Please help me with choosing either ATI 4850 512mb or Nvidia GTS 250 512mb

[matt445]

I want to upgrade my geforce 8800GS 384mb to either ati 4850 512mb or gts 250 512mb.

i cant afford the 1GB version of both cards as they are way more expensive in here where i live.

so which one is better?

I couldnt find any review for GTS 250 512mb version. the gts 250 1gb version seems to be faster than 4850 in most bechmarks but i dont know about the 512mb version.

what do u think? which card is better buy???

ati 4850 has 800 shader ps , does it mean it will cope better with future shader intensive games than gt2 250 or not??

Thanks.

 

[eidairaman1]

Cough GTS is just a Rebag of the 9800 series, and the 9800 series are just a slight tweak of the 8800 series, so your basically wasting money for a GTS 200 series card.

 

[Fleck]

Yeah and it takes a 4870 to REALLY beat a 9800GTX+

 

[matt445]

so u mean its not worth it? I cant afford 4870. its too expensive.

So u mean 4850 is better??

How come ati 4850 isnt fast considering it has 800 SP whereas 9800gtx+ or gts 250 only has 128 and they are faster???????

 

[eidairaman1]

because the SPs are on a seperate clock tick for the GF, ATI went with physical Amt of SPs where NV used a clock tic, if AMD were to do the same then the SPs would leave the NV parts in the dust, btw 1GB 4850s are out, so you may consider those aswell.

 

[Flibolito]

I disagree, the GTS 250 is the better choice.
Yes, the design stems from the 8800 series, but it is very well tuned and a proven performer.
Since the renaming it has changed a lot, Die shrink, better RAM, and a better PCB (smaller) yielding better temps and efficiency. Both the 4850 & GTS 250 are great cards for the money but seeing how the GTS is as cheap as it is. If both are the same price I would go with the 250, but if you can find the 4850 for $10+ cheaper go with it. The 1GB versions also only yield minor performance increases since the BUS between the GPU and the ram is not large enough to accommodate more than 512mb at a fast rate.

 

[eidairaman1]

well if pricing between 512 and 1GB versions are not that much diff id go with More ram.

My card is 2-3 Gens behind the latest models and still is a competitive part

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_3650

look at Gaming Benchmarks, and then the card in my system specs. Synthetic Benches like 3DMark06 are not games.

Wile E can attest to the Ram deal and ill contact him to have him post his 2 cents

 

[Flibolito]

The resolution also matters. If you actually end up needing more than 512mb of ram due to resolution, the GPU of either card will most likely struggle with the games coming out this year at that resolution. In some games the ATi cards handle AA better than the NV cards but some games are the opposite. So I tend to look at resolution to see how much RAM will benefit.

 

[eidairaman1]

other point being


those with the 8800GTS 640 are enjoying things now thx to the additional Ram amt, same with the 8800GTX users (which still beat the 512MB GTS 512 stock for stock and then clock for clock.)

 

[matt445]

I live in New Zealand. so my options are limited and things are more expensive.

I have an ordinary CRT monitor. and my max resolution is 1600*1200. and i dont use AA or AF in any games. maybe 2AA if the performance allows. I like to play at my native resolution. and AA or AF are not important to me.

ATI 4850 1GB costs $414 NZD. whereas a Palit AT 4850 or HIS 4850 512mb costs $305 NZD.

Geforce GTS 250 512mb costs $325 and the 1GB version costs $474 NZD

So you see the large price gap. and i cant afford those expensive prices.

So what do you think? Which card is ideal for me in this case??????

Thanks .

 

[Flibolito]

Agreed, the older 8800GTS 640mb has a bus width of 320bit & the GTX 384bit.
The cards he was asking about both have only 256bit. Although the ATi would use the extra RAM better than the NVidia card since its GDDR4 or 5. One reason the 4870 is stronger with the 1GB vs the weaker 512mb version. Again I believe the resolution is an important factor.
the GTS 250 doesn't gain much from what I have seen from the 1GB so on that card its a waste of money for gaming.

 

[eidairaman1]

and then the fact both NV cards cost more, which usually its the Radeons that cost more overseas (very odd).

