Gtx 260 or 4870 1gb ?

[dust]

It's good bet that the OP has already made the choice, long ago. Let it be..

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: evolucion8


You sir are an nVidia troll, read what SlowSpyder posted and shut up, both cards are excellent and that's it, GIVE IT A REST :roll:

http://www.cartoonstock.com/ne...fl/lowres/mfln130l.jpg

 

[imported_DangerMouse]

Drivenbyvoltage: yeah i am going for Evga gtx 260.
Didnt expect to cause such a chaos with my question about GPu's

 

[Painman]

Originally posted by: DangerMouse
Drivenbyvoltage: yeah i am going for Evga gtx 260.
Didnt expect to cause such a chaos with my question about GPu's

Welcome to the video forum

 

[dust]

Originally posted by: DangerMouse
Drivenbyvoltage: yeah i am going for Evga gtx 260.
Didnt expect to cause such a chaos with my question about GPu's

Good choice:thumbsup:

Have fun with your new rig

 

[Keysplayr]

OP, can you let these members know what made you decide? Did you flip a coin, or are there some reasons for your choice? The reason I'm asking you for this, is that everyone is different. Some things that are not so important to some, might be important to others and vice versa. I think they need to see that. IMHO. Was it price? Features? Performance in games you play? etc. etc.

Thanks

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: DangerMouse
Drivenbyvoltage: yeah i am going for Evga gtx 260.
Didnt expect to cause such a chaos with my question about GPu's

Well, you weren't the one to cause the chaos. Have fun with your new card.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: Wreckage
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxMCwsaGNvbnN1bWVyLq4=

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky

None of these 3 video cards had a distinct advantage in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky. The two NVIDIA-based video cards gave us a higher framerate than the ATI Radeon HD 4870, but that alone did not necessarily improve the experience, since it was not enough to allow us to increase our playable settings.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Age of Conan turned into an AA contest between the Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ Overclocked Version and its competitors. The Galaxy GTX 260+ allowed us to use 4X MSAA at 1920x1200, while the original GTX 260 allowed 2X MSAA and the ATI Radeon HD 4870 did not have the performance to use any AA at all. In certain areas of Age of Conan, aliasing can be a huge visual distraction, but in many areas, it is not a deal-breaking problem.

Certainly there is not a huge performance gap, but one does exist.

Also with features like PhysX, 3D Vision, better folding@home support & CUDA, it has more than just a performance advantage.

Funny, sometimes it seems like Rollo multiplied before he left.

The only real "use" of any of those topics is PhysX. It's gaining support across the industry, so it can't be discounted. 3D Vision = uselessly expensive. Folding support? Who cares other than a small niche market. CUDA? Again, who cares other than devs?

F@H a niche? I think not dude. There are more people (almost 4 million worldwide) Folding than there are playing Guitar Hero 3 across all platforms. (3.6 million). There are 4 times as many people folding than there are who play Crysis (including Warhead and across all platforms). World of WarCraft, one of the biggest participant online games (8 million +) is only twice that of Folders. I can tell you right now, any Dev would give their collective left arm to sell 1 million copies of any game they create. Who cares?.... My God... One of our very own here at AT has 19 (nineteen) Nvidia GPU's F@H churning out work units 24/7 as if he had a super computer. And he technically does. That's just ONE guy.

CUDA? Who cares? Hundreds of thousands of scientists, engineers, Doctors, researchers of all kinds from fossil fuel hunter geologists to alzheimers studies. And guess what. None of those guys are devs. It is so much bigger than you believe its actually staggering.

PhysX has always been gaining devs. Some nice potential there. <- CUDA based.

You discount these things as "niche" products just because you don't use them? How is that logical? You mention PhysX cannot be discounted. Well then you cannot discount CUDA then because PhysX is CUDA based.

I'm not ranting at you or anything. It's just when I see uninformed/unresearched posts like this, I get an instant wedgie..

 

[BenSkywalker]

I would like to add that ever since the geforce 8 series, nvidia has had better anisotropic filtering.

Not quite accurate, nVidia has had better anisotropic filtering since the GeForce SDR. The closest ATi ever got was the R300 parts were close(not equal though) to the NV3X parts(likely the only area the NV3x bested the R300 at but I digress..)

There are more people (almost 4 million worldwide) Folding than there are playing Guitar Hero 3 across all platforms. (3.6 million).

