Help me choose:gigabyte ati 4870 1gb ddr5 or xfx geforce 9800 gtx

ATI gaming drivers are very lacking in support for professional applications (open GL in general it seems, though don't quote me on that for sure, it tends to vary from PC to PC). If you are just casual into 3dsmax then it is passable. If you are a proffessional I can't recomend you go with anything but a proffessional card.

Far as gaming performance goes the 4870 1gig is in a different league than the 9800gtx. The 9800 is not even close.

Get the 4870. It's much faster than the 9800 GTX.

this

1GB > 512MB
DDR5 >> DDR3

Bandwidth is what is important, not DDR5 vs DDR3. Bandwidth = Bus * base speed * modifier. DDR5 has a modifier of 4, DDR3 of 2, as such most high performance cards that use ddr3 use twice the bus width which is exactly the same overall performance, though it is more expensive.

Just because 5 is bigger than 3 does not mean anything. Simplistic comments like that are what confuse people who really don't understand tech, and lead to many a bad choice when such a person purchases a card based on bigger arbitrary numbers.

From Tom's article last year:
GDDR5 supports higher data rates (five times that of GDDR3 and four times that of GDDR4), which enables more bandwidth over a narrower memory interface, meaning better performance from a smaller, more cost effective
chip. It also means gamers will have the potential to play at higher resolutions and image quality settings, with improved load times.

Since the OP did not state otherwise I am assuming both cards are 256bit.
So, the combination of double the memory AND 5 times the data rate would mean that the ATI card is the better choice.

My comment was simplistic but still accurate in this case.
Just because a card uses DDR5 does not mean it will be a better performing card, I agree, but given the difference in memory capacity and all other factors equal it does make this card a better choice.

I certainly was not out to lead anyone into confusion. So to clarify...
All other factors being equal, more memory and faster data rates will produce a better performing card with respect to power consumption, heat and load times.

It supports higher data rates because it is effectively quad pumped, and theoretically will allow higher base clock speeds. So ya, becasue of the quad pumping all other things being equal it is twice as fast compared to GDDR3. However, in this day and age all other things are almost never equal. Even cards of the same name can have different memory systems. It is important to learn to eveluate that kind of thing from the nubmers, unfortunately it is not ever as simple as 5 is better than 3.

Teach a man to fish and all that.

9800GTX is slower than the HD4870.

the card can do open GL itself, but the drivers maybe a bit on the annoying side

you dont need to go beyond the spec sheet actually since the 2 cards both have 256bit "buses". you'll confuse the OP even more if you'll pull up tech jargons like modifier or whatever.

cimtaurus did a good job putting it in layman's term.

so in this case 5 bigger than 3 means something.

of course 4870, much more better. you won't regret it.  

the most recnet driver isnt too bad, tbh althrough I haven't had the chance to tell ya about crossfire perofmraces ,and the fact that my system is going on to 64bit soon like as soon as I get my two new cards  

Get the 4870. Overall it's alot faster than the 9800GTX+

Thanks alot for all replays, but I am afraid that being manufactured by gigabyte make it alot slower, also I read alot about xp protection fault error message with the ATI drivers which make you lose files !!

Get the 4870 1GB, i have one and love it, i used to have a 9800 and the 4870 is WAY better, especially @ higher resolutions.