GTS 250

[xxgamxx]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133266
Can anyone recommend a card with similar or better specs for less or around the same price? What's the ATI equivalent of this card?
Also will this be a big upgrade from my current gpu, 9600 gt

 

[markusaurileus]

I'm pretty sure Nvidia 8800GTX, 9800GTX are the same as the GTS 250, except the GTS 250 takes less power and has a smaller die (smaller is newer, not bad). And of course a different name.

The ATI equivalent is probably the HD4850 and HD4770. If you use a 19-20in screen, the 4770 is ideal because of its DDR5 memory.

 

[xxgamxx]

My resolution is 1400x900. I'm just hoping to get an improvement from my 9600 gt

 

[xxgamxx]

The 4770 looks good but is it a good upgrade from the 9600 gt?

 

[Bluescreendeath]

An ATI 4850 costs around $85-$100, and performs exactly the same as a GTS250.

A GTS250 or a 4850 won't be powerful enough to utilize all 1GB of RAM anyways (at higher resolutions...) so 512mb is perfectly fine.

For your resolution a 4850 512mb would be perfect.

 

[xxgamxx]

Ok so then wouldn't the 4770 gddr5 be quicker then the 4870 gddr3?

this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129112&cm_re=4850-_-14-129-112-_-Product

vs

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150369

For some reason I think "the bigger the better" when looking at cards.

 

[markusaurileus]

yea 1440x900 is my res, and just about everything on high settings (except crysis with x8AA and gtaiv, but gta was ported horribly to the pc anyway)

To what I understand, the memory size is really only crucial for multi-displays and large displays. 512MB can handle 20in or less very nicely. I looked long and hard at the 4850 vs the 4770, and the conclusion I kept getting was that there won't be a noticeable difference between the two. Same with the GTS 250.

And, no, the bigger the better doesn't really describe video card performance very well. The 9600GT might have a higher number, but it's not as good as the 8800GT. The 4830 is not as goods as the 4770. And so forth. Think of all the series as teams that have bad players and good players, in which there are some good players on a lower team who are better than the bad players on a higher team. Though, it's still confusing and more complex than that.

 

[xxgamxx]

Best answer selected by xxgamxx.