GTX 260 vs. HD 4870

i have been putting together my gaming pc for a while now (due to lack of money) and it is now time for my graphics card. i am not sure which i should go for, the gtx 260 or the hd 4870. both seem to be relatively similar in price, but i am not sure which has the best overclockability, which is most reliable, etc. any help with this would be greatly appreciated. price should be under $200 or so. overclocking room is very important and i do not care about factory memory and core speeds, only how far each one will let me go. also, please give some brands that are the best, such as asus, xfx, sapphire, etc. thanks again.

an XFX 4890 should fall under 200, and would be an easy pick over a 260, whereas the 4870 is a pretty close competitor. I say XFX because of their double lifetime warranty (first and second owners get full lifetime coverage) and pretty good customer service.

4870s were not good overclockers, the best results typically in the 8-12% range on the GPUs. The 4890s, on the other hand, do very well OC'd. For the budget, I would def go for a 4890.

You also have the option of going with a 5770, a slight drop in overall graphics power, but DX11. It could be another valid option.

HD4890 is a way better choice. And stick to Sapphire. If you can get the Vapor-X one's below $200 then its great!

Sapphire's Vapor-X cards have fancy coolers .
They will be good for OC.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102841

edit: screen resolution and AA.

4890 will power most titles to 1900x1200 with heavy effects, 1680x1050 with most titles maxed out settings (not counting games like Crysis or GTAIV, notorious resource hogs). The difference between the 4890 and 4870 that is important is that the 4890 will oc great, and it runs cooler than the 4870s, due to basically being a refresh of the 4870, which was the flagship single GPU card until the 4890 came along. Really, you will probably happy with either one unless you are going past 1900x1200 resolution, but the 4890 will allow more shine for the same fps in direct comparison.

In India, its exactly the opposite! XFX RMA process is a nightmare for buyers, because the distributor sucks big time. It is very common to see XFX owners having many sleepless nights for RMA. Sapphire is much better in that sense here. Asus cards are rarely available and costs a lot more than normal.