About to pull the trigger!

[mazeroth]

My last three cards have been ATI (X1800XL, X1900XT, HD3870) and while they've done their jobs I wouldn't say I've been extremely impressed with them. I hate CCC for starters, and well, that's about it! Just average for me on reviews so I'm thinking of trying another nVidia card as my last was the 7800GT.

I can get an MSI GTX260 for $187 shipped on ebay with the 30% cash back. The 4870 costs $198, only an $11 difference. I play on a 24" Soyo at 1920x1200 resolution and have an E4300 that runs at 3.3 ghz.

The kicker? I was about to buy a $160 SHIPPED NEW HD4850 that was a 10 hour old buy it now auction. Within 5 minutes someone else snatched it after I did a quick benchmark test on it. Yeah, that would have saved me some hassle. However, I can get the GTX260 for only $70 more which really isn't that bad.

If you were in my shoes, which would you go with? Another plus, I guess, is I could use the GTX260 down the road for a Physx processor when I get a new video card.

 

[apoppin]

you won't like the Nvidia CP
- not much change since you have been away, while CCC is improving

give 260 a try .. the + if you can get it; the 4870/512 and 260 are pretty equivalent cards .. just features [and VRAM amounts] separate them
- i game at 19x12 and feel 4870 is barely sufficient; the 280GTX makes that 'extra' for me at that resolution; perhaps if you can swing the + version and OC it, you may exceed my 280's performance

 

[shangshang]

CCC sucks and still sucks. The sucking part is the stupid .Net requirement.

Anyway, if you can get the GT260 with 30% cashback on fleabay, then what the hell are you waiting for? BTW, how are you getting this 30% cashback on fleabay? Are you doing the Live search cashback thing? because if you do, then the promotion has been over.

 

[F1shF4t]

CCC works great in vista (it comes with .Net) and from what I noticed is faster than nvidia cp. For XP I don't know cause I have been staying away from it for over a year now.

 

[Shooks]

Originally posted by: shangshang
CCC sucks and still sucks. The sucking part is the stupid .Net requirement.

Anyway, if you can get the GT260 with 30% cashback on fleabay, then what the hell are you waiting for? BTW, how are you getting this 30% cashback on fleabay? Are you doing the Live search cashback thing? because if you do, then the promotion has been over.

What? I just used it on a printer like 30 minutes ago

 

[shangshang]

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake
CCC works great in vista (it comes with .Net) and from what I noticed is faster than nvidia cp. For XP I don't know cause I have been staying away from it for over a year now.

as I recall, ATI didn't need .Net to run its "control panel" (before they called it CCC). Ever since requiring .Net, it runs slower, and carry with it more potential installation bugs (due to .Net issues) and runtime bugs (again due to .Net issues) and load time (again due to .Net). I have Vista and even then I've managed to muck up the .Net subsystem in Vista (because I was installing/uninstalling multiple .Net versions as part of my work) and apparently that much up ATI's CCC and it now will not run, will not de-install, and will not allow me to re-install (well I could, but I'm getting a cryptic .Net error when CCC starts).

I finally fixed the problem by reimaging my Vista machine.

A part of this problem is due to Microsoft, but all this mess wouldn't affect ATI's CCC if they didn't take the .Net route.

Just so that the ATI fanboys don't break a sweat, I'm not saying that Nvidia is better. So relax.

 

[shangshang]

Originally posted by: Shooks

Originally posted by: shangshang
CCC sucks and still sucks. The sucking part is the stupid .Net requirement.

Anyway, if you can get the GT260 with 30% cashback on fleabay, then what the hell are you waiting for? BTW, how are you getting this 30% cashback on fleabay? Are you doing the Live search cashback thing? because if you do, then the promotion has been over.

What? I just used it on a printer like 30 minutes ago

What? how homie??? I'm not seeing any livecashback icon when I do a search for items on fleabay!! Ok i'm a little pissed off now because I didn't purchase a pair of sennheiser cans because i didn't see the livecash icon! Please do tell how!

 

[Shooks]

Originally posted by: shangshang

Originally posted by: Shooks

Originally posted by: shangshang
CCC sucks and still sucks. The sucking part is the stupid .Net requirement.

