HD4850 or 9800GTX+?

[JD]

The 9800GTX+ is about $15 cheaper and is from XFX (as long as nobody nabs it from the HWC sale). Of course I get the added benefit of having PhysX and CUDA.

The HD4850 I'm considering is the HIS ICEQ4 Turbo (non-X). Reason why I chose it is because if I do go Crossfire, the card MUST be a maximum of 2 slots as my 2nd PCIe slot is really low and the PSU is nearby (Maximus Formula + Antec 900). Roughly looking at it, the card's fan would be slightly past the PSU so it'd have some breathing room.

Now I do, in theory, have another HD4850 though it is currently dead. I'm hoping to get it RMA'd to Diamond but I have no idea how long that's going to take. As it stands, they haven't replied yet and I've technically voided the warranty (removed heatsink, attempted pencil volt-mod). So I'd say I have a 50/50 chance of actually getting a working card back.

So which one would you go with? Assuming of course that I won't have my second HD4850 anytime soon but I want to play all the games coming out this month/next month like Far Cry 2, GTA4, COD:WAW, etc at decent settings @ 1680x1050.

[bojangles]

Well, that's actually a really hard decision. Personally I'd go for a 4850 if Diamond does actually return a response and agree to RMA it with you, but now you're actually scaring me because I have a Diamond 4850 as well :S. So, I'd say go with the 9800GTX+, just because you get a lifetime warranty and it's a die shrink of the original. I've never had HIS, so I couldn't tell you anything from there.

[JD]

Originally Posted by bojangles

Well, that's actually a really hard decision. Personally I'd go for a 4850 if Diamond does actually return a response and agree to RMA it with you, but now you're actually scaring me because I have a Diamond 4850 as well :S. So, I'd say go with the 9800GTX+, just because you get a lifetime warranty and it's a die shrink of the original. I've never had HIS, so I couldn't tell you anything from there.

Your card will be fine as long as you don't do any volt mods or at least do them improperly

I think I'll stick with another HD4850 in hopes of Crossfire, since having a 9800GTX+ and maybe a HD4850 is totally useless and I'd just have to end up selling one of them.