4850 or 9600 GT SLI

[Renuvian]

Hey all,

I'm looking to order a new video card as mine is massively out of date.

I'm trying to figure out if I would be better off getting two 9600 GTs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130328
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143134

or a Radeon 4850.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253&nm_mc=OTC-B1zrat3&cm_mmc=OTC-B1zrat3-_-Video+Cards-_-ASUS-_-14121253

Also, if a 4850 is the way to go, would it be worth it to get 1gb of memory.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102759

 

[DarthPiggie]

Oh please take that sapphire 4850, and the 1Gb wont really help much since ATi cards have much better texture compression and dont really benefit much from the extra memory. It also depends on what resolution u will game at.

 

[dagger]

The gap is pretty big. 9600gt is 35% slower than 8800gt, 8800gt is 15% slower than 4850.

 

[Maziar]

Go for HD 4850,because MultiGPU doesnt scale very well always.

 

[dagger]

Go for HD 4850,because MultiGPU doesnt scale very well always.

That depends, while 4850/4870 cf do not scale well due to driver issues (should improve later on) 8800gt sli will blow away single 4850 or 4870.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=13
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=14
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=15
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=16
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=17
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=18
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=19

 

[Renuvian]

Hmmmm, yeah the 8800 gts sli certainly look awesome on those benchmarks.
Is 9600 gt better than an 8800 gt?

Newegg has both for about the same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143134
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121263

 

[dagger]

Hmmmm, yeah the 8800 gts sli certainly look awesome on those benchmarks.
Is 9600 gt better than an 8800 gt?

Newegg has both for about the same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143134
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121263

No, 9600gt sli is slower than 8800gt sli. If you can get 9600gt for significantly cheaper, get 9600. If they cost about the same, get 8800gt.

 

[Maziar]

That depends, while 4850/4870 cf do not scale well due to driver issues (should improve later on) 8800gt sli will blow away single 4850 or 4870.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=13
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=14
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=15
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=16
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=17
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=18
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=19

I didnt say 4850/4870 CF scale well always,i was talking about single HD 4850 which performs well and i choose it over 9600GTs in SLI.
Also yeah i agree with u about 8800GT in SLI,they outperform every single card out there in almost every game.
But he was talking about HD 4850 vs 9600GT

 

[sarwar_r87]

go for ati 4850.....is considerably faster than 9600GT and is certainly worth the extra costing
but dont bother with 1GB cards, they are useless.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4850-2-gb-gddr3-review/

SLI usually does not scale as good as CF. i wouldnt go for SLI even if i got they on discount.they produce heat and consume lot of power.plus 9600GT is not top level card of nvidia.they are right now busy with gtx200 so SLI support for new games might come late. HD4850 does not depend on scaling and it is one of the most important card, hence its driver support will be more prompt.
also if u are gaming at less than 1920x1200, sli/cf is a waste of effort.

 

[Maziar]

Agreed
However u said SLI produces heat and consumes more power which is true but its the same for CrossFire too,generally MultiGPU technology has mostly this problems.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245454-33-crossfire-faqs

 

[askareem24]

for those who are saying that the 4850 is far better than 9600gt in sli... ... obviously do not know anything about the 9600gt sli...

right now, you can actually pick up a 9600gt for 60$ w hich technically can be SLI'd for only 120$ (60$ MIR at frys, u pay 119$ now but the rebate will compensate for later).

the 9600gt is probably the most under rated card, yet it gives the BEST performance for its MONEY and not to mention they have one of the best scaling capabilities 80%-90% in sli which is quite substantial considering you can pick up 9600gt sli for under 200$.

the 9600gt sli reportedly beats 4870, 9800gx2, and even some cases, the gtx260/280. dont believe me?. check this out.

http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_2/

 

[askareem24]

for those who are saying that the 4850 is far better than 9600gt in sli... ... obviously do not know anything about the 9600gt sli...

right now, you can actually pick up a 9600gt for 60$ w hich technically can be SLI'd for only 120$ (60$ MIR at frys, u pay 119$ now but the rebate will compensate for later).

the 9600gt is probably the most under rated card, yet it gives the BEST performance for its MONEY and not to mention they have one of the best scaling capabilities 80%-90% in sli which is quite substantial considering you can pick up 9600gt sli for under 200$.

the 9600gt sli reportedly beats 4870, 9800gx2, and even some cases, the gtx260/280. dont believe me?. check this out.

http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_2/

 

[pauldh]

Yeah, 9600GT in SLI will typically beat an HD4850 with ease. Matter of fact, 9600GT SLI would probably trade blows pretty evenly with the HD4870. It would make no sense for them to beat the 9800GX2 though which is above 8800GT SLI.

 

[dagger]

Yeah, 9600GT in SLI will typically beat an HD4850 with ease. Matter of fact, 9600GT SLI would probably trade blows pretty evenly with the HD4870. It would make no sense for them to beat the 9800GX2 though which is above 8800GT SLI.

Yep, 2x64 stream processors compared to 2x128. The 9600gt's g94 is exactly half a g92. It's faster clocked, but that alone is not nearly enough to make up the difference.