280 GTX vs 4870 for F1 2011?

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skyline889

[H]ard|Gawd
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I'm currently running an old 8800GTS 320MB that just isn't cutting it with F1 2011. I've been thinking about upgrading, but I have a really limited budget so an older card is all that I can fit in. From what I've found, the 280 and the 4870 seem to still be somewhat competitive. Will either of these cards run F1 at 1920x1200 decently? My old 9600GT runs F1 2010 relatively well, so I'd imagine a 280 would be a significant upgrade from the 8800GTS.
 
How much would you be paying? Remember you're still ultimately buying three year old second-hand hardware here.
8800GTS 320MB: 100%
9600GT: 113%
HD4870: 250%
GTX280: 280%
HD6850 (new card option, $140): 330%
HD6870 (new card option, $160): 400%

At high detail, F1 2010 and F1 2011 perform quite similarly, there's around a 10-20% performance increase needed for 2011. At 1920x1200 on max detail, the 4870 and GTX280 will get 30-35fps average (a lot more if you turn the AA off), whereas an HD6870 would get more like 50-55fps average.
 
Thanks for the help! I'd be paying about $80 for the 280 or $70 for the 4870, but I just realized I'd also need a new psu to accommodate the load. Would it be better to by something like a 4850 until I can afford a 68x0?
 
Not with a 620W HX you wouldn't, unless you've got one of the original ones that only has two 6-pin connectors (and even then, the HD4870 would still be fine, just not the GTX280) - 620W is loads of power, even with the GTX280 in your current system would only be using about 400W total under load.
 
Then you probably will, a lot of the Antec Basiq units are pretty poor quality inside.
 
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