What is the better deal?

[Borg]

I'm trying to decide between:

1) 4870 512mb - $60
2) 4870 1gb - $80
3) 5670 1gb - $70
4) 460 1gb - $100* (providing I can find one used for that)
5) 5830 1gb - $100 (used - if not sold already)
6) 5850 1gb - $137 - new (refurbished?) - but, I have to find a way to get to Mississauga.... anyone here live there?

Any comments?

Budget? As cheap as possible... but maybe the 460 and 5850 are good enough deals?

What is the best upgrade for the best price of a 7950GT?

[_dangtx_]

probably the 460. does it have warranty, the question begs? :)

[Borg]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

probably the 460. does it have warranty, the question begs? :)

Oh, I have no idea... I posted a WTB since it's probably my first choice. But, I was thinking of just getting a cheap card if I can't find one for $100.

I guess there's not too many manufacturers with decent warranties now?

EVGA is the best choice?

Anyway, I'll inquire about any warranty but first I have to find a seller. :)

I thought a 4870 card would be good for a cheapo but I was concerned with power consumption and temps. I guess that one is not too much over a 5850...? those cards are an improvement regarding efficiency/temps/power but just slightly?

[_dangtx_]

giga(us rma) and asus(toronto rma) and msi(toronto rma) and....hmm....

who else? xfx for amd cards nowadays but im not sure you need the first owner's input or not


anyone else?


5850 over a 4870 is like a 460 over a 250

[frontier204]

Originally Posted by Borg

I thought a 4870 card would be good for a cheapo but I was concerned with power consumption and temps. I guess that one is not too much over a 5850...? those cards are an improvement regarding efficiency/temps/power but just slightly?

As an owner of a Radeon 4870 I can confirm that it has a horrible idle power consumption (enough to keep the idle temp over 40 C) although its load consumption is comparable to the other requires-two-PCIE-connectors cards you listed. Unless you are running Crossfire the 1 GB Radeon 4870 won't help much over the 512MB version as any game that takes up over 512MB texture memory will cripple the GPU itself before it overruns the memory. A 4870 can outperform a 5670 - IIRC it would be comparable to a 5750 depending on the game, minus the DX11 support.

Anyway I concur with dangtx's suggestion of looking for a GTX 460, maybe the 768MB or a 1 GB without the "SE" suffix.

[Bond007]

I would go for gtx 460 as well. 768mb should be fine as long as you are at 1920x1080 or less for resolution, but obviously if you can get a 1gb that's great (agree with above to avoid the 1gb SE model...unless the price is right).

[Borg]

Should I post another topic?

I'm having some trouble figuring out what is the better deal. :)

I am leaning towards either a 460 for $100 or a 560 but then that costs up to at least $180 (probably w/ rebate so over $200 to start with).

I have noticed a few (limited time) deals for a 560 for $130-ish. The 560 sounds like a cooler running, overclocked 460? Does that sound accurate enough?

Is the 560 really that much an improvement over the 460? I guess I should really try to get one if I go Nvidia?

I mostly wanted a Radeon 4870 for Linux purposes but a 58xx series would work just as well but would be more expensive.

Also, for you Windows users, is there a difference you find with drivers? Nvidia has traditionally been a lot better regarding quality of drivers, right?

[supaflyx3]

get the 460, you can generally find them for 100 or less.

[Bond007]

You should be able to find a 460 for the magic $100, but it may take a little while. Unfortunately prices on 460 seem to have gone back up (for new cards, which is keeping used values fairly well). Got my MSI cyclone 460 768mb OC new for $125 and a $20 or $25 MIR if I remember correctly.