Ati or Nvidia

[karma211]

I'm planning on ugrading my 8500gt to something more powerful for gaming. I was thinking of getting a Radeon HD 4870 because from what i've read they have been getting good reviews, plus the price is affordable. However, i've been reading reviews on the Geforce GTX 260 (which is around the same price as the 4870) which has also been getting good reviews. Some people say it's on par with the 4870, some say it's better.

What do you guys think?

 

[medjohnson77]

Depends on your motherboard, AMD chipset or Nvida? Is it made for SLI or CF? I perfer the 4870 1 gb or 2 gb grafix cards, or even the 4890 since prices just are dropping so much.

 

[Onus]

Either of those cards needs a lot more power than your 8500GT. Make sure your PSU is a quality unit. Assuming just one card, 500W-550W should be fine.

 

[Attila_the_pun]

Will you be turning up anti-aliasing?

 

[grieve]

I think both are good buys and both will be good choices.. I would be looking @ brands now...
check some reviews, not all 4870's are created equal... some are realy loud. I prefer Evga, BFG and XFX.

Personaly, i would find the best deal between the 260 and 4870 and read some reviews on that particualar card to make sure its not a screamer. I would go with the 4870... it's just personal prefrence. (I have a 4870x2)

ALSO... Make certain your PSU is up to the task.

 

[fireatwill]

http://www.frys.com/product/5883003?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Bought it last night. A well reviewed 4890 for $169.00 but ends today.

FAW

 

[karma211]

Motherboard north bridge chipset is AMD Hammer DDR2, south bridge is nforce chipset.

I already ordered a new 850 Watt PSU.

As for anti-aliasing, I rarely play games with it on. When playing games in 1280x1024 res or higher i really don't see much aliasing going on to have to play with AA.

I was looking at a Sapphire 4870 2GB for $199. The reviews were all positive

 

[darkvine]

I would suggest the 4890 which is nearly the same price. If you don't know how to overclock you can get the XFX 4890 XT factory overclock for $199. It's actually not that much more then the non-overclock one now days.