Radeon 4850 1GB or NVIDIA GTS250 1GB

[andy_dentyne]

i m about to buy a new core i7 computer. should i got with ATI Radeon 4850 1GB or NVIDIA GTS250 1GB ?

 

[jeffredo]

Get whatever is the best deal. The only thing that should sway you is if the majority of your games are ATI or Nvidia friendly titles. There isn't a dime's worth of difference between them otherwise.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Very similar performance with those cards. If gaming, any performance difference would completely depend on the game title and the resolution at which they will be played.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Consider a 4870 512mb, which is about the same price as a 4850 1GB or GTS250 1GB.

It has less RAM, but is overall a more powerful card

 

[Horhe]

^ +1.

 

[jennyh]

Neither card is worth the money when you can either step down to a 4830 and overclock it to almost the same level, or step up to a 4870/gtx260 for not much more.

 

[jeffredo]

Neither card is worth the money when you can either step down to a 4830 and overclock it to almost the same level, or step up to a 4870/gtx260 for not much more.

You know, I've always felt that HD 4850/9800 GTX+ (or GTS 250) price point was kind of unnecessary for the reasons you just gave. Right now you don't save much by going for them over the HD 4870/GTX 260 pair and an HD 4830 is a lot cheaper and not that much slower (although I have seen a few $99.99 HD 4850s after rebate lately - darn good deal).

 

[Bluescreendeath]

You can always OC the 4850 or 9800GTX/GTS250 as well...

 

[jennyh]

You can always OC the 4850 or 9800GTX/GTS250 as well...

The 4850 will OC reasonably but it won't get near a 4870 due to the memory difference (GDDR5 vs GDDR3). On the other hand, a 4830 is a 4850 with a few less shaders and without doubt it has an artificially lowered clock speed. I've seen plenty of 4830's overclock higher than 4850's have.

The 9800gtx (see: gts250) is already the top of the range G90's. Some will OC pretty well, chances are they are the ones already being sold as gts250's however.

 

[L1qu1d]

there is an article from thg, they will both exchange blows even when oced.

good luck.