After reading Kyu's "4870 = win" thread I rethought my imaginary computer that I want to build. I had at first picked out a GeForce 9800 GX2 ( http://www.globalcomputer.com/appli...tails.asp?EdpNo=3830974&body=MAIN#detailspecs ) but after reading Kyu's thread I looked at the 4870 that ATI has to offer ( http://www.globalcomputer.com/appli...tails.asp?EdpNo=3947461&body=MAIN#detailspecs ). So regardless of Crysis in the GeForce deal, and regardless of the pricing between the two, which card will perform better? Games I play that the system would be used on: Age of Conan, Crysis, Warhammer Online (mainly the first two for visuals).
4870>4850>9800gtx There is a 9800GTX+ that is coming it, it is slightly better than the 4850, but not as good as the 4870. 4870 better than GTX260: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-4870,1964.html 4870 review at Hardwarecannucks: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...870-512mb-graphics-card-review.html#post64086 Once you turn on AA the ATI cards pull away from the 9800 big time.
Apparently it's somewhat game dependent as well. Games that were originally developed for the XBox 360 while also co-published for the PC are ones that the AMD/ATI cards apparently excel at, while the 9800GTX does as well or better on other games according to the benchmarks I have seen. The main thing though is the 48*0 cards are a lot cheaper still, and do great in crossfire - but they are also bigger energy hogs too.
Go check for yourself I'd say... Here. Just browse through the pages and you'll see which cards perform better, not 9800GTX+ stats on that one, though, but should still provide more than enough test results for you.
Alright then, i'll be ordering a 4870 sometime in the nearby future. Thanks Kyu, Billiard, and KillDragon. Does kinda suck that imo, Nvidia cards look more badass.
Check your motherboard as well. Be careful if you want to go multi GPU's and you have an SLI motherboard which won't support multi ATI cards and vice versa.
Yeah I tried SLI with my 2 7950's on my current set up, and either I didn't set it up properly (probably the case) or the FPS improvement was that little.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that NVidia pulls their heads out of their collective asses soon cause ATI is teh sux. Same goes for AMD...love the bastards but they are soooo lost right now.
For SLI to work efficiently, the game must support it and you must be at a high enough resolution to max out the cards.
I'd say go with ATI with caveat - that being, avoid brands HIS, Sapphire, Diamond, and go with VisionTek or even Asus if you can. Board partners for ATI are no where near the level of customer support a la evga/bfg/xfx.
