Less than £200 graphics ATI or Nvidia

Andrew G · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:16

Hi guys and gals

I have around £200 to spend on a new card since my 8800GTX has gone pop after only 2 years.

I am trying to make my mind up between a 4870 1gig or the GTX260 maxxcore (216 nm). The Nvidia with it's 5 year warranty vs the 2 year warranty of the ATI is edging it although reviews put it slightly behind the ATI as a rounded package.

Any thoughts as I will be ordering it tonight

Many Thanks

reflux · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:18

Both cards very similar performers, hundreds of threads on this very topic, go for whichever brand/bundle/colour/box art you prefer

Ucof · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:19

I recently bought a Sapphire 1gb 4870 and am thoroughly pleased with it

Andrew G · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:20

/DOH

Forgot to say these are what I think are best bang or buck in the sub £200 and what I was looking at, so how wrong am I?

Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP! Edition "55nm Maxcore" 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (ZT-X26E3KB-FCP)

VS

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (21133-04-20)

Andrew G · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:25

reflux said:
Both cards very similar performers, hundreds of threads on this very topic, go for whichever brand/bundle/colour/box art you prefer

Yep I had searched and it seemed to be very ATI sided, I was an ATI guy back in the day (Rage Fury MAXX dual gpu) but made a move over to Nvidia and stayed there. The biggest thing for me now is "what if it goes wrong" as above i paid a lot of money for my 8800gtx for it only to last 2 years I am not a happy man. The 2 years I had it was ace and it never missed a beat but the longevity of it disappointed me a lot.

wellibob · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:26

I picked nvidia from them 2. Zotac amp gpu i got last wed has the new gpu cooler aka the GTX 295 (nice cool and quiet), not the cooler shown on site. Nvidia also has cuda and physx if thats your bag, other than that, either would be good.

Subliminal Aura · 22 Mar 2009 at 20:40

can you go crossfire at full pci/16x ?

If so ... then take a good long hard look at a pair of 4830s - Should cost no more the £180 for 18-20k 3dmarks06 which is enough to make the 4870/260 cry

ACESHIGH · 23 Mar 2009 at 11:39

Andrew G said:
Yep I had searched and it seemed to be very ATI sided, I was an ATI guy back in the day (Rage Fury MAXX dual gpu) but made a move over to Nvidia and stayed there. The biggest thing for me now is "what if it goes wrong" as above i paid a lot of money for my 8800gtx for it only to last 2 years I am not a happy man. The 2 years I had it was ace and it never missed a beat but the longevity of it disappointed me a lot.

There is a reason most people recommend ATI - due to price / performance / Value reasons, ATI cards have been on top most recently.

gpuerrilla · 23 Mar 2009 at 16:00

Subliminal Aura said:
can you go crossfire at full pci/16x ?

If so ... then take a good long hard look at a pair of 4830s - Should cost no more the £180 for 18-20k 3dmarks06 which is enough to make the 4870/260 cry

Sounds good, anyone done this?

Subliminal Aura · 23 Mar 2009 at 16:09

Th0nt said:
Sounds good, anyone done this?

Yeah I'm doing this but :eek:

at someone claiming HD4850's are £100... Check the forum.

If HD4850s are a ton I'd go with them as the 4830 has a few stream processors disabled (but it doesn't cripple the card)

Sound advice might be to wait a couple of weeks

danielmp007 · 23 Mar 2009 at 16:46

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-117-XF

4850 is £112 in vat.

Maybe 2 of these if you can afford the extra £25. otherwise the 4870 gets my vote, and its on offer so get yourself a few beers with the change.

dP

LoadsaMoney · 23 Mar 2009 at 16:50

4870 1gb and 260-216 are neck and neck, so id just get the cheapest.

mON5t3r · 23 Mar 2009 at 21:35

I'm going with the gtx260. Price/Performance it looks good to me. Apparently its good for overclocking too.

wellibob · 23 Mar 2009 at 22:10

yes, my zotac amp 260 - 216 clocks like a monster, 650 core stock o/c , running it at 752 core , 1566 shader and 1323 memory.

ins0mn1ac · 23 Mar 2009 at 22:42

From the 2 I'd pick the 260 personally, and I'm usually an ATi fanboy. Drivers would be my deciding factor.

freddie64 · 24 Mar 2009 at 09:20

Is there no warranty left on your 8800gtx?

Vince · 24 Mar 2009 at 12:22

deleted said:
From the 2 I'd pick the 260 personally, and I'm usually an ATi fanboy. Drivers would be my deciding factor.

lol

ins0mn1ac · 24 Mar 2009 at 16:12

VinceB1 said:
lol

What a great input to the thread, why even bother? is the one post that important to you?

FRS2462 · 24 Mar 2009 at 16:40

deleted said:
What a great input to the thread, why even bother? is the one post that important to you?

luismenendez · 28 Mar 2009 at 13:33

wellibob said:
yes, my zotac amp 260 - 216 clocks like a monster, 650 core stock o/c , running it at 752 core , 1566 shader and 1323 memory.

that is high, did you do any volts mod?

I though 720 and 2500 was high for the GTX 260 216 cores!

I am waiting delivery of a bargain Gainward 260 golden sample which has a custom cooler and pcb. I would be glad to get something close to your Zotac!

Regarding the ATI/nvidia question, I believe an overclocked GTX 260 is just a bit faster than an overclocked HD 4870, correct me if i am wrong!