Xfx gtx 260 (black edition ) vs xfx gtx 275 vs xfx 4890

The GTX260 is the weakest of the group, even overclocked it`s just too slow to stay with the others.
The HD4890 seems to be a little faster at 1920x1200 than the GTX275 and it`s a little cheaper (minimum prices including rebates at Newegg), the downside is it can be noisy under load.

how much weaker are we talking about, i mean on paper its got a faster memory clock (666mhz vs the gtx 275's 633mhz) and its got only 36 or so more stream processors...

Is your motherboard SLI or CF? Do you plan to run 2 cards in the future?

ATI has history of driver issues. I never had driver issues from NVIDIA for both WORK on PLAY on my PC.

Most of the reviews give the edge to the 4890. In reality in most cases the difference can't be differentiated by the human eye. Its all frame rate numbers.

As coozie7 noted 4890 can be noisy underload.

the current board is just a stock one, hp, however in the future sli is an option after i get an i7 and windows 7 and by then whatever card i get will be dirt cheap =p. now, either way Nvidia has my money, especially with their 3d stuff, anyone know about that as well? and will the 260 perform well with it?

from the review, 4890 produces as much fps (in 1920 res) as 260s does in 1680 resolution - don't remember what the number is on the 275.

do you have a link for that review id like to see it, and what game was that in specificly or was it like a bench mark

Hello Darth!
Actual framerates will vary from system-to-system your C2D for example wo n`t drive a 4890 as quickly as an i7 and will probably hold it back somewhat as my own E6600 did with my HD4870. The compensation is that the card can be forced to give improved image quality through AA/AF with little or no noticeable change in framerates.
the comments made by Ken168 might be accurate and I`m not disputing them, but each review both in print and on the `net is unique, no one uses exactly the same system and often they use different sections of a game for their benchmark runs using FRAPS to record the results. This produces variable results, results that can favour one card over another skewing those results which is why it is always importaint to read at least 3 reviews of any product before making a decision.
Techpowerup, X-Bit labs, Annantech, Hardwarecanucks and others have full reviews on the cards you are interested in.
With both cards roughly equal I`d go for the GTX275; It`s quieter and will not cause potential driver issues, which can happen when changing from one chip type to another.

first thanks to all responses their great. a couple of other things, what is OpenGl? and how can the 275 be faster than the 260 oced, everything is faster (on paper atleast) on the 260 exept the stream processors..the 260 has 216 the 275, 240 will that make a massive difference

Open GL is an API (Applications Progaming Interface) and is basically a programming language that can talk directly to the graphics hardware, much like DirectX. More information is here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API

The extra processors make a difference and the stock speeds of the GTX275 are higher anyway and of course it can also be overclocked.
I can see where you`re going with the 260, it`s cheaper than the 275 by about $60 on the Egg if you get the rebate. But, prices on the 275 have not yet been `adjusted` by the market and I think you`ll find that as they become more available the prices will fall for the 275 while the 260 is close to bottoming out.
I`d still say get the 275, but maybe wait a few more weeks for the price drops.
But then again the 260 is getting stupidly cheap now;)