GTS250 or HD4850???

[tttony]

Hi, Im building my PC on amazon.com:

cpu+mobo+gpu+psu+ddr3 = ~550$ (with shipping included)

PII X3 720
http://www.amazon.com/Amd-Phenom-II-...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Asus-M4A78T-E AM3
http://www.amazon.com/Asus-M4A78T-E-...A2YLYLTN75J8LR

Corsair TW3X4G1333C9 XMS3 4GB DDR3
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-TW3X4G...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

OCZ OCZ600SXS StealthXStream 600W
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-OCZ600SXS-...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I need your help with GPU between Nvidia GTS250 512MB or Ati 4850 512MB or some better card for ~130$

Im a casual gamer I plays GTA4, Mafia, NFS series, MidNight Club, some sport games maybe with this resolution 1280x1024 (maybe Im going to buy a monitor 19' or 22')

thanks xD

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

4870 = $140 after 15 MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161268

[B.E.E.F.]

The GTS250 is a 9800GTX which is a 8800GTX.

Either HD4870, HD4850, HD4350, or HD4770. The HD4770 is the newest one. Cheap, fantastic overclocker and it runs cool with little power because its built on the 40nm process vs 55nm for the rest.

I'd get the HD4770 if you can find it. It retails at $110 but should reach $100 soon. You can overclock to HD4870 speeds, but at less power and heat! It should beat the GTS250 easy at those speeds.

Now if you REALLY want an AM3 motherboard then go for it. There's no point because DDR3 makes a 5% performance difference at most.

There's a AM2/AM3 hybrid board by Gigabyte that should be great. Cheap DDR2 support and you can upgrade to DDR3 later if you want.

The board:
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?op...13404&Itemid=1

If I were you, I would skip on the DDR3, go for DDR2 instead and use the money for a PhenomII X4 940. Better performance overall.

You also don't need such a beefy power supply unless you want to do Crossfire. You can do with 300-400W for a system like that. ~600W for dual GPU Crossfire.

[zanzabar]

The GTS250 is a 9800GTX which is a 8800GTX.

Either HD4870, HD4850, HD4350, or HD4770. The HD4770 is the newest one. Cheap, fantastic overclocker and it runs cool with little power because its built on the 40nm process vs 55nm for the rest.

I'd get the HD4770 if you can find it. It retails at $110 but should reach $100 soon. You can overclock to HD4870 speeds, but at less power and heat!

its a 8800gts not gtx, the gtx was g80 but the gts512/gt are g92. and i would go 4770 or 4870

[tttony]

Thanks to all

@SNiiPE_DoGG LOL that 4870 look good but I can only buy on amazon because Im from South America

@B.E.E.F.

I appreciate your help, some forums recommend me the GTS250, the 4770 card 100-110$ I think that is good price

I think its very good idea has a AM3 with DDR3 memory support because the memory is cheap (amazon 66-62$ 2x2GB) now

That MSI mobo look good but is expensive for me 180$ amazon, the Asus-M4A78T-E AM3 mobo 148$ I think asus its good brand

I thought buy the PhenomII X4 940 but now maybe change some parts I have a limit of 550$ with shipping to miami

thank to all again

[B.E.E.F.]

Dude. I ca get 4GB of DDR2 for $30-40CAD. DDR3 is more expensive for no gain. You will not see a difference in performance for the PhenomII.

I would forget about DDR3 and get 8GB of DDR2 for the same price. Either that or go with 4GB of DDR2 and a PhenomII X4. You will see a difference in performance with these options.

DDR3 makes more of a difference, although small, on the PhenomII X4 955BE, the AM3 one.

[OverDozeD]

Its simple
Just look at guru3d's tests and choose what you want

I voted 4 GTS250

[B.E.E.F.]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3553&p=7

[perkam]

Just buy an XFX 4850: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150337

That way you won't feel bad about going ATI

Perkam

[tttony]

@B.E.E.F. thanks for your help, I think that you have right with ddr2 memory, now Im building a PC with PHII X4 940, (Mobo I dont know Im looking for a mobo with AM2+/AM3 socket), 4770 (maybe), OCZ PSU, DDR2 800MHZ 2x2GB

@perkam I think the 4850 is good card but also its old, GTS250 its more refresh and 4770 its much refresh

thanks to all, I see the 4850 winning here but some forums recommend me GTS250 and other 4770

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

your kidding right??? the GTS 250 = 9800gtx ~= 8800 gts 512mb its one of the oldest cards currently still in production LOL

[B.E.E.F.]

GTS250 its more refresh

LOOOL!!

The thing is like 3 years old!

