GeForce GTX 260/280 versus Radeon HD 4850/4870

(7 replies) #1 RPDL on 11 Aug 2008 - 22:50

How can they compare those two sets of GPUs? The 4850 wasn't made to compete against either one of those Geforces (a question of price ranges), and the upcoming dual-GPU Radeon, and not the 4870, is set to go against the GTX280.

#1.1 seamer on 11 Aug 2008 - 23:12

It's all about page views. Lots of people will read it before knowing the truth, and those clicks will generate advertising income.

#1.2 Intelman on 11 Aug 2008 - 23:26

Just like hating Vista.

#1.3 z0phi3l on 11 Aug 2008 - 23:46

(RPDL said @ #1)

How can they compare those two sets of GPUs? The 4850 wasn't made to compete against either one of those Geforces (a question of price ranges), and the upcoming dual-GPU Radeon, and not the 4870, is set to go against the GTX280.

Because it's fun reminding ATI fanboys of how bad their hardware performs vs nVidia, even if it's obvious who's going to win

#1.4 JulioFranco on 12 Aug 2008 - 00:20

You should get your facts straight first, meaning you should read the review and how we set up the comparison. Quoting a paragraph from the introduction:

So, at least for now, Nvidia's only answer to the Radeon HD 4850 is the GeForce 9800 GTX+ which is an overclocked 9800 GTX. ATI on the other hand has nothing as expensive as the GeForce GTX 280 on offer, though that is only until the Radeon HD 4870 X2 is released, and that is right around the corner. But as things stand today, the Radeon HD 4870 and GeForce GTX 260 are the only cards that match up in terms of pricing, while the GTX 280 is significantly more expensive, and the Radeon HD 4850 is a bit cheaper.

We are aware of the target and price differences but for someone who wants to buy a new card today it will be extremely useful to see how the cards compare in real life gaming benchmarks and with that in hand, make a decision regardless of how the manufacturers target their products.

#1.5 Eis on 12 Aug 2008 - 03:09

(z0phi3l said @ #1.3)

Because it's fun reminding ATI fanboys of how bad their hardware performs vs nVidia, even if it's obvious who's going to win

Yeah because you would never pick sides, right?
/sarcasm

#1.6 +/ -Razorfold on 12 Aug 2008 - 05:04

(z0phi3l said @ #1.3)

(RPDL said @ #1)

How can they compare those two sets of GPUs? The 4850 wasn't made to compete against either one of those Geforces (a question of price ranges), and the upcoming dual-GPU Radeon, and not the 4870, is set to go against the GTX280.

Because it's fun reminding ATI fanboys of how bad their hardware performs vs nVidia, even if it's obvious who's going to win

LOL WHAT? Who cares how good the hardware is when the drivers for it are so ****ing **** its unbelievable....nvidia's driver quality goes down with each dam release.

Its been like 5 months since the powermizer bug, STILL NO FIX and there are many many other bugs like that

#1.7 +Odom on 12 Aug 2008 - 06:48

I for one am glad that they included all those cards in their tests. I like to see how they fare with other cards, even not being the top of the top. That way it's easier to see the difference in performance and whether it would be worth it for me to get a higher specced one or not. The more comparison I can get in a review the better for me.

(4 replies) #2 Airlink on 11 Aug 2008 - 23:57

Because the 4850 and 4870 are the best you can get from ATI, and the GTX 260 and GTX 280 are the best you can get from nVidia. So it's a benchmark of ATI's best vs nVidia's best. Totally fair.

#2.1 Shannon on 12 Aug 2008 - 00:14

Except for the fact, one was designed for the mid-budget marked and one was designed for the niche high-end market. Using your logic, it's completely fair to compare Mitsubishi's newest to Lamborghini's newest.

#2.2 Skynetfuture on 12 Aug 2008 - 00:41

nope .

it is 4870 X2 Vs 280 GTX not 4870

and to be released 4850 X2 will be Vs 260 GTX

wouldnt work a mid range and high mid range cards Vs high end and ultra high

#2.3 offroadaaron on 12 Aug 2008 - 03:02

so your saying you would compare a best honda to the baggett veyron?

