The ATI Bandwagon...

[b]
OK - I feel like I need to jump on the ATI bandwagon... I'm sorry. But really, how much better can you get than a GTX 260 for around $300? My games are played @ 1680 resolution and I like to max them out.

Here is my setup right now --

Vist64 | EVGA 780i | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 3.2 | XFX GTX260 | (2x2GB) 4GB Corsair XMS DDR2/800 | WD Caviar SE16 SATA 3GB/S | ZALMAN CNPS9700 | Antec Neo PS | ANTEC P182 Gun Metal | Samsung 22" G2G 2MS

Your honest opinions are appreciated.

At 300$, the 260 isnt a bad buy at all. Very nice card. Should leave you happy for awhile

Thats true, but 4870 cost same and have maybe little higher performance depending on games you play.

if you're really that determined, i'd say ebay your gtx 260 and put a buy it now of like 290 or so, and your ebay auction will fund your 4870 purchase.

Like hairycat said - I also like the idea of going SLI like in a month or so... I wonder how two gtx260's perform... mmm . . .

Yea... but... You have to keep in mind that the drivers really aren't that well developed for the 4XXX series yet. Heck, they don't even appear on the ATI website for driver downloads. With that in mind, they will likely improve in terms of performance when they get mature drivers.

Then again, drivers can improve in both camps.

Nvidia usually has more mature drivers at first. Maybe the 8800 was the exception. =)

Why is Nvidia so hated?

Its probably not worth it to switch over to the 4870. I would just stick with the 260. Enjoy that rig man.

Best,

3Ball

We were talking about drivers, I should have mentioned that single-gpu cards aren't affected as much by drivers as cards in SLI or CF. Do you understand now?

I agree with 3Ball. For a 6-10% performance increase it is really not worth disturbing a stable rig.

yeah, its just that to me you didnt clearly state your point. which is why i was like

Check this out, Newegg is selling PNY GTX 280 for $419.99 after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814133228

To see the price, you've got to add it to your cart. Although it does require a mail in rebate, $420 is a much better price than $649. ATI certainly brought their game to bring the GTX 280's price down $230 dollars.

If you already have a GTX 260, there is no point. They are both close.

I got a 4870 because Nvidia's drivers suck for the 8800GTX on Vista 64, but the 260/80 drivers INF modded fixed allot(just not enough for me[and in a test my old X1900XT worked with all the games i was using], the 8800 will go on a XP machine for the rest of its life) so you should have no issues.

Jesus man.

What are you thinking?

Your eyes wouldnt be able to tell the difference.

The 4850/4870 and GTX 260/280 are amazing cards all can play all games in high-very high at 720 and above.ATI did good and Nvidia did good.You'll be a fool to be disappointed from a power perspective.

Though Ati shot themselves in the foot, in exactly the same way Nvidia did with entire 9 series.(

512 vram is a bad idea unless your happy to upgrade GPu again with a new monitor.

I think Vram and memory bandwidth is everything with the high end cards. And a lack of it will cause many heartache over the coming 12-24 months when they get a bigger and better monitor.

Keep in mind that a 1GB 4870 has always been planned, and should be out shortly. As for memory bandwidth, the 4870 has it in huge quantities - it's called GDDR5.

If I was going to buy an ATI card around this time I would wait for the 4870x2 to peep it's head out.

If I'd have known, I would not have spent $449 on a 3870x2 the first week of last February. I would have waited for the 4870x2. Not that I have a bad card, it compares favorably to the 4850 and runs my games nicely.

I just hate spending that much money and seeing the next generation out in six months, as I usually only buy a new card every 1-2 years.

That said, the next ATI series is expected something like early 2009. So, I think I'll skip this generation after all.

To the OP, I did not feel the need to jump on the Nvidia bandwagon when the best of the 8800 series outperformed ATI in Crysis. I like ATI image quality and AVIVO, as I do more than just game with my PC.

If you really like Nvidia, then stick with them and go GTX260. I'm one fanboy who does not mind other fanboy's their toys. The only thing I mind in the realm of fanboyism is insistence that everyone must switch depending on whatever incremental improvements are made in any particular generation.

ATI and Nvidia have been leapfrogging each other in performance for generations. I did not like the budget Nvidia platform I had when I upgraded from a P4 Northwood on an i865PERL. That platform was a 405 chipset with a 7600gs and my current CPU (which I moved to an ATI mobo when I got the 3870x2).

If you like your higher end Nvidia platform and enjoy SLI, then go for it. You do not need to be on anyone's bandwagon but your own. Get the tech you enjoy and we should all stick to facts, not fiction, when critiquing tech from the companies we don't normally buy.

Yeah there is that too. I Play that too.

Sam II is just so much more pointless. Wave after wave of baddies. Where else can you send a bird with a bomb hanging from its neck at someone(this is in single player)

I also like the co op mode with friends.

more video memory isn't going to mean much, b/c the bandwidth of the gddr5 is very high, so high it doesn't hit the same limitations that more memory of higher bit buses do for gddr3 memory, so ur VP is a little naive..

More video memory will still help, despite the high bandwidth. Look at the 4870x2 (2GB) vs 4870CF (512/card) results at 1920x1200 and above with AA and you can see what I mean.

They're only small in the areas that 512MB are sufficient. Look at this for example:

Notice the nosedive that the CF 4870's take, while the x2 sits happily. The X2 gets more than DOUBLE the framerate at 2560x1600. Yes, this is higher than what most people play at now, but keep in mind that newer games tend to use more memory at the same resolution. I would bet that a 1GB 4870 would be a lot more futureproof than the 512 model.

If one already has a GTX 260, then the money you'd lose to shipping costs and selling your old card for what you could get (which would be much less than what a new one on NewEgg is) would mean that you'd wind up having to pay a sizable chunk to "upgrade" to an HD 4870; I'd judge around 20-30% of the card's value. (or as much as $100US) Not exactly a brilliant idea for a sliver of performance. That's almost as bad as upgrading to the GTX 280, which would again be only two slivers more, but would likely wind up, in the end, setting you back several times as much.

However, I do agree that the thought of watching someone run over their own video card they paid like $330US for is amusing.

Anyone that is going to tell you to upgrade from a gtx260 to a ati 4870 is on crack. Its a waste of money unless you are getting at least 300$ for your gtx260 which will cover the cost of the 4870.

Wait for the 4870x2 if you wish to make an upgrade, but going from a gtx260 to a 4870 would be underwhelming to say the least.