[Shadowmage]

your kidding right??? the GTS 250 = 9800gtx ~= 8800 gts 512mb its one of the oldest cards currently still in production LOL

Obviously the GTS250 is the most refreshed, since it has refreshed its name 3 times vs. the 4850's 1!


OP: People like you are why NVIDIA keeps on name-changing their GPUs...

[tttony]

then gts250 card is very old, pffffffff I didnt know, I thought that because the nomenclature say me something about the gen cards but I see that is not like that

[zanzabar]

then gts250 card is very old, pffffffff I didnt know, I thought that because the nomenclature say me something about the gen cards but I see that is not like that

thats what NV wants u to think thats why the kept renaming them

[B.E.E.F.]

then gts250 card is very old, pffffffff I didnt know, I thought that because the nomenclature say me something about the gen cards but I see that is not like that

This is why nVidia makes so much money. I can't wait until they rebadge it again next year. Clever naming schemes.

[BAMBI]

If buying now then id go 4850 if u can wait a few weeks till the 4770 drops in price then go 4770! though 4870 and GTX 260 prices seem to be dropping too.

[daseto]

GTS 250. If you look around the net at lots of different reviews, you will come to find out that the GTS 250 is better in power consumption and frame rates than ATI's power hungry 4850. Lots of the ATI biased review sites like Anandtech and Xbit Labs enable the Physx support that the newer nvidia drivers use to offload physx processing from the cpu in turn causing the fps to drop in games that support that feature. It is a simple setting that can skew results by 10-15%. If you read through those type of reviews you have some of the WTF moments when suddenly a game shows up that the GTS 250 simply trounces the ATI cards even though the ATI cards are producing playable frame rates, it is due to those settings that dont work on those games as to why the GTS 250 suddenly kicks ass.

The GTS 250 has been refreshed alot, but every time it refreshes, it gets a bit better. Really i cant blame Nvidia for doing what they are doing. They have squeezed lots of performance out of a nice gpu, found ways to simplify the pcb and shrink it down from the monstrosity it was, cut the power consumption down to more than 30w less than the 4850 at idle and load and getting the pcie power connectors down to one. Sure some companies take their older cards that they couldnt sell, flash their bios to change the name and slap a new sticker on the reference cooler and sell it as if it was the same card. The end result is that the true GTS250 is more than a simple rebranding of the name, it is more akin to a new stepping for a cpu than anything else.

If you want good reviews of vid cards that are just about as unbiased as you can get, try hothardware.com

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

I think your confusing PCB with STICKER because a 9800gtx+ is more letters on the sticker than the GTS 250... because thats the ONLY difference....

[STEvil]

GTS 250. If you look around the net at lots of different reviews, you will come to find out that the GTS 250 is better in power consumption and frame rates than ATI's power hungry 4850. Lots of the ATI biased review sites like Anandtech and Xbit Labs enable the Physx support that the newer nvidia drivers use to offload physx processing from the cpu in turn causing the fps to drop in games that support that feature. It is a simple setting that can skew results by 10-15%. If you read through those type of reviews you have some of the WTF moments when suddenly a game shows up that the GTS 250 simply trounces the ATI cards even though the ATI cards are producing playable frame rates, it is due to those settings that dont work on those games as to why the GTS 250 suddenly kicks ass.

The GTS 250 has been refreshed alot, but every time it refreshes, it gets a bit better. Really i cant blame Nvidia for doing what they are doing. They have squeezed lots of performance out of a nice gpu, found ways to simplify the pcb and shrink it down from the monstrosity it was, cut the power consumption down to more than 30w less than the 4850 at idle and load and getting the pcie power connectors down to one. Sure some companies take their older cards that they couldnt sell, flash their bios to change the name and slap a new sticker on the reference cooler and sell it as if it was the same card. The end result is that the true GTS250 is more than a simple rebranding of the name, it is more akin to a new stepping for a cpu than anything else.

If you want good reviews of vid cards that are just about as unbiased as you can get, try hothardware.com

Man, i'm not even going to bother giving you an infraction for baiting or fanboyism.

[TheCool]

I have an hd4870 1gb and have had no problems with drivers or performance from my card. It still has the aftermarket cooler on it and yet it doesn't go above 55C under load. All I did was replace the stock thermal paste with ocz freeze.

I guess my point in telling you this is that you shouldn't have any anxiety about going with ati. My card before this was a 9800gt and it ran hotter and noisier than my 4870. I'm not saying all nvidia cards are worse than ati cards or anything of the sort. I'm just saying that in my experience, ati makes a good product that I'm quite happy with.

