ATI Cards Value : Price

[Bennal]

I'm currently RMAing a 4890, and I've decided to take a more extensive look at the range of cards available. I had previously just been comparing 4870s & 4890s. I had ruled out the 4850x2 because the 2gb version is £275 on OcUK. Having looked around, it can be had for way less than that. I've managed to find the 1GB version for £150-170, and the 2GB for £180-200. Now considering I paid £145 for my 4890, would it be worth switching to a 4850x2? Surely even a 4850x2 1GB would outperform a 4890.

It looks like the 4870x2 2GB can be had for around £230-240, which is a bit steep considering 4870s can be had for £110 ish.

The thing is, a single 4890 did suit me fine, and is enough for my games, but I'm thinking now that even a 4850 1GB, being around the same price, would be a better option.

I was under the impression ATI cards give a better Performancerice ratio, but if anyone has a suggestion from the Nvidia bench, I'll happily take it onboard. (My NV 7600GT was a faithful companion for years, as was my ATI 9550 before that.)

The only other thing that influences my choice is the cooler. It either needs to be reasonably quiet, or the card needs to be able to take a Zalman VF1000.

What do y'all think?

Any help / ideas / rants / links / advice is greatly appreciated.

Ben

 

[[timko]]

Here's a 3DMark06 result for a 4850x2 2Gb...

A 1Gb 4850x2 won't be too far behind until you start doing 1920 resolutions and higher.

Check the other pages in this article for other gaming benchmark results...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd4890_14.html#sect1

 

[Bennal]

Looks like the 4890 OC they used was the Powercolor 4890 Plus, which is the exact same card I'm currently RMAing.

The difference between the 4890 OC and the 4850x2 is a bit of a mixed bag looking at the results. Theres not a huge amount in it really, some games better on each. Although they are using the 2GB 4850x2 as a test, which isn't really a good comparison, as you are looking at £30-50 extra compared to a 4890 Plus.

I guess the 4890 Plus is the best card at the £150 mark, although the performance increase over a stock 4890 might not be worth £20-£30.

 

[Final8y]

Here's a 3DMark06 result for a 4850x2 2Gb...


A 1Gb 4850x2 won't be too far behind until you start doing 1920 resolutions and higher.

Check the other pages in this article for other gaming benchmark results...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd4890_14.html#sect1

I would not buy a gfx card based purely on 3DMark.

 

[[timko]]

I would not buy a gfx card based purely on 3DMark.

Which is why I said this...

Check the other pages in this article for other gaming benchmark results...

...at the bottom of my post, and that's exactly what Bennal went and did...

The difference between the 4890 OC and the 4850x2 is a bit of a mixed bag looking at the results. Theres not a huge amount in it really, some games better on each.

 

[elpedro]

You've got problems when a GTX 260 is performing better than a GTX 285...

 

[Final8y]

Which is why I said this...

Check the other pages in this article for other gaming benchmark results...

...at the bottom of my post, and that's exactly what Bennal went and did...

I would not start off with a synthetic pic as its not a game at all.

 

[xman01]

You've got problems when a GTX 260 is performing better than a GTX 285...

i agree
something's strange