Let's not go overboard now Keys, GHIII has sold 4.0Million on the Wii, 3.98Million on the 360, 1.87Million on the PS3 and 4.47Million on the PS2. My math may be a bit rusty, but I think that that might add up to more then 4 Million Source.

 

[Keysplayr]

An interesting thing is that source you linked to, shows Zero sales for Crysis, Call of Duty and Call of Duty World at War. Unless I'm searching incorrectly. But even so, your GHIII numbers show that I may have been looking at only one console when searching for GHIII results. So I'll concede to that. Ok, now 4 million F@H users is not a niche.

 

[conlan]

Originally posted by: DangerMouse
Drivenbyvoltage: yeah i am going for Evga gtx 260.
Didnt expect to cause such a chaos with my question about GPu's

OP...it's not your fault, so no worries.

This was a can't-lose proposition, either way you choose, you win. :thumbsup:

Enjoy your card.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I run F@H all the time on my 4870. I don't see what the big deal is there? If you are building a rig strictly for F@H performance I can see why you'd think that is a feather in the cap for Nvidia (I believe their cards generally have higher F@H performance, right???). But assuming you're building a gaming box then any F@H performance you get is just a bonus... I use my machine for gaming/general use, I'm sure Stanford is still happy to get the numbers my machine crunches just the same.

OP, enjoy your new card. Sounds like you got a good deal (I think you're going with the $199?) for a pretty good card.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
F@H a niche? I think not dude. There are more people (almost 4 million worldwide) Folding than there are playing Guitar Hero 3 across all platforms. (3.6 million). There are 4 times as many people folding than there are who play Crysis (including Warhead and across all platforms). World of WarCraft, one of the biggest participant online games (8 million +) is only twice that of Folders. I can tell you right now, any Dev would give their collective left arm to sell 1 million copies of any game they create. Who cares?.... My God... One of our very own here at AT has 19 (nineteen) Nvidia GPU's F@H churning out work units 24/7 as if he had a super computer. And he technically does. That's just ONE guy.

CUDA? Who cares? Hundreds of thousands of scientists, engineers, Doctors, researchers of all kinds from fossil fuel hunter geologists to alzheimers studies. And guess what. None of those guys are devs. It is so much bigger than you believe its actually staggering.

PhysX has always been gaining devs. Some nice potential there. <- CUDA based.

You discount these things as "niche" products just because you don't use them? How is that logical? You mention PhysX cannot be discounted. Well then you cannot discount CUDA then because PhysX is CUDA based.

I'm not ranting at you or anything. It's just when I see uninformed/unresearched posts like this, I get an instant wedgie..

Yes, F@H is a niche (for this market). Ask most people on the street if they "fold" with their home computers. You'll get a blank stare. After you explain it, they'll probably say "oh, cool", but odds are you won't make a convert out of them. I don't build folding farms, and very few people I know do. You can't possibly argue that buying a specific video card isn't catering to a niche market.

CUDA - again, niche market. You're pointing CUDA with your argument to the same market as DC. Sure the different applications cause this market to be a bit bigger than just F@H, but it's still a niche use that has very little to do with what the general population would even know what a video card does besides ... um ... VIDEO. Also, I'd like to point out that CUDA has an analogue in ATI-land... AND it will have a general analogue once DX11 comes out. Don't bother trying to say "CUDA > ATI | DX11"... it doesn't matter. What matters is that it's NV proprietary, and as such limits the market.

The PhysX = CUDA argument is pure crap. What was PhysX before it was bought by NVIDIA? It wasn't CUDA. Take PhysX for what it is - it's PhysX. For the VAST MAJORITY, PhysX is the only additional selling point for a video card.

It's hardly an uninformed post, being in the development game, I know what both companies are capable of. Hell, I'm not even saying these "features" are a bad thing. But yeah, everything outside of PhysX is indeed niche. Perhaps you should stop wearing nvthongs and you won't have to worry about your nvwedgies anymore.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Yes, F@H is a niche (for this market). Ask most people on the street if they "fold" with their home computers. You'll get a blank stare. After you explain it, they'll probably say "oh, cool", but odds are you won't make a convert out of them. I don't build folding farms, and very few people I know do. You can't possibly argue that buying a specific video card isn't catering to a niche market.

Ask those same people if they play "Crysis' on their computer. I bet you get the same blank stare. Folding is no more of a niche than high end gaming.

