280 or 4870?

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xxBlackCrossxx

Weaksauce
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Hey guys,

Been out of the loop for a while, doing tons of research now trying to figure out what is the best for my system. What do you guys think is the top dawg right now? I'm thinking either 280, 260(sli) or 4870? I dont even think i can run SLI right, just crossfire? My games run great now, but looking to run crysis (of course lol) at 1680x1050 all very high settings.

here is my setup:

e6600 stock
8800 gts 640
asus p5k deluxe (can do crossfire)
corsair 620 psu
vista 32 bit
2 gb corsair 1066

Just read that article at anantech praising the 4870, i've never had anything but nvidia, so a bit weary...

Thanks so much for any input!
BlackCross is offline Reply With Quote
 
4870x2 is the best but the drivers need to mature.
The 4870 (not x2) is around the same performance as the GTX260 so the GTX280 is a fair bit quicker.

You will want to clock your CPU, the more the merrier if you want to get full performance.
You can even see performance gains with a 3.6GHz CPU and the fastest cards.
 
No, you can't run SLI on your motherboard, meaning that you'd be limited to either the 4870 or GTX280 out of the options in your post. Out of those two, the GTX280 is quite a bit faster, so I recommend that.
 
The undisputed top dawg is the 4870x2.

It does not mean it is the best or best for the money, but it sure is the fastest.

The best bang for the buck right now is 4850 in Crossfire.

The fastest single GPU solution is the 280.

Any of those choices are awsome, it all depends on what you are looking for.
 
Zero82z said:
That wasn't one of the options he asked about though. Plus, the X2 isn't really worth the premium compared to the 280 IMO.
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also the 4870x2 would be a waste with just a stock E6600 cpu.

OP you really need to oc that cpu and more ram if you want to play the latest games. Clear Sky and Warhead will hitch often on just 2 gigs and your cpu is not enough to keep a card like the 4870 happy.
 
Zero82z said:
That wasn't one of the options he asked about though. Plus, the X2 isn't really worth the premium compared to the 280 IMO.
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He did ask what we think is top dawg right now.
Fair comment on the price.
The op should check out reviews to see if the performance difference is worth the price difference for the game types he plays.
 
Hey guys, thank you all for your excellent feedback. Thx for also clearing up SLI. The 280 is looking good. Been reading a lot of reviews here and some other sites. The ATI solutions look excellent too and it's great that there is healthy competition out there!

I'm selling previous card to a friend, what do you think is a honest price? $140?

Also, does anyone have any basic guides to overclocking? I think I wanna bump up the stock 6600 as well....

Thanks so much!

(damn you crysis)
 
xxBlackCrossxx said:
I'm selling previous card to a friend, what do you think is a honest price? $140?
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$100 tops. The GTS640 is easily outperformed by the 8800GT and about on par with the 9600GT, both of which can be often found for ~$100 nowadays.
 
always think of the future when deciding parts you could go with either the 4870 or the x2 and later on put either one in CF, but even one would still give you playable performance.
 
If the GTX280 was the top card available and no 4870x2 existed, nvidia fanbois would bash ATI fanbois for claiming it was not worth the price over a 4870. This is how it was last gen when the ultra was the ultimate card. Everyone claimed it was not worth the premium price. Now that nvidia does not have the best card available, the top ATI card is not worth the premium price.

It is just so funny to listen to fanbois argue.

You dont need anything over a 4870 to run crysis on High. You have a CF board, so if games come out later that need more power, you can throw in a second 4870.
 
ive got a 4870 1gb card and im loving it :) playing crysis at 20fps without tweaks on enthusiast on 2x aa is pretty nice :)

but go with what your board supports, aka crossfire or SLI.

or whatever your personal preference is.

i like ati because of past experiences with my x800xl and such, so i went with another ati card from the same vendor i bought from last time :) powercolor that is.

hmm, speaking of which, ive gotta update my sig to show the new graphics card.
 
Power5 said:
If the GTX280 was the top card available and no 4870x2 existed, nvidia fanbois would bash ATI fanbois for claiming it was not worth the price over a 4870. This is how it was last gen when the ultra was the ultimate card. Everyone claimed it was not worth the premium price. Now that nvidia does not have the best card available, the top ATI card is not worth the premium price.

It is just so funny to listen to fanbois argue.
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If I have any bias at all, it's towards ATI. I even spent more money on a 4870 than I could have gotten a GTX260 for just to have an ATI card this time around. The fact is that the X2 is not worth the $100-150 additional cost over the GTX280 when in many cases it does not provide a significant improvement in gameplay experience. That's not fanboyism, that's fact.
 
