Graphics Card Advice

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bobtheworm

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Jul 9, 2008
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I kind of have an idea on this but I was wondering what you all think. I am going to upgrade my graphics card real soon and I was wondering if I should go for a hd 4850 x2 or a GTX 275. I am looking to spend around 250.

I have been looking for benchmark for the 4850 x2 and they seem to be lacking. There is a lot of 4850, 4870, 4890, and 4870 x2 benchmarks but no 4850 x2.

Educated advice always appeciated.
 
bobtheworm,

There are a few things you have to take into concideration. First of all, Most EVGA graphics card come with a lifetime warranty, which most of the radions do not, Although some do. Judging from the two cards i am looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187073
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102813

The radion has 800x2 steam processors meaning it has a total of 1600. Much more then the Geforce.

The memory clock is 2268 on the GeForce which the radion is 1746. Core clock Radion 620 vs. EVGA 639

Anyway, you can look foryourself... Im going to say however, The radion 4870x2 do not have great reviews and they do not come with any warranty. Usually when i purchase a video card, i look for the steam processors, (or pixel processors), and core clock speed. It is really a toss up and completely on you to decide. I would go for the Geforce becasue i have never had trouble with EVGA products and when i do, the customer support is amazing. Although the geforce lacks processors, it covers with core clock.... up too you mate. Need any other Advice send me a message :)
 
Thanks for the reminder of the warranty. Looking at the reviews of the 4850 x2 doesn't give me any confidence in the card. I think I would rather go with a lifetime warranty then question marks and a cloud of dust.
 
Most ATI companies will have at least a 1 year warranty...and XFX (who now does Radeons) has a double lifetime warranty (1 for you, 1 for if you sell it to someone else).

~Gooda~
 
Nonarac said:
bobtheworm,

There are a few things you have to take into concideration. First of all, Most EVGA graphics card come with a lifetime warranty, which most of the radions do not, Although some do. Judging from the two cards i am looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187073
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102813

The radion has 800x2 steam processors meaning it has a total of 1600. Much more then the Geforce.

The memory clock is 2268 on the GeForce which the radion is 1746. Core clock Radion 620 vs. EVGA 639

Anyway, you can look foryourself... Im going to say however, The radion 4870x2 do not have great reviews and they do not come with any warranty. Usually when i purchase a video card, i look for the steam processors, (or pixel processors), and core clock speed. It is really a toss up and completely on you to decide. I would go for the Geforce becasue i have never had trouble with EVGA products and when i do, the customer support is amazing. Although the geforce lacks processors, it covers with core clock.... up too you mate. Need any other Advice send me a message :)
Click to expand...

Although Ati cards have tons of stream processors.. they are terrible. look at the 295 and the 4870x2, the 4870x2 has like 5 times the amount that the 295 has but the 295 is still better.

But anyway, depending on what your budget is I would go with the 4850x2, its a great card. if your going to do single GPU though, get a 4870, or a 285/275
 
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HardHat said:
ATi and NV have different methods of counting their 'Stream Processors.' You can't compare them directly.

For $250, XFX 4890: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359

No better card at the moment in that price range.

Here's a proper review of the 4890: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTYzNiwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

It's an Asus model, but that doesn't matter. Overall better card than the GTX 275.
Click to expand...

250 dollars is my range. Every benchmark I have seen that compares the 4890 and the 275 has them just about neck and neck. One may do better in one game and one may do better in the next. Still caught up in the warranty thing. Would prefer to get a 4850 x2 because it rates better then the 275 and is a better price, but it has had some problems not working on some computers and not that great of a warranty if it does go out. it this comes down to a warranty thing then maybe ATI will learn about their mistakes and give their cards a better warrant. Can you imagine how many potential customer they loose that are making the same disision as me.
 
bobtheworm said:
250 dollars is my range. Every benchmark I have seen that compares the 4890 and the 275 has them just about neck and neck. One may do better in one game and one may do better in the next. Still caught up in the warranty thing. Would prefer to get a 4850 x2 because it rates better then the 275 and is a better price, but it has had some problems not working on some computers and not that great of a warranty if it does go out. it this comes down to a warranty thing then maybe ATI will learn about their mistakes and give their cards a better warrant. Can you imagine how many potential customer they loose that are making the same disision as me.
Click to expand...

Rebates are actually done by individual company, so ATI has nothing to do with it. The other thing is video card rebates aren't worth much past 3 years at longest. Yes it's nice to know if the card breaks you can get it fixed, but after 3 years it will be cheaper to buy a new card than to pay the shipping cost for the RMA. The only things that really benefit from more than 3 year warranties are hard drives.

Also, ATI and Nvidia cards always tend to trade blows on different games because certain games tend to be written for one company or the other. However, for performance, ATI tends to give more power for the price. If you want raw power and have the money to spend, Nvidia is your way to go, but if you have a budget, find a good ATI card and roll with that.
 
