Will I notice a Huge difference

[zod96]

I game at 1680x1050 with AA/AF games include, BF2, Oblivion and Stalker. My 8800GT has been great. Was wondering if I upgraded to a GTX260 would I notice a huge difference in FPS? I also use Vsync...

 

[Aberforth]

I think you should upgrade to Radeon HD 4870 which is better than GTX 260, you get GDDR5, DX10.1 and almost tax free 8X AA

 

[zod96]

I'd like to stick to nvidia

 

[User5]

thats pretty silly.. If you upgraded to either a 4850 or 4870 you would immediately gain free AA. Whether playing with no AA enabled, or with 4X AA enabled, your fps will be identical.

If you have ~$300 to spend, your best bet imo is crossfiring two 4850's.. unless you end up like me, completely underestimating what a $150 video card can do, in which case you may even hold out on the second card!

 

[airhendrix13]

If he OC's, the GTX 260 would be a better buy IMO. The GTX 260 OC's close to GTX 280 performance. The 4870 and 4850 don't OC that well from what I hear. Also, the GTX 260 runs cooler, quiter, and needs less power.

BUT you only plan to game at 1680 x 1050 resolution, which you say your 8800GT handles very well.

I say hang onto your 8800GT unless you really feel it isn't cutting it, otherwise the GTX 260 is a great choice.

 

[airhendrix13]

Forgot to mention that the 9800GTX+ is out now for $200. In a week I'm sure rebate offers will start popping up. The 9800GTX+ may be all you need.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Honestly, it's not worth upgrading if you play at that low of a resolution. 8800GT is no slouch.

 

[error8]

9800GTX + is a crappy thing really, especially when he comes from 8800 GT. At that resolution he will not see any difference. Actually I don't think he'll notice much of a difference with the GTX 260 , only with 8X AA maybe.

 

[error8]

I don't understand, you have in your sig a 4850, but you upgrade from 8800 GT and you like to stick with Nvidia for that. Please explain.

 

[virtualskunk]

Brand loyalty just makes absolutely zero sense.

More bang for buck and not to mention a whole other cart load of reasons just get a 4870.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: User5
thats pretty silly.. If you upgraded to either a 4850 or 4870 you would immediately gain free AA. Whether playing with no AA enabled, or with 4X AA enabled, your fps will be identical.

If you have ~$300 to spend, your best bet imo is crossfiring two 4850's.. unless you end up like me, completely underestimating what a $150 video card can do, in which case you may even hold out on the second card!

Free AA on the 4870 is a myth... I'm not sure who first published that load of BS, but it's not true.

1600x1200

Call of Duty 4 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 96.0 fps
Call of Duty 4 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 60.7

Call of Juarez ? 1xAA/1xAF: 43.7
Call of Juarez ? 4xAA/16xAF: 27.9

Company of Heroes ? 1xAA/1xAF: 65.3
Company of Heroes ? 4xAA/16xAF: 55.5

Crysis 1.2 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 22.0
Crysis 1.2 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 13.8

UT 3 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 212.2
UT 3 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 93.7

http://www.computerbase.de/art...4870_oc_overclocked/3/

 

[dakels]

I have a 4850 and I love it. That being said if you are looking at the $300 range single card solution, 260 seems to be a better deal IMO. Better cooling and more OC room (and better OC performance), better partners like EVGA and XFX, probably a better cooler, and possible application of physx. As for the 9800+, until it starts hitting the $150-160 AR range, it can't hold a candle to either the 4850 or 4870 in price/perf from what I have seen.

Of course in situations this close, personal preferences speaks a lot. If the OP wants Nvidia, then the 260 is a winner. I'd also agree that the leap from an 8800GT to a 260 will probably not be earth shattering. Depends a lot on the game and system.

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: virtualskunk
Brand loyalty just makes absolutely zero sense.

More bang for buck and not to mention a whole other cart load of reasons just get a 4870.