 

[Flibolito]

Seeing those price differences I would stick with 512mb regardless.

 

[Wile E]

Agreed, the older 8800GTS 640mb has a bus width of 320bit & the GTX 384bit.
The cards he was asking about both have only 256bit. Although the ATi would use the extra RAM better than the NVidia card since its GDDR4 or 5. One reason the 4870 is stronger with the 1GB vs the weaker 512mb version. Again I believe the resolution is an important factor.
the GTS 250 doesn't gain much from what I have seen from the 1GB so on that card its a waste of money for gaming.

Perhaps it's not beneficial in many games right now, but it is still beneficial in a few titles, and as time wears on, it will become more and more beneficial to have more framebuffer.

We already have games now that need the extra memory to get high settings .

How about this, my 8800GT 1GB outperforms my 4850 512MB in GTA4 at the higher settings and draw distances, despite the fact the 4850 is the overall faster card in almost everything else. PT Boats is another game of this example, and Crysis to a smaller extent. Hell, I logged well over 512MB of usage using RivaTuner in lowly old COD4 at 1920x1200 on some maps. Now, do you think that games are going to start using more or less ram over time?

 

[matt445]

So what you guys think? Which one is worthwhile to upgrade over my 8800gs 384mb ???

I found some benchmarks for gts 250 512mb.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/nvidia-geforce-gts-250/6660-1.html?doc=6660
http://www.goldfries.com/hardware-reviews/palit-gts-250-512mb-ddr3-graphic-card-review/

In many cases 9800gtx+ and gts 250 are close or slower than 4850 but in a couple of games like Fallout3 they are way faster than 4850. why is that? why the inconsistency?

So what do u think?

 

[Flibolito]

But the extra 512mb in New Zealand would cost him 1/3 more money which is silly in my honest opinion.

 

[eidairaman1]

ya at the time i had a choice of the 256MB 1950 Pro or the 512 and im really glad i went with the 512MB version, if there was a 512MB XTX AGP part i would of had that in than the pro part at the time.

 

[matt445]

Guys, look at the those bechmarks. see what u think. which card is better in the long run.

 

[Flibolito]

I agree, more RAM is always better but the cost is the factor in this post.

 

[eidairaman1]

so matt can you provide your system specs?

 

[Wile E]

So what you guys think? Which one is worthwhile to upgrade over my 8800gs 384mb ???

I found some benchmarks for gts 250 512mb.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/nvidia-geforce-gts-250/6660-1.html?doc=6660
http://www.goldfries.com/hardware-reviews/palit-gts-250-512mb-ddr3-graphic-card-review/

In many cases 9800gtx+ and gts 250 are close or slower than 4850 but in a couple of games like Fallout3 they are way faster than 4850. why is that? why the inconsistency?

So what do u think?

ATI seems to be having a hard time with their drivers for the past couple of releases. It happens to both nVidia and ATI at times. They both release bad stretches of drivers sometimes.

Other things to consider. nVidia has Physx and CUDA support, whereas ATI has DX10.1 and tessellation support.

I believe tessellation support might be more useful in the future, but Physx is more useful now.

Honestly, it's a really tough call between the 2 cards.

It might help us to know the rest of your system specs.

 

[Flibolito]

Comes down to Palit 4850@305 vs GTS250@325.
Personally I would go for the GTS but either card will work great.

 

[matt445]

I have a fairly budget computer.

My CPU is Core 2 Duo E4500 overclocked to 2.90 GHZ.

3GB DDR2 RAM, 8800GS 384mb superclocked. 2 Hard Drives at 7200RPM. Windows Vista 32bit Ultimate.

and 550Watt PSU.

 

[Wile E]

I have a fairly budget computer.

My CPU is Core 2 Duo E4500 overclocked to 2.90 GHZ.

3GB DDR2 RAM, 8800GS 384mb superclocked. 2 Hard Drives at 7200RPM. Windows Vista 32bit Ultimate.

and 550Watt PSU.

What mobo?

 

[matt445]

my mobo is Asus P5KR