Holiday 2008 GPU Guide: Price Cuts Galore
by Derek Wilson on December 18, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
To the East Side: $220 - $300 Graphics Cards
This price point brings solid playability to 2560x1600 resolutions with 4xAA possible in many cases. I throw my plug out there that 2xAA is all you need on 30" monitors, but that's definitely going to vary depending on taste. These cards are slight tweaks of hardware offered at a lower price point. We are looking at highly overclocked GeForce GTX 260 core 216 hardware and Radeon HD 4870 1GB cards.
The RV770 chip on the Radeon HD 4870 is much more suited to a 1GB framebuffer, especially at high resolutions with AA enabled. The advantages over the 512MB version are more apparent at higher resolutions, and necessary to get the most out of the hardware on 30" monitors. Highly overclocked GeForce GTX 260 core 216 hardware is available that could offer a great performance boost over stock hardware and over the Radeon HD 4870 1GB in some cases. In the cases where the 4870 beats the GTX 280, the 4870 will still pull out ahead, but in many other cases the super high overclock of some of these GeForce GTX 260 cards is going to be a better option. In fact, for $250, you can pick up an XFX GTX 260 core 216 clocked at 666MHz core (~15.5% increase), 2300MHz memory (~15% increase), and 1440MHz shader clock (~15.9% increase) bundled with Far Cry 2. This will provide some good increases in performance, as no matter where you are limited you have a potential theoretical maximum performance increase of about 15%.
This is another tough one and it really does depend on the games that will be played. When shopping for an overclocked GTX 260 core 216, you have to do a little more work to make sure you get the best deal, but the best deal there could be a better deal than the Radeon HD 4870 1GB. Then again, the Radeon HD 4870 1GB is a great deal at $250 and you know exactly what you are getting when you pick one up. The continuum is much more convoluted with NVIDIA hardware, but giving manufacturers a chance to differentiate themselves does add another level of competition to the market and has made highly overclocked GTX 260 hardware a viable alternative to the highest end AMD single GPU solution. In the end though, we've really got to give the nod to the super cheap $220 PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 1GB. Top that off with the fact that the PowerColor card is an overclocked version of the 4870 1GB, and that really seals the deal.
PowerColor's Radeon HD 4870 (Image From newegg.com)
Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
| Newegg | ZipZoomFly | TigerDirect | Buy.com |
PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 1GB | ASUS Radeon HD 4870 1GB | Not Available | Gigabyte Radeon HD 4870 1GB |
| $280 | Not Available | $322 |
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falcon8204 - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
this is the same deal iirc as the thanksgiving blowout sale.asus 4850 for 149.99 - 30 MIR = 129.99 with free shipping to boot. i just ordered one so you guys lookin for one better hurry before they sell out :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
falcon
Eidorian - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
SAPPHIRE 100265L Radeon HD 4830 512MB comes down to $99 with free shipping today with the promo code EMCBCBKDB. Add on the $10 mail in rebate for $89.crimson117 - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
The newegg link to "PowerColor Radeon HD 4850" actually leads to the $85 POWERCOLOR AX4830 product page.Kroneborge - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
Of course one thing to think about too, is the option to upgrade later. It seems like if I get a 260, and then in a couple of month have some extra cash it's real easy to go SLI. If I get a 4870 there is no guaruntee that the crossfire bugs will have been worked out.And I think for a lot of us, it's easier to upgrade in stages like that.
7Enigma - Friday, December 19, 2008 - link
I don't agree. Unless you are the atypical gamer that upgrades video cards every 6 months single card solutions at the height of $/performance curve have always made more sense. Not to mention drivers have just not been there to see the great 1.5-2X performance increase we want out of doubling the card. The dual-gpu on the same board are much more beneficial since it's seen as a single card, but these are obviously at the high end.Now that AMD is competetive again especially. Back when the 8800 series came out you could have benefitted from SLI since there were basically no new parts for the better portion of 2 years. In this cycle, however, going with a 9600GT-260, holding out for 1-1 1/2 years then upgrading to a new single card will likely be a better move.
vshah - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
It would be awesome if you guys could include some comparisons with older cards. I'm still rocking a 6800gt, and wondering how the newer cards compare.derek85 - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
For performance comparison of old vs new cards, you can check out the GPU chart on Toms Hardware.Rippar - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
The 9800GTX+ SLI looks good considering the combo deals on newegg for it.Antec P182/9800GTX+ combo = $244
EVGA 750i FTW/9800GTX+ combo = $285
Then again, that case and motherboard have combos with the GTX260 as well.
DerekWilson - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
we chose not to look at any combo deals because that just made everything start to get too complex. we wanted to make it as general as possible too, and talking about only the price of a single card give people an idea of deals to be had for people looking to upgrade their existing single dual or triple slot mobos as well as people looking to build an entire system from the ground up.We might not have the absolute best deals you can find anywhere listed here, but some of these deals are really good and they weren't that hard to find. It should work as a starting point for people though. Especially if a combo deal will work for you.
Rippar - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
I know, I know. I'm just letting the people who read the commentrs know that there are some RIDICULOUS deals on video cards right now.