Should I spend the $100 on GTX260 or Rampage Formula?

I like choice #2. ATI's new driver coming on December 10th will take back the crown. Besides IMO Rampage Formula is the best DDR2 mobo out.

They are both really good systems, personaly I would get system 2 but if your not planning on getting a second gpu anytime soon system 1 would be the better option.

But why don,t you look into I7 not much better for gaming but if you do some kind of editing or somthing similar it would be alot better.

in my opinion i would go with choice 2. that mobo i believe has much more oc potential and the 4870 and gtx260 perform pretty much on par, later down the road adding another 4870 would give you more fire power for newer games.
=]

Lets hope it does  because I've been pretty disappointed lately with ATI  I hope they get better, so prices go down   

I say get a nice 750i for cheap sli of the 260's then pwn everyone. Plus 9800GTX's are passing 4850.

Thank you all for the replies guys.
Seems choice #2 is the favourite.

As for i7, I don't think its a good option for me as yet, considering my budget and my needs (the fact that I don't have specific needs).. this is will be mainly for games but I'm not a avid gamer..although I do want to have a good gameplay  
Even if I go for a i7 I cannot do more than the basic 920.. and I think the Q9550 can pretty much beat it from all angles... with mobo cost and DDR3 costs I dont think it suits me particularly well..

I will be really looking forward to the Dec. 10th ATI driver release..
If it pulls back the 4870 over GTX260 I will definitely go with #2 or else... hmmm...

Thanks again guys...

Dont really think the motherboard change is worth it. P45 is a better overclocker than X48, plus if you dont need Crossfire then the X48 board is worthless, at this point the only reason you are buying it is for the fancy little heatsink layout. Just stick with the P45.

As far as the video card goes, dont let a driver release sway your decision, as already mentioned ATI's december drivers are suposted to pack a new punch. Perhaps hold off on your decision until after those are released, then chose the GTX or 4870. Youre gonna feel pretty pissed off if you jump on the GTX 260 now, and 2 weeks from now the 8.12 Catalyst drivers puts the 4870 back ontop.

These are just theories, I hope it does put it back on top, but no1 knows 100% remember the 4870 was supposed to double the 9800 GX2 and it comes no where near to almost performing like it. I hope so though 

I'm going to give you a "been there, done that". The motherboard swap wouldn't give you much of anything, even if you were the worlds best over- clocker. The video cards on the other hand will. Don't waste your time on a 4870/512 card. I have it and now I have a GTX260 in it's place. It plays everything I play better.... no hiccups @1680x1050 with eye candy turned on..COD W@W, COD4, FarCry2, Crysis, ( no eye candy ) etc.

I thought the 4870s handled filters better?

Take what switfty says about the 4870 with a grain of salt. We had a big debate over this awhile ago, he/she claims the 4870 is steamrolled, smashed, beaten, baked, fried, microwaved, smoked, and eaten by the GTX 260 in every category possible, and isnt even worth buying.

Did you ever think to take into account how many people respond to these forums actually OWN both of these cards....... I do ! Who's going to know, a fan boy or an owner ? I don't care who makes what card or who makes what processor......... It's either the best of the 2 or it isn't. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

They are both on par, either or would do u Justice. The 260 GTX has been getting a little more grace periods now with the driver updates. The 4870 will gain ground with the new driver (there are chances it might not, just like any card we`ll kno the day of), but smoking the 260 gtx...I don`t think so, neither card will smoke its counter part, they are both about the same I would personally go with which 1 is cheaper. Looking how much the 4870 fell behind lately, I`m doubting it can catch up and outperform the 260 GTX completely but we might be able to see it match and sometimes beat. These cards are neck and neck 

It also depends if you want to go Crossfire or sli.

Gluck!

Thanks heaps for the help guys. Really appreciate it.

First f all, I'm 'only' going Rampage because of X48, so I can XFire somewhere down the road. Because I wouldnt be doing a complete makeover of the system anytime soon. Otherwise the P45 serves me best. So question is should I spend the $100 for X48 (that is, to run 2 x16 XFire) or get the better GTX260/216 now and hope for it to hold on for some longer time (atleast a year).

So I think this brings another question:
Would going 2 x16 PCI-e give a huge margin than 2 x8 PCI-e ?

I have seen benhches showing it does give a boost but not sure if its that much?
what are your guys thoughts on it?

I think I will delay off until 8.12 releases.... but it does have a lot of ground to capture to get back at GTX260.. and I an talking about HD4870 1G model...

I really dont want to go Rampage... I will be overclocking but I highly doubt all the fancy stuff in Rampage will give me a huge OC over the Deluxe.. Deluxe seems a pretty solid overclocker...although some claim that 'load line calibration' of Rampage does help a good OC....

Thanks a million for the help again guys...

Go with the XFX gtx 260 216 black edition,it beats most gtx 280 at stock for the price of $300 with a free far cry 2,actually it even beat 4870x2
in some categories although it loses often in that case of course,but in comparison with a 4870 1GB,it's like the core 2 quad Vs Phenom,although 4870 is a good card,but it just has to bow down this time with this beast.Check out those reviews for it yourself,they just came out in november with the big bang driver update,so it's pretty accurate and updated.

I'm sorry but ur post is stupid.

No sense at all whats so ever. Its neck and neck with the 4870 and ur comparing an extremely overclocked card to other cards, the 4870 can OC 2 u kno 

THEY BOTH EXCHANGE BLOWS, the 260 GTX seems to be slightly infront at the moment because of Nvidia's quick driver release.

How can u even give a stupid comparison like that? Phenom vs INtel are u kidding me?

Its more like Toyota Matrix vs Pontiac Vibe.... Same car, different look, 1 company can choose to increase or decrease horsepower and sell it at different prices...take that witha grain of salt.


Check out those reviews for urself? What reviews? In other words google it?

A heavily oced 260 GTX sometimes matches the 280 and once in while beats it, but ur comparing an extremely stress card vs a stock card, which again can OC, and has 128 megs of extra ram + 24 extra SPs. For 300$ he can buy the old 260 GTX oc it more than the sp 216 and call it a day, and also have extra cash to do w.e he wants with.

End game go read reviews plz tim

Thanks mate.
Makes sense. I was actually thinking about the Black edition too, but here (Japan) it is more than $450...
I was wondering, how to correctly identify a GTX260 whether it is core 216 or the older version? do they always mention it on the box?
Becasue I was checking prices here online and cant seem to know what version they are.

I would probably go for a <$400 card... I can get a Sapphire HD4870 1GB model for about $350 here but don't know how other GTX 260's in this price range would fair with that...
I think the best thing is to wait for the next Catalyst driver and see its punch...

But according to http://www.guru3d.com/article/top-10-games-with-radeon-..., the GTX260/216 (not black edition) pretty much beats the HD4870 from all ends....

Thanks for the help guys.