ATI 4850 or Nvidia 9800 GTX

[Joshbad]

Hello I was going to buy one of the graphics card stated above, ATI HD 4850 or Nvidia 9800 GTX.

Which one do you think i should get?

I'll be playing:

Crysis for sure
RTS games such as World in Conflict and Starcraft 2 when it comes out
Call of duty games mainly World at war and the upcoming Modern warfare 2

 

[g3force]

Hello I was going to buy one of the graphics card stated above, ATI HD 4850 or Nvidia 9800 GTX.

Which one do you think i should get?

I'll be playing:

Crysis for sure
RTS games such as World in Conflict and Starcraft 2 when it comes out
Call of duty games mainly World at war and the upcoming Modern warfare 2

What's your system specs?

 

[Joshbad]

What's your system specs?

Q6600 @ 3.0 GHZ
4 GB RAM clocked at 1066
600 Watt power supply, plenty of power for either card
X-fi Titanium sound card
Currently a 9500 GT

did i leave anything out?

 

[belial2k]

what resolution do you intend to run at?

 

[Joshbad]

what resolution do you intend to run at?

1680x1050 is the resolution i would run at.

 

[ahslan]

i say 4850...but my opinion is biased...lol

 

[Joshbad]

i say 4850...but my opinion is biased...lol

I was leaning on the 4850 looks like it has slightly faster clock rates while its a bit cheaper, also it seems it can run really cool and have good OC potential with custom fan controls setting them at around 50% am i correct? My speakers are always VERY loud so fan sound doesnt bother me one bit, its always masked by the video game sounds so i dont care if it makes alot of sound at higher fan speeds.

 

[g3force]

1680x1050 is the resolution i would run at.

What's the motherboard in your system? If you're using a motherboard supporting Crossfire or SLI, it would be a good idea to pick a card that would allow for a second card to be added in future.

Just a heads up, theres a 4870 512 MB up for grabs on NewEgg for $120 before shipping, thats $5 more than the cheapest GTS 250 (with competent reviews), possibly $15 depending on shipping charges.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125225

 

[swifty_morgan]

With either one of those cards running at that res..... Crysis, not gonna happen at a reasonable setting to see what the game has to offer. You'll be playing at 1024x768 with some settings on medium. You have some decent hardware. Why dumb it up with a soso card ? Get a 1gig 4870 ( minimum ), a 4890 1gig or a GTX260/275. A 1gig 4870 is only $150 right now.
And I think you forgot to mention opsys......... but that doesn't change my opinion.

 

[inspector71]

With either one of those cards running at that res..... Crysis, not gonna happen at a reasonable setting to see what the game has to offer. You'll be playing at 1024x768 with some settings on medium. You have some decent hardware. Why dumb it up with a soso card ? Get a 1gig 4870 ( minimum ), a 4890 1gig or a GTX260/275. A 1gig 4870 is only $150 right now.
And I think you forgot to mention opsys......... but that doesn't change my opinion.

Actually i hear nothing but good good things about the 4850 and it is one of the top 10 cards out there and is currently ranked 8th with a great price.

 

[swifty_morgan]

You obviously have your heart set on the 4850. If that's whAt you want, buy it. I had a 4870/512 card and I used it @16x10 to play Crysis......... take it from somebody who's been down that road........... get a 1gig card like I posted above. I have had 8 higher end cards and many mid range and low end junk go through my hands so far this year. Take my advice........ screw the 4850.

 

[inspector71]

I got 2 4850's for my new build already thats why i asked on my crysis topic how the 2 card would play the game at highest resolution and settings.4850x2

 

[neon neophyte]

i always sort of cringe when i see 2x4850... or 4850x2.

its like, the budget card that decided not to be budget. its messy.

 

[inspector71]

i always sort of cringe when i see 2x4850... or 4850x2.

its like, the budget card that decided not to be budget. its messy.

It's a dam good card thank you.

