4890 to 460, took the plunge and have impressions

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
Ok so as some of you know i did a platform swap and GPU upgrade/sidegrade a week ago today. I've been gaming like mad for the last week and have logged well over 40 hours now, been up almost 2 days strait now with only small naps since i got off work 7am Wednesday morning(Coffee FTW) and will share my impressions. This is going to be completely based on my actual gaming experiences with fraps to keep a eye on FPS but mostly not even paying attention to fraps. Not benchmarks, i can run benchmarks if requested on the new setup but the old setup has been broken up to diff comps now and the GPU is no longer in my possession(returned to XFX, occasional coil whine)

Old setup was AMD 940 BE @ 3.6Ghz, XFX 4890XC @ 1000/1150

New setup in sig(i7 930@4Ghz, 460 running 900/1000)

I'll start off by saying i know the platform swap is probably providing more of a boost gaming than the GPU swap so this is not going to be a direct 4890 to 460 comparison unfortunately, if XFX sends me back a 4890(unlikely) i can do a direct comparison on the i7 platform at that point.

L4 Dead:

Noticed no difference, framerate was locked at 60(Vsync) and never dropped below on either platform at 1080p max settings 8xMSAA, no IQ diff that i noticed. Might as well have been playing it on the same system and would not have been able to tell them apart blind tested, ive put over 600 hours into this game i would have noticed a change if there was one.

L4D2:

Stayed locked at 60fps both setups, 1080p max settings 8xMSAA. IQ was the same. It was noticeably "smoother" for lack of a better word on the Nvidia card, was noticed immediately within 5 min of gameplay. Ive logged over 400 hours into this game on the old setup so was VERY used to how it played. And it was very noticeable especially when trying to shoot fast moving targets while zoomed in with a rifle, much easier, mouse scrolling also much smoother even at the exact same DPI. I dont know how to explain this, no other game saw this much of a difference in actual gameplay(except ME1 in the opposite direction). Perhaps this was a ATI driver issue? I was always running newest ATI drives i updated them monthly.

Far Cry 2:

This game was rough on my old setup, the 4890 just didnt like running in DX 10 mode and took a huge performance hit, even in DX 9 it would dip into the mid thirties in FPS sometimes lower. 1080P max settings 4xAA. The new setup destroys the old, will run close to 50FPS minimum even when pushed to 8xAA. I attribute this to Intel CPU's and Nvidia GPU's doing better in this game and it being well optimized for quad cores. Alot smoother overall on the Nvidia but still very playable on the ATI card. IQ was better IMO on the nvidia, hard to say for sure though mostly played DX 9 on the 4890. Better gaming experience on the intel/nvidia for sure, no question.

Crysis:

Are we ever going to be able to play this game with AA at max settings and 60FPS without spending $1000+ on GPU's? Old setup struggled along at about 23 min FPS and 30avg in dx10, 1080p High settings 2xAA. For this game this was actually pretty smooth, i have no idea how they pulled that off, usually i would LMFAO at 30fps on avg. On the new setup it still blows hard, drops down to 27-28 min FPS and AVG around 40-45. Smoother on the new setup but not by much. IQ looks better on the nvidia card to my eyes. Still waiting for SLI before i give actually playing this game a real shot.

ME 2:
1080P Highest settings 4xAA. Old setup did very well, usually stayed above 55FPS and only dropped down to 40-45 or so in very intense scenes with 6+ bad guys on screen. New setup does better, never goes below 50FPS. IQ is the same. No diff in actual gameplay, seems just as smooth on both even with the FPS difference.

ME 1:
1080P 8xAA highest settings. Stayed at 60FPS both setups(vsync). Was noticeably smoother and had better IQ on the 4890. Maybe this is driver related, i dont know how to explain it but was defiantly better playing this game on the AMD system and the 4890. This result surprised me.

Doom:

Still the same, man you would really think that new hardware would be optimized for older games but this game has looked the same since my ATI 3d Rage...... I am dissapoint. Im also kidding lol.


