4870 to GTX280

[Shocky-FM]

Cheapest 260 on OCUK is 176 and I would rather have the 4870 over the 260 any day.

And I would rather have the 4870 over the £258 280.

Cause another 70 gets you an x2

The extra 70 needed for a 280 over a 4870 is jst not worth it IMO.

I would feel duped and would rather pay the extra for the fastest card in existence.

GTX260 and HD4870 have simalar performance but the GTX260 overclocks more which would swing me towards the GTX260, as for the X2, who cares?

Unless you game at 2560 x 1600 or use silly amounts of AA it will provide simalar performance to a stock GTX280 anyway, plus uses crossfire so the gameplay experience won't be as good as benchmarks suggest.

E.g, GTX280 vs 9800GX2, 9800GX2 win in benchmarks yet all users who have tried them recommend the GTX280.

 

[TheRealDeal]

All it shows is a difference in performance between 8x on an ATI card and 8x on an nVidia card - it doesn't conclusively tell us anything else. The quality of the 8x AA on the nVidia could be far better just as an example.

Well according to the review the image quality on the ati is better and we all know from all the other reviews that mainly use 4xaa that the 280 wins in most games up that to 8xaa and the story changes where the gap closes or the 4870 wins. So from this i conclude that the ati cards handle 8xaa better than the nvidia cards. Check out the link below shows the gtx280 winning at 4xaa and then losing at 8xaa can't really get more conclusive that the gtx series cards get hit with nearly twice as much fps.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/07/11/summer-2008-graphics-performance-roundup/12

He also states this in the review so its more than on 1 game:

When it comes to 8x Anti Aliasing performance though just like we've seen previously the new ATI cards are the cream of the crop as the HD 4870 matches the GTX 280 at 1600x1200 and 1920x1200 resolutions, but drops 4 FPS at the highest 2560x1600 resolution. The 9800 GTX and GTX+ are also cosistently out performed by the HD 4850, in all resolutions here too, as the difference between 4xAA and 8xAA on the ATI cards is consistently less than 10 FPS and in every resolution we still get very playable results.

This sort of info is all around the net if you look on other forums and in certain reviews.

From the same review he goes on to say this:

While the GeForce GTX 280 is "the best", it was given a close run in aa number of benchmarks by both the Radeon HD 4870 and the GeForce 9800 GX2. The difference between Radeon HD 4870 and GeForce GTX 280 can vary quite wildly depending on the game and settings; from just a few frames per second, to over 10 FPS in Crysis under DirectX 10. However, consistently the supreme Anti Aliasing performance of the Radeon HD 4870 saw it reel in and grab at the GeForce GTX 280 somewhere between its ankles and waist.

As for the gtx260 being better bang for buck i don't think so when you consider this from the same review:

Moving to Nvidia's junior next-gen card, the GeForce GTX 260, and there really is no comparison against the ATI HD 4870. Green is still a clear £50 more expensive than Red, and constantly competes against it in terms of performance; generally we can sum it up into: with Anti Aliasing off and the GTX 260 is better; Anti Aliasing on and the HD 4870 rules. Overall we'll take the HD 4870 and the extra image quality, thank-you-very-much. Obviously take no notice of the £50 extra bit as thats all changed.

 

[TheRealDeal]

GTX260 and HD4870 have simalar performance but the GTX260 overclocks more which would swing me towards the GTX260, as for the X2, who cares?

Unless you game at 2560 x 1600 or use silly amounts of AA it will provide simalar performance to a stock GTX280 anyway, plus uses crossfire so the gameplay experience won't be as good as benchmarks suggest.

E.g, GTX280 vs 9800GX2, 9800GX2 win in benchmarks yet all users who have tried them recommend the GTX280.

Shocky 280 v 9800 gx2 thats really all down to lack of memory and bandwidth but an x2 has more bandwidth and same amount of memory as the 280 and is also faster. Even in games that were not working properly you have a 4870 which is not much slower. There is no doubt which is the performance king off the gpu market atm its not even close at the top res most of the time.

 

[easyrider]

GTX260 and HD4870 have simalar performance but the GTX260 overclocks more which would swing me towards the GTX260, as for the X2, who cares?

I would take AA and IQ and the option of plonking another 4870 in a Intel p45 or x38 mobo the majority of which nearly all of us have.

The 260 doesn't offer as much hence why NV dropped the price dramatically to compete.

 

[Shocky-FM]

Shocky 280 v 9800 gx2 thats really all down to lack of memory and bandwidth but an x2 has more bandwidth and same amount of memory as the 280 and is also faster. Even in games that were not working properly you have a 4870 which is not much slower. There is no doubt which is the performance king off the gpu market atm its not even close at the top res most of the time.

