Maximum PC

I'm running an HD 4870 for well over a year now and would like to upgrade to DX 11 card . How much improvement would I see ( besides the video portion ) if I get a GTX 460 card ?

Not much. The GTX 460 is about as fast as a GTX 285. Not really worth $200.

My mb supports crossfire, my other option was two 5770 but I think I'll wait till next mth when ATI release their new series. Any news on that front ?

In about half the games yes it is equal to about a GTX285, but in the other half it is closer to a 5850. SLI 2 of them, and its SCALING power is HUGE!

Also, OCing those suckers makes for big gains. Average OC clock is around 850Mhz, Galaxy is Launching an OC version clocked at exactly that. The GTX260 is MORE than worth 200 bucks.

Of course, good idea Logan. OP, waste as much money as possible, because SLi is the best
/sarcasm

You do realize, Logan, that a 15% gain in framerate is the threshold of being able to notice it? And in the vast majority of games that don't already pull over 60FPS on the 4870 only show about a 15% increase in framerate between the 4870 and GTX 460? If you've got something like a 4870, the smallest upgrade that will really make a difference is going to be something like the GTX 470. Even upgrading to a 5850 would be pretty lackluster.

I have both a Sapphire 4870 512MB and a EVGA GTX460 1GB and so far, drivers problems aside, they seem to be about equal in the games I play regularly (Fallout 3, FFXI) and scored almost iddentical in the FFXIV benchmark. I haven't really done much REAL testing though..

The OP is looking for a DX11 card. Now I'm sure you'll agree that the GTX460 compared to the 5770, the first card the OP concidered is a NO CONTEST, GTX460 hands down. That leaves the next option being a 5830, something the GTX460 regularly beats. Now we are to the 5850 which wins most benches, I'll admit, but still loses in key DX11 based benches. And when you can spend 4-450 for 2 GTX460s and get better performance than 2x 5850s, yes SLI is the best. And sadly, no matter how many times I've provided links to prove it, you still deny it SLI as an option.

Case in point. Say the OP wants to go Tri Monitor, sure he could spend 350-400 for a 5870 and do it with a single card, or he could spend 4-450 for 2x GTX460s and get FAR better performance in the SAME scenerio.

Unfortunately for your case, the OP never mentioned any of that. he asked whether upgrading from a 4870 to a GTX 460 was worth it. The simple answer is still no.

And yes, the 460 is better than the 5770 and 5830, you'd have to be stupid to argue that point. But none of that is worth moving to from a 4870. He never mentioned SLi, so obviously he's not concerned with multiple cards.

Good information to share guys. My mb is not SLI certified so that's out of the question. I have a DFI X48 T2RS that i want to continue using since I have have no problems with it whatsoever.
My plan is to use this mb for one more year then I will consider another build. Right now I would like to upgrade from my HD4870 since i'm seeing some lagging on Stalker: Call of Pritpyat. I have read some reviews that crossfire can improve my situation, unfortunately I don't have the money want to buy two 5850s. At any rate I was thinking two 5830s when the price goes down with the release of the new ATI 6xxx series. Who knows, maybe ATI will have a better card in the fall. I like to skip a generation in order to iron all the wrinkles of the previous generation. Another option would be to wait for GTX 470 to be upgraded with the new 104 gpu which I heard is a great gpu. Again, i'm no expert, just gathering information to upgrade from my 4870. Thanks a lot for your input.

Two 4870s are as fast as a 5870, if you can find a second 4870 for cheap and your PSU can take it, that's probably your best option.

It is if you want DX11. And because someone never mentions Multi-gpu it SHOULD ALWAYS be ignored as an option.

How you tried overclocking your card as much as possible? I know the 4870's run hot as it is but you might be able to squeeze out a few extra FPS to stop that lag in the games you play.

It should always be ignored as an option because the vast majority of "average joe" users do not need or want more than one GPU and/or their systems are not able to deal with it. Most off-the-shelf desktop PCs do not come with an option to have multiple GPUs and/or also have small PSUs. Most Dell systems, for example, are built so that they are power efficient and will run at 70% capacity on a 300/350W PSU. Most "hardcore" users will probably choke on their spit if they knew how "underpowered" these systems are and yet they sell these systems by the truckload EVERY DAY.

I think roughly 1-2% of desktop users actually have multiple GPUs under their hood. If they sold 100 million desktops, that's still roughly 1-2 million PCs that have multi-GPUs, but that's still not enough to assume at any time that someone even has the capabilities or interest in it in the first place.

Also, the OP did add this: "My mb is not SLI certified so that's out of the question." So, that GTX460x2 solution is not going to cost him $500 ... more like $900 or more, depending on what kind of CPU and motherboard (and possibly new ram) he buys.

Or, god forbid, he say go with teh an X2 card? Been rumnors of a release 5770x2 type card from Asus and/or MSI, but your right, ignore it all together and settle for less.

@ Discoceris:

I think it is in our long term interest to to address dual card options with the un/mis-informed folks who drop by for advice or just to see what they can learn. The more people know about what is available and what can be done the more demand for better systems and components. The more interest in PC gaming will be enhanced because now the sheep will become informed about the true versatility and performance capabilities of the PC as opposed to consoles. And maybe they will start demanding better graphics and performance than garbage like Star Wars the Clone Wars. Which leads to more effort put forth by the developers/publishers. This same would seem to also apply to other areas besides just video. But that's soap box territory.

We all need to get out of this "exclusive club mentality" and take the opportunity to educate folks when they are ready to hear. Just to say (or act like) they are to uneducated to appreciate or use something so don't bother to learn now, is counter productive. That's part of the reason, IMO, Microsoft (among others) got uninterested in their own platform for gaming. They had a damned good start with Flight Simulator series and Combat Flight Simulator. Halo would have been a killer computer game. Imagine what Microsoft could have done with the space flight features of the X-Plane flight simulator (boy I haven't fooled with that one in a while).

I think the beauty of the graphics and quality of play in games such as Crysis, for example, need to be touted as often as possible. Graphics is just as important as spending several thousand on a couple of speakers and amplifiers for a sound system. Or many hundreds on camera equipment.

This has been an interesting read. I agree with tugboat_2 100%. Since property taxes are due next mth i'm waiting for ATI next generation cards and also Nvidias. I should be able to pull the trigger later this fall or come Christmas time. Thanks guys.

That's not a bad idea. Some supposed benchmarks of the new 6870 just leaked and supposedly it performs 35% better with just a GPU revision. Rumors also claim that the god-awful tesselation performance of the 5000-series cards is fixed.