Nvidia 260 GTX ot ATI HD 4870

[nekrosoft13]

nice timing

[Tr1cK]

great minds?...scary

[Ghosthunter]

I also heard there were major issues with ATI in Age of Conan and one reason why I went with GTX260

That is the main reason I went with it.

Also keep in mind the other reason I went with GTX260 is the edition I got was XFX OC and it came with Call of Duty 4 which I did not have, so I got a pretty sweet deal, since I was planning on picking up that game.

I don't think you can go wrong whichever card you go with and will be a winner either way

[Tr1cK]

I think the issues with AoC and ATI pertain more to the 3800s with their weird architecture. ATI threw enough SPs in the 4800s to fix that mistake.

Oh yea, COD4 is still worth $50. Nice deal.

[nvToni]

I also read something with the heat issue fix for the 4870.


So what is the first thing that I would have to do if I would get 4870 to fix the fan problem? Is the solution permanent or do you have to set it up everytime you start up your pc?

[LordJuanlo]

I created a profile with the fan at 35% and it's started automatically every time I boot my PC

[cvearl]

Originally Posted by nvToni

I also read something with the heat issue fix for the 4870.


So what is the first thing that I would have to do if I would get 4870 to fix the fan problem? Is the solution permanent or do you have to set it up everytime you start up your pc?

What fan problem?

My 4870 idles at 80C and loads at 85C. That is how it is designed. I cannot hear the card. That is also how it is designed.

Power usage wise it sits in 8800GTX/Ultra and original 9800GTX territory. So that's not a big deal.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14990/15
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/148...ire/index.html

I DO think it's great how little power at idle the GTX 200's use. Definately a little plus there. But little. I mean really. 25 to 30 watts lower power usage at idle is not going to save the polar bears.

People will first have to stop driving SUV's and Mustang GT's and get rid of any monitor bigger than 19" long before ~25 watts is going to make a difference. That and not watch TV on anthing bigger than a 32" LCD. Ya. Like that's going to happen.

I guess the equivalent would be unscrew that little bulb in your fridge to compensate? Hahaha.

Thermally speaking though, in my Antex Sonata III case, the 8800GT (eVGA Superclocked Edition) and the 4870 run within the same thermal envelope and the whole thing is a little blown out of proportion.

I extensively tested temps on both cards. Keep in mind here to that the 4870 expells air out the back of the case and not into the case like all 8800GT's.

Idle
8800GT - 75C
HD4870 - 80C

Load
8800GT - 90C
HD4870 - 85C

I have confirmed these temps with people running Alpha dog edition 8800GT's as well.

Running hacks to the BIOS or a custom profile in CCC really will only benefit the overclockers amoung us. Then that is another story.

C.

[nekrosoft13]

Originally Posted by nvToni

I also read something with the heat issue fix for the 4870.


So what is the first thing that I would have to do if I would get 4870 to fix the fan problem? Is the solution permanent or do you have to set it up everytime you start up your pc?

read this thread

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=115569

it was a problem with 8.6, 8.6 hotfix and now with 8.7 drivers. they had two chances to fix it, and so far they didn't

[BrianG]

Why is it a heat issue? If AMD says the chip can run at 80C idle, why the paranoia? Reminds me of the 8800GTX and all the panic about its temps. Chicken Little is back.

Keep in mind that whether the fan is spinning fast or slow, you still dissipate the same wattage. There will be very hot air from the exhaust port of the 4870, but there won't be much. If you drop temps by increasing the fan speed, you are still sending the same amount of heat out the back. The card isn't doing less work with the fan cranked up.

My $.02.

BTW, I did add a slot cooler for my 8800GTX, but that was because of the open vents on the card, not expelling all heat out the back. That is not a problem for the 4870.

[nekrosoft13]

because by just raising the fan speed by few % it can run over 50% cooler, and still be pretty much silent.

Cooler card inside the computer, will also allow the entire PC to run cooler.

[particleman]

This may not be an issue for noncrossfire users, but for me one of the minor complaints with my 4870 crossfire system is that it heats up my room even when idle. These cards generate a ton of heat, and until ATi gets powerplay working properly they will continue to do so. Upping the Fan speed will not help with the fact that they generate so much heat that it raises your room temperature, it just makes it worse since it expels even more of the hot air into gets expelled into the room. Having 2 4870s is like having the furnace on, which is fine in the winter, but this is the summer!

I am very satisfied with the performance of the 4870 though, in Crossfire it is significantly faster than my 280GTX in most games. It's just ATi needs to do something about the heat generated by these cards when idle, because the heat generated by the system detracts from basic things like using your computer for plain web browsing.

[Xion X2]

Originally Posted by particleman

This may not be an issue for noncrossfire users, but for me one of the minor complaints with my 4870 crossfire system is that it heats up my room even when idle. These cards generate a ton of heat, and until ATi gets powerplay working properly they will continue to do so. Upping the Fan speed will not help with the fact that they generate so much heat that it raises your room temperature, it just makes it worse since it expels even more of the hot air into gets expelled into the room. Having 2 4870s is like having the furnace on, which is fine in the winter, but this is the summer!

Any two high-end graphics cards on the market will do this, though. When I had my two 8800GTXs in SLI, the paint would start dripping off the walls.

High end cards run hot. That's all there is to it. The 4870 chip doesn't run any hotter than its predecessors; it's just that the fan speed is scaled down to account for low noise levels. If you want to fix that, then it'll take you all of 2 minutes to create a profile that will boot every time Windows does. It's a very quick and easy solution.

As for which card you should get, well my vote is obvious. The 4870. It's more technologically advanced and is much faster than the 260 in several games--even scaling as high as the 280. I don't get where some say it's a "similar performer"; they aren't looking at the big picture and are ignoring the times it blows the 260 out of the water at a high res with AA enabled.