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Which card to choose?

T

toado

Junior Member
I'm building a new PC, (Q6600, will OC, Antec 900, WD 640AAKS, 4GB DDR2 800, Win XP), and have decided on every component except the video card. my choices are

9600 GT $60
9800 GT $99
4850 $140

All of these except the 9600 GT are from name brand manufacturers, and all prices are after MIR. I know that the 4850 wipes the floor with them speed wise, but I will be using my HDTV as a monitor, so have a low resolution of 1366 vs. 720. I have an Xbox 360 and so while I will use my PC for gaming, if there's a game I can't run with 10000x AA, I'll live. The big quesiton I have is for most games (crysis excluded), will I see a big difference in performance between these cards at 720p resolution, and if so is it worth the difference in price. I'll probably be upgrading my rig in a few years once Nehalem/mobo prices are where C2D prices are now.

Thanks a lot,
Todd
 
I would probably go with the 9800 GT. At that resolution the 9800 GT and 4850 trade blows depending on the game. You can compare all three here: Tom's GPU Charts (the 8800 GT is pretty much on par with a 9800 GT) look at the 1280 by 1024 benchmarks.
 
Galaxy is offering an OC 9600GT for $55 after MIR, which I have to admit, as a very tempting offer. Thanks for the link to the charts readyfull, I was very surprised to see how little difference between the 9800GT and 4850 there was at 1280 by 1024. That definitely eliminates the 4850 for me, so now its between 9800 and 9600, and i'd say with your recommendations I'm leaning towards 9800.
 
Originally posted by: nRollo
$139.99 9800GTX+ with free Vista compatible USB tuner

That gets my vote. More gaming power is always welcome, $40 difference can be recovered selling the tuner if you don't need one. (or some of it anyway)
Click to expand...


I just paid $190 for my 9800GTX+ and it does 825/2046/1310 which doesn't put it far from an HD 4870 so $180 + a $40 MIR makes that a pretty damned sweet deal IMHO.

Heres what I get with the card OC'd in Crysis @ 1650x1080 with 16x AF 0x AA on high with the natural lighting mod ( which hits for about 5 FPS )

Mobo :Biostar TA780G
CPU : 4850e @ 3.2ghz
Mem : G.Skill Pi DDR2 800 @ 800mhz 4-4-4-12 2T
GFX : XFX 9800GTX+ @ 825/2046/1310

Average FPS: 29.47
Min FPS: 23.21
Max FPS: 35.53
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: nRollo
$139.99 9800GTX+ with free Vista compatible USB tuner

That gets my vote. More gaming power is always welcome, $40 difference can be recovered selling the tuner if you don't need one. (or some of it anyway)
Click to expand...

Thats a great deal on a 9800 GTX+. I'd definitely grab that over the other three. Galaxy is a pretty large GPU company. They are just getting started in the US, but are well known in Asia, Australia and Europe.
 
Originally posted by: Leyawiin
Originally posted by: nRollo
$139.99 9800GTX+ with free Vista compatible USB tuner

That gets my vote. More gaming power is always welcome, $40 difference can be recovered selling the tuner if you don't need one. (or some of it anyway)
Click to expand...

Thats a great deal on a 9800 GTX+. I'd definitely grab that over the other three. Galaxy is a pretty large GPU company. They are just getting started in the US, but are well known in Asia, Australia and Europe.
Click to expand...

But, doesn't the 4850 generally outperform the 9800gtx?
 
Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
Originally posted by: Leyawiin
Originally posted by: nRollo
$139.99 9800GTX+ with free Vista compatible USB tuner

That gets my vote. More gaming power is always welcome, $40 difference can be recovered selling the tuner if you don't need one. (or some of it anyway)
Click to expand...

Thats a great deal on a 9800 GTX+. I'd definitely grab that over the other three. Galaxy is a pretty large GPU company. They are just getting started in the US, but are well known in Asia, Australia and Europe.
Click to expand...

But, doesn't the 4850 generally outperform the 9800gtx?
Click to expand...

9800GTX+ is generally faster with no AA. Once you start adding AA, things get better for the 4850.
 
Originally posted by: Dazed and Confused


I just paid $190 for my 9800GTX+ and it does 825/2046/1310 which doesn't put it far from an HD 4870
Click to expand...
[/quote]

Yeah, right. Even oc'ed as it is, I still think it's far from the processing power of a 4870. Of course, this doesn't happen in Crysis, where Nvidia cards always had the upper hand in performance. Even an 8800GT seems very close to a 4870 512mb card in Crysis ( some 5fps difference). But in quite about any other game, the 4870 should be faster, by a long margin, over the oc'ed 9800GTX+.
 
Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
Yup, the 9800GT would certainly be the best value of the bunch IMO.
Click to expand...

the 9800gt costs two thirds more than the 9600gt yet comes nowhere near two thirds more performance


 
Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
Originally posted by: Leyawiin
Originally posted by: nRollo
$139.99 9800GTX+ with free Vista compatible USB tuner

That gets my vote. More gaming power is always welcome, $40 difference can be recovered selling the tuner if you don't need one. (or some of it anyway)
Click to expand...

Thats a great deal on a 9800 GTX+. I'd definitely grab that over the other three. Galaxy is a pretty large GPU company. They are just getting started in the US, but are well known in Asia, Australia and Europe.
Click to expand...

But, doesn't the 4850 generally outperform the 9800gtx?
Click to expand...

Depends on whose review you read for 4X16X, but in general the cards are close enough in performance that the 4850 only differentiates itself at 8XAA. (which the OP said he didn't care about, and at his low resolution the 9800GTX+ would likely offer good enough 8XAA to not care anyway)

I have a 4850 and a 9800GTX+, and a USB TV tuner, and it wouldn't even be a decision for me between the 4850 w/o the tuner and the GTX+ with the tuner.

Even if you don't need the free $50 tuner, you could Ebay it and likely be getting the GTX+ for ~$100., and better 8X AA at some games doesn't justify paying 40% more for that card.

(especially when you consider the lack of CUDA, PhysX, stereo, games you have to rename exe to get AA, higher heat of the 4850)
 
Originally posted by: error8
Originally posted by: Dazed and Confused


I just paid $190 for my 9800GTX+ and it does 825/2046/1310 which doesn't put it far from an HD 4870
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Yeah, right. Even oc'ed as it is, I still think it's far from the processing power of a 4870. Of course, this doesn't happen in Crysis, where Nvidia cards always had the upper hand in performance. Even an 8800GT seems very close to a 4870 512mb card in Crysis ( some 5fps difference). But in quite about any other game, the 4870 should be faster, by a long margin, over the oc'ed 9800GTX+.[/quote]

Yep- 9800GTX+s shouldn't be compared to 4870s ever. Different class of card.
 
Thougt I'd chime in....

Just my opinion, but running that low of a resolution on such a large display, you will WANT to have AA COMPLETELY maxed out all the time... or you're going to "notice" a lot of jagged lines.

That said, I'd spend the extra dough and get the ATI 4850.
 
Originally posted by: nRollo
Depends on whose review you read for 4X16X, but in general the cards are close enough in performance that the 4850 only differentiates itself at 8XAA. (which the OP said he didn't care about, and at his low resolution the 9800GTX+ would likely offer good enough 8XAA to not care anyway)
Click to expand...

He didn't say that he doesn't care about it, he said:

"if there's a game I can't run with 10000x AA, I'll live."

but using that resolution, even the 9600GT should be able to use max everything including 4X AA even on most new games
 
I vote for the 9600GT

Best value by far. One year from now, GTX260 class performance will be available for less than $100 (probably at least a few $60 after rebate deals). The 9600GT will do everything he wants at that resolution for only $60. I bought an eVGA SSC version for $54 after rebate and use it at 1680x1050 and am VERY satisfied. 9600GTs came out around the March of 2008 for around $180 I think. SIX months later I buy one for less than a third of what they cost new (a factory overclocked, lifetime warranty model even). Videocards dump in price. Buy the best value.

 
9600GT was actually $55 on the egg w/ MIR just a few days ago, should have jumped on it when I had the chance. Now the options as I see it are
9600GT for $75
9800GT for $95
4850 for $140
9800GTX+ for $140 + free tv tuner (can probably sell for $30 on ebay)

I'd say out of these options, its either the 9800GT or GTX+ for me, I know that 4850 might be a bit better with higher AA, but its not $30 better, and I hear the GTX+ runs cooler (I plan on OCing.) This was my first post, and thanks for all the help/insights.
 
4830 can also be in your consideration. about same price as 9800GT AR and delivery better performance on high rez and AA settings.
 
Yup its an Antec 900 case, which I picked out for its amazing airflow, with a 500w Earthwatts power supply, which I'm told is a very high quality, efficient, albeit basic PSU
 
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