Zero82z said:
If I have any bias at all, it's towards ATI. I even spent more money on a 4870 than I could have gotten a GTX260 for just to have an ATI card this time around. The fact is that the X2 is not worth the $100-150 additional cost over the GTX280 when in many cases it does not provide a significant improvement in gameplay experience. That's not fanboyism, that's fact.
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well there are games that it absolutely demolishes the competition but there are also games (crysis) which are about the same on both hardware. so it evens out. but i do agree, i personally wouldn't go for a 4870x2 as im only playing at 1920x1200. If i was at 2560x1600 i would think about it.
 
Zero82z said:
If I have any bias at all, it's towards ATI. I even spent more money on a 4870 than I could have gotten a GTX260 for just to have an ATI card this time around. The fact is that the X2 is not worth the $100-150 additional cost over the GTX280 when in many cases it does not provide a significant improvement in gameplay experience. That's not fanboyism, that's fact.
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that is not "fact", it is your opinion.
4870X2 is alot faster that's a fact, even a 4870 1 GB can beat GTX 280 in some games is also a fact.

It is worth or not the extra cash is your OPINION.
I think GTX 280 is not worth a penny more than 4870 1GB <--- my opinion.

got it kid?
 
With the release of the 4870 1gb, the GTX 280's value is seriously called into question.

If you like Nvidia, then overclocking a vanilla GTX 260 216 from a vendor like EVGA is worth a shot. Many people report OC room on this card above and beyond the "superclocked" version, and I feel the step-up program plus lifetime warranty of a company like EVGA makes them a competitive option vs the current 4870 1gbs.

-S
 
bangmal said:
that is not "fact", it is your opinion.
4870X2 is alot faster that's a fact, even a 4870 1 GB can beat GTX 280 in some games is also a fact.

It is worth or not the extra cash is your OPINION.
I think GTX 280 is not worth a penny more than 4870 1GB <--- my opinion.

got it kid?
Click to expand...

This is not worth $150. Got it, "kid"? Paying more money for marginal performance improvements in a few games and no change or performance decreases in others is not good value. At $550, I wouldn't recommend the X2 to someone unless they really needed it or had money to burn.
 
Zero82z said:
This is not worth $150. Got it, "kid"? Paying more money for marginal performance improvements in a few games and no change or performance decreases in others is not good value. At $550, I wouldn't recommend the X2 to someone unless they really needed it or had money to burn...but at $300, the 4870 1gb is hard not to recommend!
Click to expand...

:p

/fixed
/thread

-S
 
I have owned all 3. The 4870 is great for the money and not a lot slower then the GTX280. The 4870x2 is crazy fast but does have some bugs to get worked out so as impatient as I am I picked up a GTX280 and must say I love it. With stock fan settings the card will idle down into the low 50s and upper 40s. Load temps in the 80s. Much better then the 4870x2 adn 4870 I had. I dont think you can go wrong with the GTX280 or 4870. GTX280 is the faster card between those two especially in Crysis.
 
The 4870 1Gig would be a great choice, however, Crysis IS a more shader intensive game. This is where the 280 would pull ahead, so I am going to have to recommend the GTX 280.:D
 
Thanks for all your intelligent input folks!! Crysis is pretty much the reason I'm gonna upgrade, so the 280 looks good so far. The ATI options are pretty great as well, such a good time for all this competition. Hope the prices drop even further. Any time frame on when these will be refreshed?
 
Proxy said:
The 4870 1Gig would be a great choice, however, Crysis IS a more shader intensive game. This is where the 280 would pull ahead, so I am going to have to recommend the GTX 280.:D
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These guys show a difference of 2.5 FPS in Crysis between the $300 4870 1gb and the $420+ GTX 280. And Crysis is known to favor NV cards, so that's going to be one of the 280s best races.

It's really hard to come up with a reason to go GTX 280 over the 4870 1gb. That card was a knock-out punch to Nvidia, imo.

-S
 
I don't think the $150 price premium that people are referring to the 4870X2 applies anymore. Tigerdirect is selling the X2 for $449 after rebate. The cheapest GTX 280 I can find on newegg after rebate is $380. So we're talking a $70 premium at most. For a lot of people that considerably narrows the gap.
 
4870 1GB, period. Then pick up another one in the future

and if you can afford a 4870X2, why not?

if you simply want the fastest single GPU, then only GTX280
 
yeah, the 4870 looks really impressive especially at that price point. how are the drivers/compatibility compared to nvidia? i wonder if my e6600 is gonna bottleneck these cards though...
 
