Radeon 4770 or 4850?

$55 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139003

and the 4850 is the better card

Thanks for the quick replies.

Just want to run the card by you guys to make sure I'm not making a mistake.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161275

(I would get a better card but I am forced to buy a thinner card because my case is cramped[Stock])

That power supply is stupid expensive for what you get, namely a brand and little more. Second, my experience with HIS wasnt good. They use low quality heatsinks to cut costs. Ive got a Saphire "Toxic" 4850 that I love, the only issue is ive started to run out of VRAM as I run a 1920x1080 monitor with a secondary 1280x1024 display. So opt for a 1Gb version if you plan on running at High Resolutions. While the 4850 will outperform a 4770 the 40nm manufacturing process allows for appx 80w of power under full load versus appx 200w for the 4850. Less power means less ambient heat. Overclock it, then put a second in crossfire later on and youve got a cheap, powerful, and efficient rig. As was mentioned though, finding a 4770 is difficult.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341019

200w more power, 4x +12v rails, Supports Xfire and SLI, over 85% efficiency (again, less ambient heat), etc. For only $5 more after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817170017

Or a logisys which should provide ample power for either, but doesnt allow for as much upgrade or overclocking headroom. Both have good reviews and are solid PSUs although im personally going to buy the OCZ when I get my new 4890 ( unless they release a 40nm version of it which i sincerely hope they do ).

And on the RAM, try to get 2x 2Gb of Dual Channel. Even if you have to reinstall a 64bit OS its worth it. Having 3Gb means that the RAM will be operating in single channel mode meaning applications wont be able to access it as well, if they would otherwise have made use of dual channel mode. Otherwise get RAM with a higher speed ( higher throughput ) to compensate for having less physical memory.

then id go with the cheapest card you can find and grab the logisys as its a decent and cheap psu. Id stay away from HIS but thats only b/c of the heatsink. They dont use copper, so it doesnt cool as well. From what i could tell its some weird aluminum alloy that doesnt dissipate heat very well. XFX makes good cards that have lifetime warranties, and saphire is ATIs biggest partner. But so long as your getting the standard version of the card there should be much variation save for the support thereafter.

Id grab this, its got a DVI port, HDMI, and Display Port which will soon become the new standard.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102832

The HD 4770 are back in stock, but selling for $120

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161279

However, the HD 4770 uses 50w of power compared to 110w for the HD 4850 at stock speed. Therefore, buying the HD 4770 could save you money on the PSU.

Generally speaking the HD 4770 is on average 6% - 8% slower than the HD 4850, but you can overclock it and it will still draw less power than a stock HD 4850.

Is there a reason for buying the 1GB version of the 4850? Unless your at a high res, or put 8AA on everything, 512MBs will be fine. Newegg has several 512MB cards for ~$90 after rebate, some come with free games. (or upgraded coolers.)

Double check the OCZ, they've made some duds. If it is a good one, it might be a good deal. I say might because wasn't there an issue about OCZ MIR being honored? (I might be thinking of a different company.) Mcnugget does have a good point, seeing as they are becoming more mainstream, make sure there isn't a 600W+ out there for a better price.

Out of those two i would recommend a 4850, but please do check the 4870 only 125$ now. Good bargain! =]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814131140

Does the fact that I have a 19" monitor running at 1400x900 mean I should be looking for a cheaper card? Because I sometimes hear that smaller displays/resolutions bottleneck certain cards.

So, for a person who knows nothing about overclocking, would you recommend the 4770, the 4850, or another similar card?

http://i40.tinypic.com/2331gh.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/2ns5l4m.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/28vvzlv.jpg

And judging by these pictures(don't worry, there isn't dust anymore), do you think a card would even fit? Because it seems like the CPU air duct would be a problem for any card, unless I get one with just the plain old fan, similar to this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102832

EDIT: Here is another photo, though it may be too small.
http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/4055/4055iv.shtml

As far as I understand and see from the last picture, the VGA cooler will be on the upper side of the card.
Judging from from the (rather) small picture of the BTX case, I would say that if the card is longer than there is place to the air duct, you should search for a graphics card that has a single slot cooler, if the cooler covers the whole lenght of the card.
If the cooler does not cover the whole card (just as the ones in your pictures) I think that there will be room for a 2-slot cooler. (But I don't know if there are any 2-slot coolers that don't cover the whole card...)

I hope this helps.

You should definitely buy a 4770 (or two).....
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] _15_0.html
What?? I'm not doing anything...[i]
AC[/i]

A 2-slot cooler (card) takes the physical space of 2 slots of the motherboard. It is inserted in only 1 slot, but because of the height of the card, the next slot (be it PCIe 16x, PCIe 1x, or a plain PCI slot) cannot be used. Some 2-slot cards also take 2 slots at the back of the case, and they exhaust the hot air from the card directly outside of the case.

To the second question: 16x is the number of lanes (channels) of the PCIe slot. PCIe 2.0 is the newer version of the PCIe standard, and it also comes with 16 lanes (for graphic cards). If the card has PCIe 2.0 standard, it is no problem, because PCIe 2.0 is backwards compatible with PCIe 1.0.

Yeah, those 4770s sell very quickly.
Just remember, the 4850 is a bit more powerful, could also be cheaper right now, but it consumes more power.

nvidia offers the GTS250 and 9800GT
the GTS 250 offers 4850 performance but usually $10-20 more then a 4850.
the 9800GT is roughly 10-15% below 4770 performance. Currently the 4770 is overpriced at $120 on some sights making the 9800GT (around $100) a more affordable solution. The ATI 4830 is also a forgotten card and gives you 9800GT performance for around $90.

the 4870 512mb has also dropped in price (around $145) making it an excellent price/performance choice if you are looking for a better card.

All of the above cards will give you 30FPS+ in the games you mentioned on very good settings.

i had no issue fitting an Asus 9800GT, with a large cooler, on my BTX board. I believe the 9800GT is 9 inches.

looks just like my PC, you should have no issue with a 9800GT, 4830, 4770 single slot (even with a large cooler). My CPU heat sink and fan takes up just as much space.

this is my card so I can vouch for it =)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121300

for under $50 this PSU will run that card with ease
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703017

not really, both come from solid companies. Evga offers a nice step up program plus it comes with a game (but also costs more). Either one will work just fine.

looking at the card from the internal pic you linked, it will fit easy. enjoy your new card.