CUDA - again, niche market. You're pointing CUDA with your argument to the same market as DC. Sure the different applications cause this market to be a bit bigger than just F@H, but it's still a niche use that has very little to do with what the general population would even know what a video card does besides ... um ... VIDEO. Also, I'd like to point out that CUDA has an analogue in ATI-land... AND it will have a general analogue once DX11 comes out. Don't bother trying to say "CUDA > ATI | DX11"... it doesn't matter. What matters is that it's NV proprietary, and as such limits the market.

CUDA brings hardware game physics to the video card, something only a person with an extreme bias of some sort would not care about. It also improves Folding (which millions of people use). Video transcoding, Photoshop, and more.

The PhysX = CUDA argument is pure crap. What was PhysX before it was bought by NVIDIA? It wasn't CUDA. Take PhysX for what it is - it's PhysX. For the VAST MAJORITY, PhysX is the only additional selling point for a video card.

Before CUDA, hardware Physx required a separate card that only did physics. Now you can do it right on your video card for free. Unless of course you are in the niche market that buys a mid to high end video card for email and does not enjoy gaming.

It's hardly an uninformed post, being in the development game, I know what both companies are capable of. Hell, I'm not even saying these "features" are a bad thing. But yeah, everything outside of PhysX is indeed niche. Perhaps you should stop wearing nvthongs and you won't have to worry about your nvwedgies anymore.

It's beyond uniformed. Although judging by the last line it's merely trolling.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
F@H a niche? I think not dude. There are more people (almost 4 million worldwide) Folding than there are playing Guitar Hero 3 across all platforms. (3.6 million). There are 4 times as many people folding than there are who play Crysis (including Warhead and across all platforms). World of WarCraft, one of the biggest participant online games (8 million +) is only twice that of Folders. I can tell you right now, any Dev would give their collective left arm to sell 1 million copies of any game they create. Who cares?.... My God... One of our very own here at AT has 19 (nineteen) Nvidia GPU's F@H churning out work units 24/7 as if he had a super computer. And he technically does. That's just ONE guy.

CUDA? Who cares? Hundreds of thousands of scientists, engineers, Doctors, researchers of all kinds from fossil fuel hunter geologists to alzheimers studies. And guess what. None of those guys are devs. It is so much bigger than you believe its actually staggering.

PhysX has always been gaining devs. Some nice potential there. <- CUDA based.

You discount these things as "niche" products just because you don't use them? How is that logical? You mention PhysX cannot be discounted. Well then you cannot discount CUDA then because PhysX is CUDA based.

I'm not ranting at you or anything. It's just when I see uninformed/unresearched posts like this, I get an instant wedgie..

Yes, F@H is a niche (for this market). Ask most people on the street if they "fold" with their home computers. You'll get a blank stare. After you explain it, they'll probably say "oh, cool", but odds are you won't make a convert out of them. I don't build folding farms, and very few people I know do. You can't possibly argue that buying a specific video card isn't catering to a niche market.

CUDA - again, niche market. You're pointing CUDA with your argument to the same market as DC. Sure the different applications cause this market to be a bit bigger than just F@H, but it's still a niche use that has very little to do with what the general population would even know what a video card does besides ... um ... VIDEO. Also, I'd like to point out that CUDA has an analogue in ATI-land... AND it will have a general analogue once DX11 comes out. Don't bother trying to say "CUDA > ATI | DX11"... it doesn't matter. What matters is that it's NV proprietary, and as such limits the market.

The PhysX = CUDA argument is pure crap. What was PhysX before it was bought by NVIDIA? It wasn't CUDA. Take PhysX for what it is - it's PhysX. For the VAST MAJORITY, PhysX is the only additional selling point for a video card.

It's hardly an uninformed post, being in the development game, I know what both companies are capable of. Hell, I'm not even saying these "features" are a bad thing. But yeah, everything outside of PhysX is indeed niche. Perhaps you should stop wearing nvthongs and you won't have to worry about your nvwedgies anymore.

We agree to disagree then. :thumbsup:

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Ask those same people if they play "Crysis' on their computer. I bet you get the same blank stare. Folding is no more of a niche than high end gaming.

Seriously. You love grasping, Wreckage. Crysis is one game out of a huge market, sadly enough which includes Solitaire.

CUDA brings hardware game physics to the video card, something only a person with an extreme bias of some sort would not care about. It also improves Folding (which millions of people use). Video transcoding, Photoshop, and more.

CUDA does not bring PhysX, it simply enables it on NVIDIA GPU's. Your argument below validates that 100%.

Before CUDA, hardware Physx required a separate card that only did physics. Now you can do it right on your video card for free. Unless of course you are in the niche market that buys a mid to high end video card for email and does not enjoy gaming.

