Best and Cheapest Video Card

[Jun aka Pekto]

Onga hindi ko napansin na 4850 na. Hmm still the fact that it's a quad-core means mas malakas power consumption niyan.

I use a 400W PSU but I only have a dual-core CPU and a Radeon 3850. Recommended nga 450W kasi I have a slight overclock.
Since he doesn't seem to plan to OC then maybe 450-550W would do. But of course most efficient parin if he doesn't have to change kasi he'll have an extra PSU lying around lang. I think it can run on 430W anyway, medyo tight nga lang.

Since the motherboard I wanted originally was out of stock*, my order wasn't finalized. I added a Gigabyte 550w psu. The costs for these specs is $552.00 which isn't too bad:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 Black Edition 3.2GHZ
M/B: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR3 1800
VIDEO: SAPPHIRE 100258-1GHDMI Radeon HD 4850 1GB
PSU: GIGABYTE SUPERB GE-P450P-C2 550W ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS

The last DIY pc I assembled (the one that went kaput) cost me $1800 back in 2005. I still have my Aspire X-Cruiser case, 2 hard drives, and Pioneer DVD burner. Plus, the case has 2 x 80mm fans and 1 x 120mm fan. I plan to add one more 120mm fan up front if I'm in the mood to mod the case further.

*It looks like the supply of Gigabyte AMD 790's were picked clean because of discounts from cpu/motherboard bundles.

[Horsepower]

Very nice specs you got there. Waiting for that Gigabyte here too. For 10 more dollars though, you can get an Active PFC type PSU:

Antec Modular 550W
Sunbeam 650W Modular

non-modular
OCZ 600w - modular version is 5 dollars more.
HEC 650w


Those are usually 90-240v types, are more efficient and will save you some come electric billings.

Good luck with the boss

[Jun aka Pekto]

Good luck with the boss

Actually, I have a lot of leeway on spending. My wife wanted to replace my (dead) gaming desktop pc with a dualcore 16.4" Toshiba laptop (4gb ram/ Mobility HD4500) which costs $850 at a local store.

I shuddered at the thought and told her I can assemble a very powerful pc for much less.

Since my first order didn't go through because of out of stock items, I'm reviewing other options in case I come up with something better. But, the last specs I posted is the likely one I'll order. I'm also waiting for cpu/motherboard combos which could further slash the prices.

It's not like I'm totally out of the water. I still have the Mac Mini and Toshiba laptop for light gaming and internet. The laptop can handle just fine C&C: Generals and Zero Hour, Pacific Fighters, Combat Flight Simulators 2 and 3, BF1942/Desert Combat, and a lot of retro-gaming stuff. Anything newer like BF2, Doom 3, and C&C 3 kinda chokes.

Where we are, electricity is dirt cheap. For a small town with less than 10,000 people, it has its own electric company. What's expensive here is natural gas especially once the snow hits.

[Jun aka Pekto]

One example of other options I'm considering is the feasibility of buying an HD 4770 instead of the HD 4850 and drop the Gigabyte psu. I'll stick with the 430w psu I already have. But.... decisions, decisions.

[Horsepower]

Hmm so you effectively have a budget of $800 then! That's less than $850.

About the PSU, saving money is just a by-product of having APFC. It's supposedly better for your system as it can handle overloads and power surges better. Having a higher capacity PSU is okay as it will give only what the system needs. And it's only +$10 anyway.

4870 is better, it is cheaper than 4770 and an additional 4870 (when you get to realize you need the extra vidcard power). Actually, XFX 4890 XXX is a better deal with its double lifetime warranty.

I hope that Gigabyte 785 mobo arrives finally here.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Hmm so you effectively have a budget of $800 then! That's less than $850.

About the PSU, saving money is just a by-product of having APFC. It's supposedly better for your system as it can handle overloads and power surges better. Having a higher capacity PSU is okay as it will give only what the system needs. And it's only +$10 anyway.

