4850 or 9800GTX+ ?

[The Keeper]

My year old 3870 is acting up a bit and I'm considering replacing it.

I was thinking of 4850 or 9800GTX since they are more attractive price-wise. As far as old reviews go, the 4850 seems to be the winner in most cases. But old reviews don't tell the current situation, which one is the better choice?

And are there any new mid-range cards coming out soon?

Thanks.

 

[TidusZ]

I bought a 4850 and have it overclocked to 470/1148 at this point, I'm pretty impressed with the overclockability, and the temps top out around 60c. This is a sapphire model with the zalmonesque cooler on it, http://www.ncix.com/products/i...L&manufacture=SAPPHIRE

I'd go with a 4850 that has this style of cooler, or else buy an accerlero s1 for cheap and use that.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

search...

in the end, they're about the same. buy whatever you like. or buy the one that uses less space and power and has better drivers.

 

[nemesismk2]

You can't really go wrong with a 4850 or 9800GTX+, they are both very good video cards and about equal in performance. If you were happy with drivers etc with your 3870 and your games ran ok with it then the 4850 would be even better.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Any cards you're looking at in particular? Get whatever is cheaper. They're pretty close. I know the 4850 overclocks well, think the 9800's overclock decently too. You can't go wrong, I'd choose on price.

 

[chizow]

If your max budget is ~$150 then I'd go with the 9800GTX over the 4850 due to better cooling, especially if you're considering spending another $30-50 to replace the 4850's stock cooler.

But honestly at that price point, you'd be much better off with 4870 512MB for $165 for similar cooling to the GTX and a faster card.

 

[vj8usa]

That 4850 TidusZ linked to was going for $110 on Newegg a few days ago, and that sale might still be good (rebate + promo code). That's cheaper than any 9800GTX+ I've seen. They're pretty much the same in terms of performance, so you might as well get whichever is cheaper. If you're looking at a 4850 with stock cooling vs a 9800 with stock cooling, though, I'd lean towards the 9800, but most of the 4850s I've seen on sale these days have better cooling (my Palit 4850 was the cheapest one I could find when I got it, but its cooler works very well - load temps around 55C).

 

[The Keeper]

The cheapest 4850 is 153.6 USD and the cheapest 9800 GTX+ is 192.1 USD where I live. I found 1GB 4870 for 243.4 USD though, I wonder if I should just go for this one. I think 500W Antec EarthWatts should be sufficient even for 1GB 4870.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: The Keeper
The cheapest 4850 is 153.6 USD and the cheapest 9800 GTX+ is 192.1 USD where I live. I found 1GB 4870 for 243.4 USD though, I wonder if I should just go for this one. I think 500W Antec EarthWatts should be sufficient even for 1GB 4870.

Well, that is a pretty big price difference, but then again the 4870 (especially the 1 GB) does represent a pretty big speed increase over the 4850. Seems the 4850 and 4870 both represent a good value for the money here, so pick which one you'd rather have. Not sure the 9800GTX+ is worth ~$40 more than the 4850.

A 500W PSU should easily be sufficient for a 4870 or pretty much any other single card (with a possible exception of dual-GPU cards).

 

[evolucion8]

The 40+ price premium of the 9800GTX+ over the HD 4850 doesn't worth it, both are very close in performance, and trade blows depending of the game, but in overall features and performance when anti aliasing is used is for the HD 4850. The HD 4870 1GB at that price is a steal, specially when I paid 309 for it about almost 3 months ago, but it's in a different league.