Yeah, I found a 4850 x2 with a 2 year parts and labor and think that should be a good warranty. I will add on a 1 year full replacement for the "Justin Case clause"
 
Personally this is the card i'd go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130464 but to each there own, right now i run a 8800GT and on CSS INS and any game im running a good 150-200FPS especially on steam based games.

But just remember what you see isnt always what you get, you can always over clock a card too. Just remember that, you can also buy after market coolers for them or what not.

You could also look at the 900GTX+ series some of there cards are pretty sweet and you might beable to get 2 of em for SLI. I'v heard some decent things about there overclockability too. But like i said, its all upto you in the end, however buy EVGA great tech support (never needed it though) plus they have a upgrade option to were you could take, oh say a 8800GT and upgrade to a 9800GT and just pay the diffrence, heck i'v got a old geforce FX 5500 that is EVGA and still kicking in my old (super old) computer. AGP 8x for the win...
 
I'm not sure how the benchmarks would look... but for $250 you're are almost in the range of Crossfire or SLI if you have the slots.

Are 2 8800GTs in SLI better than a 4850x2?

Just throwing out more ideas.
 
totally agreeing with gooda on this one. Get a radeon 4890. If its not quite fast enough overclock it. those cards are beasts.
 
metro said:
I'm not sure how the benchmarks would look... but for $250 you're are almost in the range of Crossfire or SLI if you have the slots.

Are 2 8800GTs in SLI better than a 4850x2?

Just throwing out more ideas.
Click to expand...

Not sure, but i dought it 8800GT's are last gen. cards were 4850's are new gens. you'd be better going with 2 9800GTX+'s if you wanted to go that route a little more then 250$ for 2 though. Even a GTX 260 would do if you got 2 they are about the same as a 9800GTX+ and they are newer
 
FiRESAUCE said:
wait for the gtx 285 to drop sub 300 and snatch it up.. it's an amazing card really.
Click to expand...

He might be right, but if your like me once you've set to do something you're set, no questions about it, but if i'v learned anything from asking questions online it's when someone says wait, you wait....when i bought a single core processor 3 weeks later came dual core processors, when i bought a 7900GT 1 month later came the 8600 series (and above). So i'v learned patience is a virtue when it comes to PC's you could potentially save hundreds on a GPU and spend the extra on a mobo, CPU and RAM to help you along the way.

However, if you have a dual core cpu, upto date mobo (PCI-E 2.0) and good ram then you're good. Or atleast thats what I'm going to say. For all i know in 2 months PCI-E 3.0 could come out.

I guess thats were the old saying comes from "once you open you're computer its obsolete" goes for if you buy it or build it.

This is my old saying (for me really) "If i am satisfied by the performance of my computer no need to upgrade." For all that is diffrent, try Toms hardware or other benchmarking websites to help you decide if the time is right, most benchmarking websites also include info on future prospects. Just google it.

Also not saying firesauce is wrong im just stating my experience with computer buiding, for all i know he and anyone else who said other wise could be 120% correct, thats why researching it on several diffrent websites might help. PMing people or researching shady websites can help too, if they seem "shady".

<3 UnderLord (The wannabe ultimate source in computer building and upgrading, only wish i was....)
 
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UnderLord said:
However, if you have a dual core cpu, upto date mobo (PCI-E 2.0) and good ram then you're good. Or atleast thats what I'm going to say. For all i know in 2 months PCI-E 3.0 could come out.
Click to expand...


SATA 6gb is coming soon. Read it in an article talking about 480mb read/write rate SSDs.
 
UnderLord said:
He might be right, but if your like me once you've set to do something you're set, no questions about it, but if i'v learned anything from asking questions online it's when someone says wait, you wait....when i bought a single core processor 3 weeks later came dual core processors, when i bought a 7900GT 1 month later came the 8600 series (and above). So i'v learned patience is a virtue when it comes to PC's you could potentially save hundreds on a GPU and spend the extra on a mobo, CPU and RAM to help you along the way.
Click to expand...

Problem with this theory is you run into Moore's law. No matter what you do, if you spec out a top of the line build you can look at it and say well I could wait for this to drop to just about here, but by then the next level up is right about where the card you want to buy was when you started. You will never buy anything because you are just waiting for that little bit extra of a boost.

My advice, pick a brand and buy the 4850x2. It seems to be what you want and will suit you just fine for another couple of years unless you plan on running some brand new game on 1980x1200 or higher with 8xAA and other eye candy.
 
PuddinPop said:
Problem with this theory is you run into Moore's law. No matter what you do, if you spec out a top of the line build you can look at it and say well I could wait for this to drop to just about here, but by then the next level up is right about where the card you want to buy was when you started. You will never buy anything because you are just waiting for that little bit extra of a boost.

My advice, pick a brand and buy the 4850x2. It seems to be what you want and will suit you just fine for another couple of years unless you plan on running some brand new game on 1980x1200 or higher with 8xAA and other eye candy.
Click to expand...

Err, Moore's Law states that number of transistors in a component (CPU for example) will roughly double every 18 (I think) months...

~Gooda~
 
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