#2.4 Airlink on 12 Aug 2008 - 07:58

(Skynetfuture said @ #2.2)

nope .

it is 4870 X2 Vs 280 GTX not 4870

and to be released 4850 X2 will be Vs 260 GTX

wouldnt work a mid range and high mid range cards Vs high end and ultra high

First off, they didn't benchmark the X2, they benchmarked the 4870 and the 4850. That's probably because the X2 version isn't out yet! Secondly, nVidia will probably make a GX2 version of the 280, and when they do we can compare that to the 4870 x2 then. Not before.

(5 replies) #3 Ayepecks on 12 Aug 2008 - 01:09

Quite honestly, I'm waiting for the die shrink on the nVidia cards. Prices will probably drop around the same time, too. I'd prefer having just a single height card, myself -- made the mistake when the 8800's first came out of buying right away. Then the GT came out and smokes my old 320MB GTS.

#3.1 Skynetfuture on 12 Aug 2008 - 01:12

same boat here

but for me it was

6800GT(flashed to 6800 ultra bios ) >> 8800GTS

so i escaped a whole generation

#3.2 ajua on 12 Aug 2008 - 02:13

my 8800GTS 320mb is performing quite nicely (with the exception on crysis: i play it on medium overall) in all recent games at 1680x1050. I bought it a year almost two years ago, so the investment was well worth it.

However, with the new chips from both companies the performance gain from generation to generation wasn't quite like before, so the prices are still high for what you get. In the upcoming months (maybe christmas holidays) we will see a drop that maybe we can take advantage of.

Meanwhile, i'm sticking with my old and reliable 800GTS.

#3.3 Ayepecks on 12 Aug 2008 - 03:56

(ajua said @ #3.2)

my 8800GTS 320mb is performing quite nicely (with the exception on crysis: i play it on medium overall) in all recent games at 1680x1050. I bought it a year almost two years ago, so the investment was well worth it.

However, with the new chips from both companies the performance gain from generation to generation wasn't quite like before, so the prices are still high for what you get. In the upcoming months (maybe christmas holidays) we will see a drop that maybe we can take advantage of.

Meanwhile, i'm sticking with my old and reliable 800GTS.

Agreed and same here.

#3.4 +Odom on 12 Aug 2008 - 06:46

Considering that at the time of purchase my 8800GTS 640MB cost about 420€ and now the top ATi costs less than half that, I don't think the prices are still high.

#3.5 Beastage on 12 Aug 2008 - 09:26

(Ayepecks said @ #3)

Quite honestly, I'm waiting for the die shrink on the nVidia cards. Prices will probably drop around the same time, too. I'd prefer having just a single height card, myself -- made the mistake when the 8800's first came out of buying right away. Then the GT came out and smokes my old 320MB GTS.

I actually prefer dual slot cards now, the heat they generate is better outside your case than going up to you cpu cooler.

#4 kenipnet on 12 Aug 2008 - 02:36

Just curious, with N slashing prices by more than 60% on the 280. How much do they make out of it? Anyone know the profit margin on these?

(1 reply) #5 maudit on 12 Aug 2008 - 04:02

what bugs me, is that in the majority of tests they used 00xAA and 00xAF in most benchmarks, specially in crysis. I mention this, because supposed the HD4xxx series supposedly has superior AA/AF abilities.

#5.1 JulioFranco on 12 Aug 2008 - 06:31

We tried to use both in all benchmarks, just scroll down a bit and you will see the first set of benchmarks is with AA/AF turned off, followed by the same benchmark with those turned on.

#6 bobbba on 12 Aug 2008 - 08:11

well other websites managed to benchmark the 4870 x2 and they say that it's the fastest graphics card you can buy:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/12/amd-dub...ard-benchmarks/

#7 TC17 on 16 Aug 2008 - 01:30

If I remember correctly, that Walton guy who did the review is the same biased Nvidia fanboy writer in an older article where he was caught switching the numbers around to favor nvidia.

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