Help me decide on a buy please.

mikey1000

Distinguished
Oct 26, 2008
9
0
18,510
Ok i'll get right to the point. I have a q9450 cpu, 2gb of ram and running windows vista. I currently don't have a good gpu, i only have a ati hd 3650 and i need something better for gaming.

My display is a 22" 1680x1050 resolution. I have a friend who has a hd 4890 for sale (tha his model with stock cooling) and it happens it's the same price as a gtx 275. It's the BFG OC one. Which would be better for my gaming needs? I won't be upgrading for a while after this. I would prefer the vga to be quiet as my pc is really silent as it is, so in order of importance i would put noise levels right up there with performance.

Note that any rebate/trade up programs are of no interest to me since in my country they are not available.

Also my psu is a corsair hx 620 - i hope this will be enough for whichever card you think is better.
Cheers .

 

mikey1000

Distinguished
Oct 26, 2008
9
0
18,510
The review at techreport says: "Nvidia has biased its cooling solution in favor of higher GPU temperatures and lower noise levels under load, while AMD has done the opposite." Performance wise they seem to be pretty much the same, however if the gtx is easier on the ears i'll have to go with that.

Still 90 degrees temps during load won't damage the card?
 

halcyon

Splendid


Mikey, no not at all. Their engineered for temps above 100, I recall reading they start to throttle @ 120C.