9800GTX+ or 4850?

[PDubs007]

Everyone seems to be saying that the 4850 is the best card around $175, but recently the 9800GTX+ dropped its price and seems to have similar stats and I haven't heard much about it. I've read a few things on a couple other forums that mentioned these two cards, but nothing definitive. I'm about to buy a new GPU and have always bought Nvidia, so I would rather stick with the 9800GTX+, but could easily go with ATI if the performance is there..

So are these cards as similar as they seem? If not, which is better?

 

[ausch30]

The 4850 beats the 9800GTX+ in most banchmarks and the cheapest prices I've seen are $135 after rebate for the 4850 and $140 after rebate for the GTX+ so the 4850 is the better choice.

 

[br3nd064]

They are very similar. The 4850 is usually equal to or above the 9800gtx+ in single card, but usually the 9800gtx+ SLI scales better than 4850 CF does.

I'll use COD4 as an example:

(1920x1200, 4xAA, 8xAF, max. Quality)

9800gtx+ : 66.60 FPS
4850 : 75.40 FPS

9800gtx+ SLI : 120.20 FPS
4850 CF : 95.80 FPS

 

[ackomacko]

hd4850

 

[frittvilt]

radeon 4850 is best.

 

[themyrmidon]

4850 is better, but the difference is small enough that if you want to go nV there really isn't that much harm done.