Actually performance is close as long as you don't use 2560 x 1600 or use silly amounts of AA, even at 1920*1200 4xAA/16xAF the performance gap isnt that big, the market for 30" is really the only case I would recommend a HD4870X2.

Considering how small the amount of users are that use 30" displays and also how small the IQ increase is from 4/8xAA in games, that extra the user is spending on the 4870X2 wouldnt really be giving the them much extra unless their using extreme settings which most don't.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Wonder how much the new 260 will be with its 216 shaders, supposedly its $50 more than the one we have now, so just have to see if its gona be worth the extra over the 4870.

 

[TheRealDeal]

1920*1200 4xAA/16xAF may as well get a 4870 and save yourself some cash then as the performance difference between the 4870 and 280 is minimal in most games. Can say the same about most resolutions but the fact is the x2 is the fastest card followed by the 280. Thats why some people say the 280 is in a weird place in the market as its not the very fastest and its not in the same price group as the 4870 which is almost as fast.

 

[easyrider]

1920*1200 4xAA/16xAF may as well get a 4870 and save yourself some cash then as the performance difference between the 4870 and 280 is minimal in most games. Can say the same about most resolutions but the fact is the x2 is the fastest card followed by the 280. Thats why some people say the 280 is in a weird place in the market as its not the very fastest and its not in the same price group as the 4870 which is almost as fast.

Hammer hits nail right smack in the middle!

 

[Shocky-FM]

I would take AA and IQ and the option of plonking another 4870 in a Intel p45 or x38 mobo the majority of which nearly all of us have.

The 260 doesn't offer as much hence why NV dropped the price dramatically to compete.

I can't tell the difference between 4xAA and 8xAA in games and I've hated multigpu setups since the 7950GX2, especially multiple cards so there not even plus points to me.

As for price, it's a special, they will probably go back up.

 

[easyrider]

I can't tell the difference between 4xAA and 8xAA in games and I've hated multigpu setups since the 7950GX2, especially multiple cards so there not even plus points to me.

As for price, it's a special, they will probably go back up.

Me niether but at least with the 4870 the option is there.

 

[Shocky-FM]

1920*1200 4xAA/16xAF may as well get a 4870 and save yourself some cash then as the performance difference between the 4870 and 280 is minimal in most games. Can say the same about most resolutions but the fact is the x2 is the fastest card followed by the 280. Thats why some people say the 280 is in a weird place in the market as its not the very fastest and its not in the same price group as the 4870 which is almost as fast.

HD4870 is like the GTX260, even that is very close to a GTX280 in many games but not in all,

 

[rapid64k]

1920*1200 4xAA/16xAF may as well get a 4870 and save yourself some cash then as the performance difference between the 4870 and 280 is minimal in most games. Can say the same about most resolutions but the fact is the x2 is the fastest card followed by the 280. Thats why some people say the 280 is in a weird place in the market as its not the very fastest and its not in the same price group as the 4870 which is almost as fast.

nice suming up Therealdeal. cant understand why the gtx260 keeps popping up in threads that only concern the 4870 and gtx280.

 

[Shocky-FM]

nice suming up Therealdeal. cant understand why the gtx260 keeps popping up in threads that only concern the 4870 and gtx280.

GTX260 and HD4870 have simalar performance and are directly competing, it's currently cheaper,has more memory and overclocks more, that is why it pops up.

 

[willhub]

Great card the 4870, loving it, dont see why anyone would want to have a GTX260 over it when the 4870 is faster, when the new GTX260 comes out THEN I can see a reason.

My 4870 does about 95Mhz extra on the core no, memory overclocking aint much issue I think 128gb/s bandwidth is plenty.

 

[Strife212]

I don't think theres ever been a performance card out thats as cheap as the 4870 is has there? Really good value.

 

[rapid64k]

GTX260 and HD4870 have simalar performance and are directly competing, it's currently cheaper,has more memory and overclocks more, that is why it pops up.

I hear you...but not the OP choice.

 

[willhub]

I don't think theres ever been a performance card out thats as cheap as the 4870 is has there? Really good value.

Yea, 8800GT was at first.

 

[The Asgard]

You heard wrong, GTX260/280 both exceeding 100+ overclocks on the core 200-300 on the memory which is quite nice when coupled with that 512bit bus.

I suppose its all down to your definition of a good overclock.

Wished I could try my GTX 280 but it won't even run at stock speed.

 

[Shocky-FM]

I hear you...but not the OP choice.

I know, but users here seem to think it's HD4870 vs GTX280 with performance being neck and neck and that's not the case at all, HD4870 is a great card, but it's no GTX280.

I suppose its all down to your definition of a good overclock.

Wished I could try my GTX 280 but it won't even run at stock speed.

Then get a replacement, i've had two and there just fine and both did 100+ overclocks

 

[willhub]

Take 70 quids worth of the GTX280's performance away, how would it fair up to the 4870 then?