And no, it's not "free", as has been demonstrated numerous times. But with that said, neither was using a PPU (in more ways than one).

...

To both you and Keys...

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
F@H a niche? I think not dude. There are more people (almost 4 million worldwide) Folding than there are playing Guitar Hero 3 across all platforms. (3.6 million). There are 4 times as many people folding than there are who play Crysis (including Warhead and across all platforms). World of WarCraft, one of the biggest participant online games (8 million +) is only twice that of Folders. I can tell you right now, any Dev would give their collective left arm to sell 1 million copies of any game they create. Who cares?.... My God... One of our very own here at AT has 19 (nineteen) Nvidia GPU's F@H churning out work units 24/7 as if he had a super computer. And he technically does. That's just ONE guy.

Let's take a look at some numbers now, shall we?

Stanford says that out of some 3.8 million total lifetime folding clients, only 71,000 folders are using their NVIDIA GPU's. That would be less than 2% of folders out there. Thing look a little better when you look at active folders, clocking in at a little over 4%. But gee... 2%-4% certainly sounds NICHE to me.

Keys, your marketing propaganda is off by an order of magnitude. Sounds to me with only 401,356 active "CPU's" (Total CPU's, GPU's and Consoles) Guitar Hero 3 and Crysis both have Folding@Home beat. It's funny really... you'd think by now people would be able to cut through the marketing BS.

I'll apologize for saying "The only real use"... I meant the only "widespread & common daily use". All better now, or do I need to kiss the booboos better too?

Now I ask us to all return to Chevy's post above and simply take this thread for what it is. The 4870 is just as good as the GTX260 (and in some cases the 280/285), and the 260/280/285 is just as good as the 4870 - so pick whichever is going to make you happy. If want PhysX support, or have some specific niche need for CUDA (stress SPECIFIC, as the above mentioned examples of Photoshop and Transcoding are also available with ATI cards), you'll be better off with a NVIDIA part. If not, you'll be fine with either. If you have intentions of multi-gpu down the line and have a CrossFire (and not SLI) capable board, go with ATI. If your sole purpose is Folding, you'll get a bit better performance out of NVIDIA parts, but you also get great Folding support from ATI as well.

You won't go wrong with either card.

 

[imported_DangerMouse]

Slowspyder: -------------
Well i am not living in US and don't have access to such a great place as newegg.
Here in Israel ongoing prices for GTX 260 (or 4870 HD 1 gb) are around $350.
There is indeed 17% tax but all retailers swear they make profit in the range of 2-5%.
Math doesn't add up so i guess it's some sort of conspiracy or something. For many years,
my heart starts bleeding after checking prices on newegg.com

Keysplayr2003: -----------
I chose GTX 260 for the following reasons:

1) Many reviews show that power consumption and heat emitting are somewhat lower for GTX 260. This is a factor for me since i am going to use stock case cooling.
(I don't overclock and mod, though i expect my comp to be able to operate 24/7)
2) Drivers and old game compatibility issues: maybe it's a bias but i always felt more comfortable with Nvidia. Old habits die hard. Besides someone posted about this in this thread which strengthened my suspicions.
3) Anandtech Buyers Guides state GTX 2xx is more optimized for i7 than 48xx. Related to paragraph 2) above.
4) Evga is a very solid company. (Though through the years i came to conclusion that any computer hardware often is a matter of luck and brand names dont guarantee anything)

After all being said, i would probably pick 4870 HD 1 gb if it were $50 bucks cheaper.

 

[Keysplayr]

Total 3,864,841.

Did I say something that makes you think I'm marketing something? Why do you feel the need to turn the argument there all the time? You said F@H was a niche. You did not say Nvidia folding @ home was a niche. So basically, I was defending F@H and not Nvidia. If you wish to turn this into a war, I'll have no part of it. Like I said, I agree to disagree with you, and you need to accept that, because there is nothing you have shown me that tells me you look at things with a level head. You are all for the battle and not the info. Pass.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: DangerMouse
Slowspyder: -------------
Well i am not living in US and don't have access to such a great place as newegg.
Here in Israel ongoing prices for GTX 260 (or 4870 HD 1 gb) are around $350.
There is indeed 17% tax but all retailers swear they make profit in the range of 2-5%.
Math doesn't add up so i guess it's some sort of conspiracy or something. For many years,
my heart starts bleeding after checking prices on newegg.com

Keysplayr2003: -----------
I chose GTX 260 for the following reasons:

