New GFX card.

[Llama8 8]

Well, I got a bonus & the wife has signed off on some limited expenditure for a new gfx card. I've got a limit of ~£150 (inc P&P, which is probably ~£10). Ignoring any special offers, that pretty much rules out a GTX275. I've got an Abit FP-IN9 motherboard with a PCI-e 1 slot, though Tim says that a card that uses a 2.0 slot will still work fine (albeit not quite as fast). I was thinking either this, this or this.

 

Thoughts?

[Timotheus 416]

I'd choose the ASUS one.

Only the OC on the Black Edt from XFX would make it worthwhile to spend more money (the difference between the Gainward and the Asus is small, the difference between the XFX and the ASUS are a bit bigger), but that's up to you. I wouldn't. I would go for the XFX if you really don't like OC'ing yourself, or need the warranty.

Edited June 22, 2009 by Timotheus

[Llama8 8]

While I would probably prefer to get an Nvidia card (for the Sacred 2 Physx), this ATI card has ~£50 off (from ~£200 -> £150).

[Timotheus 416]

It's faster than the 260. That's for sure. The 4890 is competing with the 275.

However, I don't know whether the difference between the Black Edt and the 4890 still are that big. But my money would be on the 4890.

 

^{But also because I'm having a lot of graphics issues with an Nvidia card atm, and some bad experiences in the past, I've grown a little ATi biased.}

[Llama8 8]

It's faster than the 260. That's for sure. The 4890 is competing with the 275.

However, I don't know whether the difference between the Black Edt and the 4890 still are that big. But my money would be on the 4890.

^{But also because I'm having a lot of graphics issues with an Nvidia card atm, and some bad experiences in the past, I've grown a little ATi biased.}

 

True, it's a £200 card for £150, which is a significant discount, but I wouldn't get the physx effects in Sacred 2 with an ATI card (and IIRC I'd need to make sure I've got the relevant Physx drivers, a link would be appreciated).

[Timotheus 416]

Relevant PhysX driver? I think that you mean the standalone software?

You can find the driver at the bottom of this page, the most recent version is this one.

 

And yeah, you have to think whether you value physx. But either way, both are very good cards.

[Llama8 8]

the most recent version is this one.

And yeah, you have to think whether you value physx. But either way, both are very good cards.

 

Cool, that's the one I've got. Thanks Tim.

[Llama8 8]

Decided to go for the 4890, it should arrive tomorrow mornng.

[Llama8 8]

The card arrived yesterday, fitted it & I can now play Sacred 2 with max settings & 4x AA at something like 30-60 FPS. Though it was painfully hot to the touch after an evening of uninterupted gaming...

[stubbie 21]

The card arrived yesterday, fitted it & I can now play Sacred 2 with max settings & 4x AA at something like 30-60 FPS. Though it was painfully hot to the touch after an evening of uninterupted gaming...

 

I have a HIS HD4870 and it also ran hot...common with the 4800 series I believe.

 

What I did however was installed this latest beta version of ATI Tray Tools. (pre this version does not have the ability to control HD4800 series gpu fan speeds).

 

I increased a couple of the fan speed % settings at temps 70° and 80° to 50% and 55% and it has lowered the temps by 10°C with no noticeable increase in fan noise.

 

I highly recommend anyone with a HD4800 series card use ATI Tray Tools for gpu temperature control as the CCC is pretty useless in this regard.

Edited June 26, 2009 by stubbie

[locolagarto 15]

I exploited the local BestBuy 14-day return policy and tried both the ATI HD 4890 and GTX260 same price. I prefer the GTX even though the ATI had an overclock tool. The Nvidia Just seemed to run Sacred better. Even though they are both far supierior to my GT 9800 the performance improvement on my Dell XPS 400 withWin XP and 2 GB ram was not what I thought it would be.