So thats it for now. As i put more hours into gaming with different games i will update this thread.

My opinion is that the Nvidia Card was still a sidegrade, i got better performance for sure, no question if you look at the benchmarks. But for actual gameplay other than l4d2 it was not a huge amount or very noticable.

Now the platform swap was a upgrade, period! Anyone who thinks AMD can hold a candle to intel clock for clock or in single threaded apps is out of there minds. The question is was it worth spending $1000 on a platform swap, honestly probably not. But if i had to do it all over again, over a year ago when i built the AMD system i would have saved up and went with a i7 920.
 

buzzsaw13

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2004
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I just upgraded from a 4870 to a GTX 480, was considering a 460 but it looked like it wasn't going to give a significant enough upgrade.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
I would agree with that, my intent is to go 460 SLI for it to be worth it, should be getting a second card by November.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
GTX460 @ 900mhz > GTX470.

Based on Madshrimps: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=25&artpage=4798&articID=1033

Computerbase.de: http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/...470/18/#abschnitt_performancerating_qualitaet

The performance difference should be between 40-50%. Is it worth $240 to spend outright from 4890 for GTX460? NO. But if you sell 4890 (which is easy), then the upgrade cost is not that large.

Also, from the games you mentioned, only FC2 and Crysis are going to stress a GTX460.

Start comparing more modern games and GTX460 @ 900 will pummel a 4890. With more modern games, the performance difference may become larger.
 

BD231

Lifer
Feb 26, 2001
10,568
138
106
Title of thread: 4890 to 460, took the plunge and have impressions

Body Of Thread: I'll start off by saying i know the platform swap is probably providing more of a boost gaming than the GPU swap so this is not going to be a direct 4890 to 460 comparison.

:mad:

That's genius, do an entire platform upgrade then purchase a mid-range graphics card to get more 3D performance. At least you're getting that second card.
 

Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
9,144
1,322
126
GTX460 @ 900mhz > GTX470.

Based on Madshrimps: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=25&artpage=4798&articID=1033

Computerbase.de: http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/...470/18/#abschnitt_performancerating_qualitaet

The performance difference should be between 40-50%. Is it worth $240 to spend outright from 4890 for GTX460? NO. But if you sell 4890 (which is easy), then the upgrade cost is not that large.

Also, from the games you mentioned, only FC2 and Crysis are going to stress a GTX460.

Start comparing more modern games and GTX460 @ 900 will pummel a 4890. With more modern games, the performance difference may become larger.

Crysis is as demanding as a game gets, if you are going to see any disparities in performance metrics, it's going to be in Crysis.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
Title of thread: 4890 to 460, took the plunge and have impressions

Body Of Thread: I'll start off by saying i know the platform swap is probably providing more of a boost gaming than the GPU swap so this is not going to be a direct 4890 to 460 comparison.

:mad:

That's genius, do an entire platform upgrade then purchase a mid-range graphics card to get more 3D performance. At least you're getting that second card.

Yeah the plan was to have the second card right now but my car cost me $1200 yesterday so that has been delayed a few months.
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
Yeah the plan was to have the second card right now but my car cost me $1200 yesterday so that has been delayed a few months.
sounds like you need to be more worried about having a reliable car then spending money on your pc. ;)
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
yeah no kidding, its a 1988 Honda CRX, so kinda a ongoing resto project. I had money put aside for bodywork, just ended up spending it on mechanical work instead lol.
 

tviceman

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2008
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I am in the middle of upgrading right now from an overclocked gtx260 216 to a (soon to be overclocked) gtx460 1 gig. I've got an e8400 @ 4.05ghz and 4 gigs 1066 ddr2 ram on Win 7 x64. I ran a slew of benchmarks yesterday before popping out my gtx260 with the following games:

Crysis
Crysis Warhead
Just Cause 2 Demo
Far Cry 2
Cryostasis
Batman AA
Darkest of Days
Mafia II Demo

