Radeon 4870 1GB vs GTX 260 (Core 216)

rockal

Latest shootout here

http://www.guru3d.com/article/top-10-games-with-radeon-4870-1-gb--geforce-gtx-260-core-216-test/

Overheal

Dammit its past High Noon. I cant read it now

edit:

So the 260 is cheaper now? Oh crap, they've copped on: Its a buyers Market! Run!

Matt Simis

Lol at the performance difference in Dead Space.

Overall, surprising (but excellent news) that nvidia could do so much to improve performance, especially in the ultra resolutions where they lagged.

TerrorFirmer

Yeah the price drops are making all the difference. Before I wouldn't have touched either GTX card but now I'm considering a 216 260 over a 1gb 4870 given that it costs practically the same on some websites. I notice the GTX260 is particular good in DX9 but weakens in DX10 at the same high resolutions (look at far cry, goes from 10-12% faster to 2-3% slower) ....no bother to me, staying with XP for the near future. It was never really about the performance of the cards, just the crazy prices being charged for them.

On the other hand though, this has got to be slightly hurting Nvidia, seeing as it's much more expensive to manufacture their cards then it is for Ati. A few websites even said that when both cards were still more expensive.

edit: Actually, now I'm considering the 4850X2, that seems to be a beast for the price.

AlmightyCushion

Good to see nvidia lowering the price and becoming more competitive. Hopefully this causes ati to drop there prices a bit.

Sqaull20

I would get the gtx 260 myself, I have the 260 and had a 512mb 4870 for a few hours.Ati is great too, but overclocking was a bitch when I had it.I find the Nvidia drivers more consistent too.Ati might have been a bit faster, but it needed tlc :pac:

Sqaull20

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

edit: Actually, now I'm considering the 4850X2, that seems to be a beast for the price.

:eek:

I would have thought, you'd be sick of dual gpu's/sli.Hasnt everyone one you had broken your heart?

TerrorFirmer

Hmmm.....The 7950GX2 was a nightmare.....3870 Crossfire just flat out wouldn't work....7900GS Sli was patchy.... but apart from that, all was generally OK!

8800GTS 512mb Sli was a monster, not sure why I sold those to be perfectly honest, but 8800GS was my pride and joy as well.

It's actually being given to me as a christmas present and I'm told 500 euro is my budget, so I could afford a 4870x2, but I do want to get other stuff as well so I think a 4850x2 is a good compromise!

BadCharlie

Sqaull20 wrote: »

:eek:

I would have thought, you'd be sick of dual gpu's/sli.Hasnt everyone one you had broken your heart?

Have 2 x 4850 cards my self in cross fire. Not the same as 2 chips on the one carb but have to say my set up runs fine.

rockal

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

It's actually being given to me as a christmas present and I'm told 500 euro is my budget, so I could afford a 4870x2, but I do want to get other stuff as well so I think a 4850x2 is a good compromise!

Hold of for a few weeks and get a 55nm GTX260x2:D

Kintarō Hattori

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Good to see nvidia lowering the price and becoming more competitive. Hopefully this causes ati to drop there prices a bit.

AMD's pricing recently has been excellent which combined with the good performance of their cards is what's prompted nVidia into these price drops. I can't imagine you'll see anything more for a while.

the_syco

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

edit: Actually, now I'm considering the 4850X2, that seems to be a beast for the price.

N00b question: how much more powerful would the 4870X2 be over the 4870? I ask as SLI brings up little gain (it would seem), but would having the two GPU's on the same card bring benefits?

Matt Simis

the_syco wrote: »

N00b question: how much more powerful would the 4870X2 be over the 4870? I ask as SLI brings up little gain (it would seem), but would having the two GPU's on the same card bring benefits?

Quite misinformed there, SLI gives a massive (60 to 80% usually) performance increase (2 card or 2 GPU on 1 Card).
Similar, on games that work ok with Crossfire the X2 is considerably faster, extending its lead on the very high resolutions.
All info you need here, but note that in the below charts "4870 X2 Crossfire" is two 4870X2 cards, not one:
http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_charts/

rockal wrote: »

Hold of for a few weeks and get a 55nm GTX260x2:D

People have been saying that since August (I was looking for info on it today, yes, August!). Any real, new info on the 55nm refresh?

