Holiday 2008 GPU Guide: Price Cuts Galore
by Derek Wilson on December 18, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Movin' On Up: $180 - $220 Graphics Cards
And here's where it gets really messy. The competition is brutal in this market and price cuts have bounced back and forth since this past summer. It's great for the consumer, but it makes it much harder to recommend products.
The graphical quality you can expect at this price point is terrific for everything short of a 30" monitor. It might not always grab you 4x or more antialiasing at the highest resolutions, but these parts will do high quality at high resolution (1920x1200) in most modern games. This is really the minimum spec graphics card you should look at if you've got a 30" display and want to game at full resolution, but you won't always be able to hit the highest quality options and AA will be really tight (especially in games that make heavy use of a lot of framebuffer at ultra high resolutions). Gamers who bought a 30" monitor for gaming and still have money left over will want a higher performance card.
The hardware up for debate here is the GeForce GTX 260 and the Radeon HD 4870 512MB. It's not quite that simple, as it could be with the price wars going on. And NVIDIA has been pushing for us to get out reviews of with all the games released last month. We are definitely working on testing all those new titles, and we do clearly see more competition from NVIDIA with the addition of these games. Clearly, it is possible for NVIDIA hardware to shine given the right title, but we know AMD hardware is no slouch either. Far Cry 2 is one of the games NVIDIA was pushing as a win for them, but in our recent tests we saw it was more of a wash. And washes are fine with us, as that means the consumer is really the winner.
Honestly before November, we would never have recommended the GeForce GTX 260 over the Radeon HD 4870. This time around, considering the increased competitiveness of NVIDIA hardware both in terms of performance on recent games and price mean it's not as clear cut. We also have the Core 216 to consider and the fact that manufacturers offer overclocked versions of NVIDIA hardware far more frequently than AMD hardware.
At the low end of this market, we are going to stick with recommending the Radeon HD 4870 512MB. Finding this part for under $200 is now possible (this is the original price point of the Radeon HD 4850 back at launch), and it competes with stock clocked GTX 260s with 192 SPs. If you want to stay in this general market segment and have a little extra money to spend, it's possible to find GeForce GTX 260 core 216 cards with modest overclocks that could push a buyers decision in that direction for an extra $20 or so. Really, with the pricing like it is here, you just can't go wrong no matter which option you go with. Solid recommendations are hard because of the variety of options and the tight pricing, but really the beneficiary is the consumer buying cards in this market.
Thus, we've decided to make a recommendation here based on platform. We still have some qualms with the AMD drivers running on Core i7 systems. Because people spending this much money should not have to worry about whether or not upcoming drivers will iron out all the outstanding issues, we will recommend that people with a Core i7 system go with the GeForce GTX 260 and those with other platforms pick up the Radeon HD 4870 512MB. Of course, if price is the absolute deciding factor for you, the cheapest 4870 we found did beat out the cheapest GTX 260 we could find.
Unexpectedly Affordable: The Radeon HD 4870 512MB (Image From newegg.com)
Non-Core i7 Recommendation: ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
| Newegg | ZipZoomFly | TigerDirect | Buy.com |
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB | HIS Radeon HD 4870 512MB | HIS Radeon HD 4870 512MB | Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB |
| $190 | $230 | $235 |
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 260, a better mate for an i7 system (Image from productwiki.com)
Core i7 Recommendation: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
| Newegg | ZipZoomFly | TigerDirect | Buy.com |
MSI GeForce GTX 260 | MSI GeForce GTX 260 | EVGA GeForce GTX 260 | EVGA GeForce GTX 260 |
| $191 | $220 | $237 |
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SiliconDoc - Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - link
The 9800GTX+ is 149.99 by itself.I'm not sure why, with CUDA, and with PhysX, and with overclocking capability, and with using an 8 series for a dedicated PhysX processor, WHY I should buy the 4850 at the same price or worse.
I guess in this case, the very few games that the 4850 enjoy a advantage in, makes all the difference all of a sudden - in this case NOTHING matters exacpt some " very close gaming scores" and after thinking about that ONLY - choose the 4850.... or so the review goes... because golly... the price COULD be advantageous...
Yeah, I've HAD IT.
fofelix - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
I think the HD 4850 X2 is getting interesting because of the recent price cuts.In Germany the cheapest HD 4870 512MB costs 187€ ,while the HD 4850 X2 (2x512MB) costs 261€. Nice performance/euro ratio in my opinion.
Well i don't know the price of the HD4850X2 in the U.S. ,but I assume the relative price difference is similar.
