Saphire 4870 vs MSI 260 OC

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Wreckage

Banned
Jul 1, 2005
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Originally posted by: nyfirefly11
any feelings on MSI? people seem to like evga, bfg and xfx b/c of the lifetime warranties and trade-up, but I haven't heard a lot about MSI

I have a 6600GT from MSI that I like a lot and I have been using it for around 3-4 years.
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
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www.neftastic.com
Originally posted by: nyfirefly11
any feelings on MSI? people seem to like evga, bfg and xfx b/c of the lifetime warranties and trade-up, but I haven't heard a lot about MSI

MSI make good cards, but they do so in volume (for OEM's) so it is a heck of a lot easier to find a bad batch. The only drawback to MSI will be their RMA's. They're okay to work with, but their turn-around time is horrible (expect to be without a card for ~3-6 weeks).
 

LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
8,771
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Originally posted by: jaredpace
Originally posted by: error8
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
the gtx260 never beats the gtx280..

If you overclock the sh** out of it, it might reach the gtx280.

In this review, a 260 beats a 280 at only ~715mhz core in quite a few situations:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...-216-55nm_7.html#sect2

i know, but thats overclocked by a lot, 100mhz on the core and 200mhz on the ram is a lot and is sure to shorten the lifespan of the video card and dump out much more heat.

we should not be comparing overclocked to non-overclocked cars because it can go both ways, anyone can say a highly overclocked 4870 will beat out the gtx260 in almost every benchmark, but thats just not fair.
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
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Originally posted by: jaredpace
Originally posted by: error8
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
the gtx260 never beats the gtx280..

If you overclock the sh** out of it, it might reach the gtx280.

In this review, a 260 beats a 280 at only ~715mhz core in quite a few situations:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...-216-55nm_7.html#sect2

Yea, but you can overclock the GTX280 too. You can also overclock the 4870. I think what people are getting at is that the 4870 and GTX260 are pretty equal for the most part. They very often compete within a couple FPS of one another. In a given game sometimes the lead changes as resolution and AA setting change. The cards are really, really close most of the time.

But, there are a few times where the 4870 is much faster in certain games. So much faster that it can even out pace the GTX280 or even sometimes the GTX285. To me that is quite an accomplishment.

Before anyone grabs their pitch forks and comes running at me yelling "Blashphemy!" I'm not trying to cherry pick a bench and say that this clearly proves the 4870's superiority. It's one bench and just supports what I said above.

I just bought Age of Conan yesterday, if it wasn't for too much Valentines Day champange with the wife I would have been playing it last night but instead I ended up a sleep drooling on the couch. But as you can see here, the 4870 clearly out performs the entire GTX line up.

You could overclock all of them and I would assume the results would be pretty much the same. On the other hand, at stock/factory settings, the GTX260 never outperforms the GTX280/285. So to me that would be something to take into account. You have two cards that most of the time are neck and neck. But once in a while the 4870 really shines above.

I hope AoC doesn't suck... this will be my first MMORPG. :)