The last 4 I ran with gpu-physx. As soon as I get my gtx460 I'll post my comparison results.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
I am in the middle of upgrading right now from an overclocked gtx260 216 to a (soon to be overclocked) gtx460 1 gig. I've got an e8400 @ 4.05ghz and 4 gigs 1066 ddr2 ram on Win 7 x64. I ran a slew of benchmarks yesterday before popping out my gtx260 with the following games:

Crysis
Crysis Warhead
Just Cause 2 Demo
Far Cry 2
Cryostasis
Batman AA
Darkest of Days
Mafia II Demo

The last 4 I ran with gpu-physx. As soon as I get my gtx460 I'll post my comparison results.

Good stuff, a 460 if it OC's well should be noticeable over a 260. Did you have the 260 OC'ed?
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
Yeah, stock 260's ran at 576/1242/999 core/shader/ram and I had mine at 675/1450/1075.
a 460 is going to be a minuscule upgrade in some games. its your money but I certainly would have waited to do a more substantial upgrade than that.
 

tviceman

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2008
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a 460 is going to be a minuscule upgrade in some games. its your money but I certainly would have waited to do a more substantial upgrade than that.

Well there were several factors for me buying it. First off, I don't think a gtx460 @ 900mhz (if my card can indeed run stable at that speed with or without an voltage modifications) would be an unsubstantial upgrade. It was a heck of a deal - ASUS 1 gig factory factory clocked at 775mhz for $210. All reviews show the custom ASUS heatsink to be among the quietest AND coolest gtx460's.

I do agree that in some games the performance difference isn't that noticeable. In the action playback benchmark in Far Cry 2 I'm generally CPU limited at certain settings. In the Crysis Warhead benchmark I'm CPU limited in certain settings there as well. I'm still on a 1680x1050 resolution, but I'm upgrading next month to 1920x1080 and I don't think a gtx260 will cut it for me at that resolution with the games I've bought and will be playing soon (Metro2033, Mafia II, Civ 5). And as far as other games I'd like to replay - Batman AA and Cryostasis, I'll definitely see significant performance gains in.

Regardless, the upgrade wasn't just for me - I have a friend I am doing a favor for by selling my brother's gts250 to for $30, and I am in turn giving my brother my gtx260. So I needed a new card and this particular gtx460 @ $210 seemed like the best option price/performance wise.
 
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SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
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The 4890 was/is a strong card, especially at 1GHz. While certainly slower than a 460, it can still provide a similar gaming experience in many situations. But now you have DX11 capability and that second 460 will make this really feel like an upgrade. Nice write up and impressions.
 

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
22,709
2,998
126
I upgraded from a GTX470 to a GTX480, and most games run a lot faster, including many games that were no faster on the GTX470 compared to the GTX285.

I got good performance gains in L4D, Far Cry 2, Crysis Warhead, and in Doom 3. :awe:

The GTX480 is loud as hell though.

An article is coming soon.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Crysis is as demanding as a game gets, if you are going to see any disparities in performance metrics, it's going to be in Crysis.

While Crysis may be the most demanding game (I'd say metro 2033 is as well), it's also one of the worst scaling games ever made. So looking at this 1 game alone is not going to tell you what the general performance increase is. Heck, GTX480 is only 50 percent faster in Crysis over 4890. But in the majority of other modern games, you are looking at 75-100 percent performance increase over the 4890.

BFG, I am not surprised you noticed a performance boost with the 480, as it's about 30 percent faster than the 470! The texture fill-rate limitation of Fermi shows up at 2560x1600 (and 470 has less of it than the 460 hhee)

My point was if you start comparing Metro 2033, STALKER: CoP, Lost Planet 2, the performance difference is about 45-50 percent as I mentioned earlier.

From my personal experience, I am getting massive gains in Dirt 2. At 1920x1080 4AA, average framerates have increased from 47 to 78 :)
 
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