4850, 4870, 9800gtx?? Help a fellow gamer out, thanks!

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
aceprowler

aceprowler

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2006
152
0
18,680
Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

I have had a really busy summer and am ready to get my computer up to date for the winter months. This is the time I always try to update what I can to play most of the new war games out. I’m a gamer and love my 1st person shooters.
I have had just a few hours here to finally check out the new cards. I can say.. WOW have there been some changes since I last updated.

I’ve always spent somewhere around $200-300 on a new card. It looks to me it’s a battle between those 2 cards I have listed.
Am I finally going to be able to go back to nVidia or am I not looking at this right.
Please let me know what card would be the best bet for what I need it for.
I have a 19” widescreen 1440x900 and always play at max settings if I can or FPS don’t drop to far down.
Please no Nvdidia and ATI wars. Just let me know what card is the best bet for around $200 and what is better for a few more dollars.

Thanks very much guys! Sorry I’m not up on this. But I’ve moved bought a new car that needed a bunch of work and have been swamped at work. So really haven’t had chances to keep up on the card changes.

O, I’m going to be bumping my Dual Cores to the 185opty.

And what is PCI express 2.0?

Can I run it on my board?
 
aceprowler

aceprowler

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2006
152
0
18,680
so basically the 4850 is the little one that can be over clocked ot 4870 with little effort then?

Thanks, will put the 4850 in my basket for now.
 
N

Nica Guy

Distinguished
Sep 5, 2008
492
0
18,780
no it is not possible to overclock it that much, i cant say anything for sure as i dont own one, but im sure it is better than 9800 gtx+. I own a 4870 an the extra $100 are worth it. But nothing beats two 4850s in crossfire, thats "just" $350 and it will give u an incredible performance.
 
emp

emp

Distinguished
Dec 15, 2004
2,593
0
20,780
I was on the same boat and it was rather easy to decide the 4850, not only superb AA performance, but better AA quality as well. (remember nvidia uses lesser quality AA, so performance doesn't suffer as much as it should)

 
Y

yipsl

Distinguished
Jul 8, 2006
1,666
0
19,780
So far, the 4850 is the sweet spot for GPU's this season. I'm not upgrading because it's no faster than my 3870x2 in Crossfire, but when I eventually get a better CPU/mobo set up; then I'm seriously considering a 4870x2.

You get today the power of a 3870x2 with one GPU at half the price I paid last February. That's a good deal. I agree that the extra for the 4870 is worth it as well. Now if only AMD can come up with some CPU's that are just as revolutionary...
 
aceprowler

aceprowler

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2006
152
0
18,680
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/ati-4800-series-review.ars

I see there is a big difference. But can I OC the 4850 to 4870 speeds or is that unrealistic?

I have the 1950xt now. But that you can OC as I have to the next card up. As back with the 9800pro I flashed it to the 9800xt. Are these things still possible??

I feel like such the computer noob today looking over stuff. I guess I have a bunch of reading to do this winter. lol
 
emp

emp

Distinguished
Dec 15, 2004
2,593
0
20,780
That's exactly the one I bought, I'm still waiting for it to arrive :)

EDIT: I have *heard* of people doing 735-750ish core and 1100-1150 (2200-2300 Mhz effective) mem, forget about memory to match the 4870 though, because it uses GDDR5, so 900Mhz in GDDR5 equals roughly 3600Mhz effective.
 
T

tim851

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2006
52
0
18,630
I chose the 4850. You can't beat the price-performance-ratio. The 4870 is almost absurdly expensive in comparison. The 9800 GTX+ is sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower but always a little more expensive.

Gotta love, how AMD/ATI redefined GPU pricing. Adjusted for inflation, I think the last time I got to pay less for a card on this performance level was in 1999 when I paid about 100$ for my Riva TNT.
 
aceprowler

aceprowler

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2006
152
0
18,680
Yeah, I paid $100 for my 9800gt that too and lasted for 4yrs and got to see everyone cry that they couldn't play Battlefield 2 because they all bought the more expensive Nvidia cards at the time, lol.

I could care less who makes a better card or what name is inside my computer just as long as I can play some games at a great price. Each year I look to upgrade it seems to be ATI in the forefront of cards. Yet people who are stuck on the name "Nvidia" cards continue to support them.

Cheers!
 
A

Aristhewargod13

Distinguished
Mar 9, 2007
70
0
18,630
Just buy the XFX GTX 260 xxx edition and you will remember me.
I have this card about 1.5 month and i am overwhelmed by the performance of GTX 260 xxx. All new games in 1650 x 1080 between 30-55 fps!
It's little more expensive from all the others GTX 260, but the benefits you gain are 12% more power from them and about 20-22% faster from the 4870's.

enjoy smooth play...
 
radnor

radnor

Distinguished
Apr 9, 2008
1,021
0
19,290


that remind me of a old ATI card (still gaming to this days) a old 9600XT with 128 GDDR3. While everybody was nvidia 5700, 5600 and so forth, and then crying by playing NFS for example.

While that 9600 allowed to have a fairly decent experience, the 5xxx just bugged the hell out. It still plays WoW up to this day at 1440x900 with decent quality and very good framerate.

My 3870 is arriving soon (100€) ......today i believe !!!

But yeah, head 4850 path.
 
aceprowler

aceprowler

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2006
152
0
18,680
Well after years of going with ATI, I went with an Nvidia card!

I play CS the most these days still. I run 1400x900 WS lcd.

I played Brothers of Arms - Hell Highway on my 1950xt and had to take down the graphics some but was playable. BUT then I started to play Far Cry 2 and my screen was stuttering bad at the start of the game while the taxi driver takes you for a ride. Of course that made me say to myself yeah I need a new card!

So I play CS most the time but do play the newer titles too. I have seen where Nvidia runs the CS engine much faster than ATI and this card was cheaper than a 4850! So why not try this card out for a year. Most of the benchmarks these 2 cards where neck to neck.

Did I make a mistake?

I figured for a $130 bucks and getting dirx10 and basically 2x's the performance it would be stupid not to grab this card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130403
 
I

IndigoMoss

Distinguished
Nov 30, 2007
571
0
18,980



You could have gotten a 4850 for the same price...retail, instead of going with a refurb. You'd also get the advantage of DX10.1 in Far Cry 2, not to mention that it's not refurbed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom