem is having a mobo with only PCI-E 1.0 so I can't take full advantage of the card. Other than that it's awesome.

Pros: Fast, heavy duty card, dual-link DVI

Cons: heavy, requires 2 PCIe power connectors

Overall Review: Cons aren't surprising, this is a giant card, but it works well for the couple games I've tried on a 30" monitor at 2560x1600. It does what I want, and I don't have any problems with over-heatinng or noise, though I haven't measured the temperature. I'm using it with a couple LCDs with DVI, don't really care about HDMI.