Silenceisbliss

so.....i has a 680i mobo. evga.

would the smart thing to do be to go for the gtx 260 or for the 1Gb hd4870?

price wise, the 4870 is still more appealing....

Matt Simis

Silenceisbliss wrote: »

so.....i has a 680i mobo. evga.

would the smart thing to do be to go for the gtx 260 or for the 1Gb hd4870?
price wise, the 4870 is still more appealing....

Look at the Guru3D VGA charts and see if your games or type of games are represented. If you have an SLI board (presume you do) then you could add another GTX later if you wanted. Lots of people ran 8800s for years by adding another even after the 9800 and GT200 series came out.

The HD4870 1GB is perfectly fine in its own right, but no longer the only logical choice now the 260 is so closely priced. Just preference, game optimizations and your platforms SLI vs Crossfire support.

EDIT: If you plan on the ATI route and want to save some cash, I have a Sapphire HD4870 512MB I want to sell (or p/x for a GTX260 or GTX280).

Silenceisbliss

cheers for the offer, but Ill pass.

i'm going to go for a hd4870 1gb model. I dont think the gtx 260 will fit in my case at 11,5". but I do want more than 512mb ram for dx10 and the looming dx10.1

Blazer

Silenceisbliss wrote: »

cheers for the offer, but Ill pass.

i'm going to go for a hd4870 1gb model. I dont think the gtx 260 will fit in my case at 11,5". but I do want more than 512mb ram for dx10 and the looming dx10.1

You're gonna be disappointed then.
Most developers are now waiting for DX11 and not bothering with DX10/DX10.1
Still the ATI cards are great value and performance is fantastic on them.

jspuds

Matt Simis wrote: »

Look at the Guru3D VGA charts and see if your games or type of games are represented. If you have an SLI board (presume you do) then you could add another GTX later if you wanted. Lots of people ran 8800s for years by adding another even after the 9800 and GT200 series came out.

The HD4870 1GB is perfectly fine in its own right, but no longer the only logical choice now the 260 is so closely priced. Just preference, game optimizations and your platforms SLI vs Crossfire support.

EDIT: If you plan on the ATI route and want to save some cash, I have a Sapphire HD4870 512MB I want to sell (or p/x for a GTX260 or GTX280).

Hi Matt

How much are you looking for the 4870?

Matt Simis

jspuds wrote: »

Hi Matt

How much are you looking for the 4870?

Havent put it up on Adverts yet, hope this is ok here.
Well the cheapest is about EUR248 on Komplett, so for a basically unused, boxed example I think 80% of retail is fair, ie about EUR200.

For no real reason, here is a photo of it on top of a GTX260:



People have the idea the Radeons are small..

TerrorFirmer

Pixmania have good prices on 4870's at the moment, their customer service is crap though.

In fact looking through a lot of their cards, some of the higher end cards are 50 quid cheaper then Komplett! (4850X2 2GB)

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/1344930/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-4870-512-mb-gdd.html

DanGerMus

Silenceisbliss, I can't see why size would dictate a choice between these cards nvidia is longer but power is at the side where as ati having theirs at the end makes them around the same realistically.
Actually looking at matts pic there 4870 could be more difficult to fit depending on how flexible your Cables are.

Matt Simis

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Pixmania have good prices on 4870's at the moment, their customer service is crap though.

In fact looking through a lot of their cards, some of the higher end cards are 50 quid cheaper then Komplett! (4850X2 2GB)

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/1344930/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-4870-512-mb-gdd.html

Indeed, last time I tried to order from them they wanted me to "fax" 2 forms of ID before even processing the order. If anyone wants to make an offer on the 4870, PM me. Im also interested in a p/x on a GTX280.


EDIT: HD4870 on Adverts now.