Anyway, if you can get the GT260 with 30% cashback on fleabay, then what the hell are you waiting for? BTW, how are you getting this 30% cashback on fleabay? Are you doing the Live search cashback thing? because if you do, then the promotion has been over.

What? I just used it on a printer like 30 minutes ago

What? how homie??? I'm not seeing any livecashback icon when I do a search for items on fleabay!! Ok i'm a little pissed off now because I didn't purchase a pair of sennheiser cans because i didn't see the livecash icon! Please do tell how!

Click the link in the first post, then click the gray banner, then just search on ebay

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2198292&enterthread=y

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: shangshang

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake
CCC works great in vista (it comes with .Net) and from what I noticed is faster than nvidia cp. For XP I don't know cause I have been staying away from it for over a year now.

as I recall, ATI didn't need .Net to run its "control panel" (before they called it CCC). Ever since requiring .Net, it runs slower, and carry with it more potential installation bugs (due to .Net issues) and runtime bugs (again due to .Net issues) and load time (again due to .Net). I have Vista and even then I've managed to muck up the .Net subsystem in Vista (because I was installing/uninstalling multiple .Net versions as part of my work) and apparently that much up ATI's CCC and it now will not run, will not de-install, and will not allow me to re-install (well I could, but I'm getting a cryptic .Net error when CCC starts).

I finally fixed the problem by reimaging my Vista machine.

A part of this problem is due to Microsoft, but all this mess wouldn't affect ATI's CCC if they didn't take the .Net route.

Just so that the ATI fanboys don't break a sweat, I'm not saying that Nvidia is better. So relax.

Odd, I have had 0 issues with CCC in Vista 64 but I don't mess around with my .net stuff so thats probably the case. I used an 8800GTS 512 before the 4870 on the same install of vista and from VERY unscientific observation I feel that CCC runs faster than the nvidia CP but I don't think the difference is that great. Both start up fast enough and allowed me to display them in my second screen so I can watch temps. I think the CCC is great for showing the GPU activity but thats more for entertainment value than anything else.

Personally if I was you OP I would get the 4870 only because I have seen many benchmarks putting it slightly ahead of the 260 but that was the "old" version not the 216 if indeed that's the card you are going for. Though to be fair the difference is so small it night not be worth even the $11 difference. Either way I don't think you will be unhappy with the cards so pay attention to how they do in the games that are the most important to you. If you are not all-ready looking at the 1GB 4870 or "216" GTX 260 I would suggest going for those if possible, the extra ram and shaders definitely help, especially at that res.

 

[BFG10K]

This is exactly like the 4850 vs 9800 GTX+ debate. The cards are very close in performance so it comes down to two things: if you want better drivers go with ATi; if you want better image quality go with nVidia.

Originally posted by: shangshang

CCC sucks and still sucks. The sucking part is the stupid .Net requirement.

Anyone that wants to operate their nVidia card properly needs nHancer and that needs .NET. Anyway, Visual Studio installs .NET so I have it installed regardless.

I personally find CCC better than nVidia?s stock control panel. It?s more polished, the layout is better and CCC opens instantly for me after the first launch.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
This is exactly like the 4850 vs 9800 GTX+ debate. The cards are very close in performance so it comes down to two things: if you want better drivers go with ATi; if you want better image quality go with nVidia.

Really? Does Nvidia have better image quality? Where, in what games and what settings? I thought that both cards have the same image quality in every game out there.

Originally posted by: BFG10K
I personally find CCC better than nVidia?s stock control panel. It?s more polished, the layout is better and CCC opens instantly for me after the first launch.

This is something that I really liked when I switched to ATI. It was always a struggle to find the settings I wanted in Nvidia control panel. The CCC has all the settings nicely arranged, so you'll always find what you're looking for fast.

 

[nemesismk2]

I've never had a problem with CCC, I find it easy to use and it starts up quickly!

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: nemesismk2
I've never had a problem with CCC, I find it easy to use and it starts up quickly!

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: error8

Really? Does Nvidia have better image quality? Where, in what games and what settings?

nVidia's anisotropic filtering is a lot better than ATi's; there?s visibly less texture shimmering and line crawling.

Also nVidia has better anti-aliasing because of full screen super-sampling modes.