Why is brand loyalty BS when you have partners like EVGA and XFX giving out early adopter cashbacks, and step up plans, and double lifetime warranty's? I wish ATI partners did stuff like that and I have owned ATI from 8600, to 9800, to X1950, to 4850... If the price to performance was close, I'd definitely go brand. When I got my 4850 it was and still is the best price/perf BY FAR. That's why I got it but nowadays, if I was looking at the 4870 or 260, I'd probably go 260.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
Honestly, it's not worth upgrading if you play at that low of a resolution. 8800GT is no slouch.

+1

I don't know why people already get 50-100fps in the highest settings and wanting to blow chunks on a GPU that drops in price faster than it takes to smoke it up.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: User5
thats pretty silly.. If you upgraded to either a 4850 or 4870 you would immediately gain free AA. Whether playing with no AA enabled, or with 4X AA enabled, your fps will be identical.

If you have ~$300 to spend, your best bet imo is crossfiring two 4850's.. unless you end up like me, completely underestimating what a $150 video card can do, in which case you may even hold out on the second card!

Free AA on the 4870 is a myth... I'm not sure who first published that load of BS, but it's not true.

1600x1200

Call of Duty 4 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 96.0 fps
Call of Duty 4 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 60.7

Call of Juarez ? 1xAA/1xAF: 43.7
Call of Juarez ? 4xAA/16xAF: 27.9

Company of Heroes ? 1xAA/1xAF: 65.3
Company of Heroes ? 4xAA/16xAF: 55.5

Crysis 1.2 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 22.0
Crysis 1.2 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 13.8

UT 3 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 212.2
UT 3 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 93.7

http://www.computerbase.de/art...4870_oc_overclocked/3/

Myth is right but it takes much less of a performance hit than any card on the market. 4870x2 might do free AA though if you read Hardocp's latest gpu article.

 

[TC91]

wait till the next gen cards come out.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: User5
thats pretty silly.. If you upgraded to either a 4850 or 4870 you would immediately gain free AA. Whether playing with no AA enabled, or with 4X AA enabled, your fps will be identical.

If you have ~$300 to spend, your best bet imo is crossfiring two 4850's.. unless you end up like me, completely underestimating what a $150 video card can do, in which case you may even hold out on the second card!

Free AA on the 4870 is a myth... I'm not sure who first published that load of BS, but it's not true.

1600x1200

Call of Duty 4 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 96.0 fps
Call of Duty 4 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 60.7

Call of Juarez ? 1xAA/1xAF: 43.7
Call of Juarez ? 4xAA/16xAF: 27.9

Company of Heroes ? 1xAA/1xAF: 65.3
Company of Heroes ? 4xAA/16xAF: 55.5

Crysis 1.2 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 22.0
Crysis 1.2 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 13.8

UT 3 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 212.2
UT 3 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 93.7

http://www.computerbase.de/art...4870_oc_overclocked/3/

Myth is right but it takes much less of a performance hit than any card on the market. 4870x2 might do free AA though if you read Hardocp's latest gpu article.

I'd like to add that the difference in performance between 4xAA and 8xAA is minimal on the 4800 series ATI cards.
One other mention, the comparison above is also taking into account AF, and while there is a performance hit between no AA and 4xAA on the 4800 series, part of the difference in those above benchmarks are due to AF.

 

[zod96]

This isn't for my pc its for another one..

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: zod96
This isn't for my pc its for another one..

Yeah okay. It went from "I use Vsync" to someone else.

 

[octopus41092]

Originally posted by: airhendrix13
If he OC's, the GTX 260 would be a better buy IMO. The GTX 260 OC's close to GTX 280 performance. The 4870 and 4850 don't OC that well from what I hear. Also, the GTX 260 runs cooler, quiter, and needs less power.

BUT you only plan to game at 1680 x 1050 resolution, which you say your 8800GT handles very well.

I say hang onto your 8800GT unless you really feel it isn't cutting it, otherwise the GTX 260 is a great choice.

