Radeon 4870 1Gb vs. Geforce 260+

mrthingyx · 11 Nov 2008 at 09:27

Hmmm... having seen all the posts about the Geforce 260+ doing away with the Radeon 4870 512Mb, I was curious to see what benchmarks with the latest hardware and drivers revealed.

The benchmarks I've just had a look at (but cannot post because of competitor links - and no, don't even ask) indicate the Radeon 4870 512Mb does get beaten (convincingly) in a number of games by the Geforce 260+ - in some instances by the 9800GTX+ - but that the 1Gb version really is faster in the considerable majority of games than the Geforce 260+. In some occasions, yes, it is even faster than the Geforce 280...

This would tie in with the sales figures of the two companies: the Radeons are doing much better than the current Geforce generation. The new 180.XX drivers, however, have really turned the latest (and even previous) generation of Nvidia cards around and made them much more interesting as a proposed purchase. I'm looking at buying a card or two in the coming weeks and the Geforces are now real conttenders, whereas before it would have simply been a case of buying 4850s in Crossfire.

The only problem now is the size of all these cards: they are simply ridiculous.

Tute · 11 Nov 2008 at 09:34

Before this thread turns into a handbags at dawn contest i'm going to answer your question straight and simple.

Some people have the GTX260. Some have the 4870. Some even have the MAXCORE or 1GB versions of the above cards. Some people have problems with the ATi cards, and some have problems with the nVidia cards.

When all is said and done, the 4870 and GTX260 are about the same. The GTX260 MAXCORE and the 4870 1GB are about the same. It really comes down to:

a) How much you have to spend.
b) Which company you prefer.

That's it. There's no right or wrong here. Just go with whichever card you prefer personally.

Hope that helps.

Final8y · 11 Nov 2008 at 10:07

Tute said:
Before this thread turns into a handbags at dawn contest i'm going to answer your question straight and simple.

Some people have the GTX260. Some have the 4870. Some even have the MAXCORE or 1GB versions of the above cards. Some people have problems with the ATi cards, and some have problems with the nVidia cards.

When all is said and done, the 4870 and GTX260 are about the same. The GTX260 MAXCORE and the 4870 1GB are about the same. It really comes down to:

a) How much you have to spend.
b) Which company you prefer.
c) Which control panel & features you prefer.
That's it. There's no right or wrong here. Just go with whichever card you prefer personally.

Hope that helps.

Fixed.

Enough said.

gt_junkie · 11 Nov 2008 at 10:09

Final8y said:
Fixed.

Enough said.

Correctamundo!

gt

Tute · 11 Nov 2008 at 10:10

Yep, that's a fair correction.

mrthingyx · 11 Nov 2008 at 10:58

It wasn't really a question - merely a commentary on some rather juvenile purchase justification on both sides of the argument that seems to have crept onto these boards (not that it wasn't here before, anyway).

Based on frame-rates alone, the only real defining factor - if one is being objective - is noise and power draw. And even those are not particularly clear at this point.

Which brings us back nicely to the emotive point...

psychas · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:01

there is couple of those threads already how hard is to not find them :rolleyes:

TheMagic1an · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:26

Both are great cards, but i personally think the 260 core 216 is a overall better card. It just feels a lot smoother than the 4870.

At the end of the day, just go with what you prefer.

gt_junkie · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:27

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Exactly.

mrthingyx said:
Which brings us back nicely to the emotive point...

Well if you were indeed considering the 4850's xfired option then i can personally say from experience of both that the single 260 i run now is a far more stable (fps wise) platform. Better minimum framerates and none of the pauses caused by bottoming framerates (fraps tested).

However, my personal choice in your position would either come down to a 260 (192sp/216sp - either would be good) or a 1gb 4870.

It just depends on the points made above about 'which control panel & features you prefer'.

gt

Adrianr · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:28

We're not going through this again... seriously?

GJ02 · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:31

lol

this should be fun ! NOT
but
im also for the 260 core 216.
and im sorry for starting all this nonsence the other day ( obviously i didnt realise the dramatic debate it would cause )

maybe we should ask the mods to have a poll set up in here . 512, 1gb, 260, 260 216
that way there sould be no more arguments / i wonder which is best prefered

mods, what u think ??

gt_junkie · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:34

Adrianr said:
We're not going through this again... seriously?

mosleypup said:
lol
this should be fun ! NOT

I know!!!

Hopefully the mods will start locking them soon and just leave one or two 'carefully policed' threads!

Maybe it shold be integrated into rjkoneill's GPU thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17914835

mosleypup said:
maybe we should adk the mods to have a poll. 512, 1gb, 260, 260 216
that way there sould be no more arguments / i wonder which is best prefered

Now that would be nice to see!

gt

Tooks · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:40

Based on price alone, I would go with the 260+ now.

mrthingyx · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:48

Adrianr said:
We're not going through this again... seriously?

I think part of the problem is people posting this sort of thing. There is no need to infer silliness what was originally intended as a reasonably sensible post. If you so choose, then that isn't my fault at all, is it?

But - as already suggested - you do want to turn this into a slanging match, I'd be very happy for a mod to close it down.

gt_junkie · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:50

mrthingyx said:
But - as already suggested - you do want to turn this into a slanging match, I'd be very happy for a mod to close it down.

You can do it for yourself - it's at the top right of the page in 'thread tools'.

gt

GJ02 · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:57

yeah close it down
i cant be arsed with it all again

[TW]Fox · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:58

I just dont understand the huge shift in attitude in this forum. The abuse I copped a month ago for saying the 260 216 was a credible 4870 alternative was insane.

Now... everyone just accepts it..

Adrianr · 11 Nov 2008 at 11:59

mrthingyx said:
I think part of the problem is people posting this sort of thing. There is no need to infer silliness what was originally intended as a reasonably sensible post. If you so choose, then that isn't my fault at all, is it?

But - as already suggested - you do want to turn this into a slanging match, I'd be very happy for a mod to close it down.

Just use longer sentances to defer fault, good plan batman :rolleyes:

5 minutes in here would have shown you how this turns out, did we really need another example? Close it yourself.

GJ02 · 11 Nov 2008 at 12:00

[TW]Fox;12874568 said:
I just dont understand the huge shift in attitude in this forum. The abuse I copped a month ago for saying the 260 216 was a credible 4870 alternative was insane.

Now... everyone just accepts it..

wrong time of the moneth mate, the 1 and a half % cut by the bank of england has happened now. people are happier