Which card offers best price/performance?

[krusha03]

Ok after I got scammed by trying to buy a card thru a local ad site here in the Netherlands I decided to go with a new card so I don't have problems like that again. Atm the best offers I could find are these (I am not in the US):

Sparkle 9800GT 1GB GDDR3 | € 85
Sapphire HD 4850 Dual Slot 512MB GDDR3 | € 89
Asus ENGTS250 512MB GDDR3 | € 105
XFX HD 4870 XXX 512MB GDDR5 | € 115

There are also 9600GTs and 9600GSOs (192bit) but they are 5 and 15 euros less than the 4830 so I think i shouldn't go with them.

My current system is:

Athlon 64 X2 4200+ @ 2.6 GHz (5000+) socket 939
Asrock 939Dual-Sata2
4x512 Geil DDR 400 @ DDR 520
7600GST
500W Psu with 2x18A@12v or 2x20A@12v I think
and a 22" LCD with native resolution 1680x1050

I know the cpu will be a bottleneck, but atm I do not have the money to upgrade the whole system. I just want to be able to play recent games at native resolution with med/high settings with or without AA/AF depending on the game. I don't need maximum eye candy.

I think the best price performance would be the HD4850, but I am not sure how much I would benefit with the 1GB of memory on this resolution. What do you think? I would guess the 4870 is a bit of overkill, but I put it there anyway. I just want to get one quick since i am leaving here next wednesday and want to get over with it.

 

[W1zzard]

at that price, the 4870

 

[angelkiller]

I converted the table into USD for the US folk.

Sapphire HD 4830 Dual Slot 512MB DDR3 | $116
Sparkle 9800GT 1GB DDR3 | $120
Sapphire HD 4850 Dual Slot 512MB DDR3 | $126
MSI 9800GTX+ 1GB DDR3 | $137
XFX HD 4870 XXX 512MB DDR5 | $155

As you can see, all the cards are pretty expensive, especially the 4830/9800GT, which goes for much less than $100. But the 4870 is only about $20 more expensive than it is here in the US. The 4870 is a good match for that resolution and you shouldn't have any trouble running the latest games. Even though the 4870 is bottlenecked by your CPU, it's still worth the money. When you upgrade the rest of your system, the 4870 will fit in fine.

Also, those cards all use GDDR3 memory. (GDDR5 for the 4870) There is a difference between GDDR3 and DDR3. Minor issue though.

 

[krusha03]

As you can see, all the cards are pretty expensive, especially the 4830/9800GT, which goes for much less than $100. But the 4870 is only about $20 more expensive than it is here in the US. The 4870 is a good match for that resolution and you shouldn't have any trouble running the latest games. Even though the 4870 is bottlenecked by your CPU, it's still worth the money. When you upgrade the rest of your system, the 4870 will fit in fine.

Yeah i know it's expensive, that's always the case here in europe. Since I plan on going to the US next year I don't wanna upgrade my system now. And beleive me these prices are the cheapest I could find in the whole Netherlands. For example the 4850 has -32% and the 4870 about -20%

Also, those cards all use GDDR3 memory. (GDDR5 for the 4870) There is a difference between GDDR3 and DDR3. Minor issue though.

I have to say I still get confused by that. Some ppl say its the same other say there is difference in performance/quality etc. I just wrote what it says on the website

 

[Asylum]

I would get the 9800GTX 1GB...But thats just me.
The extra memory should smooth your game play out!!

 

[DrPepper]

4870

Oh and DDR3 and GDDR3 are different in a few ways, nothing to with quality

 

[angelkiller]

Oh and DDR3 and GDDR3 are different in a few ways, nothing to with quality

Yeah, they're just two different types of memory. Many sites make that mistake and write DDR3 instead of GDDR3. And like I said, its a minor issue. Like an FYI thing. If it says DDR3 and it's a graphics card, you can safely assume its GDDR3. I haven't seen any graphics cards use DDR3. But some cheaper ones use DDR2. And whoever told you it has to do with quality is definately wrong. All memory store data and its the same data regardless of the memory type.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

From that list

I am not sure what site you are on, but I am sure you have your reasons. from that list I say go for either the 4870 or the 9800 GTX+. Overall, best bang for your buck would be the 9800 GTX+, but not by much.

 

[krusha03]

I am not sure what site you are on, but I am sure you have your reasons. from that list I say go for either the 4870 or the 9800 GTX+. Overall, best bang for your buck would be the 9800 GTX+, but not by much.

The biggest dutch site I know of www.tweakers.net. If you know something else please share

btw the 9800GTX+ would be same as GTS250 performance wise. I am looking at the charts and notice that if 4830 is 100% at 1680x1050 then, 4850 is 108%, GTS 250 is 118% and Hd4870 is 137%. But would I see the same performance increase with my CPU bottle-necking the card?

 

[lemonadesoda]

I converted the table into USD for the US folk.