Actually the 4850 OC's very well provided you have the proper cooling. Its just that the stock cooler blows (No pun intended). For me I swapped out the cooler with an Accelero S1 and it OC'ed to the max in CCC which is 700MHz without any problems. Also, it's temps are cooler than what it was before at idle. I could probably get it to go even more but I'm afraid of messing with the BIOS.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: User5
thats pretty silly.. If you upgraded to either a 4850 or 4870 you would immediately gain free AA. Whether playing with no AA enabled, or with 4X AA enabled, your fps will be identical.

If you have ~$300 to spend, your best bet imo is crossfiring two 4850's.. unless you end up like me, completely underestimating what a $150 video card can do, in which case you may even hold out on the second card!

Free AA on the 4870 is a myth... I'm not sure who first published that load of BS, but it's not true.

1600x1200

Call of Duty 4 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 96.0 fps
Call of Duty 4 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 60.7

Call of Juarez ? 1xAA/1xAF: 43.7
Call of Juarez ? 4xAA/16xAF: 27.9

Company of Heroes ? 1xAA/1xAF: 65.3
Company of Heroes ? 4xAA/16xAF: 55.5

Crysis 1.2 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 22.0
Crysis 1.2 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 13.8

UT 3 ? 1xAA/1xAF: 212.2
UT 3 ? 4xAA/16xAF: 93.7

http://www.computerbase.de/art...4870_oc_overclocked/3/

Myth is right but it takes much less of a performance hit than any card on the market. 4870x2 might do free AA though if you read Hardocp's latest gpu article.

I'd like to add that the difference in performance between 4xAA and 8xAA is minimal on the 4800 series ATI cards.
One other mention, the comparison above is also taking into account AF, and while there is a performance hit between no AA and 4xAA on the 4800 series, part of the difference in those above benchmarks are due to AF.

Depends on the situation I guess. My 4870 tanked down to the teens with 8xAAA in WoW @ 1920x1200, while 4xAAA is perfectly playable. The 3870X2 was the same, and that's on a game that you can run 4xAA @ 1920x1200 on much, much lesser cards.

Strangely, 8xAAA on HL2 is no problem for any of the 3xxx or 4xxx Radeons I've owned. Not sure what it is about WoW that kills them. To be fair, 8x trSSAA hurts the GeForce cards too, so far the GTX 260 and 280 have been only cards that would run 8x trSSAA smoothly throughout the entire game.

...back to this "free AA" thing....

HardOCP doesn't show any free AA with a single 4870 either:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...w2LCxoZW50aGlzdWFzdA==

HardOCP did find some free AA on AoC with a 4870X2 @ 1920x1200 and with 4870X2 CrossfireX @ 2560x1600. This is certainly impressive, but this appears to be more the exception then the rule. Plus, this is in regards to the 4870X2 and not the 4870.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...w3LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Either way, the claim "Whether playing with no AA enabled, or with 4X AA enabled, your fps will be identical.", is simply BS.

 

[ChronoReverse]

the 48xx series doesn't have free AA. It just has good performing AA relative to the corresponding Nvidia cards. That's a huge difference from free AA.

 

[zod96]

Yes I do use vsync on my other pc not the one with the 4850 in it next time pay closer attention

 

[virtualskunk]

Originally posted by: dakels

Originally posted by: virtualskunk
Brand loyalty just makes absolutely zero sense.

More bang for buck and not to mention a whole other cart load of reasons just get a 4870.

Why is brand loyalty BS

Choosing a card by brand over quality/value for money make's no sense.

 

[The Odorous One]

Originally posted by: User5
thats pretty silly.. If you upgraded to either a 4850 or 4870 you would immediately gain free AA. Whether playing with no AA enabled, or with 4X AA enabled, your fps will be identical.

If you have ~$300 to spend, your best bet imo is crossfiring two 4850's.. unless you end up like me, completely underestimating what a $150 video card can do, in which case you may even hold out on the second card!

well said.

I went the 4850 x 2 CF route for $300. If you favor intel chipsets, there simply isn't a better bang for buck solution right now.