Can a 9800 GTX outperform 4850?

Which is the more powerful graphic card? 9800 GTX or 4850? Does the 800 SP in the 4850 make a difference in performance? If youwereto buy either one which one would you go for?

As they are both neck and neck in price and performance the choice comes down to who makes it and what does the warranty cover.
For manufacturers I like XFX and EVGA, they both have better customer service than even ATI.
Personally I was soured buy ATI when I bought an HDTV card and an ATI video card together, that because of the bad drivers at the time would not work well with each other. I had to buy an nVidia card to make it work in the computer.
With nVidia cards from a good manufacturers I have received a replacement for a card that had bad caps. But from ATI all I got were bad drivers and service where they said your out of warranty.

Yeah in higher resolutions HD 4850 leads.

There's another thingy: OC.

If you handle yourself well in OC, then the 9800GTX is a very good performer against the 4850. That's the thing most benchmarks don't mention, besides OCing the 4850 is a tad difficult IMO.

Anyway, for "stock", 4850 all the way (it only loses in Crysis), and for "OC", unless u want an aftermarket cooler for your 4850 and go for it, the 9800GTX sounds like a very good deal to me.

Esop!

Overall, since I'd think that most people spending $170US+ on a video card would want anti-aliasing, that the 4850 would be the clear winner; the 9800GTX+, let alone the 9800GTX, can't really compete too well with the 4850 when AA is running, especially at higher resolutions.

However, as noted, the default cooler for the 9800GTX, being a dual-slot one with a vent out the back, is superior, and it seems that, perhaps in part due to said cooler, the card tends to overclock a bit better. However, as noted, there are versions of the 4850 with dual-slot coolers, as well as compatible aftermarket coolers available for the card.