Considering upgrade from amd 4890 to nvidia 460

B

biggles

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
2,215
I am not expecting that big a performance jump. But I like to play an obscure older game, Sega Rally Revo. This game ran at a constant 60 fps on my old 8800gt. Then I upgraded the rig a year ago with a core i7 and a 4890. The 4890 runs other stuff great (especially Dirt 2 and Grid that ran perfectly). But the 4890 stutters sometimes in Sega Rally Revo. I am pretty sure it is a driver issue but it is hard to figure out (google searches give me nothing) since the game is so obscure.

Anyway, I figured to wait until the new AMD cards come out and then the 460's drop in price. The 4890 was my first AMD card. I never had driver issues with Nvidia. Is this a good move? Too bad there is not a way to get the 4890 working correctly with Sega Rally since the card obviously has more than enough horsepower for it.
 
I doubt its a driver issue. You would hardly see any difference between the 2 cards. It sounds like a hard drive issue. Whens the last time you defragged?
 
Really? I thought 64-bit Vista automatically defragged? I will look into this and report back.
 
I don't know about your case, but I personally had so many driver issues with AMD, I switched back to Nvidia.
 
Well, I just ran the defrag and it made no difference. The other possibility is that Sega Rally Revo does not run correctly under Vista (my old PC was running XP with the 8800 gt).

Upon further reflection, now I am considering replacing the 4890 with a gtx470. That might fix the stuttering problem (if it is driver related) while still giving a respectable performance boost (50%?). I am still going to wait for AMD's new cards to get announced to see if the 470 drops in price. Meanwhile, if anybody has other solutions, I will try to get the current 4890 to work correctly. It is actually a shame I might have to replace the 4890 because it has performed like a champ in other games.

I've got a clean running system, all windows updates, anti-spyware and anti-virus run on a regular basis. And again, everything else runs great on my PC.
 
I found the 4890 ran too hot on my LAN system so I moved it to a GTX460 and find it runs better now and a bit cooler. As for your issues, they are quite specific so it is hard to make a clear suggestion. It would be more ideal if you could try out a 460 or 470 before you actually pull the trigger. Short of that see what you can get for your 4890 and if you come close enough to not matter, than I say do it.
 
malquai said:
I don't know about your case, but I personally had so many driver issues with AMD, I switched back to Nvidia.
Click to expand...

same, have given them so many chances but I always have had problems with Ati cards. I used to defend them from accusations like this, but the amount of issues I've had with them has been ridiculous.
 
Now I am having a problem with Crysis (patched to v1.2). First, I cannot see any mouse cursor after starting the game. Also, when I quit the game, I get a blue screen. Does this sound like a driver problem or something related to the video card? Since Crysis is a more well known title, may I ask: does it generally run correctly on the AMD 4800 series on Vista 64-bit?

Edit:
What do you guys think of the zotac amp! gtx470? I can pick it up for around $350.
 
Last edited:
biggles said:
Now I am having a problem with Crysis (patched to v1.2). First, I cannot see any mouse cursor after starting the game. Also, when I quit the game, I get a blue screen. Does this sound like a driver problem or something related to the video card? Since Crysis is a more well known title, may I ask: does it generally run correctly on the AMD 4800 series on Vista 64-bit?

Edit:
What do you guys think of the zotac amp! gtx470? I can pick it up for around $350.
Click to expand...

Even currently any 470 for over $300 is not a good deal. Especially this close to a competitor's release of a new line of GPUs. Just wait.
 
biggles said:
I am not expecting that big a performance jump. But I like to play an obscure older game, Sega Rally Revo. This game ran at a constant 60 fps on my old 8800gt. Then I upgraded the rig a year ago with a core i7 and a 4890. The 4890 runs other stuff great (especially Dirt 2 and Grid that ran perfectly). But the 4890 stutters sometimes in Sega Rally Revo. I am pretty sure it is a driver issue but it is hard to figure out (google searches give me nothing) since the game is so obscure.

Anyway, I figured to wait until the new AMD cards come out and then the 460's drop in price. The 4890 was my first AMD card. I never had driver issues with Nvidia. Is this a good move? Too bad there is not a way to get the 4890 working correctly with Sega Rally since the card obviously has more than enough horsepower for it.
Click to expand...

I have a similar setup to you let me see if I can find this Sega rally Revo and test it out, is there somewhere specific that you are seeing the stuttering?
 
Makaveli@BETA said:
I have a similar setup to you let me see if I can find this Sega rally Revo and test it out, is there somewhere specific that you are seeing the stuttering?
Click to expand...

It is a few things. On some tracks, especially the ice tracks, the graphics move choppy even though fraps says it is staying at 60 fps. At other times (and on all tracks) the frame rate drops suddently for about a second and then goes back to normal. It throws off your controls since you need to be precise with the steering, making it mostly unplayable. This happens once or twice per minute, although I cannot find a pattern to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top