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 | $322 |
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SiliconDoc - Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - link
The 9800GTX+ is 149.99 by itself.I'm not sure why, with CUDA, and with PhysX, and with overclocking capability, and with using an 8 series for a dedicated PhysX processor, WHY I should buy the 4850 at the same price or worse.
I guess in this case, the very few games that the 4850 enjoy a advantage in, makes all the difference all of a sudden - in this case NOTHING matters exacpt some " very close gaming scores" and after thinking about that ONLY - choose the 4850.... or so the review goes... because golly... the price COULD be advantageous...
Yeah, I've HAD IT.
fofelix - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
I think the HD 4850 X2 is getting interesting because of the recent price cuts.In Germany the cheapest HD 4870 512MB costs 187€ ,while the HD 4850 X2 (2x512MB) costs 261€. Nice performance/euro ratio in my opinion.
Well i don't know the price of the HD4850X2 in the U.S. ,but I assume the relative price difference is similar.
By the way... You can be a bit jealous living in Europe .
I knew that hardware is more pricy in Europe compared to the U.S. , but 187€ for the HD 4870 vs Newegg's 180$ 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.