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HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Building, upgrading and overclocking. Post your specs before asking for help.

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HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby BrassMonkey on Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:37 pm

Building a new rig for Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 and stuck on the card. Gaming at 1680x1050 on a 22".

HD 4870 512MB: about $270 at Newegg.
GTX 260 Core 216: about $280.

Reviews are basically a tie. Which one would you get?
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Re: HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby Trip_Wire on Thu Oct 09, 2008 7:20 pm

At 1680x1050 you can't go wrong. The 4870 runs hotter at idle (the fan profile is lazy, fix it with RivaTuner). The 260 overclocks better and you get PhysX, for the three games that use it.
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Re: HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby ctrl_alt_defeat on Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:05 pm

Or get the 4850 for $170 like I did and spend the rest on games. It's 80% of the 4870 for 60% of the money.
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Re: HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby BrassMonkey on Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:40 pm

ctrl_alt_defeat wrote:Or get the 4850 for $170

Tempting, but I'll keep this card for two years. Worth the extra.
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Re: HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby LANwolf on Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:12 am

The 4870 1GB has just come out. If you're keeping it for two years, the extra memory might matter.
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Re: HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby Trip_Wire on Fri Oct 10, 2008 12:51 pm

Good point. Also, if you go ATI, Catalyst 8.9 fixed most of the CrossFire problems. Not that you need CrossFire at 1680.
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Re: HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby dropbear on Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:15 am

For reference, a 4870 here costs AU$399. Be grateful. :evil:
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Re: HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby BrassMonkey on Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:44 pm

Went with the 4870 1GB from Sapphire. $299 with a rebate. Box arrives Thursday.
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Re: HD 4870 or GTX 260 (216)? ~$280 budget

Postby BrassMonkey on Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:20 pm

It's in. 3DMark Vantage P9842 at stock, Crysis Warhead on Gamer settings is very playable. Idle temps 78C out of the box, Trip_Wire wasn't joking. Fan profile edited, now 55C.
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