Cannot decide on which 200.00 dollar card to buy.

Looking at 2 different video cards at Directron...Yeah I know the egg has better deals.

I just happen to live in Houston Texas and can walk in there and walk out the door with stuff so I like doing business with them.

Torn between a ATI and nVidia card in the 200.00 dollar price range.

This XFX 4890 video card.

http://www.directron.com/hd489azdfc.html

Or this XFX 260

http://www.directron.com/gx260nadbf.html

Really cannot afford much more than 200...240 max.

Will be using the card with Adobe CS4 After Affects, Photoshop and all that business but still want to have a decent card for gaming.

So which one would you guys buy ???

Thanks for any advice, feedback or recommendations on better solutions that I can buy at Directron.

http://www.directron.com/896p31257ar.html
What about this one? 216 and Evga has very nice customer service as far as i know from this forum.

I'd go ahead and say the GTX 260 core 216 Black Edition,but i'm biased.I hate ATI from my personal expierience with them but i can't argue that the 4890 is a very nice card. I write driver mods for my Nvidia cards becuase i'm confortable with it. Statistically the 4890 looks better on paper, but both my 260's are core 216's and overclocked well without any heat issues. Also the 4890 drinks power compared to the 260's but then again for your application i think either would do the job very well.

4890 ftw!!!

newn said:

http://www.directron.com/896p31257ar.html
What about this one? 216 and Evga has very nice customer service as far as i know from this forum.

Click to expand...

Wow looks like a much better choice than the XFX...Thanks for the suggestion.

And the 4890 wtf ??? reply.

Not getting what you are saying...Go for the 4890 ??? Or dont go for it ???

Yeah the specs are way in front for the 4890...But have been reading about nVidia's shaders being much better.

I do like how the EVGA newn linked to is OpenGL 3.0...CS4 seem's to use GPU and CPU processing when redering...Making my decision much harder than just jumping on the 4890.

Thanks again for the quick responses.

just dan said:

4890 ftw!!!

Click to expand...

Why? Are you just a fan of ATI or you have any reasons why this one is better than 260gtx? I guess first variant.

newn said:

Why? Are you just a fan of ATI or you have any reasons why this one is better than 260gtx? I guess first variant.

Click to expand...

not a fan but in benchmarks i have seen and from people the 4890 is better then the 260.

They are both fine cards. What motherboard do you have? Your sig says you are moving to intel, have you decided if you are going with a socket 775, i7 setup, or wait for an i5? I suggest your decision of video card be tied in with your motherboard decision somewhat. If you are buying an intel-chipset based motherboard such as a P45 then you'll want the 4890 to keep open the possibility of a future crossfire setup if you choose. Alternatively if you go with an nvidia-based motherboard you'll want the 260 to keep open the possibility of a future SLi setup. If you go with an i7 setup you'll have the choice of the green or red camps for a multi-gpu setup. If you're not planning on a multi-gpu setup right now it's still nice to get a card that leaves you open for doing that for a few months down the road when the cards start becoming dirt cheap.

HD4890 hands the GTX260 216 its heatsink in gaming. I would go with that if its your primary concern.

And for newn, Im not a fanboy reccomending a 4890 over a 260 216 which I own.

I have owned both a GTX260 Core 216 and a HD4890. The HD4890 is a little bit better of a card, and what I'd recommend. But either way, you won't go wrong. Both are amazing cards for $200.

GTS260 216 can be found for $170 at newegg (No MIR). HD4890 is $197 cheapest (No MIR). Different price sets really.

4890 outperforms 260 by significant margin as well as consuming less power while idle it consumes 20 watts more on load , 4890 hands down , id say 4870 is on par with 260 .

4890.

But if price is really a problem, then go for 260.

Well the video card will be going in one of my loaner box's.

An older AMD system...DFI LanParty nF4 Ultra-D...AMD 4800+ that I paid 1200.00 dollars for back in the day, so I will be keeping the box for sure...Just cannot seem to let it go after paying all that money for it.

I had 2 1gig Mushkin PC3200 memory modules in it but took them out and put 4 1gig Kingston Value memory modules in it.

Put 1 250gig Segate 410 in it for the OS...1 250gig Segate 410 in it for the scratch disk and a 80gig Hitachi hard drive in it for the cache (virtual memory) disk...As per Adobe's recommendation for settin the box up for Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Want to put a better video card in it right now, as I am building the guy I loaned it to a new i7 Intel system...The XFX 4350 I bought for it specifically to make use of a AMD plug-in for CS4...Seems it only works on 4800 series ATI cards.

All that business is out the window and really just want a 200 dollar video card in it...ATI or nVidia...Makes no difference to me...Just want the best card I can get for 200 bones.

That is why I really do not want to spend a bunch of money on a video card that is a loaner box...Nice old system that has served me well for several years...That and the XFX 4350 is a real piece of junk...In my humble opinion anyway.

I have moved to Intel awhile back and just have not updated the rig in my sig.



That box is up for sale right now as I want to build another new box for myself...Have a guy intrested but we are still haggling about price.

Confused... the card is going int he Ahtlon system? If you are going to put a video card on that system, get a 4850 ~100 or 4870 for ~130 or a 260.

Keep the rest of the money in your pocket.

If its going to the i7 buy the 4890.

Hookem said:

All that business is out the window and really just want a 200 dollar video card in it...ATI or nVidia...Makes no difference to me...Just want the best card I can get for 200 bones.

Click to expand...

Then of those two choices get the 4890 over the 260. Forget the stuff I said about multi-gpu, neither your Ultra-D nor your P35 has the balls to fully utilize a multi-gpu setup.

jobrien2001 said:

Confused... the card is going int he Ahtlon system? If you are going to put a video card on that system, get a 4850 ~100 or 4870 for ~130 or a 260.

Keep the rest of the money in your pocket.

If its going to the i7 buy the 4890.

Click to expand...

The card will be going in the socket 939 AMD system.

But will probably be moved to the i7 system I am building for myself until the next generation of video cards come out...500 bones for a nice nVidia card just does not seem like the smart thing to do right now...Especially if the prices on them drop like a rock when the new stuff comes out.

Sounds like the 4850 or 4870 is a good idea as I really do not know if the socket 939 4800+ AMD system running PC3200 will be the bottleneck using a 4890...If that is the case no sense in buying the 4890.

Would not hurt my feelings to spend less than 200 duckies that is for sure.

I thought you wrote above that the i7 build was for somebody else?

Hookem said:

The card will be going in the socket 939 AMD system.

But will probably be moved to the i7 system I am building for myself until the next generation of video cards come out...500 bones for a nice nVidia card just does not seem like the smart thing to do right now...Especially if the prices on them drop like a rock when the new stuff comes out.

Sounds like the 4850 or 4870 is a good idea as I really do not know if the socket 939 4800+ AMD system running PC3200 will be the bottleneck using a 4890...If that is the case no sense in buying the 4890.

Would not hurt my feelings to spend less than 200 duckies that is for sure.

Click to expand...

Price will drop, but when do you think new cards is going out? New intel's CPUs is gong next years q1. And cards... I don't know.

I am putting together a parts list for a friend that does video stuff...It is going to be a Intel i7 setup...Just loaning him the AMD system until I finish the list and put the thing together.

I am also going to build a i7 Intel box for myself...After I sell my main rig...The one in the pic...Intel 775 Q6400...Had it for awhile now and am ready for a new box.