HD4870 1GB vs GTX 260 216

[haofeng]

Hey guys,

I'm planning to spend around £200 on a GPU and I'm torn between the two.

I've heard good things about both of them and the gtx 260 seems to have the edge at the moment with the new driver updates. I've got a 680i mobo so the 260 would give me the option of sli.

Opinions Anyone?

[deathwish]

The Ati Card is slightly faster

[painejake]

Yeah. However if your mobo supports SLi it may be worth the investment in the long run as in 6 or so months time whenever you upgrade next you can upgrade to 2 260's which will last that big longer. I really WISH i brough a mobo with crossfire support not SLi tbh

[Rastalovich]

I'd like to see that 4870 tested against the 260-216 with these rumored awesome drivers.

I have no point of reference to say if they're as much of an improvement as is claimed, but I'm sure a reviewer on OC3D would be better qualified.

[haofeng]

With sli, how "identical" do the cards have to be. I mean dot hey have to be the exact same model with the exact same clock speeds made by the same manufacturer?

[rrjwilson]

Out of those two I'd ask what games are you playing. If your playing things like UT3 where nVidia's CUDA is used to do some processing then its nVidia all the way as it is FAR more powerful than the ATi. If you play source based games or other single core games then ATi is the way to go as its fast enough in those circumstances.

nVidia cards are barely being used in current games and not being used efficiently in benches (given the comparisons that must be made and compatibility that must be allowed). Realtime ray tracing was mythological only a year ago and for ATi is still years off but nVidia have it and man is it impressive. Hopefully we'll see better optimization for setups during installations and nVidia and AMD will get the deserved rewards for their progress.

I believe it must be identical cards clock speed are usually adjusted to be the same in SLi

[haofeng]

So I guess its a pretty close call. Probably go for the gtx 260 then, the idea of sli is tempting. Does anyone have any gripes or know of any probalems with either of the cards though?

[MrCaffeLatte]

The 260-216 is the faster card from what reviews I have seen (about 5 on different websites comparing the two) in neutral games (games that don't run better on ATI cards e.g CoD4).

I'm in a similar situation as I'm looking to get a new computer soon.

I've pretty much settled on the XFX 260-216 black edition as this is the fastest 260 out of the box and can be got for 230 quid or so from various e-tailors.

Also the temps and wattages seem lower than a 4870 1gb from what I've seen (without going to the 250 quid mark for a custom-cooled 4870).

[haofeng]

yeah, i agree with the black edition gtx260. The review of it on oc3d a while ago rated it pretty highly. Link to the etailer selling it for £230? haven't been able to find it for that price anywhere.

[MrCaffeLatte]

Here we go matey:

[Just realised I need 15 posts to post a link or PM it] It's on scan.co.uk for 230.61 inc VAT but P&P might bump it up a little.