GTX 460 or Radeon 6850?

[Russosaur]

I'm more then certain there are threads about my topic but I'm comparing 2 specific cards and I'm well a noob at it :/ Thats why I turned to you guys. I have found 2 GPU's on Newegg that are both in my price range

6850:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353

GTX 460:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130565

Now on a side note I can OC the GTX 460 and or the 6850, i heard that the 460's they OC well.... for the Radeon card, at this point in time I don't play on using eyefinity. I'm just confused on price/performace is the 460 better? or the 6850? Will these cards be able to handle most newer titles at 1920x1080 maybe not maxed out but medium/high settings? I did look and see in some benchmarks that the difference is like 5% I'm not sure tho. Any help or suggestions will be awesome!! Also my PC specs if its needed is..

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100
GPU: Evga 8800GT
Mobo: Biostar H61MH
RAM: Corsair XMS3 8GB
PSU: Corsair TX650
Case: Cool Master Elite 430

I just built this computer and i was given the 8800GT That's why I do not have a better Graphics card (not saying the 8800GT is bad) , thus trying to buy a new one and learn something at the same time.

 

[Supernova1138]

At stock clocks, the two cards perform very similarly, any FPS advantage one card may have over the other would depend if the game in question favoured AMD or Nvidia cards. Either card will handle pretty much any game well at 1080p. You could probably max out all but the most demanding titles with either card.

Out of the ones you linked, the 6850 does have a better cooler with the dual fans, and it is factory overclocked, so it will perform a bit better than the stock 460 you linked to. You may also be able to further overclock that 6850 and get even better performance over the 460 you linked to, which has the reference cooler, which isn't that great at cooling, and tends to be noisy.

 

[technoviceguy]

the gtx 460 is already outdated go for the 6850

 

[Russosaur]

At stock clocks, the two cards perform very similarly, any FPS advantage one card may have over the other would depend if the game in question favoured AMD or Nvidia cards. Either card will handle pretty much any game well at 1080p. You could probably max out all but the most demanding titles with either card.

Out of the ones you linked, the 6850 does have a better cooler with the dual fans, and it is factory overclocked, so it will perform a bit better than the stock 460 you linked to. You may also be able to further overclock that 6850 and get even better performance over the 460 you linked to, which has the reference cooler, which isn't that great at cooling, and tends to be noisy.

Would you say then the 6850 at least for my needs would be sufficient? I like the look of the ref cooler for the 460, but I think the dual fans in the 6850 will give me more room to overclock would you agree? The noise isn't a bother I usually have loud music or high game volume. The GTX 460 on egg i just looked has 2 versions, one is the one i showed here and the other is another which what looks like the evga cooler here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130570. Anyway I think I'm going to go with the 6850 because of price and the Stock OC which really isn't worth paying more for because why not do it yourself? Hence why I didn't even think about the "SuperClocked" version of the card.

 

[chilypepper]

I HAVE THE SAME CASE with a 6870 though

 

[spentshells]

They are equal but if those are the choices, I would take the 6850 on cooling alone,
But personaly I have a well vented case and hate loud blower coolers

 

[Kamab]

I'd pick the 6850.

And I wouldn't overclock it unless there was a specific game that I felt like having a small increase in framerate would make a very noticeable difference (Not likely). There are many reasons you might not want to OC a graphics card yourself. Namely, if you don't know what you are doing you can put it in to a state where it is overheating and damaging itself.

 

[Russosaur]

I watch temps, my case does not have the best airflow right now hence why the rear exhaust blower design I find attractive. Even when gaming my 8800GT won't go over 64c with 65% fan speed which is not audible even when I OC it. Alright i'm going with the 6850 because it uses less power and if I decide to get a new Mobo I can crossfire. The 460 using 2 6-pin I could not...

 

[r1ahul]

Cheaper and better than the HD 6850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

Sapphire HD 6870

 

[Russosaur]

Cheaper and better than the HD 6850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

Sapphire HD 6870

Its 20$ more expensive then the other cards....I don't waste my time with rebates.

 

[Russosaur]

Would one say the 6850 would OC better because of he better cooler? Can one confirm the gigabyte 6850 has rear exhaust if not I need to spend another 40$ on fan controller and fans ugh.

 

[Russosaur]

Gah I can't really decide, I mean both will be better then my 8800gt I guess I just want the best bang for my buck I guess. I don't know why but I keep thinking the 460 will be better, whatever when x-mas rolls around il see if prices dropped.

 

[17seconds]

That Gigabyte 6850 vents exhaust inside the case.

If you are into overclocking, both overclock well, BUT the GTX 460 will deliver better performance scaling when overclocking (i.e. you will see greater FPS increases for the same overclock on the GTX 460). The shader clocks on the 460 are clocked at 2x the core speed, while the 6850 shaders are clocked at 1x the core speed.

 

[Russosaur]

by then you can get the GTX 560 and be done with this entire debate..
for the very very low price.

Which would make this debate useless, but it makes sense tho about the price drops.