Can a 9800 GTX outperform 4850?

[vouslavous]

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?

 

[Maziar]

They perform near each other,in some games 9800GTX has a slight lead over HD 4850 and in some games HD 4850 wins,i would go with HD 4850 though.

 

[bobbknight]

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.

 

[falcodakrzz]

In fact the 4850 more often than not beats the 9800GTX. http://techreport.com/articles.x/14967/4
In most of the becnhmarks the 4850 is superior, often coming close to a 260GTX, and occasionally beating it. The 4850 seems to have a bigger advantage on higher resolutions, though.

 

[Maziar]

Yeah in higher resolutions HD 4850 leads.

 

[IndigoMoss]

Like the posters above me have mentioned, when in a high resolution situations, the HD 4850 is the clear winner. This is even more true when AA is enabled.

It's also of interest that the HD 4850 has Native HDMI with audio 7.1 audio pass-through, and a much better video decoder. If you do anything with HDTVs and HD content, then the 4850 is the way to go.

There's only two reasons to go with the 9800GTX over the HD 4850. If you have an SLI board, you'd be much better off with the 9800GTX or if you prefer a dual-slot cooler by default (though there are HD 4850 models with dual-slot coolers).

 

[-Fran-]

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!

 

[homerdog]

The 4850 is generally faster than the 9800GTX, but it really depends on the game. Its overall margin of victory increases as you raise the resolution and level of AA.

The reference 9800GTX has a far better cooler, but it shouldn't be too hard to find a 4850 model with a decent dual slot cooler.

 

[nottheking]

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.

 

[homerdog]

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.

My thoughts exactly.