Help picking out a gpu

[sulidsnak]

Hey everyone im having a hella hard time trying to get a good card in my budget. I have never really played games on the pc but ive got the chance to build my computer and playing games on the 360 will be a thing of the past. Just wondering what card i should get? I have looked around and i would like something around 200$ or less. Im a power hungry user so i love having the best of the best. The card im looking at now is the radeon 4890 which according to passmark is ranked 4th overall. I would say thats a pretty damn good card no? Well i found it for 209$ on newegg and it seems like a perfect card. However there are many different types of the same card. The benchmarks at passmark do not state what brand. So im wondering what the difference is? I have found saphire vapor-x 4890 at newegg and like i said its only 209$ its got 870 core clock (factory overclocked from 850) and 1050mhz of mem clock. What puzzles me is how some other cards are more money and have higher mem clocks but lower core clocks. Whats the difference between the two? I assume having a higher core clock should be better then the mem clock but i don't know much about the specs of gpu's. So anyone got any good ideas for a nice gpu? I wish i could just get a 5870 and i know thats good enough i woulden't have to worry but thats a bit too pricey for me. By the way i have no issue with nvidea cards or anything im just saying i found a good ati card. if someone knows a better card and its nvidea please go ahead and say, Im open to anything.

 

[MARSOC_Operator]

Get a Sapphire 4890 Vapor-X and overclock it. I had great results with this card... Perfomance was higher than any GTX285 and almost on par with the new Radeon 5850.

 

[Maziar]

Can you post and compare your results of your 4890 being on par with 5850 MARSOC plz ?
To OP,that HD 4890 is a good deal but if you can go for a HD 5850 instead,its faster and has got newer techs like DX 11,Eyefinity etc

 

[jyjjy]

Paying for a factory OC is basically a scam. You can almost always reproduce the results or, more likely, better them on your own with simple software no matter which card you buy.
Personally I would get an HD5770 and a good(at least PCIe x8 on the second slot) crossfire capable motherboard. Then crossfire another HD5770 later on for performance and features(DX11, Eyefinity, power efficiency, ect) on par with the HD5870.

 

[MARSOC_Operator]

Paying for a factory OC is basically a scam. You can almost always reproduce the results or, more likely, better them on your own with simple software no matter which card you buy.
Personally I would get an HD5770 and a good(at least PCIe x8 on the second slot) crossfire capable motherboard. Then crossfire another HD5770 later on for performance and features(DX11, Eyefinity, power efficiency, ect) on par with the HD5870.

The Vapor-X is not overclocked (the Toxic is), it just have a much better cooling system and more robust components which are able to handle extreme overclocks with no issues. You can get one for $200 and less, hardly a "scam".

 

[MARSOC_Operator]

Can you post and compare your results of your 4890 being on par with 5850 MARSOC plz ?
To OP,that HD 4890 is a good deal but if you can go for a HD 5850 instead,its faster and has got newer techs like DX 11,Eyefinity etc

I don't have my older PC, sorry. But you can read many reviews online, an oveclocked 4890 performs on par with the 5850. It is a powerful card, but it's not DX11 like the 5850...

 

[jyjjy]

The Vapor-X is not overclocked (the Toxic is), it just have a much better cooling system and more robust components which are able to handle extreme overclocks with no issues. You can get one for $200 and less, hardly a "scam".

I don't recall mentioning any specific cards...

 

[MARSOC_Operator]

I don't recall mentioning any specific cards...

You said that "paying for a factory overcloked card is a scam" and none of the vidercards mentioned in this topic so far is factory OC'ed...

 

[jyjjy]

Obviously I was replying to the original post where the OP asks about different cards with different clock speeds and which is better... Why you would think I was replying to you if you brought up a card that isn't even OCed I have no idea.

 

[sulidsnak]

@MARSOC - So the vapor-x 4890 is pretty good? Do you know how quiet it is i mean i know it says something like 20 db but how do i know what 20 db sounds like haha. If you could just describe it that would be nice. how well do you run games? Could you post a few fps of some games? I plan on using this card for new games like dirt 2 and dragon age, all the new next get games and i would love to run everything at max with 1920 x 1080. Do you think this card will handle well? Whats your oc btw? Anyone else have any good recomendations? i would like to just go all out and get a 5850 but that would cost me an extra 100$ and at this time i cannot do.

 

[geofelt]

You might want to read tom's best vga cards for the money:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-310-5970,2491-4.html

For $200 you can get great performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
That would be 5770/GTX260/4890.

They are all in the same performance tier. Don't anguish about which one, unless you want to optimize for one specific game.

I will always pick a card with a double slot cooler if I can. Such a cooler will get the hot vga air directly out the back of the case. Other coolers might do a good job of getting heat off the gpu die, but it causes the case cooling to work much harder, heating up the cpu in the process.
I think the newer 40nm cards are more efficient and run cooler.

I like XFX and evga cards for their support and warranty.

 

[MARSOC_Operator]

@MARSOC - So the vapor-x 4890 is pretty good? Do you know how quiet it is i mean i know it says something like 20 db but how do i know what 20 db sounds like haha. If you could just describe it that would be nice. how well do you run games? Could you post a few fps of some games? I plan on using this card for new games like dirt 2 and dragon age, all the new next get games and i would love to run everything at max with 1920 x 1080. Do you think this card will handle well? Whats your oc btw? Anyone else have any good recomendations? i would like to just go all out and get a 5850 but that would cost me an extra 100$ and at this time i cannot do.

Yes, it is pretty darn good. It's very quiet (probably quiter than your CPU cooler and case fans). I no longer have the PC which had the 4980 Vapor-X, but I was able the reach or beat the level of performance of the GTX280/285 on most games with some overclocking. And bear in mind that this card costs a fraction of those overpriced Nvidia GTX series. So if you can't afford a 5850 today, the 4890 is your ONLY choice at this price point. And you will be able to make it perform on par with the 5850 with some overclocking. And there is no better choice for decent oveclocking than the Sapphire Vapor series.


Cheers.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Here's a summary of the above referenced article with those within $50 of your budget highlighted:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-310-5970,2491.html

Here's the "winners" from THG's latest (December) GFX Roundup
Best Graphics Cards For The Money: December '09


$50 - HD 4650
$65 - HD 4670 / 9600 GSO
$85 - 9600 GT
$95 - 9600 GT / HD 4830
$110 - GTS 250 512 MB
$120 - GTS 250 1 GB
$155 - HD 5770 / GTX 260
$200 - HD 4890
$240 - 2 x GTS 250
$310 - No winner (HD 5850 Honorable Mention)
$330 - 2 x GTX 260 / 2 x HD 5770
$400 - 2 x HD 4890
$410 - No winner (HD 5870 Honorable Mention)
$465 - No winner (GTX 295 Honorable Mention)
$625 - No winner (HD 5970 Honorable Mention)

 

[sulidsnak]

Thanks for all the replies, looks like im going with the vapor-x 4890 and oc if it doesn't get the framerates im hoping for.