which to buy 260 or 4870

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Patman08

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 12, 2007
Messages
299
Hi all! was trying to decide which video card to buy.i'm upgrading from a 9600gt. so which gpu should i get 4870 or gtx260.:confused:
22" monitor by the way
 
I would say the 4870. That's just my flavor though. From what I hear the 4870 is a hair faster then the GTX260. Though they both seem to be nice cards. You can use anything on a 22" monitor; pretty much. I would say just wait save the extra bones and buy the 4870X2.
 
Depends, the decision is close, the extra VRAM on the 260 is great and the ability to FORCE antialiasing for games is nice (it didn't work for me on my 4870 pretty much ever, nor did trying to force anisotropic filtering). I went from a 280 to a 4870 + 4850 simultaneously, to a 280 again and am sticking with the 280. Drivers and profiles are much smoother and the antialiasing/anisotropic forcing in the drivers just plain works, which is good because I play a few games regularly without the proper options in-game. With the 260 running less than a 4870 by a little now, I'd have to recommend the 260 over a 4870 as of now unless you want to go crossfire and own an SLI motherboard.
 
I had the 4870 for the past 2 weeks. It was replaced today by a GTX 260. Many reasons, heat, noise, "flickering" in the games that i play, poor profile/fan/oc control in the drivers.
The 4870 was a good card, and the competition is great, as NV was heavily overcharging for the 2xx series.
All in all the 260 is working better for me, and truth be told, either one of them is fast enough and looks great!
 
or wait for this one '1gb ddr5 and 800 mhz gpu plus runs 20c cooler :D'


Powercolor_HD4870_PCS_1G_01.png


In addition to a full gigabyte GDDR5 memory, the PowerColor HD 4870 PCS OC also hsa the cooling solution PCS based on a zero-Therm model. This according to manufacturer reached up to 20 degrees Celsius lower temperatures than the AMD reference cooler - and despite an increased GPU clock rate of RV770 chips target of around 800 megahertz
 
4870 definitely. Can't beat 55nm and there are more aftermarket gpu cooling solutions for it, like the accelero s1. Stock cooling is still good though as long as you adjust the fan speed. 4870 competes with the gtx280 in some games...gtx260 doesn't. It's a no brainer.
 
eric66 said:
or wait for this one '1gb ddr5 and 800 mhz gpu plus runs 20c cooler :D'


Powercolor_HD4870_PCS_1G_01.png


In addition to a full gigabyte GDDR5 memory, the PowerColor HD 4870 PCS OC also hsa the cooling solution PCS based on a zero-Therm model. This according to manufacturer reached up to 20 degrees Celsius lower temperatures than the AMD reference cooler - and despite an increased GPU clock rate of RV770 chips target of around 800 megahertz
Click to expand...

You got a link of the full article?
 
Gaiden133 said:
This thread shall help: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1322715

Personally, before the price cut, 4870 without a damn doubt.

With the price cut and the gtx 260 cheaper by like 40 bucks.. and the vendor support on nvidia's side > ati's vendors.. makes the decision a whole hell more close.
Click to expand...


You're going to need that vendor support. I just got a 260. Overheats badly. 50 to 105 degress in Furmark in 30 seconds. 105 degress in Crysis in five minutes. No problems whatsoever with my HD 4870, though. There are some bad GTX 200 cards in the system. Just google "GTX 280 overheating". There are at least five forums with ongoing threads about the problem. Most of it seems to be with just the 280s, but the 260s are affected also, as I have come to find out.

It's a shame...the card smokes. I was getting some really nice framerates. I read that there might be a BIOS fix to solve the issue. I haven't been able to find it, if it exists. I am reluctantly returning mine. I don't want to go through 2 and 3 RMAs to get a good one, as others have done.
 
Ogilvy said:
You're going to need that vendor support. I just got a 260. Overheats badly. 50 to 105 degress in Furmark in 30 seconds. 105 degress in Crysis in five minutes. No problems whatsoever with my HD 4870, though. There are some bad GTX 200 cards in the system. Just google "GTX 280 overheating". There are at least five forums with ongoing threads about the problem. Most of it seems to be with just the 280s, but the 260s are affected also, as I have come to find out.

It's a shame...the card smokes. I was getting some really nice framerates. I read that there might be a BIOS fix to solve the issue. I haven't been able to find it, if it exists. I am reluctantly returning mine. I don't want to go through 2 and 3 RMAs to get a good one, as others have done.
Click to expand...

I have read about overheating GT200 cards. I just got my 260 today and no problems. With a crappy case and airflow under 5 min of load stress with the fan at 80% my temp is 78-79c. It depends on the card I guess. From what I read if it goes to 100c or higher that fast you need to RMA it, that isn't normal for these cards.
 
