Nvidia GTX 260 (core 216) vs. ATI 4890: which one should I choose?

In my market, price is very similar. On benchmarks, it looks like 4890 is slightly more performant. But, on Newegg, several users seem to complain of overheating and fan noise problems for the 4890 which are not reported for the GTX 260. So, I am still hesitant. What to choose? Will my PSU (Corsair 550VX - already purchased) will handle both GPUs in a satisfying way?

Also, could you recommend some good brands for each GPU?

I do not plan to overclock the card. Robustness/durability is important for me since I leave my computer on 24 hours.

The rest of my rig:
* AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
* Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P
* PSU Corsair 550VX
* Windows 7

And I use a 24" 1920 x 1200 monitor.

no brainer, the 4890.

*edit* and they dont really overheat. ati has a problem with setting its idle fan speed too low for most peoples LIKING. your idle card temps will be high, unless you manually set the fan, or are a whiz and can profile it.

yes, the 4890 is loud when spun up fully, but so is everything with a decent cooler on it. my gtx 285 isnt much more quiet at full rpm. if you get a card thats quiet at full rpm, chances are it doesnt cool as well.

4890. -1 for PsychoSaysDie.

I'm an owner of the 4890 too, and even with a pretty big voltage bump, the cards don't overheat very well. Card stays cool at 40-50% fan speeds and is nearly inaudible at 25-30%, where it can afford to idle.

PsychoSaysDie, what is it with you insisting people spend more money than they ask to? Maybe the OP only wants a single core card, maybe he has, you know.. a budget??

The 4890 is no contest better though. The fan is fine and is only loud at 80% or higher, people on newegg complain about everything anyway. If you are worried about the fan though, you can buy a non stock version with a different fan.

I didn't see a money limit anywhere in his post and the 4850 X2 is like 30 dollars more then a 4890. Just throwing it out there

While these are alright suggestions.. the OP might have reasons for asking a specific question.. Maybe he has another pci card in that slot, maybe he has a tight budget..

I dunno.. seems like it is more useful to stay within the bounds of a specific question, unless it is a particularly flawed questions..

Thanks all for the feedback. I certainly have a budget, and I wish to remain under certains limits. I am in Asia, I don't have access to Newegg (unfortunately) and prices here are different than in the USA.

Most recommend the 4890, and none the GTX 260. The choice is clear!

Could you recommend good brands for the 4890 (and also for the GTX 260) please?

And also, about the power issue, will my PSU (Corsair 550VX) be fine for the 4890?

And what is it with you giving that dude a hard time he is trying to help........duel 4850'S all the way!

Personally at this point, i'd wait for the new cards that are probably coming out this later this year. But if you really needed a card just for performance and you don't mind the newer cards, get the 4890. If you want to take a risk, pick up an EVGA GTX260 and hope to god that new NVIDIA cards come out within 3months and then you might be able to step up to the new ones.

2 4850's or a 4850x2 is not faster than a gtx 285. It is a little faster than a stock gtx 280.

Well, I can't wait much. I need to build this rig soon...

I imagine you want to talk about some "upgrade" scheme...? You return your card you have recently purchased and you buy another card - more performant and more expensive - from the same manufacturer and you pay the difference. But I doubt this kind of scheme works in the geography where I am ! (in fact, I am sure it does not work !)

Thanks for the feedback. Well, if I understand you correctly, you say that the GTX 260 performs better than the 4890. In that case, your post is very interesting because it just contradicts all what others have said so far !

Since I am sure others may come and dispute what you say, do you have any material (like web report or review ...) that supports your view and that is accessible?

The Mighty 4890.... Two 4850's on the other hand....

If you are afraid of getting outdated, you can buy an EVGA card. They have a step up program. If there's a better video card that comes out in the next 90 days (3 months), you can 'step up' to it.

http://www.evga.com/stepup/

In fact, this mobo has 2 PCI-E 16x slots, one running at x16 and the other one at x8. In any way, it is not my intention to have 2 graphics cards bundled with SLI or xfire, and I will stay with one card only.

I am still undecided about which GPU to choose. I am looking for reviews of each GPU made by the same reviewer or under the same conditions so that I can compare the performances.

I think I will be fine with the GTX 260 as far as robustness and stability of the drivers are concerned. If the 4890 is superior in terms of performance, I would like to know how much superior it is really, and that is why I am looking for appropriate reviews or or product comparison reports of both GPUs.

No, I still haven't decided. Most people who replied to me said that they would opt for the 4890. But one said that the GTX 260 is a better choice. So, I am confused. I am searching for reviews and comparison reports for both cards before deciding.

The only times I've seen the GTX 260's pull ahead of a Radeon 4890 is those few titles that favor Nvidia architecture. There are plenty MORE games which favor the specs, and semantics aside, the 4890 is a more powerful card than the GTX 260. Reasons?

GDDR5 > GDDR3
Increased clock speeds.
Tad bit more VRAM 1GB > 896MB

That's my reasoning. I would too recommend a 4890.

Well, as I said in my initial post, prices where I am are similar for both GTX 260 and 4890. They vary according to the brand. Here are some examples:

XFX GTX 260 (C 216)..........USD 244
XFX 4890............................USD 247
EVGA GTX 260 (C 216)........USD 216
HIS HD 4890.......................USD 214
HIS HD 4890 (Turbo)..........USD 232
GIGABYTE HD 4890.............USD 213
MSI 4890 OC......................USD 211

As for the PSU, I don't worry about it any more: the PSU calculator on the Corsair web page indicates that my VX550 will do for either GPU.

GTX260s sp126 cost about $170

4890s cost about $200

4890s are about 10%-15% better than the GTX260 sp216

4870s cost about $140-$150 and rival the GTX260

4870s = best bang for the buck at the moment.

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Ok, for those price i buy the 4890...but i don't believe that this is the correct price for a gtx260....is too much

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Ohhh, logic price for the GPU, but i live in Colombia and all my system was bought in newegg and import to Colombia....the distance isn't a problem today...

I've become a big fan of this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161265
The IceQ4+ cooler is incredible!

Not only is this card factory OC'd and stays stable with automatic fan control at those speeds, but with only having to set the fan to 40% manually I was able to set my core clock to 790 and my memory clock to 1100 with just under 60 degrees idle and just under 70 degrees during heavy load. I have yet to see it go above 70 degrees in even the most intensive games, and the fan is pretty quiet at 40%. At 100% though... it sounds like a hair dryer. xD

If you're at all thinking about running linux/X.org forget about ATI. Beyond that I have no opinion other than personally since I do run linux ATI no longer makes my list of cards, plus the 260 is just a better card in my budget range but nvidia drivers even trump that for me even if their card in my budget wasn't all that good...

Actually before I became entirely disgusted with X.org cats, I had been thinking a CF 4770 setup, which is close to single card costs at leats the 4890. The 260-216s should be able to be had for <$200, or at least they were @ newegg not long ago.

Like others have said, if you can, get an XFX card. Their warranty is one of the better ones compared to other GPU vendors.

I must strongly disagree. for linux... go AMD. AMD has released open source drivers along with it's closed source, while nvidia only has closed source. I did lose support for my card in the closed source rather quickly, but I still can use the open source one. I believe the closed source drivers for both AMD and nVidia are better than the open source ones, however you can't lose support for open source drivers. Once you lose support with nVidia...you are done, however with AMD you have a fallback that is constantly being upgraded and improved on.