Nvidia gx2 vs nvidia 260

[goku1946]

ok.dell is offering me a 1792mb nvidia geforce gtx 260.now i want to compare this card vs stock nvidia geforce gtx 260 vs core 216 edtion and ati 4890 vs 9800gx2.which is better out of these cards?

 

[shadow187]

9800GX2

 

[goku1946]

yeah but it only has 1024mb video ram.the gtx has 1792mb

 

[Mousemonkey]

I'd go for the GTX260 myself because I'm not a fan of the SLi-on-a-stick cards.

 

[jennyh]

The 4890 of course.

1) It's the fastest card here.

2) It's probably the cheapest card here.

3) It consumes less/same power as the 260 and a lot less than the gx2.

 

[goku1946]

but does the 1792mb version with 192 core make the gtx 260 powerful than 896mb gtx 260 core 216?

 

[jennyh]

No not really. You might get 1-2 extra fps at very high resolution (ie 2560x1600) but otherwise there is no need at all for almost 2gb on a single graphics card.

 

[goku1946]

yeah but does the 1792mb 192 core edition get more fps than 896mb core 216 edition coz if the 896mb 216 edition has more fps than i would get that one.

 

[jennyh]

Not a chance, the 216 will always beat the 192 regardless of memory.

 

[goku1946]

k.my friend has a 896mb gtx 260 but while playing gta 4 he says that he cant increase the graphic settings as it crosses 896 mb while on his other desktop where he has 1792 mb version he can increase the settings to highest
on 1792 version gta 4 shows
1563mb used/1792
1000mb used/896 on core 216 edition

 

[jennyh]

He might be able to increase the settings on GTA 4 with a double memory card, but that will just make it run even slower.

 

[goku1946]

with draw distance 100 and everything else on 100 he got 40 fps in gta 4 on an average.but with core 216 edition he could only get 15 fps with same settings.

 

[Mousemonkey]

with draw distance 100 and everything else on 100 he got 40 fps in gta 4 on an average.but with core 216 edition he could only get 15 fps with same settings.

Are both machines using identical CPU's?

 

[goku1946]

his core 216 edition has the amd phenom 2*4 965 while his 192 core gtx 260 has intel core i7 860

 

[jennyh]

Same screen resolution etc?

 

[goku1946]

1920*1080 both

 

[Mousemonkey]

See if you can get him to swap the cards around, if the results are the same then you will know that the AMD rig is not as fast as the Intel rig.

 

[jennyh]

Ah wait I remember. Didnt gta 4 have that thing where it just didn't work at high resolution with cards below 1gb memory?

It's not the processor, the Phenom II is faster if anything.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/GTA-IV-1.0.3,1402.html

 

[Mousemonkey]

Ah wait I remember. Didnt gta 4 have that thing where it just didn't work at high resolution with cards below 1gb memory?

It's not the processor, the Phenom II is faster if anything.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/GTA-IV-1.0.3,1402.html

Although if GTA4 can run more than 4 threads then the i7 is going to be better than the Phenom, 4 Vs 8.

 

[jennyh]

It's likely drivers or needing a fresh install tbh.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I've seen quite a few articles and posts from people saying that GTA4 is almost unplayable on a dual core so if it likes cores, real or virtual, then the i7 is going to win the fight, and the drivers are Nvidia ones and as such unlikely to be the problem. [:mousemonkey]

 

[jennyh]

Did you even look at the benchmark? The Phenom II 965 BE is faster than the i7 860 in gta 4 and that's a fact.

I read that the draw distance can be increased with larger memory gpu's, which is something that I wasn't aware of until now.

So for this game and probably this game alone, a larger memory card could help.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Did you even look at the benchmark?

It's at 12 x 10 so I ignored it.

 

[jennyh]

Just a little heads up but low resolution generally favours faster cpu's and higher resolution favours faster gpu's.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Interesting you should say that considering the arguing that was going on over in the CPU forum about that.

@OP Try swapping the cards over, see if the frame rates follow the card or stay with the respective rigs as it'll take ten minutes and give you a definite answer. It may well be the extra Vram or it might be the CPU.