4850,4870 or 9800GTX KO @ 1680x1050?

[sticks435]

Hey all, I'm debating on which card to get. I currently have a 8800GTS 320 and was thinking the 4850 would suffice for the resolution I'm playing at. Right now I only have a Single slot, so going dual is not an option, but was thinking that if I bought a 4850 now, I could upgrade down the line with a new mobo.

My processor is an E6750 running at 2.8 Ghz. Would that bottleneck the 4870 or 9800KO? I see the 9800KO can be had for about $210 on newegg, but the 4850's are ridiculously cheap.

Thanks all!!

 

[JPB]

Go with the HD 4850 and never look back :thumbsup:

 

[Tempered81]

4850.

you can do a software fan fix & software Vgpu increase Edit: sorry, software maxes at 1.2volts, you have to hard-mod for higher core clocks as of now.

you can technically make it perform faster than a 4870, which is already faster than a 9800

 

[bryanW1995]

the 4850 is already ~ 10% faster than 9800gtx, so it should be => 9800gtx KO. the 4870 is ~ 5% faster than gtx 260.

Where did you find the software Vgpu increase? I thought that you had to hard-mod a 4850 to increase the Vgpu.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
4850.

you can do a software fan fix & software Vgpu increase

you can technically make it perform faster than a 4870, which is already faster than a 9800

and the same thing could be done to the 4870...it will always be faster, however @ 1680x1050, going with a 4870 is going to be pretty silly unless you feel its worth the extra ~$100-140 (considering rebates here) to run 8x and 16x AA on everything other than Crysis

 

[Tempered81]

i think you do need to hard mod, my bad. software maxes at 1.20volts im being told. Please disregard that comment 2 posts up.

thanks for that, bryan.
edit: apparently gurusan @ XS did a pencil mod to get 1.45 Vgpu & 910mhz core...

fan fix here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showp...?p=2751569&postcount=8

 

[DaveSimmons]

The 4850 is a great card for 16x10, it's only at 19x12 that it runs out of steam for some newer games. You can find them for $175-200 with a game, so why spend $310 for just a 4870?

 

[videopho]

Speaking from a diehard Nvidia fanboy.
Go with the 4870, 'cause I know I will.

 

[sticks435]

Originally posted by: jaredpace

and the same thing could be done to the 4870...it will always be faster, however @ 1680x1050, going with a 4870 is going to be pretty silly unless you feel its worth the extra ~$100-140 (considering rebates here) to run 8x and 16x AA on everything other than Crysis

Yea, not so much. I figure 4x AA is the sweet spot for that resolution. One thing that throws me is the AA performance of Mass Effect with the 4850.
http://www.tomshardware.com/re...n-hd-4850,1957-18.html.

Though I've heard that you don't really need it for that game.

 

[InCrYsIs]

I'm running 2 Asus 4850s Xfire and they rock. For 400 bucks you can't go wrong. Actually ASUS had 30 dollar rebate each.

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: sticks435

Originally posted by: jaredpace

and the same thing could be done to the 4870...it will always be faster, however @ 1680x1050, going with a 4870 is going to be pretty silly unless you feel its worth the extra ~$100-140 (considering rebates here) to run 8x and 16x AA on everything other than Crysis

Yea, not so much. I figure 4x AA is the sweet spot for that resolution. One thing that throws me is the AA performance of Mass Effect with the 4850.
http://www.tomshardware.com/re...n-hd-4850,1957-18.html.

Though I've heard that you don't really need it for that game.

lol! Thats not me!!!

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: videopho
Speaking from a diehard Nvidia fanboy.
Go with the 4870, 'cause I know I will.

times like these draw out the real fanboys from the people who just used a company b/c of their performance ans/or value. you are not a fanboy. A fanboy is somebody who is still telling anybody who will listen than intel's 25% clock/clock advantage is nothing and that amd is the way to go for cpus. You might have also noticed some people strongly supporting nvidia after the recent gpu launches. THOSE people are fanboys, you are a smart shopper.

 

[sticks435]

Originally posted by: jaredpace

Originally posted by: sticks435

Originally posted by: jaredpace

and the same thing could be done to the 4870...it will always be faster, however @ 1680x1050, going with a 4870 is going to be pretty silly unless you feel its worth the extra ~$100-140 (considering rebates here) to run 8x and 16x AA on everything other than Crysis

Yea, not so much. I figure 4x AA is the sweet spot for that resolution. One thing that throws me is the AA performance of Mass Effect with the 4850.
http://www.tomshardware.com/re...n-hd-4850,1957-18.html.

Though I've heard that you don't really need it for that game.

lol! Thats not me!!!

Oops. Sorry man. New board and all.