4870 is better, it is cheaper than 4770 and an additional 4870 (when you get to realize you need the extra vidcard power). Actually, XFX 4890 XXX is a better deal with its double lifetime warranty.

I hope that Gigabyte 785 mobo arrives finally here.

I also thought of going back to an Phenom II X3 2.8 ghz and upping the video card to a Sapphire 4770.....

Spec 2:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Black Edition
M/B: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR3 1800
VIDEO: SAPPHIRE 100279-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V (2 x 6-pin)

Compare to Spec 1:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 Black Edition 3.2GHZ
M/B: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR3 1800
VIDEO: SAPPHIRE 100258-1GHDMI Radeon HD 4850 1GB
PSU: GIGABYTE SUPERB GE-P450P-C2 550W ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS (1 x 6-pin)

Both have almost the same price with a difference of < $1

I'm kind of waffling between predominantly gaming with some video-editing/rendering and vice versa. Obviously, the quadcore setup is for video-editing/rendering-centric chores.

Also, I can't spend $800. It has to be cheaper. The way my wife rationalizes..... If the parts I buy cost too close to that laptop she wants instead, she'll insist on the laptop. Once she starts insisting, game over.

Besides, it has to be cheap enough to look like I'm repairing my pc instead of assembling an effectively new one. Things I've learned over the years.... He He He.

[Revenant]

Why not a GeForce 260 (216sp) 896mb instead? It is priced at the same range as that of a 4870.

[jut703]

Why not a GeForce 260 (216sp) 896mb instead? It is priced at the same range as that of a 4870.

I agree with this. A GTX 260 216sp is faster than a 4870 512 MB and most often faster than a 4870 1 GB. :D

[Jun aka Pekto]

I agree with this. A GTX 260 216sp is faster than a 4870 512 MB and most often faster than a 4870 1 GB. :D

That SP means it's overclocked and is around as fast as the GTX 280. I thought about getting a Sapphire Toxic HD 4870 (overclocked) which would also put it mostly within GTX 280 territory.

But...... 2 things why I have to stick with the ATI...... My pc components are mostly AMD*. I have noticed with my last (AMD) pc that the GF 8600GT was prone to several BSOD's in the past while my X800XL peformed superbly without a single crash/lockup in XP, Vista, and Win 7 RC.

Besides, I alternate between ATI and nVidia with every video card acquisition. Since my last one was an 8600GT....... It's ATI this time around. I've never broken the pattern (even if there's a performance and cost disadvantage). Superstitious? Yup. It sure is. Ha Ha!

Mach 64 (plus Matrox Millenium)---->Riva 128---->3dfx Voodoo---->3dfx Voodoo2 SLI. Post 3dfx.... TNT2---->Radeon---->GF4-Ti4200---->X800XL---->GF 8600GT----> HD4870?

Using stock, unoverclocked cards, an HD 4870 1gb is around $40 cheaper and slightly quicker than a GTX 260. Even an overclocked HD 4870 is still cheaper than an overclocked GTX 260 by $10-$30.


*Much like what I suspect with MS apps/games vs 3rd-party ones in different versions of Windows. The MS apps/games worked like a charm even without ever being patched.

[jut703]

That SP means it's overclocked and is around as fast as the GTX 280. I thought about getting a Sapphire Toxic HD 4870 (overclocked) which would also put it mostly within GTX 280 territory.

But...... 2 things why I have to stick with the ATI...... My pc components are mostly AMD*. I have noticed with my last (AMD) pc that the GF 8600GT was prone to several BSOD's in the past while my X800XL peformed superbly without a single crash/lockup in XP, Vista, and Win 7 RC.

Besides, I alternate between ATI and nVidia with every video card acquisition. Since my last one was an 8600GT....... It's ATI this time around. I've never broken the pattern (even if there's a performance and cost disadvantage). Superstitious? Yup. It sure is. Ha Ha!