[daseto]

Man, i'm not even going to bother giving you an infraction for baiting or fanboyism.

baiting? fanboyism? Where did i do any of that? Is there a problem that i actually know about what has changed with each itteration of the G92 core and the top end card that it sits in? The 8800GTS was a sweet card but power hungry. The 9800GTX was the refresh of the 8800GTS which was a clock speed bump by adding another power connector and making it suck down more juice. The 9800GTX+ was another refresh that did only a clock speed and mem speed bump, and a few manufactures (one i know as evga) managed to get the pcie connectors down to one. Then comes the GTS 250, where it is another clock speed bump with the power connector back down to 1, the pcb shortened and a few other small changes in the power subsystem.

All you have is a company getting the most out of its gpus. It got premium price for the 8800GTS and the 9800GTX and GTX+ when they first came out, and now that the GTS 250 is out it is selling in the $100-$150 range for both the 512mb and 1gb versions which only the GTS 250 has, the latter refreshes were at 512mb only.

Im not saying the 4850 is a bad card, it was the better choice when it was competing against the 9800GTX and the GTX+ simply because it drew less power, ran cooler, and mainly edged those cards out in benchmarks. The GTS 250 shifts things to its favor now that it runs cooler, draws less power and edges out the 4850 in benchmarks. If you see a GTS 250 getting trounced real bad, it is more than likely the reviewers turned on the physx option. When you find a review that has that turned off, the GTS 250 then swaps victories in games with the not winning as many 4850 which is what is supposed to happen with cards that are similar in performance.

[NaMcO]

ATI did the same with the 4870. The 4890 is a better RV770 chip, different name. Is there anyone complaining? Not me. Well done nVidia and GTS250, if you're not informed, read more.

[lee143]

baiting? fanboyism? Where did i do any of that? Is there a problem that i actually know about what has changed with each itteration of the G92 core and the top end card that it sits in? The 8800GTS was a sweet card but power hungry. The 9800GTX was the refresh of the 8800GTS which was a clock speed bump by adding another power connector and making it suck down more juice. The 9800GTX+ was another refresh that did only a clock speed and mem speed bump, and a few manufactures (one i know as evga) managed to get the pcie connectors down to one. Then comes the GTS 250, where it is another clock speed bump with the power connector back down to 1, the pcb shortened and a few other small changes in the power subsystem.

All you have is a company getting the most out of its gpus. It got premium price for the 8800GTS and the 9800GTX and GTX+ when they first came out, and now that the GTS 250 is out it is selling in the $100-$150 range for both the 512mb and 1gb versions which only the GTS 250 has, the latter refreshes were at 512mb only.

Im not saying the 4850 is a bad card, it was the better choice when it was competing against the 9800GTX and the GTX+ simply because it drew less power, ran cooler, and mainly edged those cards out in benchmarks. The GTS 250 shifts things to its favor now that it runs cooler, draws less power and edges out the 4850 in benchmarks. If you see a GTS 250 getting trounced real bad, it is more than likely the reviewers turned on the physx option. When you find a review that has that turned off, the GTS 250 then swaps victories in games with the not winning as many 4850 which is what is supposed to happen with cards that are similar in performance.

If you look at BEEF's post up there, the HD4850 wins in performance over the GTS 250, as well as having better power consumption. I don't see how you call Anand an ATI-biased site since it's given performance crowns to both Nvidia and ATI in the past.

[daseto]

If you look at BEEF's post up there, the HD4850 wins in performance over the GTS 250, as well as having better power consumption. I don't see how you call Anand an ATI-biased site since it's given performance crowns to both Nvidia and ATI in the past.

Reading one single review doesnt mean you get the whole picture. If you read review after review of the GTS250 and 4850 where both cards are compared against one another there are only a few sites that show the 4850 better than the GTS 250, and if you look closely at the specs of those particular GTS 250s, they are literally 9800GTX+'s with a bios flash and a new sticker.

Anandtech is a site that i stopped going to and even considering their reivews worth anything since i called them out on their reviewing practices where they had nvidia cards vs ATI cards in games where the ATI cards didnt have SM 3.0 yet the nvidia cards could run it and the tests were run in that mode, completely skewing the results for those tests. I stated what i found nicely in a comment on their review and my id was promptly banned and my ip as well along with a nasty email from them. They were trying to find a way to spin the ATI cards as good at that point in time when they were getting hurt bad by nvidia. Them and xbit were the only places that did the exact same thing and at least xbit went and edited their review to add in the tests run the correct way and explained what happened.

The whole idea of reviews is to inform people, not persuade them to one camp or the other.