Sapphire HD 4830 Dual Slot 512MB DDR3 | $116
Sparkle 9800GT 1GB DDR3 | $120
Sapphire HD 4850 Dual Slot 512MB DDR3 | $126
MSI 9800GTX+ 1GB DDR3 | $137
XFX HD 4870 XXX 512MB DDR5 | $155

As you can see, all the cards are pretty expensive

Look at it another way: the GPU's are very cheap. They cost the same as three games. Possibly rubbish ones. For the extra EUR 30 or $40 between the best and worst, get the best. The difference is the price of one shitty game. Read reviews before buying. Save money. Buy GPU.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

The biggest dutch site I know of www.tweakers.net. If you know something else please share

btw the 9800GTX+ would be same as GTS250 performance wise. I am looking at the charts and notice that if 4830 is 100% at 1680x1050 then, 4850 is 108%, GTS 250 is 118% and Hd4870 is 137%. But would I see the same performance increase with my CPU bottle-necking the card?

Yes, the 9800 GTX+ and GTS 250 are the exact same products. The GTS 250 cards only real difference is they are approximately 1 inch ~ 25 mm shorter.

Your CPU should not bottleneck these cards. I think if you shop around, you can find a GTS 250/9800GTX+ for a little cheaper than $137.

But like I said price/performance, the 9800 GTX+ is the best in these cards, but not by much (maybe 1 to 5% price/per, but I am guestimating). I would also consider your mobo in this decision. does your mobo have 2 PCI-E slots? if it does, are you considering SLI/Crossfire in the future?

 

[@RaXxaa@]

i dnt abt every one else bu i wud highly recommend adding a bit more money and buying radeon 4890 as it also had a $50 price drop so it shud be cheap and great money/performance ratio, also thts after u oc it

 

[MKmods]

the 4870 is an excellent card (I have 2 of them) but unless you plan on the newest games with AA and AF the 9800GT or GTS250 would be better at ur res (and draw less power and add less heat to your comp)

Personally I would get the GTS 250 or 9800GTX+ (almost the exact same card except some 250s are shorter (easier to fit inside the case) and use only one 6 pin power plug.

I would compare the 4830s to 9600GTs (both of which are excellent cards) and would also work well for your build. Just the 250 is a bit better in case you want to be safe.

 

[Homeless]

The 4850 offers the best price/performance out of all of them imo. If you are willing to spend a little more, I would opt for a 4890

 

[wolf]

s'gotta be that 1gb 9800GTX+

whats with so many votes for a 512mb card? soooo on the way out.

 

[krusha03]

It turned out they are out of the 9800GTX+ 1GB and only have GTS 250 512MB DDR3 for about the same price. So i think in the end it's between 4850 for €89 and 4870 for €115. I will edit the original post

Also if some of the moderators could edit the pool to match the new table or just remove the pool would be nice

 

[1Kurgan1]

Grab the 4850, but if you do got the money to spare grab the 4870.

s'gotta be that 1gb 9800GTX+

whats with so many votes for a 512mb card? soooo on the way out.

Dont need 1gb mem for 1680x1050. Buying a more powerful card (4850) for less is the best bet.

 

[wiak]

anything ATI 4000 series

 

[wolf]

Dont need 1gb mem for 1680x1050. Buying a more powerful card (4850) for less is the best bet.

Thats a good opinion to have but I disagree, 1680x1050 is right on the cusp of using more than 512 mb in a lot of games (especially with AF+AA)

I truely believe its worth the extra few beans to get that extra frame buffer, it will be longer before he has to start sacrificing things like IQ and resolution.

 

[Jeffredo]

About all your CPU can make use of are the HD 4830 and 9800 GT. Considering how close they are in price to the HD 4850 I would spend the few extra bucks and get that. The HD 4870 would cry in your system and unless you have some idea that you are going to get a new PC in the relatively near future there's no need to spend the extra money.

The same could be said of the HD 4850, but its so little extra money over the bottom two and at least you can make sure that in non-CPU intensive parts of games your FPS is going to be as high as it can.

Thats a good opinion to have but I disagree, 1680x1050 is right on the cusp of using more than 512 mb in a lot of games (especially with AF+AA)

I truely believe its worth the extra few beans to get that extra frame buffer, it will be longer before he has to start sacrificing things like IQ and resolution.

More like "some" games and that's with a benchmarking rig with a strong CPU. His CPU will choke before VRAM ever becomes an issue.

 

[krusha03]

The thing is the 1GB 9800GTX+ is out anyway and I would prefer getting a faster card with 512MB than a slower card with 1GB (4850 vs 9800GT) . My budget was around €80-90 and the 4850 fits perfectly. I was just wondering considering my other system spec is it actually worth it to pay the extra €25 to get the HD4870 XXX (XXX is cheaper than Standard )

 

[kurosagi01]

can you be more specific with what psu you got like the brand?? i'd go for the 4870,the memory doesn't matter to be honest,you won't notice much difference i think

 

[mosheen]

i have the sapphire hd 4850 dual slot cooler.

it does 725/1050 easily. idle-36/load-72(under furmark).

 

[krusha03]

I am pretty sure it was Spire but dont know the model, maybe it was 450w. I also had some cheap (40€) "750w" PSU laying around at home that claimed 4 rails at 12V at 20A. It was Combat Power something, some "German" brand. I bought it since it was cheap and it had bunch of conectors (1x6pin, 1x8pin, 12xSata/Molex). I could hook up that one since it has 2 years of warranty so if it blows up I can get a new one.

I cannot check since I am abroad atm

 

[mosheen]

you did say you don't need maximum eye candy.

get the 4850 just to be on the safe side. psu wattage decreases with time.