 

[neon neophyte]

It's a dam good card thank you.

except when its not. that card pops up with more problems than any other. (4850x2) seriously. the forums are full of people with issues.

 

[belial2k]

lol...where did the all the 4850 haters come from? I use them all the time in builds, and rarely have issues with any of them. A lot of problems with crossfire and sli come from people who don't set them up properly. A single 4850 will run almost any game on high at lower resolutions (assuming a good cpu). Crysis will run smooth on Med. settings, and if you add a second 4850 it will run easily on high settings. Crysis is hardly a typical game, so unless you want to blow an extra $800 bucks to play that one game and get two gtx295s its a waste to get more than two 4850s.

 

[swifty_morgan]

This should make your decision a little easier.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161244

The guys playing at 16x10 and you drop a 512 card on him. I thought you were smarter than that ? Good price by the way but not for his needs.

 

[neon neophyte]

+1 swifty. 1680x1050 is worthy of a 1 gb card.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Normally I would let this drop but........... I game at his resolution and That card isn't enough for many games. And newer games are going to be more demanding........ Try and say they're not.
And if he wants to take your word for it... ( somebody who buys one card every few years and thinks it's the best in the world because you don't know any better )..... well then he's going to screw himself. COD4 isn't that demanding. All you have to do is read benchmarks covering a slew of mid range video cards. What happens 6 month's from now when the next great game comes out and the 4850 card tanks because his hardware can't handle it ? Play at 800x600 with all the goodies turned down ?? Get real here.
I wish the 4850 would be a diamond in the rough. I'd have 2 in cross fire right now. But I know what my needs are and those cards can't give it to me. Why should I encourage him to piss his money away on sub par hardware ?

 

[Bluescreendeath]

^ Crysis lags not just cuz it's poorly written, but because it truly does have some impressive and hardware intensive graphics.

So bad coding + really intensive graphics = low fps

 

[inspector71]

Normally I would let this drop but........... I game at his resolution and That card isn't enough for many games. And newer games are going to be more demanding........ Try and say they're not.
And if he wants to take your word for it... ( somebody who buys one card every few years and thinks it's the best in the world because you don't know any better )..... well then he's going to screw himself. COD4 isn't that demanding. All you have to do is read benchmarks covering a slew of mid range video cards. What happens 6 month's from now when the next great game comes out and the 4850 card tanks because his hardware can't handle it ? Play at 800x600 with all the goodies turned down ?? Get real here.
I wish the 4850 would be a diamond in the rough. I'd have 2 in cross fire right now. But I know what my needs are and those cards can't give it to me. Why should I encourage him to piss his money away on sub par hardware ?

Ummmmmm Hi Mr Swifty, I think the 4850 just a little..... or just a tad i should say is better than just a mid range card dude. I mean common that card has some really good ratings.

 

[swifty_morgan]

I hate posting benchmarks because some times I disagree with them but in this case......... also take note the cards being tested and the green bars are 1680x1050... am I missing something ??

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gainward-hd4850-1024mb-gs.html

 

[inspector71]

Ok swifty you made your point. But all those cards on those charts are great cards no matter which ones are faster.But for people who like to build nice solid computers with a bad economy at least here in the U.S. the 4850 is the way to go.

 

[belial2k]

I can show you charts all over the net that show 2 4850s outperform a gtx285...and you can buy them for under $200 for the pair. I can't think of any game that won't run smoothly @ 16 x 10 with two 4850s. You might have to tweak a few settings on Crysis, but that is true for any video cards unless you want to drop over $1000 on gpu's. That small graphical difference is certainly not worth $800 to me.

 

[swifty_morgan]

The expense isn't totally true. I have an MSI Lightning running at 675/2200+. At 1680x1050 on enthusiast settings in Crysis I can use 8aa and not get a hiccup. ( card has 1792 video memory ) At 16Q it spits and sputters like an 896 card without aa enabled. The card cost me $300 when it first came out.