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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:42 PM   #1
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4870 v GTX 260... again

I know this has been discussed before, but I have done research and I still cannot decide.

I think either these cards would be bottlenecked by my cpu, but I am planning to upgrade that in the coming months.

-I mainly play CoD4, some CSS and Half Life occasionally, TF2, Far Cry 2 in the future
-I'm not a big overclocker
-I do not want a dual card setup so the fact that my mobo is sli should not affect
my decision
-I want the quietest card possible

I have heard about problems with older source games and the 4870, do you guys know anything about this?
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:45 PM   #2
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Since you said quiet. The GTX260. The 4870 is quiet with stock fan speeds however stock fan speeds are not sufficient for proper cooling. You could however find a new card with a non-reference cooling solution on it. I have no problems with my 4 series cards and source games.
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:45 PM   #3
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4870x2. If you want to save money get 8800 GTX which can pretty much handle all those games
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:49 PM   #4
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4870x2 is too much for me and I've pretty much decided that I want one these two cards.

Thanks erocker, I read on some newegg review about the source games problem so I didn't think it was true anyway.
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:49 PM   #5
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4870 AND GTX 260 > A 8800 GTX

4870 slightly eges it over the gtx 260 so theres your answer although your cpu is bottlenecking either card, id reccomend at leats a 6000+ if you were to upgrade to a 4870 or a gtx 260 tbh
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:50 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mullered07 View Post
4870 AND GTX 260 > A 8800 GTX

4870 slightly eges it over the gtx 260 so theres your answer although your cpu is bottlenecking either card, id reccomend at leats a 6000+ if you were to upgrade to a 4870 or a gtx 260 tbh
I agree, or perhaps one of the newer 5400+ BE's. They are cheap!
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:51 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mullered07 View Post
4870 AND GTX 260 > A 8800 GTX
True but not price + performance wise.
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:55 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spearman914 View Post
True but not price + performance wise.
im sorry but the 8800gtx is 2 years old, uses more power and has an older architecture, and gets its ass well and truly spanked off both of these cards, im not all up on the dollar atm so how is it better price and perfromance wise just to enlightnen me ?

if you would rather that than a 4870 or a gtx 260 thats why there cheaper, cheaper is not always better, heck a 2900xt is cheaper still does that make it the better option ? price wise its better not price-performance
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:57 PM   #9
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TBH either will do very nicely, I can play CSS and DoDS at max everything at 19xx resolution, full 16xQAA blah blah at just 40% fan speed and that is completely inaudible, however if power is your most important thing and not noise and you dont overclock then at stock the 4870 wins, if you do overclock then there really aint anything in it as generally the 260 does tend to overclock better.

I have had my 260 for a couple of months now so I am going to give either the 4870x2 or a 1GB 4870 a try next!
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:57 PM   #10
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I have an EVGA GTX 260 "FTW" Edition (oc'd to 666 Mhz). Its absolutely whisper quiet at all times and runs cooler than the 8800 GTX that it replaced. I have a Coolermaster Stacker case (open mesh sides), so I would notice the fan if it were making any noise at all. It is bottlenecked by my CPU in certain situations (NPC heavy areas of games), so its last upgrade for this PC prior to a complete rebuild.
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 09:59 PM   #11
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honestly who reccomends a 8800gtx
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 10:05 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mullered07 View Post
honestly who reccomends a 8800gtx
An 8800GTX fanboi
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 10:11 PM   #13
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I would go with the 4870 1g.
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 10:12 PM   #14
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The two cards are virtually neck and neck. Honestly, I would pick whichever you can find cheapest. The dual slot cooler on the HD4870 is pretty quiet, as is the one on the GTX260.

Though, really, I would look for one of the GTX260's with 216 SP's, you get almost GTX280 performance for under $300.
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 11:14 PM   #15
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I agree with newtekie, GTX280@216SP pips the post for me:

1./ Same performance
2./ Quieter
3./ CUDA
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Old Oct 20, 2008, 11:31 PM   #16
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I would probably grab a 192-shader GTX 260 since they start out pretty cheap... more memory than the 4870 512MB, and I think they tend to overclock well... or at least usually.
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Old Oct 21, 2008, 12:31 AM   #17
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GTX. The last few generations of ATI cards are LOUD, unless you get one with a different cooler. My 3870 has some Zalman knock off on it and it's very quiet.
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Old Oct 21, 2008, 12:35 AM   #18
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4870 for farcry 2
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,6...=664125&page=2
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Old Oct 21, 2008, 12:38 AM   #19
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Anyone happen to be able to compare the noise of these cards to 8600gt's?
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Old Oct 21, 2008, 02:15 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fastmix View Post
I would go with the 4870 1g.
I agree....The 4870 1GB came out shortly after I bought my ASUS 4870 512mb almost 3 months ago. I love the performance I'm getting from my ASUS for the price I paid (254.00 after rebate, which I haven't received from ASUS yet ) But the upgrade from my FOXCONN 8800GTX, which was factory OC'ed to near Ultra speeds, to this 4870 is a big improvement. I do wish I waited for the 1GB version though....from reviews, the little bit extra in price seems to be worth it......

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3415&p=2

I can only comment on the 4870, since I have been running it for several months in my new system....I can't make any judgment on the GTX 260 because I don't actually own one. I can only say that from some reviews it seems to be an excellent choice also.
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Old Oct 21, 2008, 02:58 AM   #21
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Quote:
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I can only comment on the 4870, since I have been running it for several months in my new system....I can't make any judgment on the GTX 260 because I don't actually own one. I can only say that from some reviews it seems to be an excellent choice also.
Either card is going to be a good choice and any slight differences in FPS from game to game as they trade blows is going to be unnoticiable to all but the most picky person.
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Old Oct 21, 2008, 03:04 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tatty_One View Post
I have had my 260 for a couple of months now so I am going to give either the 4870x2 or a 1GB 4870 a try next!
Don't replace a 260 with a 4870 unless it's the x2.....4870 1 gig isn't "much" faster than the 192 core.
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Old Oct 21, 2008, 03:16 AM   #23
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You're right. The step up worth any drop in coin would be the x2.
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