Nvidia 285/275 vs ATI 4890/4870

[Chissler]

With the recent news on the gpu front, and with me being to slow to order a 4850x2 ( 2gb ), it looks like I have couple of new choices to make when it comes to my new shiny gpu. The 275 and 4890 has hit the market, and they have made me even more confused.

I have been a nvidia fan for quite a while now, especially since I had a 1900xtx card that I tons of driver issues with. And the new 275 card looks like it will be a very decent competitor to the 4870/4890. But I feel that everyone are saying that the ATI cards gives you more "bang for the buck". When I compare prices I see that the price range between the new cards are almost negligible, and that the performance are really close. So why should I choose one over the other ?

I am considering bying a Gainward 285 GTX 1Gb for about 3000 NOK ( Around 375 USD ), an Asus 4890 1GB for 2300 Nok ( About 280 USD ) or any 276 card in the same price range as the ati card.

But what do I choose ? I can gladly pay the extra money for the 285 if it gives me a significant boost. But if the 4890 gives me the about the same performance I will gladly buy that card.

But then you got the features that Nvidia gives you : Physx and better driver support ( These are the ones that matters to me )

Physx is kinda gimmicky, especially if you considers the games that use them, and the performance hits they give. But its a nice extra feature.

The drivers that nvidia issues have been ( in my experience at least ) quite good with decent performance upgrades and new features with every major update.

How far have ATI come with their drivers ? I just remember reading about huge driver issues with ATI a while back, and it just made me love my 8800gts even more .

I am really confused with that to get, and I would really like some clear and concise information regarding these topics.

So please, any help that you guys can give me will be much appreciated.

Oh! This is my current rig btw:

Asus GeForce 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 600 MHZ
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
Asus P5N-E SLI, nForce-650i SLI, ATX
Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 4096MB CL5
Thermaltake Toughpower 850W
BenQ 24" LCD ( Max 1920 * 1200 )

Thank you in advance.

 

[stridervm]

You haven't mentioned your monitor and the max resolution it can do. That's the most important part.

 

[Chissler]

Oh! The max resolution is 1920 * 1200.

 

[kelfen]

I haven't looked at benchmarks yet but reguarding the Physx ATI has Havok with is owned by intel and upcoming games that will use it are SC2 and diablo 3 fyi

 

[FredSRichardson]

Thanks for mentioning that! Havok on DB3/SC2 would make me lean towards ATI (I'm having the same problems deciding as the OP).

ATI also has dx10.1, though dx11 is around the corner from what I hear and not many games use dx10.1 (just like not many games use PhysX).

 

[Uber nobody]

the 285 gives better performance, especially in crysis. In fact, even the 275 out preforms the 4890 in that game.

if you can wait, i suggest you get the GTX 360 (maybe even the 380). They will support DX11 and you will be much happier with what you get. DX11 will last longer and you'll be able to play more games. I'm waiting, and I have a 8800GTX.

Edit: just get a second 8800GT for now and wait for the new architecture to come out.
You'll lose less money in price drops and can get "most" of the performance of a single 275 or 4890.

 

[ajikumaru]

I'm no bias, bought asus dark knight 1gb 4870 and the game results was supreme, the only problem i have encountered is that some games are not running under this card using XP for Operating System, I have to double boot vista and install the games to play. Changed the card with asus engtx275 and all the games can run under XP for OS without a fuss.

About the frame rates, plus and minus for both cards, the thing is - both card is good in graphics rendering and besides most recent games are nvidia base... so i'll go with nvidia.

Games that dont run in xp using ati card, call of duty (world at war) and ghost busters (lame huh!)

 

[motto]

I'm no bias, bought asus dark knight 1gb 4870 and the game results was supreme, the only problem i have encountered is that some games are not running under this card using XP for Operating System, I have to double boot vista and install the games to play. Changed the card with asus engtx275 and all the games can run under XP for OS without a fuss.

About the frame rates, plus and minus for both cards, the thing is - both card is good in graphics rendering and besides most recent games are nvidia base... so i'll go with nvidia.

Games that dont run in xp using ati card, call of duty (world at war) and ghost busters (lame huh!)

Ok this has me a bit worried. Just ordered my HD 4890 Vapor-X yesterday and now hearing about games not playing on ati cards, reassure me please!

Also not sure I quite understand the comparisons that go on between some cards, the difference (certainly in the UK) between base cards e.g. 4890 and GTX 285 is about £90 ($147)!

 

[daedalus685]

To start, this thread is months old. There is no reason to be posting in it.

Secondly.. ATI cards play games fine in xp. If the games are not working, the user is doing something wrong. Mind you, Vista and win 7 are pushing quite far ahead now a days. I still find it silly that people will shell out such cash for a high end dx10.1 card to use on xp.

Anyway.. If you know what you are doing, and isntall teh drivers properly everything will work fine. I would advise you to try out windows 7 though..

 

[motto]

To start, this thread is months old. There is no reason to be posting in it.

Secondly.. ATI cards play games fine in xp. If the games are not working, the user is doing something wrong. Mind you, Vista and win 7 are pushing quite far ahead now a days. I still find it silly that people will shell out such cash for a high end dx10.1 card to use on xp.

Anyway.. If you know what you are doing, and isntall teh drivers properly everything will work fine. I would advise you to try out windows 7 though..

Yea mate but he made his statement today which got me worried!

Anyway glad to see it's nothing to panic about.

Not sure if you were refering to my-self but this card is allowing me to jump from an 8800gts to an 4890 Vapor-X for £100, which is not a lot of money - plus it's easy to say that when your gaming with 2 4890's! :lol:

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

He looks to be a nVidia gunman

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

- GeForce GTX 280: 9.9%
- GeForce GTX 260: 4.3%
- GeForce GTX 9800: 3.2%
- GeForce 8800: 3.3%
- Radeon HD 4870: 3.2%
- Radeon HD 4850: 1.9%
- Radeon HD 3870: 2.6%

In spite of the high temperatures reached on the Radeon HD 4870/4850 they have pretty normal return rates. In contrast, the GTX 280s are not the most reliable of machines. When it comes to bi-GPU cards, you get a figure of 6% for the 9800 GX2, 11% for the 3870 X2 and 4.3% for the 4870 X2.
http://www.behardware.com/html/news/?date=16-03-2009#10126

PS I owned a 1900XT, and never had problem 1 with any driver