Mach 64 (plus Matrox Millenium)---->Riva 128---->3dfx Voodoo---->3dfx Voodoo2 SLI. Post 3dfx.... TNT2---->Radeon---->GF4-Ti4200---->X800XL---->GF 8600GT----> HD4870?

Using stock, unoverclocked cards, an HD 4870 1gb is around $40 cheaper and slightly quicker than a GTX 260. Even an overclocked HD 4870 is still cheaper than an overclocked GTX 260 by $10-$30.


*Much like what I suspect with MS apps/games vs 3rd-party ones in different versions of Windows. The MS apps/games worked like a charm even without ever being patched.

Just to clarify. 216sp is notan overclocked GTX 260. The initial release of the GTX 260 had 192 shading processors (sp). However seeing that this placed it as an equal (performance wise) to the 512 MB HD 4870, which at that time was selling a little cheaper, nVidia decided to increase the amount of shading processors to 216 (which is still not equal to the GTX 280's 240) along with a die shrink from 65 nm to 55 nm (this also brought about a code name change from GT200 to GT200b).
So GTX 260 216sps are stock. There are overclocked versions of these which are usually sold as GTX 260 216sp OC. :D

[Jun aka Pekto]

Just to clarify. 216sp is notan overclocked GTX 260. The initial release of the GTX 260 had 192 shading processors (sp). However seeing that this placed it as an equal (performance wise) to the 512 MB HD 4870, which at that time was selling a little cheaper, nVidia decided to increase the amount of shading processors to 216 (which is still not equal to the GTX 280's 240) along with a die shrink from 65 nm to 55 nm (this also brought about a code name change from GT200 to GT200b).
So GTX 260 216sps are stock. There are overclocked versions of these which are usually sold as GTX 260 216sp OC. :D

I take it there's 3 in the GTX 260 family

GTX 260
GTX 260 216
GTX 260 216SP

I don't think newegg's got the GTX 260 216SP. Even so. The HD 4870 1GB is still a bit cheaper than a stock GTX 260 ($25 cheaper). The only other GTX 260 I see is the GTX 260 216. It's dead heat between the HD 4870 1GB and the GTX 260 216 with the HD 4870 slightly quicker in the majority of benchmarks, at least based on Anandtech's tests:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3650&p=4

or

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P..._216_SP/1.html

Even against an overclocked GTX 260 216SP, the stock non-overclocked HD 4870 512MB still did better in some games.

That plus I expect a lot less issues with ATI cards on AMD systems because after all, AMD owns ATI.

Add the fact that an HD 4870 is cheaper than even a stock GTX 260 (at least here). It's probably because the HD 5000 series are already on sale.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Looking at various reviews of the HD 4870 (and HD 4890), a lot of the older reviews (last year and early this year) had it at a big disadvantage against the GTX 260 216/216SP. But, the most recent reviews have the HD 4870 doing much better.

I imagine it's because the HD 4870 drivers finally had time to mature.

The cheapest GTX 260 216 (SP?) has a Core Clock Speed of 650Mhz + HDMI sells for $180. Compare that to $155 for the HD 4870 1GB and $190 for the HD 4890 ($185 if I go with Powercolor with no HDMI) .

[ssaloon]

Up ko lang.

Which is better, Sapphire Vapor-X HD4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E HDMI or Inno3D GeForce GTS 250 512MB DDR3 256bit Dual DVI HDMI PCI-E? Both are in the same price range.

Looks like I have to fast track the upgrade of my VC since the display turns to/flickers to white randomly (it's not the LCD's fault). Will the new VC simply bolt-on to the PCI slot of the 7300GT I will be replacing?

Could this be purely a VC issue or can it also be related to the PSU? It started acting up when I was playing NBA 2K9 a few weeks ago.

Also what would be a decent PSU with a 2k budget?

