Ati Card

Darkphenom

I'm building a new computer and want an ATI graphics card that would be similar to an nvidia GTX 275 or GTX 285 (or whichever would be best suited to high frame rates in the latest games)Ill have a gigabyte EX58-UD4P mobo, intel i7 920, OCZ gold DDR3 1600mhz 6 gb and ill be running vista

Blazer

Currently the most powerful ATI card is the 4870X2 which is more than a match for the GTX285 and beats it in quiet a few games.
Great card..I have one of these and it's excellent.
If you prefer a single GPU card then the 4890 or 4870.

Darkphenom

what about the Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 1GB with Vapor-x although it doesnt have much of a warranty

Darkphenom

Im new to ati cards and was wondering do they have features like physx or cuda or purevideo technology similar to nvidia? - in other words can a 4890 do the same as a GtX 275 ?

Elessar

The XFX HD4890 1GB has a double lifetime warranty and is only €160 ish from hardwareversand.

The 4890 is currently the fastest single gpu card ati has. You can always Crossfire it with another 4890 is you need to. The 4870X2 is much more expensive atm.

Solitaire

Generally the HD4890 can hit clock speeds where it challenges a stock GTX285 in performance. And its usually a lot cheaper and more frugal with power to boot

All modern graphics cards boast HD acceleration and ATi also support Sound Over HDMI (they have teeny built-in sound cards for God's sake! ) Unfortunately ATi don't have a proprietary physics accelerator or GPGPU language. They seem intent on promoting open-source versions of them but said initiatives are very slow off the ground. nVidia are the kings in that respect, but for the most part you're buying slower, buggier parts for more money at the moment so if you need a proper graphics card without all the MacGuffins ATi is in the lead. But it really depends on what deals are on the day - competition is ferocious at the moment

Blazer

Physx is a pile of crap anyway.
Havok is a way better implementation of Physx as it's supported on any 3d card.
Think HL2 for example...excellent physics in that game.

PogMoThoin

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

Physx is a pile of crap anyway.
Havok is a way better implementation of Physx as it's supported on any 3d card.
Think HL2 for example...excellent physics in that game.

Yes, and Havok was an Irish company bought out 2 years ago by Intel. Intel having the market dominated are pushing game developers towards Havok, nVidia try their best to promote PhysX, but its Intel who will win in the end. The games that support PhysX are few and far between.

christophicus

Why are you limiting yourself to AMD cards ?

Darkphenom

christophicus wrote: »

Why are you limiting yourself to AMD cards ?

I started off looking at nvidia cards but then I saw how ATI cards match nvidia and are sometimes even better. Also they seem to be slightly less expensive.

uberpixie

Darkphenom wrote: »

what about the Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 1GB with Vapor-x although it doesnt have much of a warranty

the vapour-x cooler is one of the best coolers on the market and is much quieter than the reference cooler.

If I was buying new I would pay a little extra for a vapour-x version.

Darkphenom

uberpixie wrote: »

the vapour-x cooler is one of the best coolers on the market and is much quieter than the reference cooler.

If I was buying new I would pay a little extra for a vapour-x version.

Thats what I did and im looking forward to getting it soon.

TerrorFirmer

The Vapor-X edition is actually one of the cheapest on Pixmania. I got mine - a 1GB 4890 that is - for 169 euro. Currently at 950/1150 perfectly fine.

Darkphenom

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The Vapor-X edition is actually one of the cheapest on Pixmania. I got mine - a 1GB 4890 that is - for 169 euro. Currently at 950/1150 perfectly fine.

Where did you get yours?

TerrorFirmer

Pixmania....just like I said.

Solitaire

Impressed that Pix only ask a €10 premium for a HD4890 with the VaporX cooler. €179 is pretty cheap for a HD4890 with a weapons-grade cooler - probably cheaper than any GTX275 and far easier to OC to boot

Of course, now that the HD4950/70 (or HD5850/70, depending on what ATi is gonna call them) are delayed indefinitely I wonder what the rumoured "HD4890XTX" is gonna debut at... I've heard quotes of 1024MHz for the GPU and it might be the first card to run the 5GHz memory chips at their rated speed. And those are the specs that the HD4890X2 will be based on too... Poor nVidia!

TerrorFirmer

Mine is at 950/1150 rock solid, and may go further, though it seems to be luck of the draw beyond that point...it even has a little blue LED on the sapphire logo to complement the most tricked out rigs.

Darkphenom

very happy with this card!:D