Which would you choose and why?

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memnoch_thedevil

Gawd
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I had asked a similar question before, but I am still undecided.

Let's just say the top budget is $200, this will be for a mid level gaming rig for my son.

Which of these three would you choose (let's just keep it at the Egg, using an account there), and why?

XFX 4870 1GB $194.99 ($169.99 after MIR)

XFX GTX 260 Core 216 $194.99 ($164.99 after MIR) +FarCry 2 & COD 5

2 x Saphire 4850 $114.99 + 12% off = $101.19 x 2 = $202.38 ($172.38 after MIR) + 2 free 6ft HDMI cables

So roughly after the rebates:
$169.99 for the 4870 1GB;
$164.99 for the GTX 260 Core 216;
$172.38 for the 4850 x 2 CF

I'm kind of leaning towards the XFX 4870 1GB, just to avoid any possible complications from CrossFire + the extra ram. But at the same time, I would get I think over all better performance from the CF w/ the 4850's...and would always have a spare card incase another card failed or was upgrading etc...(would be third pc in house, so could use 1 CF card if something were to happen)


Thoughts?
 
Heh, I was on the same boat just a month ago, though I wasn't really considering 4850 in CF. I'd rather just have the faster single card personally, 'specially with newer games liking larger frame buffers, the 4850 are at a disadvantage looking towards the future imo (unless you game at 1680x1050 or below).

Anyway, initially I wanted the 4870 because the card is physically smaller and it actually fit into my old case (an Antec Super Lanboy), but the cheapest one at the time was an MSI card for $175 after MIR and the cheapest XFX card was over $200 even after MIR. Meanwhile XFX's GTX 260 was going for $165 after MIR with those two bundled games (which I didn't yet own) and there was even a code for an additional $5 off IIRC... So the choice was simple, $175 for a card w/no games and an inferior warranty, or $160 for a card w/two games and a nice lifetime warranty, I went with the XFX card and swapped cases (at no extra cost, just swapped w/a different rig in the house, now using the Thermaltake in my sig).

Given that you're picking between two XFX cards and the price difference is non-existant, I'd say it comes down to the games and whether the size of the card matters to you at all (are you using a small-ish case)... Other than that there's not much to differentiate the GTX 260 and 4870, performance is really really close between both cards and personally I don't think it's worth taking stuff like PhysX into account (dead-end API imo).

Edit: Also, FWIW, the GTX 260 tends to OC much better too.
 
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GTX260 clocks like buggery, uses slightly less power than the 4870, PhysX in hardware for free.
You wont need more for 1920 res unless you want to play Crysis with everything maxed.
Even with less ram than the 4870 1GB, the GTX is still slightly better for GTA IV (highlighting that memory size isnt causing any issues vs the competition).
To max the settings in GTA IV, you need around 1.4GB fyi

If you like to overclock, the 260 has it, similar for games that need hardware PhysX for best quality.
Overall theres not a lot in it performance wise at stock speeds so it may just come down to price or how you value what you get free with the card.
 
I'd get the GTX because it's just as fast as the 4870 1GB and comes with two free games for the same price.
 
Good points...the games aren't an issue...I was really just listing what they came with. Really it's performance and price. One thing that I have been thinkng about too though, what if I just got the one 4870, then around winter when the new DX 11 cards start showing up, grabbing a second for cheap and crossfiring those? I only ask because I have a crossfire board, and if the 260 & 4870 are close enough in performance, then perhaps down the road a second one would be that much better?

For the most part though, I agree with the single stronger card. And probably will end up getting the 260...
 
GTX 260 (216). Five bucks cheaper, same XFX warranty, pretty much identical performance as the HD 4870 1GB and two games I don't have.

No freebies? I'd be hard pressed to decide between the two. Probably the ATI - been playing a lot of Fallout 3 and Oblivion (again!). They tend to be a little more ATI friendly.
 
memnoch_thedevil said:
Good points...the games aren't an issue...I was really just listing what they came with. Really it's performance and price. One thing that I have been thinkng about too though, what if I just got the one 4870, then around winter when the new DX 11 cards start showing up, grabbing a second for cheap and crossfiring those? I only ask because I have a crossfire board, and if the 260 & 4870 are close enough in performance, then perhaps down the road a second one would be that much better?

For the most part though, I agree with the single stronger card. And probably will end up getting the 260...
Click to expand...

It sounds good on paper, but generally new cards based around new architectures end up being several order of magnitude faster than the old cards and will outperform even a SLI setup based around the older GPU; 'specially after a few driver revisions, and 'specially if you're talking about games taking advantage of new instructions in DX11 for instance, similar to DX10 vs DX9 now. 8800GT cards in SLI won't outperform a 4870 1GB (or a GTX 260), 'specially at higher res. Still, if the bundled games don't interest you at all (can always re-sell 'em y'know) then you might as well go for the 4870, for the slim possibility that you might go CF in the future, otherwise you might as well go GTX 260 and eke out a lil' more out of it by OC'ing (if that's your cup of tea).
 
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