I've never had any overheating issues with the 260. I play mostly CoD4 and honestly I see anywhere from 1-3 hundred fps(1680x1050) so switching between one card or the other probably wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. I have never had anything but good dealing with BFG and have become accustomed to Nvidia cards and the way they work.

From what I've read if games in the future require the larger bandwidth and ram than it means you won't need to upgrade as soon.(And when you need to there is the step/trade up. :D )
 
leh18621 said:
I have read about overheating GT200 cards. I just got my 260 today and no problems. With a crappy case and airflow under 5 min of load stress with the fan at 80% my temp is 78-79c. It depends on the card I guess. From what I read if it goes to 100c or higher that fast you need to RMA it, that isn't normal for these cards.
Click to expand...


See this is what makes me think GTX 200 owners are sitting on their cards until aftermarket heatsinks come out or until someone makes a fix for the overheating. Define "load stress".

I said 105c in Crysis and FurMark. That's load stress.

Save Crysis and Furmark, i'm sure everyone's GTX 200 will run @ 80c in most games with 80 percent blow dryer speeds.

In other words, I think many peeps are flat-out lying about their temps, willing to tolerate it because the card rocks.
 
Metrocall said:
I've never had any overheating issues with the 260. I play mostly CoD4 and honestly I see anywhere from 1-3 hundred fps(1680x1050) so switching between one card or the other probably wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. I have never had anything but good dealing with BFG and have become accustomed to Nvidia cards and the way they work.

From what I've read if games in the future require the larger bandwidth and ram than it means you won't need to upgrade as soon.(And when you need to there is the step/trade up. :D )
Click to expand...

Call of Duty is a far cry from Crysis. Pardon the pun.
 
Ogilvy said:
See this is what makes me think GTX 200 owners are sitting on their cards until aftermarket heatsinks come out or until someone makes a fix for the overheating. Define "load stress".

I said 105c in Crysis and FurMark. That's load stress.

Save Crysis and Furmark, i'm sure everyone's GTX 200 will run @ 80c in most games with 80 percent blow dryer speeds.

In other words, I think many peeps are flat-out lying about their temps, willing to tolerate it because the card rocks.
Click to expand...

BS, just plain retarded.
 
4870.... got mine at 865/1100 stable with a Thermalright HR-03GT and Kama Flex 1,600 92mm fan. Idle temps are 46C and max load was 64C while staying much much quieter then the stocker which could not handle this OC. I have had no screen flickering or any other issues. This card just plain rocks. Also I am using a small 60mm fan blowing on the VRM's. With Sinks alone they seem to get VERY VERY hot. I have not tried to push it past 865/1100... for all I know there is more left.
 
"Define "load stress"."

I ran the WiC benchmark for five minutes straight, I thought that stressed the gpu heavily.
 
picked up a 4870 at best buy tonight with a 10% off coupon. pretty happy with it so far.
 
leh18621 said:
"Define "load stress"."

I ran the WiC benchmark for five minutes straight, I thought that stressed the gpu heavily.
Click to expand...

Well, furmark is a small download. Give it shot. Be prepared to shut it down if it gets near 100c. Which it will.
 
Ogilvy said:
See this is what makes me think GTX 200 owners are sitting on their cards until aftermarket heatsinks come out or until someone makes a fix for the overheating. Define "load stress".

I said 105c in Crysis and FurMark. That's load stress.

Save Crysis and Furmark, i'm sure everyone's GTX 200 will run @ 80c in most games with 80 percent blow dryer speeds.

In other words, I think many peeps are flat-out lying about their temps, willing to tolerate it because the card rocks.
Click to expand...

common now, have some respect for the forum members, ofcourse there are people on-line that lie, but to come in hear and say people lie about their temps is a bit xtreme, why the heck would someone lie about their temps, they paid money for their damn card and if it was running at 100+ c than it would be stupid to keep it, because the card would start throttling down, the gtx heatsink has 8 heatpipes going in all directions I believe, I honestly do believe that the cards should reach around 80c in a good airflow case. I don't think anyone is lying hear, just think you jump to conclusion before you think through something.
 
my preference is for ATI, but at the current prices its a toss up. both have good and bad points. For myself I will take a better architecture over a massive one but that is a personal preference. the best bang for the buck is still the 4850, my favorite even if I don't own one, is a hundred cheaper then my 8800GTX and slightly faster even with my OC
 
What motherboard do you currently have? I personally would go with what is scalable on it.
 
I can't vouch for the 4870, but I had a 4850 and the drivers sucked. I could not get vsync to work in anything. I am waiting for the 55nm refresh of the GT200s, and then I'll probably pick up a GTX260+.
 
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