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ati radeon 4890 vs GeForce gtx 260 core 216

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dito

dito

Member
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Joined
May 28, 2009
Location
Vacaville, CA
so i'm thinking of getting a better video card. of these two, which do/would you prefer, and WHY?

XFX Radeon HD 4890 XXX Edition Video Card - 1024MB DDR5, PCI Express 2.0 x16, CrossFireX Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV

EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 SSC Video Card - 896MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0 x16, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, VGA Support

one thing i don't understand is why is the ATI has vey different specs? do these equate to roughly the same performance?
Radeon...
Video Memory: 1GB (+104 over Geforce)
Memory Type: DDR5 (faster than DDR3?)
Memory Interface: 256-bit (about half of Geforce)
Stream Processors: 800 (almost 4 times the Geforece)
Core Clock: 900 MHz (225mhz faster than Geforece)
Memory Clock: 3.9Gbps (~1.5 Gbps faster than Geforece?)

GeForce...
Video Memory: 896MB (~104 less than ATI)
Memory Type: DDR3 (slower than DDR5?)
Memory Interface: 448-bit (~2x of ATI)
Stream Processors: 216 (~1/4 that of ATI)
Core Clock: 675 MHz (~225less than ATI)
Memory Clock: 2304 MHz (~1.5 Gbps slower than ATI?)
 
4890 really isnt worth the hype. Its just the 4870 Overclocked more stable.

As for the for differences in the cards is the same when buying AMD or INTEL

They can be matched up to the best of your ability but will not perform the same. Its all has to do with the architecture of each GPU,memory,bandwidth. There's others that will go more in depth with it but its a long thread about ot happen
 
dito said:
one thing i don't understand is why is the ATI has vey different specs? do these equate to roughly the same performance?
Radeon...
Video Memory: 1GB (+104 over Geforce)
Memory Type: DDR5 (faster than DDR3?)
Memory Interface: 256-bit (about half of Geforce)
Stream Processors: 800 (almost 4 times the Geforece)
Core Clock: 900 MHz (225mhz faster than Geforece)
Memory Clock: 3.9Gbps (~1.5 Gbps faster than Geforece?)

GeForce...
Video Memory: 896MB (~104 less than ATI)
Memory Type: DDR3 (slower than DDR5?)
Memory Interface: 448-bit (~2x of ATI)
Stream Processors: 216 (~1/4 that of ATI)
Core Clock: 675 MHz (~225less than ATI)
Memory Clock: 2304 MHz (~1.5 Gbps slower than ATI?)
Click to expand...

I have personally owned a 260 core 216 and it was a fantastic card. Overclocked like a dream with stock cooling. The 4890 is a great card if you overclock to ~ 1Ghz. That or you could go with a gtx 275 @ newegg for $199 ($20 Rebate).
 
Same 4890 as you listed at newegg with free game and shipping:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150360

Also this is the link to the gtx260 216 I had. It's only $154 AR and comes with evga warranty + their step-up program:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

And last but not least the gtx275 for $199 AR:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130475

These are just some of the choices you have. They aren't that bad whatsoever considering I bought my original core 216 for $250 just a couple months ago.
 
I just upgraded from a 260 to a 4890. I have a second one coming tomarrow for x fire.

There are advantages to both....

The fan on the ATI card is insanely loud past 65%... easily 5x louder than the gtx fan at 100%.
The ATI card does not support physics... so crysis gameplay will not look as real when things blow up or when trees fall down. Also the ATI card will score lower in the 3dmark test programs because of lack of physics. Its very sad that so many apps are nvidia biased.

If I had to buy a card right now though, I wouldnt hesitate to get the 4890. Its performance cant be touched by the 260 or even the 275 once you overclock it. After a good overclock it trades blows with an OC'd 285, but for half the price of a 285, I dont really see any reason to spend the extra for a few framerates.
 
the only reason i would even consider the ATI is that my mobo (Giga ep45-ud3p) only supports Xfire and not SLI. i'm still undecided, please help...
is the fan onthe ATI THAT bad? I have 2 -1900 RPM 120mm fans cooling my TRUE so I might not even hear the GPU fan?
 
When your Gaming with a intense game the fan is nothing more than 2-3 120mm fans. yes you hear it at first when u turn it up but i never turn my card past 65% during games as my load temps dont rise over 53oC
 
The simple fact is the 260/216 and the HD4890 aren't really on the same level.. They're a model or so apart. The 260/216 is comparable to the HD4870, rather than the 90. So if it were me it'd be the HD4890 =). I've found that numbers don't always mean everything. I remember few years ago, a slower clocked opteron or athlon was better than a higher clocked p4.. And to this day I'm still confused as to why =D. I.e. a 2.2ghz athlon was roughly = 2.8gh p4 or something..

Same goes for graphics cards.. It's all just random numbers as far as I'm concerned :p.
 
Its all about efficiency. An athlon could handle instructions more efficiently than a P4, and the Nvidia shaders can do 4 instructions per clock cycle whereas the ati ones can only do 2.
 
mxthunder said:
Its all about efficiency. An athlon could handle instructions more efficiently than a P4, and the Nvidia shaders can do 4 instructions per clock cycle whereas the ati ones can only do 2.
Click to expand...

I see, Ta. It's just based on their design and architecture and such then. XD
 
Ah I linked the wrong card. The only difference in those cards is the extra few mhz with the factory overclock. That would be easily attained by yourself for free+ get free shipping and HAWX game with the card I linked. All for $215 shipped.
 
4890 is faster, especially if you slap on AA or high resolutions.

4890 is more comparable to a GTX280, but the 260c216 does match the GTX280 in some games. Go for whatever you like more, but id take the 4890 hands down.
 
Last edited:
For me, i would get the 4890 but really i would Xfire my 4850 it would be cheaper for me too. Really all the core clocks and mem clocks mean nothing to me cause of the different Architectures of each card.
 
i have an asus motheboard with amd chipset, does this do any difference @ performance using a nvidia card?
 
Flameethrower said:
4890 really isnt worth the hype. Its just the 4870 Overclocked more stable.

As for the for differences in the cards is the same when buying AMD or INTEL

They can be matched up to the best of your ability but will not perform the same. Its all has to do with the architecture of each GPU,memory,bandwidth. There's others that will go more in depth with it but its a long thread about ot happen
Click to expand...

Not true, The 4890 uses the RV790 processor where the 4870 uses the RV770 processor.

The 4890 also uses 30W less power at Idle ans has 3million more transistors to go along with higher core and memory clocks. Its also not much of a price difference, so its a very good deal in my mind.
 
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