I had a 4870 and recently purchased a 280GTX (good deal 402 after MIR+taxes+shipping) . I wanted to see the diff cause I get ridiculously bored.
The 4870 to me is a great card but i noticed some slight stutters in game which I attributed to my OC (800/1000). I would also get the occasional driver error as well even at stock but the card and CCC ran great. With the 280 I noticed the game play wasn't as jittery and there were less slow downs in game. The drivers are a bit more stable with NV and the fan.is quieter than the 4870 fan (when set over 45%).

Hey, there will always be some issues with any card but I didnt notice any in none of my cards that would me kick kittens onto incoming traffic. So you should be good.

Oh I got the 280 for UT3 -Physx lol I figured its the cost of a 4870 +PPU so eh.
 
Kuma said:
I had a 4870 and recently purchased a 280GTX (good deal 402 after MIR+taxes+shipping) . I wanted to see the diff cause I get ridiculously bored.
The 4870 to me is a great card but i noticed some slight stutters in game which I attributed to my OC (800/1000). I would also get the occasional driver error as well even at stock but the card and CCC ran great. With the 280 I noticed the game play wasn't as jittery and there were less slow downs in game. The drivers are a bit more stable with NV and the fan.is quieter than the 4870 fan (when set over 45%).

Hey, there will always be some issues with any card but I didnt notice any in none of my cards that would me kick kittens onto incoming traffic. So you should be good.

Oh I got the 280 for UT3 -Physx lol I figured its the cost of a 4870 +PPU so eh.
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I noticed the same jitters and stutters with the 4670 too. even though the average framerate was higher than on my 8600gt it felt worse and actually had lower minimums. I notice the same thing in Clear Sky too. for some reason the ATI cards stutter much more than equivalent, or in my case even slower, Nvidia cards.
 
Pick up a GTX 260 (192sp) for 200$ AR, it can't be beat on price/preformance for that range.
 
I got a GTX 280 through a Step-Up, and I wouldn't personally go with a 4870 1GB were I able to make the trade, all else being equal. If you are influenced by the Anandtech article on the 4870 1GB, I believe you should realize those numbers and cross-sections of testing make the 4870 1GB very favorable. Other articles put the 4870 1GB in its "rightful" place, pretty much equal with the Core 216.
 
I would agree that right now the GTX 260 (192 core) and the Radeon 4870 512 mb are in the sweet spot for a powerful value card. The GTX 280 just doesn't justify the price difference to me.
 
Starcrossed said:
I got a GTX 280 through a Step-Up, and I wouldn't personally go with a 4870 1GB were I able to make the trade, all else being equal. If you are influenced by the Anandtech article on the 4870 1GB, I believe you should realize those numbers and cross-sections of testing make the 4870 1GB very favorable. Other articles put the 4870 1GB in its "rightful" place, pretty much equal with the Core 216.
Click to expand...

[H]ard's review showed them to be "effectively" even, the slight edge favored the 216.
 
semisonic9 said:
These guys show a difference of 2.5 FPS in Crysis between the $300 4870 1gb and the $420+ GTX 280. And Crysis is known to favor NV cards, so that's going to be one of the 280s best races.

It's really hard to come up with a reason to go GTX 280 over the 4870 1gb. That card was a knock-out punch to Nvidia, imo.

-S
Click to expand...

I really don't pay "those guys" any attention. They have always seemed a little bias to me so, I was just basing what I said earlier off personal use. Doesn't make it fact, but I also like the [H]ard|Reviews better for the apples to apples.

I would like to see and apples to apple with the 1gig 4870 and a 280 at 1920x1200 with enthusiast settings to get rid of any bottle neck, but yes, the 4870 1gig was a sucker punch to NV.
 
For the record, guys, I bought a GTX 260 216 when it came down to the wire. I still think the 4870 1gb is a terrific value and a slightly stronger card, but the 260 definately holds it's own at 1900x1200 and under.

Anandtech's article lended itself too much to gaming over 1900x1200. At that res, the new 260 and the 4870 1gb are pretty neck and neck, and I went with the 260 because of a slightly cheaper price, the prospect of overclocking, and the lifetime warranty, step-up program, and excellent support that EVGA offers. They've got the total package. Even Visiontek, my favorite of the ATI-sourced card makers can't match EVGA in terms of value and support.

Both the GTX 260 216 and 4870 1gb call the value of the GTX 280 into question, imo, but I'd give it to the 4870 1gb by a nose at 1900x1200 in terms of pure performance and bang/buck. Above that resolution, it really starts to pull away from the herd.

-S
 
How about a 9800GX2?? If you can still find one for around the same price as GTX 260, it's not a bad choice either. At 1680 x 1050 resolution, it will run Crysis much faster than both GTX 260 and 4870.
 
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