1) Many reviews show that power consumption and heat emitting are somewhat lower for GTX 260. This is a factor for me since i am going to use stock case cooling.
(I don't overclock and mod, though i expect my comp to be able to operate 24/7)
2) Drivers and old game compatibility issues: maybe it's a bias but i always felt more comfortable with Nvidia. Old habits die hard. Besides someone posted about this in this thread which strengthened my suspicions.
3) Anandtech Buyers Guides state GTX 2xx is more optimized for i7 than 48xx. Related to paragraph 2) above.
4) Evga is a very solid company. (Though through the years i came to conclusion that any computer hardware often is a matter of luck and brand names dont guarantee anything)

After all being said, i would probably pick 4870 HD 1 gb if it were $50 bucks cheaper.

Thanks DM.

 

[Wreckage]

Keysplayr2003: -----------
I chose GTX 260 for the following reasons:

1) Many reviews show that power consumption and heat emitting are somewhat lower for GTX 260. This is a factor for me since i am going to use stock case cooling.
(I don't overclock and mod, though i expect my comp to be able to operate 24/7)
2) Drivers and old game compatibility issues: maybe it's a bias but i always felt more comfortable with Nvidia. Old habits die hard. Besides someone posted about this in this thread which strengthened my suspicions.
3) Anandtech Buyers Guides state GTX 2xx is more optimized for i7 than 48xx. Related to paragraph 2) above.
4) Evga is a very solid company. (Though through the years i came to conclusion that any computer hardware often is a matter of luck and brand names dont guarantee anything)

After all being said, i would probably pick 4870 HD 1 gb if it were $50 bucks cheaper.

All good reasons. Enjoy your new card. Don't forget to download the 2 Physx packs from NVIDIA's site. They include a free game and a lot of other cool things.

Don't worry about the heated debate here. It's been a slow news week.

 

[evolucion8]

Interestingly enough, in reviews, the GTX 260+ consumes more power in full load than the HD 4870, but since most of the time, the card is idle, the GTX 260+ in the end will consume less power and consumes considerably less power at idle.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

Originally posted by: TC91
I would like to add that ever since the geforce 8 series, nvidia has had better anisotropic filtering.

Not quite accurate, nVidia has had better anisotropic filtering since the GeForce SDR. The closest ATi ever got was the R300 parts were close(not equal though) to the NV3X parts(likely the only area the NV3x bested the R300 at but I digress..)

I believe TC91's point of reference aimed at the generation immediately prior to the GeForce 8 series, GeForce 7. As such, the GeForce 7's AF was inferior to the R500s of ATi.

I don't mean to nit-pick, but it would just be more accurate to say that the AF quality has been the best from both camps at different points in time - currently nVidia claims that crown.

Originally posted by: evolucion8
Interestingly enough, in reviews, the GTX 260+ consumes more power in full load than the HD 4870, but since most of the time, the card is idle, the GTX 260+ in the end will consume less power and consumes considerably less power at idle.

Hmmm... iirc the 55 nm 260 core 216 beat all of the competition in that sector - in both idle and load. At least, going from the reviews I've seen. It was one of the reasons I ended up choosing the card.

For instance, Anandtech recently did a power consumption chart at the launch of the GTX 285. Though I do not know if the GTX 260 they used was 55 nm or not, either way it consumed less in both idle and load.

 

[evolucion8]

I was talking about the 65nm version, the 55nm should be even better. I've researched further and seems that it varies depending of who did the review, but in average, the GTX 260+ 65nm consumes considerably less power at idle, and slighly less power at full load than the HD 4870

 

[dantheman121]

I was just asking this question myself. It's the last part of my computer I'm trying to decide on at newegg. They are within $10 AR away from each other or around that. However I seem to be swaying towards the 4870 1gb because it seems that the 4870 sometimes can even beat the GTX 285, but the GTX 260 is unable to ever do that. The Fallout 3 performance is more important to me than anything Crysis related.

I always take so long deciding stuff like this.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: dantheman121
I was just asking this question myself. It's the last part of my computer I'm trying to decide on at newegg. They are within $10 AR away from each other or around that. However I seem to be swaying towards the 4870 1gb because it seems that the 4870 sometimes can even beat the GTX 285, but the GTX 260 is unable to ever do that. The Fallout 3 performance is more important to me than anything Crysis related.

I always take so long deciding stuff like this.

Think about it this way - the longer you take to decide, it only serves to benefit you... prices are going to go down.