[rion]

never tried those two, but kung benchmark score lang basehan... mas ok 4850



at yes, bolt on lang yan as long as PCI-E, NOT AGP. you will likely need 6 pins power supply plug...

psu for 2k... I'm not sure the HEC 500w raptor is enough... recently it became one of those exploding series like the HEC AB.

yung maganda parin feedback so far yung HEC 550+ 80%

if only may stocks pa sa Tacens Supero 500w modular (80% daw) ok pa siguro. right now wala ng stocks. at 600w nalang available * 3k

you could also venture on Powerline 650W Modular Dual Rail

http://tipidpc.com/viewitem.php?iid=4218501

but it's a new product... hindi pa subok... atleast yung Tacens medyo subok na kasi ilang buwan narin dito at FSP yung manufacturer nila. I also own one.

[ssaloon]

Thanks for the tip. I'm also considering the radeon HD 4830 since not that far off sa benchmark and cheaper siya.

Will the new VC be plug and play sa old pci-e slot ng 7300 ko?

[rion]

Thanks for the tip. I'm also considering the radeon HD 4830 since not that far off sa benchmark and cheaper siya.

Will the new VC be plug and play sa old pci-e slot ng 7300 ko?

as long as pci-e, ok lang po. but you will need a 6pin for the vc's power source.

may HD 5750 na pala... * 6.9k.... upgrade itch... layo-an mo kami. haha..

[ssaloon]

May nabibiling adaptor ba for 6pins para sa PSU?

I'm going to disconnect 1 of my optical drives (since I rarely use it) and probably 1 of my fans since my CPU is always open on the side.

[jut703]

I take it there's 3 in the GTX 260 family

GTX 260
GTX 260 216
GTX 260 216SP

I don't think newegg's got the GTX 260 216SP. Even so. The HD 4870 1GB is still a bit cheaper than a stock GTX 260 ($25 cheaper). The only other GTX 260 I see is the GTX 260 216. It's dead heat between the HD 4870 1GB and the GTX 260 216 with the HD 4870 slightly quicker in the majority of benchmarks, at least based on Anandtech's tests:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3650&p=4

or

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P..._216_SP/1.html

Even against an overclocked GTX 260 216SP, the stock non-overclocked HD 4870 512MB still did better in some games.

That plus I expect a lot less issues with ATI cards on AMD systems because after all, AMD owns ATI.

Add the fact that an HD 4870 is cheaper than even a stock GTX 260 (at least here). It's probably because the HD 5000 series are already on sale.

Sir hindi po, yung SP diyan means Shading Processors. :P

Anyway, malapit na lumabas yung GT300 series, so hindi mo na kailangan mawindang sa naming scheme ng GT200. :P

But presently, what's out is the 5800 series. Oras na para mag-ipon para sa 5850 + i5 750 set up. :P

[jut703]

May nabibiling adaptor ba for 6pins para sa PSU?

I'm going to disconnect 1 of my optical drives (since I rarely use it) and probably 1 of my fans since my CPU is always open on the side.

Naubos mo lahat ng cable ng PSU mo? Usually sobra sobra yun ah.

[rion]

yep, myroon po. some vc also has adaptors as one of their free accessories.

if you intend to try your old psu... when on game mode... tingnan mo temperature ng PSU mo... kung mainit... try smelling it from the exhaust fan...

personaly, if it's a generic psu. I would not try it...


I would not expect Nvidia releasing the GT300 anytime soon... matagal na napako sa cruz yung pangako nila. haha...

they even claimed they will be the first to release it before AMD does...

though I will be waiting... atleast ok pa yung nilalaro ko sa ngayon... walang pang deeper itch...

nvdia fanboy ako. may 3d vision and PhysX pa ang green team sa ngayon... Nvidia is sponsoring a lot of games... kaya pabor compatibilty sa kanila... (violating the Anti-trust)

and I got a lot of issues with Amd drivers, the Radeon X series cannot play RE5. my x1650's are lag on openGL kahit anong driver from the oldest to the newest