By the way... You can be a bit jealous living in Europe .
I knew that hardware is more pricy in Europe compared to the U.S. , but 187€ for the HD 4870 vs Newegg's 180$ deal. Crazy difference ,isn't it ?
Greetings from Europe
Felix
USRFobiwan - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
Well I disagree with the dollar to euro conversion the New egg version is still cheaper..JarredWalton - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
That's what he's saying: those living in Europe can be jealous of Newegg prices.Clauzii - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
... that AMD/ATI are very strong in the GPU market at the moment. And a 4830 for under $100,-. Simply brilliant.SiliconDoc - Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - link
Here's what's "brilliant" - I've heard from AYTI fans for 6 months that the sucky NVidia is ready to collapse because their "huge die" for the 280/260 is raping their bottom line... and by golly ATI is sooooo smart with their smaller 4870 die that saves them so much money....OH, BUT THEN IT HIT, RIGHT AFTER ANOTHER REDFAN WHINED IT OUT AGAIN ABOVE...
Gee, Nvidia keeps it's giant core in the $200+ to $500 privce segments - the 260/192/ 216 on up to the 280 - making sure they GET A LOT OF MONEY FOR THAT TOP CORE OF THEIRS...
But what does ATI do ? WHAT do they do ? Oh, they've got their TOP CORE in all their 4000 series cards, and although it's half the size of the so expensive NVidia top core - ATI puts their top biggest most expensive core in OODLES OF CHEAP LOW RENT VIDEOCARDS!
lol - all the 4850 series that barely brag 150 bucks now... and that's the BEST case scenario...
4350 - $25
4550 - $58
4650 $65
4670 $76
4830 $110
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Am I totally wrong or aren't ALL THOSE 4000 series GPU cores JUST AS LARGE AS THE 4870'S ? (even with reduced features... disabled shaders... or whatever)
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Ahh, the red fans HAVE BEEN LYING AND SNOWBALLING ME FOR 6 MONTHS...
The review sites have SPEWED that same rhetorical BS, a big fat line of lies... and most have repeated it ad infinitum - how NVidia just can't take it....
And it takes ME - to point out Nvidia keeps their top core in the $200 dollar to $500 pricepoint while ATI has their MOST EXPENSIVE CORE
priced at $25 - perhaps a GIGANTIC LOSS for ATI in the 4350...
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Oh, but I've been told Nvidia is losing so much they can't do a price war with ATI.... because of the Nvidia gigantic die...
LOL - BOT HAVE THE LIARS BEEN BAMBOOZLING FOR 6 LONG MONTHS!
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I know, I'm not the best writer, so wail away reds.... but you WON'T be responding to the points, nor will the reviewers - it will be ALL SILENT on the red front...
( except to perhaps spew about the 400 cores - yes well let me know if the 4350 core die is SMALLER than the 4870 - I'm going to look again RIGHT NOW ).
Good luck reds, I sure hope this isn't another gigantic lie exposed that you will "deny" by virtue of silence on it, or just scream it makes no sense (your other favorite tactic).
SiliconDoc - Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - link
Ok, I'll correct myself... my apologies for getting upset.http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3420">http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3420
I see the lower end series have smaller dies than the 4870 - BUT the 4850 FITS MY COMPLAINT.
260mm2
So ATI is calling "4000 series" chips 4000's but they aren't really at all... they are small knockdowns - THEY'VE BEEN LYING TO US ALL.
We've heard endless complaints about NVidia RENAMING the SAME SIZED DIES and calling them by a new designation...
So what ATI does is make a WHOLE 4000 series .... and then only the top 2 are actually the new full die -
And a whole host of the 4000 series are NOT.
Deception anyone ?
Schmide - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
.DerekWilson - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
it works fine for me ... what exactly is the issue?SiliconDoc - Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - link
" Pushing up closer to $100 the lines get blurry and the 9600 GT becomes more of an option though there's a deal in the next section that sort of negates that advantage. If your target is $100, you'd be better served by spending $10 more dollars to get a better card, "Yes, so blurry, huh - like $65 bucks is BLURRY.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Sub...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...06793736...
Let's really SEE, you said you'd include discounts and rebates:
64.99
64.99
74.99
79.99
74.99
84.99
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Only in the 1024 ram area does it change, but WE KNOW that doesn't matter - since the 4870 512 IS RECOMMENDED OVER THE 896 RAM GTX260 -
So 512 is just fine and makes the 9600GT the big winner.