9800GT or HD4850 (temperature and power consumption)

Hi everyone for the first time in this forum. I would appreciate very much if you help me with this little doubt I have.

My computer characteristics are the follow ones:

• AMD 64 X2 4400+ (Toledo)
• Double channel 2GB DDR 400 CL3 1T.
• nForce4 chipset
• PSU 450W (active PFC, 83% efficiency)
• G. card: Nvidia 7900GS

I think the power consumption of my computer (with 1 SATA HD and 1 SATA DVDRW device) is about 300w (is that correct?). and it is ventilated by 2 120mm fans.
I play at 1440x900 of resolution and I think the Nvidia 9800GT could be enough for me to play most of the games (please, correct me if I'm wrong).

My doubts come when I consider purchasing the ATI HD4850 and selecting the right VRAM ammount. I do know the ATI HD4850 is a better performer than the Nvidia one, but:

• Which one of them runs cooler?
• Which one does consume less power?
• Will buying the 1GB version of one of those cards, reduce an hypothetical bottleneck in my system and/or improve its performance in games like Warhammer Online at 1440*900?

I've tried to get informed and searched before asking these questions, anyway sorry if there's any problem with my thread. Thanks in advantage!

The bottle neck in your system in either case will remain with your CPU and Motherboard chipset.

So far, I don't think there's any large reason to jump for the 1GB model. Granted that may become a selling feature in the future. As for now, I think the standard 512MB VRAM is adequate. That 1GB really only helps at really high resolutions.

I run an nVidia 8800GTS (G92 512MB) with Warhammer Online and do fine at 1440x900, with everything set to highest. Also have AA @ 8x (though you have to set this manually through the nVidia Control Panel). I'm usually around 40FPS or so. At 1440x900 there's no reason to go for 1GB of VRAM in my opinion. I've seen no consequences with 512MB.

My wife runs Warhammer Online on her system too. She's running nearly the same setup as you:

AMD 64 X2 4400+
2GB DDR 400
nForce 4 (Asus A8N-SLI?)
Antec 480W PSU
ATI 1950X Pro 512MB

I've never put FRAPS on her to monitor her FPS though. And I'm not exactly sure what settings she is using for graphics.

^+1

I have both the 9900GT & The ATI Radeon 4850 `1G card,

1st!!! The Nvidia 9800gt , though doesn't consume a lot of power, it's standard operating temperatures are 40-50 degrees hotter than the ati 4850. If i play @ 1900x1200 the nvidia 9800gt literally becomes a hot plate in my tower running at 72 degrees Celsius versus same game same resolution with the 4850 runs at 35-40 degrees Celsius with no fan modifying of the core speeds..... with the 9800 just to get it to run at it coolest 53 degrees i cant run anything, and while gaming using RivaTuner i'm lucky to get the 9800 down to 63 degrees C.

ATI 4850 Hands down, less voltage, less heat, and much smaller card, and it's a 1gig card for little bit more money well worth the investment