GTX460 or Radeon6850 which should i get?

[lazaro911]

Should i buy a GTX460 or a Radeon 6850? The gtx has lifetime limited warranty while the radeon is 5 bucks cheaper.
Ill be gaming at 1440x900 resolution, im getting it for BF3

 

[samuelspark]

Gigabyte Radeon 6850. The best performance while consuming the least power. It'll most definitlely be able to run bf3 maxed on your resolution.

 

[4745454b]

I don't like lifetime warranties. Keep in mind BFG gave its cards lifetime warranties, have you tried getting them to honor it recently? Besides, lets say your 5year old card broke recently. Assuming we are still using the same slot, do you really want a new equivalent of a 5yo card?

As they said, just buy the cheaper. It should have a "long enough" warranty, anything around 3years or so is fine. Long enough to make sure the card doesn't die as soon as you use it. If it dies 5+years from now, just buy a new one. It will be so much faster and power efficient that it will be money well spent.

 

[Canuck1]

I don't like lifetime warranties. Keep in mind BFG gave its cards lifetime warranties, have you tried getting them to honor it recently? Besides, lets say your 5year old card broke recently. Assuming we are still using the same slot, do you really want a new equivalent of a 5yo card?

As they said, just buy the cheaper. It should have a "long enough" warranty, anything around 3years or so is fine. Long enough to make sure the card doesn't die as soon as you use it. If it dies 5+years from now, just buy a new one. It will be so much faster and power efficient that it will be money well spent.

I'm not the OP but I like your logic!

I was trying to determine whether to get a 460 or 6850 just like the OP. But, I thought of going for a more expensive EVGA 460 with limited lifetime warranty. But, you have a good point, imho!

As long as it has the typical 3 yrs, if it doesn't die before then, it should be fine unless you mess with voltages and any overclocking, you are at risk anyway.

I still don't know which card to go for, though.

I know this site is UK-based but in Canuck land, prices are like this:
used: 460 1gb - $100 (rare to find - usually scooped up quick)

new: 460 1gb - $160 (3 yr warranty versions - all brands)
6850 1gb - $120 (requires exta $$ until you obtain your rebate) so maybe $150 b/f rebate?

I'm leaning towards the 460 for a few reasons but I'm open to suggestions and evaluations by others on this one!

The OP might be interested in replies and followups, too?

 

[Canuck1]

P.S. My res is 1680 x 1050...

OP might want to move to this res.... it seems to be the min. benchmark used along with 1920*1080?

 

[lazaro911]

I just bought a 6850 because its better than the 460 in all aspects. Andatech.com bench

 

[4745454b]

And even before rebate it's still cheaper. Unless you play any of the few PhysX titles you might as well get the cheaper better performing card.

 

[DRMB]

I was just about to make a thread about this, but as I'm in a similar situation I'll just put what I had typed up here:

"Upgrading from 8800GT, HD 6850 vs. GTX 460

I found a few good deals online for graphics cards and decided it was time for an upgrade, but would like some opinions on my options. Here are the cards that I am looking at (the prices are all about the same, but I'll list them anyways), and note that I will be probably be overclocking w/ the stock cooling:

- PowerColor AX6850 1GBD5-DH Radeon HD 6850 1GB ($127)
- XFX HD-685X-ZNFR Radeon HD 6850 1GB ($132)
- ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB ($130)
- MSI N460GTX Hawk GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB ($143)

Current Specs:
- 8800GT 512 MB @ 702/1728/999 (may put it back to stock clocks and use it as a dedicated physX processor)
- 750W PSU
- Core 2 Quad Q6600 OC'd to 3.2 GHz (can go up to ~3.4)
- nForce 650i chipset (can't remember mobo off the top of my head, and I'm not at home)
- 3GB DDR2-800 RAM
- all stock cooling"

Edit: I won't actually be ordering from newegg, it was just more convenient to link everything from one site.