2x $200 HD4850s > $650 GTX 280

[Indybird]

Yeah thats right.

Benchmarks (http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showthread.php?t=500923)

Forum discussion (with interesting user-supplied info) (http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=290136)

http://www.abload.de/img/26xpmz.jpg

$400 worth of ATI cards manages to beat nvidia's overhyped and overpriced $650 GTX 280. Do you see that? 22fps in Crysis "Very High" Settings with 4x AA? Now thats what I'm talking about. Though 22fps isn't really playable, I don't even really need AA @ 1920x1200 so taking that off that should give me back enough frames to make Crysis @ full settings playable.

Anyway, I think I'm going to go with the HD4870 because it is supposed to be not only a lot faster than the 4850, but it has GDDR5 RAM, can overclock to 1GHz (Core), and doesn't cost too much more ($320).

What do you guys think? Is there any reason (aside from currently owning an nvidia mobo) not to get the HD4000 series over the GTX 200 series?

-Indybird

EDIT: and don't forget the HD4870X2 coming later this year...unless nvidia pulls another 9800GX2 then ATI will be the king.

[crenn]

I'm waiting until the GTX280 gets a core shrink. I'm wondering when GPU PhysX is released, if you can have one cheapish NVidia card running PhysX but have an ATi card running graphics.

[Trace]

OMG
Wow, I'm really happy now!

[Durrthock]

22fps? Don't like dual 8800gt's get like 40. That doesn't seem good at all, aside from the fact hes also running an AMD processor when intels are clearly better.

[p0Pe]

YEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH BAAAAAAABY!!!!! that is SOOO! frigging! AWSOME! glad to see ati nearing the throne once again:D

[xRyokenx]

I get around 20-40fps with everything on high except for Textures (Very High), Shaders (Very High), Shadows (Very High), Physics (Medium), and Sound (Very High)... and 4xAA. If I could OC this CPU I would, but it's been a little stubborn lately so i haven't touched it. /somewhat OT

I think the ATi cards are nicer. I had an 8500GT in my rig but I upgraded and love my 3870.

[p0Pe]

yeah but in 1920*1200 res? :P

[xRyokenx]

No, 1280x1024, the max of my monitor, lol. Forgot to add that. :P

[Durrthock]

No one finds it at all questionable that this is some random website in like german

[Indybird]

No one finds it at all questionable that this is some random website in like german

No not really; the user proves they have the cards, and proceeds to benchmark a number of games.

Heres another (http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=290626) (or the same possibly) benchmark off of Anandtech.

-Indybird

[Durrthock]

Also the boxes in the pic clearly say 512mb GDDR3 I thought is was supposed to be GDDR5?

[Indybird]

Also the boxes in the pic clearly say 512mb GDDR3 I thought is was supposed to be GDDR5?

The 4850s are GDDR3, wheras the 4870s are GDDR5. Since ATI is having trouble with low production of GDDR5 currently the HD4870s won't be coming out @ the same time as the 4850s; they estimate early July for the 4870s.

-Indybird

[Vexxx_2007]

OMG awesome!! that's so good to hear and it's relatively cheap for a crossfire setup :)
now i want some 4870's in my next build :)
$400 isn't that much for a super high-end rig is it?
no sir..

[Indybird]

4850s are in stock and available! (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?p=192395#post192395) (for now).

-Indybird