ATI 4890 vs Geforce 275

[Chuck]

I'm trying to weigh up getting one of these cards. I know now is not the best time to get one, but my current 8800 GT just went up to GFX card heaven so I need another ASAP.

As far as I can tell performance wise they are pretty similar. Feature wise the ATI card has DX 10.1 on it's side, and the Geforce has CUDA/PhysX, etc. Neither of which I think particularly grab me as a useful feature.

Specifically If I were to get them I would get the Asus ATI HD 4890 or BFG GeForce GTX 275 OC. Having a quiet PC is quite important to me. Does anyone know if either of these cards is particularly quiet (yeah I know I could go for one of those nice watercooled BFG cards, but they are out of my price range).

Thanks

 

[SlowSpyder]

The Sapphre Vapor-X cooled cards are supposed to be very quiet. They also have a factory overclocked version for $10 more. That one gives you a very small bump on the core and a nice overclock on the memory. Both come with a game as well.

 

[yh125d]

Generally speaking at stock fan profiles, ATI's reference coolers are a bit louder for lower temps, whereas nvidia's are quieter but with higher temps. And to be honest, with the higher end GPUs like those there really isn't going to be a very quiet solution. High performance comes with high heat and higher noise than lower end cards. However, if you were to pick up an AC Accelero S1 (~$25), you could have both the quiet and cool.

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: yh125d
Generally speaking at stock fan profiles, ATI's reference coolers are a bit louder for lower temps, whereas nvidia's are quieter but with higher temps. And to be honest, with the higher end GPUs like those there really isn't going to be a very quiet solution. High performance comes with high heat and higher noise than lower end cards. However, if you were to pick up an AC Accelero S1 (~$25), you could have both the quiet and cool.

Well... my stock HD4870 at auto fan was very very quiet but was running ~80C idle. It did speed up during gaming to a noticeable sound but was still okay... at 90C load. The random speed ups and slow downs at idle were really annoying though.

And I'm pretty sure a GTX260 is cooler than that. But I guess it's a tad louder too.

From what I've read the stock HD4890 is not as quiet as a HD4870 at idle. So you might have better luck with a GTX275. However, I'm pretty sure that Vapor-X is a lot quieter than any of the stock solutions for both camps. Well worth the extra $$$ if you value quietness.

 

[Chuck]

Hmm interesting stuff. Unfortunately I don't live in the US, and the reliable suppliers I have access too is pretty limited and none of them sell the Vapor-X.

I just assumed the GTX270 / 4890 was the middle ground, not the high-end. Maybe I should be going a step below (GTX260) to get a bit cooler.

yh125d,

That AC Accelero S1 looks pretty sweet, but it doesn't seem to be compatible with the newer cards. Is that them just not updating the website, or are they really not compatible do you know?

 

[yh125d]

The brand and specific model also matter quite a bit regarding temps and fan noise on 4870s, since few use the reference cooler, whereas almost all GTX cards use the reference design

 

[BenSkywalker]

I'd say go with a 260 or 4870, the price premium for the next step up is a bit out of line with how much faster they are IMO. Good deals to be had in the 260/4870 range.

 

[RussianSensation]

If you are on a budget and can find a cheap pre-overclocked GTX 260 216 with 55nm B3 revision chip such as:

MSI N260GTX OC V3

then it is also a good choice. Once overclocked to 750 on the gpu/1500 shaders, it can surpass GTX 275 and 4890 with ease.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Well to be fair a stock 4890 oc's very well and is the best bang for the buck right now.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
If you are on a budget and can find a cheap pre-overclocked GTX 260 216 with 55nm B3 revision chip such as:

MSI N260GTX OC V3

then it is also a good choice. Once overclocked to 750 on the gpu/1500 shaders, it can surpass GTX 275 and 4890 with ease.

Those clocks are far from guaranteed, and would definitely be passed by a 4890 at 950/1100, which 95% can hit no problem


edit: not to mention it costs as much as a 4890 can be had for, and would be slower

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: yh125d

Those clocks are far from guaranteed, and would definitely be passed by a 4890 at 950/1100, which 95% can hit no problem

edit: not to mention it costs as much as a 4890 can be had for, and would be slower

It is true that getting 750 on a GTX 260 is not guaranteed, but we are not talking B2 revision chips -- this is B3s. But even at stock speeds, it performs very fast:

Neoseeker Review
DriverHeaven: Overclocked GTX 260 beating GTX 275 - this one had 774 on the GPU
Legion Hardware: Overclocked GTX 260 beating overclocked GTX 275 - they got those 55nm B3 chips to 800 on the GPU.

Zipzoomfly has those MSI cards for $150 which is still cheaper than 4890s. I spent the extra $25 myself for a 4890 since I wanted to try ATI this round, but I think those 55nm B3 GTX 260 are the next best thing.

 

[yh125d]

4890's can be had just about always for $150 or so. Just keep an eye on Hot Deals (http://forums.anandtech.com/me...2313139&enterthread=y)

As for those numbers, you can get a handful with really high clocks, just as you can get a handful of 4890s to 1100mhz, which would be on par to a GTX285 at 800, which would be faster than the 260 at 800. Such extremes should not be counted on, and more realistic OCs should be more important when buying a card