ATI (4870) or NVIDIA (GTX 260)

[cerestes]

Morning,

I'm primarily looking for thoughts & suggestions as to which video card to pair with a new system, but if you have other suggestions please fire away.

The new system will be using my current monitor which is an old CRT (1600x1200). Will likely replace this monitor prior to upgrading to a new system, so eventually it'll driving a slightly higher resolution LCD.

I have no plans to do crossfire or SLI.

Planned specs:
e8500
biostar tpower i45
mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)
2x WD Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB

Video card choices so far:
Palit AE=4870S+0552 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814261035
($235) : $264.99 - $30.00 Mail-in Rebate

Or

ZOTAC ZT-X26E3KB-FCP GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814500068
($240) : $279.99 - $40.00 Mail-in Rebate

Thanks!

[mattgmann]

Is that zotac the 216 core version? If so, go with that. If not, go with the 4870.

gtx260 192 <4870 512mb <gtx260 216 < 4870 1gb

[cerestes]

Yeah, its one of the 216 core types. I'd pretty much been set on the 4870 until just a few days when I started hearing about the new versions with more cores. Now I'm leaning that way.

[BossBorot]

the core 216 versions arent worth the price premium for more performance IMHO.

At this point I would go with a gtx260 over a 4870 at current prices. There have been some killer deals on the gtx260 recently even though the 4870 is a better card in most areas