 

[Zebo]

Things MAY have changed since my last foray into Ati land with the 850x but from what I remember CCC was a bloated hog while NCP is resource lean and quick. I will never buy another ati card just based on my last experience plus I hate red color.

From a performance standpoint I think nV does a little better in games I care about like Mass effect, although both are very playable almost any game. Power, heat and noise which are important to me all favor nV.

 

[deerhunter716]

NEVER had an issue with CCC on my Vista 64 bit. I game at 1920 x 1200 and the 4870 runs ALL games smooth as butter. Plenty sufficient at 1920 x 1200 unless you want MAX AA/AF which is not needed.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: shangshang

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake
CCC works great in vista (it comes with .Net) and from what I noticed is faster than nvidia cp. For XP I don't know cause I have been staying away from it for over a year now.

as I recall, ATI didn't need .Net to run its "control panel" (before they called it CCC). Ever since requiring .Net, it runs slower, and carry with it more potential installation bugs (due to .Net issues) and runtime bugs (again due to .Net issues) and load time (again due to .Net). I have Vista and even then I've managed to muck up the .Net subsystem in Vista (because I was installing/uninstalling multiple .Net versions as part of my work) and apparently that much up ATI's CCC and it now will not run, will not de-install, and will not allow me to re-install (well I could, but I'm getting a cryptic .Net error when CCC starts).

I finally fixed the problem by reimaging my Vista machine.

A part of this problem is due to Microsoft, but all this mess wouldn't affect ATI's CCC if they didn't take the .Net route.

Just so that the ATI fanboys don't break a sweat, I'm not saying that Nvidia is better. So relax.

i am a nvidia fanboy too and Nvidia CP has got much worse while CCC gets steadily better; i don't see ANY real changes or improvement in Nvidia's CP since i had my 7800GS OC

When is the LAST time *you* had CCC?
- last year i would have definitely have agreed with you .. .Net has been fixed for quite awhile

i think you are living in the past

that said, i prefer the IQ of Tesla Nvidia cards - slightly over 48X0

 

[SlowSpyder]

I doubt you'll notice much difference between the two, I don't think you can really go wrong with either at those prices. But for me, I've done my research over and over again and am going to go with a 4870 in the next few weeks. I can't wait to see the upgrade over my current 2900.

 

[Denithor]

I'm waiting for my PNY GTX260 to be delivered today/tomorrow, $168 shipped after 30% cashback. Upgrading from a G92 8800GTS so I expect some improvement but not huge.

 

[minmaster]

i find out about this cashback offer just after i buy a 8800 gt for 100.

 

[n7]

I don't really like 512 MB cards for higher resolutions, so in your shoes i'd likely get the GTX 260.
If price isn't an issue though, go for the 4870 1 GB...i agree 100% with the anandtech review that it's the card to own.

 

[solofly]

Originally posted by: shangshang
CCC sucks and still sucks. The sucking part is the stupid .Net requirement.

Not an issue with Vista, it's installed by default.

 

[solofly]

Originally posted by: shangshang

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake
CCC works great in vista (it comes with .Net) and from what I noticed is faster than nvidia cp. For XP I don't know cause I have been staying away from it for over a year now.

as I recall, ATI didn't need .Net to run its "control panel" (before they called it CCC). Ever since requiring .Net, it runs slower, and carry with it more potential installation bugs (due to .Net issues) and runtime bugs (again due to .Net issues) and load time (again due to .Net). I have Vista and even then I've managed to muck up the .Net subsystem in Vista (because I was installing/uninstalling multiple .Net versions as part of my work) and apparently that much up ATI's CCC and it now will not run, will not de-install, and will not allow me to re-install (well I could, but I'm getting a cryptic .Net error when CCC starts).

I finally fixed the problem by reimaging my Vista machine.

A part of this problem is due to Microsoft, but all this mess wouldn't affect ATI's CCC if they didn't take the .Net route.

Just so that the ATI fanboys don't break a sweat, I'm not saying that Nvidia is better. So relax.

Zero issues here with Ati control panel and it opens just as fast as nv's..

 

[bizzyd1441]

get the 4870

 

[SolMiester]

Dont forget though if you get an ATI card to budget for a decent after market cooler...