Help choosing a brand and card 4850, gts250, or 9800gtx

[bobbo1]

I am looking to buy two graphic cards for a build I am doing and wanted to get some suggestions. I am primarily going to be using this set up for business, outlook, excel, etc..., HD video, HD video blogging, stock trading with lots of charts, and I will have three 20" widescreen monitors.

I have been looking at the ATI 4850's, Nvidia GTS250's, and 9800GTX. Which brands of these should I consider? Would one of these cards be better than another? I would like to spend between $100-125 per card.

thx

 

[tulx]

I have a 9800GTX+ and it's still a good card, but now the 2xx series comes at almost the same price, so you should get some of those, I think.

About the ATI's...depend on what motherboard you have - if you go SLI/Crossfire, you need a motherboard with the respective chipset ATI/nForce. Performance-wise is the whole ATI v Nvidia just a matter of which sides fanboy you are (the same ar Intel v AMD, Xbox 360 v PS3 etc) - if you have a AMD CPU it COULD make sense to buy a ATI video card, but you won't notice any real difference.

BTW - isnt the 4870 the counterpart of most of Nvidias 2xx family?

 

[bobbo1]

From what I can tell the GTS250's are basically repackaged 9800+. I could be wrong however.

Here is my system that I am building. The cards are the last piece taht I need.

1. Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
2. GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
3. Sony CD/DVD Burner w Lightscribe
4. Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard x 1
5. Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive x 2
6. LG W2043T-PF Black 20" 5ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor x 3
7. Geek Squad 1500VA UPS/Battery Back-Up System
8. G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD
9. Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Power Supply
10. Cooler Master Strom Scout Case
11. Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU cooler


My biggest question is if ATI or Nvivia will work better with what I have.

The 4870 froma spec stand point appears to be closer to the Nvidia's 2xx family but the 4850's can be as well. Just depends on the brand, and which card. Most of these are all around the same price which is why I am having a hard time choosing.

thx

 

[FallenSniper]

The 4870 would be more power than you need for your needs. Out of the three you listed, I would recommend the 4850. That would give you the best price/performance. I really like this XFX card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351&cm_re=4850-_-14-150-351-_-Product

Double Lifetime Warranty, and it's also the 1GB version.

Just to point out, the 4870 generally performs slighty better than the GTX 260 (216).

 

[bobbo1]

Do you think that the prices of these 4850 cards will come down over the next week or so due to the shipping of the 5800 series?

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[bobbo1]

The 4870 would be more power than you need for your needs. Out of the three you listed, I would recommend the 4850. That would give you the best price/performance. I really like this XFX card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351&cm_re=4850-_-14-150-351-_-Product

Double Lifetime Warranty, and it's also the 1GB version.

Just to point out, the 4870 generally performs slighty better than the GTX 260 (216).

What do you think about this card? It is really cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127414

thx

 

[FallenSniper]

Maybe like a $10-20 decrease. Not much though.

 

[bobbo1]

Maybe like a $10-20 decrease. Not much though.

It would be a ~ $55 less for two of them after shipping. Is the XFX card much nicer than the MSI? I have not owned either brand before. Thanks for your help too.

 

[tulx]

The MSI card has a somewhat higher core clock, the XFX, on the other hand, has a higher memory clock AND 1GB or VRAM, instead of 510, so the XFX car is definitely "nicer", if the price is fine by you.
The cooling setups differ as well - generaly, the closed variant used by XFX doesn't cool the cadr itself as well as open heatpipes and fins (a la MSI), but it doesn't dump the heat into the case and heat up other components. If you have a well-ventilated case, I'd go for a open cooler, in a small and closely packed case, closed coolers would be better. But, as I said, in this case, the XFX card has more RAM so I'd take that.

 

[hunter315]

As you arent gaming all of the cards you listed are way more than you need. A 4670 is plenty of power for HD video and charts, you dont need a gaming level graphics card. 2 of these will use less power than a single 4870 and are plenty for your needs
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161252&cm_re=4670-_-14-161-252-_-Product
they are $5 more than most 4670's but their dual slot coolers will help keep everything nice and cool.

If you are picking between the 4850s, the dual slot cooler on the XFX keeps it nice and cool, i cant get mine to break 63 with furmark

 

[bliq]

The GTX 250 is essentially a rebranded 9800GTX+ so go for what's cheaper. The 4850 seems to be slightly less powerful than the 250 according to Tom's charts.

But a prior poster is on the money- if you're not gaming, your choices are serious overkill and also quite energy hungry. a couple 4350s that are about $30 each will do you fine and use less power and generate less heat and noise. As someone who uses computers all day for work and all night for gaming, silence is golden.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127436

$40 for two after rebates (don't know if you can get more than one rebate though)