 

[sticks435]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: videopho
Speaking from a diehard Nvidia fanboy.
Go with the 4870, 'cause I know I will.

times like these draw out the real fanboys from the people who just used a company b/c of their performance ans/or value. you are not a fanboy. A fanboy is somebody who is still telling anybody who will listen than intel's 25% clock/clock advantage is nothing and that amd is the way to go for cpus. You might have also noticed some people strongly supporting nvidia after the recent gpu launches. THOSE people are fanboys, you are a smart shopper.

Very True. I've owned nothing but Nvidia's since the TNT2/Voodoo2, mainly because they had the best product at the time I was in the market, Ti4200, 6800, 8800. But I just can't see it this go-round.

PS. I just picked up the 4850 from BB with the 12% off coupon.

 

[bryanW1995]

is that the visiontek?

4850 is the best bang/buck release I've seen in a long time from either camp. You'll get good usage out of that card.

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: InCrYsIs
I'm running 2 Asus 4850s Xfire and they rock. For 400 bucks you can't go wrong. Actually ASUS had 30 dollar rebate each.

Yes they do. :thumbsup:

 

[taltamir]

considering you already own a 8800GTS 320MB, I would say go with the 4870 or 2x4850 in CF.
The 4850 is nice, but you already have a fairly powerful card, not 4850 powerful, but nice enough that a bigger jump is needed to justify such a purchase IMAO.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

4870

EDIT: its funny how Intel supports ATI/AMD crossfire. Its almost like saying Intel supports AMD. The cpu overtone just still lingers even when you are talking about ATI

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
4870

EDIT: its funny how Intel supports ATI/AMD crossfire. Its almost like saying Intel supports AMD. The cpu overtone just still lingers even when you are talking about ATI

err a whole war is going on in deep dark round table between Intel and Nvidia. Intel wants SLI and Nvidia doesn't want to share so Intel no more wants to give 45nm nehalem Licences.

Also another war on Physic front, same problem PhysicX vs Havok.

Nvidia wants a world :
The best Inter link gpu soultion but only with Nvidia motherboard
All major PC game using Physicx so gamer have to get Nvidia gpu to use them

At the end of the day , Nvidia ain't will to share and ain't willing to support open format physic which will make Nvidia a number 1 target.

Now all of this can be solved so easily if Nvidia licences SLI to Intel and make physicx open stanard. Intel was ready once to pay money to licences the SLI but Nvidia had all this terms that made intel go mad.

 

[AmberClad]

I'm looking at the exact same upgrade path as the OP (the pretty long in the tooth 8800GTS 320MB). If the OP's is like me, he's willing to pay up to around $300 for a video card (close to the original price of the G80 320MB). There's nothing wrong with a 4850, and it'd be a big jump in performance...but why not get a 4870 instead, if that falls into the range of your allotted GPU budget? I'd also consider a pair of 4850s, but then you've got twice the fan noise to deal with, so that's something to consider.

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
I'd also consider a pair of 4850s, but then you've got twice the fan noise to deal with, so that's something to consider.

There is some complex maths that goes into this (someone may be able to explain it better), but it is my understanding that if you have two devices outputting the same amount of sound (Db) it will NOT be twice as loud, in fact it will be only just above that of the sound of a single device. So really, two cards are not going to make a lot of noise, I experienced this with my 3850's in CF where two were no louder (to me) than one card in my case. :thumbsup:

 

[seemingly random]

I'm going to wait 3-6 months. The reported 4870 heat problem looks like it'll require an exotic cooler. I'd rather somebody else deal with the bleeding edge on this.

 

[AmberClad]

The "heat problem" is due to the fan on the both cards not running at proper speeds. If you use the XML fix (check the 48XX temperature discussion thread), then you can ramp it up to an appropriate speed and lower the temps substantially.

My GTS has a default fan speed around 60-65%, which gives around 55C idle this time of year. So the results using the 48XX fan fix seem roughly comparable.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
The "heat problem" is due to the fan on the both cards not running at proper speeds. If you use the XML fix (check the 48XX temperature discussion thread), then you can ramp it up to an appropriate speed and lower the temps substantially.

My GTS has a default fan speed around 60-65%, which gives around 55C idle this time of year. So the results using the 48XX fan fix seem roughly comparable.

I'm aware of this. At load, it's a hot board though - can't fight physics. I don't like much fan noise - just picky. I'm sure somebody will come with a suitable, quiet cooler.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
There is some complex maths that goes into this (someone may be able to explain it better), but it is my understanding that if you have two devices outputting the same amount of sound (Db) it will NOT be twice as loud, in fact it will be only just above that of the sound of a single device. So really, two cards are not going to make a lot of noise, I experienced this with my 3850's in CF where two were no louder (to me) than one card in my case. :thumbsup:

Interesting, thanks for the info. Well, I guess there's also the option of getting a single 4850 now, and adding a second when that feels inadequate. Decisions, decisions...