9600 GSO vs. HD 4770 vs. HD 48xx vs. GTS 250

[OCFOR]

Hello.

I don't know so much about GPU's, having focused mainly on other parts of the computers.
I have a 9600 GSO 384 mb GPU at the moment, which I was given by a friend.

I'm looking to spend about 100$ on a new GPU, and the HD 4770, HD 4850, HD 4870 and the GTS 250 are all options.
The 4770 and 4870 have got GDDR5 memory.

Since their similarly priced here where I live, I can choose any of them.
Which one should it be, and will I experience a big difference compared to the 9600 GSO? I play at 1400x900 resolution.

[Mjolnir]

I'd probably say its not worth upgrading for that res. Your 9600 should be able to handle almost everything with decent settings at that res.. the HD 4770 is not enough of a leap from the 9600. So rule that out. The HD4850/250GTX are similar in performance, which rated against the 9800 GT. Approx. So that'd be an upgrade but worth it? probably not. The only upgrade that'd be 'worth' going for is the HD4870. But like I said at that resolution you won't notice a huge jump.. At least I don't feel you would. Not enough to justify buying a new card anyway. When you get to 1680x1050 + then look at upgrading, but for now realistically your 9600 is perfectly fine.

[Kuroimaho]

Ati's new lineup will be out in a week or so, I would wait to see what they have to offer and whether it effects prices or not.
Otherwise the 4870 is what I would go for that's the fastest among those.

Here are some benches for the 4770 vs 250 I stumbled across. Link (http://hardocp.com/article/2009/08/23/asus_eah4770_formula_video_card/3)

[OCFOR]

Thanks.

I'm never going to play at higher res than 1400x900, so I guess I'll just have to wait for GPU's to become even faster before upgrading?

[Kuroimaho]

Or support more features like DX11 which gain support from next gen gpus, but games which use those might take a while to roll out.

[Mjolnir]

Just remember at lower res's the CPU does more work.. So you may be better off going with a nicer CPU instead? Depends what your current one is. Which brings to question, what is it? :p.

[OCFOR]

It's a Core2Duo E7500, so I don't think it's much of a bottle-neck. Maybe with GTA 4, but I don't play that game.

[Mjolnir]

I don't think it'd be much of a bottleneck either.. Is it overclocked? If not, perhaps looking into that for those few extra frames that make some games much nicer to play.. In which case you'd spend the money on an aftermarket cooler if you haven't already got one..

[>HyperlogiK<]

Which 9600GSO is it, there were a bunch of cards released under that name with quite widely differing performance.

[WhiteAndBlue]

the HD 4770 is not enough of a leap from the 9600.
I agree.

[Artas1984]

Even if it's a standart 1600 MHz DDR3 version of 9600GSO, the HD4770 will overleap it good.

In my case, i have experienced a big leap in performance from 9600GT to HD4830.
Knowing that 9600GSO is even weaker than 9600GT, and that HD4770 is slightly faster than HD4830, the performance boost will be good. Of course HD4870 is a monster compared to other cards, but it requires 2 power cables, HD4770 currently has the smallest GPU on earth - it is a card for future gaming at that resolution!

So my advice - yes, change from 9600GSO to HD4770.

[Cuiiey]

i still reckon you would be happier with a 4850 or 4870

[Malakai]

Keep in mind that AA and AF on an Ati 4xxx/4770 series card is MUCH more efficient (ie takes a much smaller frame rate hit) compared to nvidia 9-series cards.

Frankly, for only 100 bucks, and with the added benefits listed below, I think its worth it:
fast very fast for the price
very low power usage and heat creation, the extra power connector it needs is actually not used, anandtech benchmarking & monitoring load power reqs proved it uses less than 75W at full load, which is what pci-e carries along it.
for 2 above reasons, its a perfect crossfire card.
it will still be around for awhile to come, so when you decide to drop a second one in for crossfire (just about 2x performance, crossfired 4770's can match a 489o in performance)

I just went from a 4830 to 4770 (traded cards with a friend who does not o/c or game at all) and noticed an increase in performance, and its temps are massively lower at full load. 4830 and up is not ass good to crossfire with as you will need a very beefy PSU, lots of room in your case, and much more heat output.

cliffs: I say go for it. AMD is doing good by their customers by reducing prices and trying to increase their profits by reducing the margin and producing more cards. They deserve our hard earned money hehe :)

[Malakai]

i still reckon you would be happier with a 4850 or 4870

4850 is a good deal still, they wont be around much longer and are already starting to go out of stock at lots of places.

The 4770 is not quite as fast as a 4850 at stock, but the 4850 costs more. Post OCs the 4770 might very well win, as they are amazing overclockers.

There are some crappier 4850's on the market for 100-110, basically even with the 4770, but the ones I was considering all hard either poor cooling, no dual dvi, ect.
Both cards at their max respective overclocks with stock cooling, Id imagine the 4770 will still win. Definitely with some custom cooling or at least removing the gpu hsf and using AS5 for tuniq or something!

[ratbuddy]

Revisiting this topic so close to the 5750/5770 launch, it'd be much wiser to wait and see how they perform and where the prices land. Aren't they supposed to launch Tuesday?