Which card is better - ATI Radeon 4870 or Nvidia POV 8800GTS

[alanharte]

Building my first gaming PC - but can't decide between these 2 graphics cards.

No idea about these kinda things - which one is better?

Thanks.

[EXreaction]

4870

[#43 fan]

The 4870 would destroy the 8800GTS.

[pullmyfoot]

The 4870 would destroy the 8800GTS.

upside down and inside out, even more so if your talking about the old version of the GTS (G80 core)

[pullmyfoot]

Just out of curiosity’s sake what are the other specs on that system there?

[alanharte]

Not final specs are as follows...

CPU - Core 2 Duo E8400 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - Ebuyer

Motherboard - Haven't decided yet, any recommendations?

Graphics Card - Saphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 Sapphire HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

Memory - Corsair 4GB Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-18) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty - Ebuyer

Scythe Processor Cooler Scythe Mine Rev-B Socket 478, 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU Cooler - Ebuyer

Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English - Ebuyer

Corsair 500W Corsair 550W VX Series PSU - 120mm Fan, 5 Year Warranty - Ebuyer

Case Antec 300 Three Hundred Case - No PSU - Ebuyer

Case Fans Hiper 120mm Case Fan - Clear HiperFlow Frame & Blades - 3pin with Adaptor/Screws Included - Ebuyer

Hard Drive 500GB Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM - Ebuyer

DVD Drive Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20X SATA DVD±RW DL Int Black - OEM - Ebuyer

Monitor Samsung SM223BW 21.6" TFT Monitor Widescreen 1680x1050 3000:1 300 cd/m2 5ms VGA/DVI-D Glossy black 3 Years Onsite Warranty - Ebuyer

[KarmaKiller]

That looks like a solid system so far.
One thing I would recommend is that you get this drive instead. It's $10 more, but it's faster and 140Gb bigger.

As far as a motherboard, do you plan on overclocking? Do you want something that will support crossfire for later upgrades?

[alanharte]

That looks like a solid system so far.
One thing I would recommend is that you get this drive instead. It's $10 more, but it's faster and 140Gb bigger.

As far as a motherboard, do you plan on overclocking? Do you want something that will support crossfire for later upgrades?

Drive added to the basket! Yes I probably will want to do some overclocking and will also want to use Crossfire once the bank balance gets topped up again.

[KarmaKiller]

Okay, so your looking into something like a X38/X48 or possibly a P45 board. I'd look into these:
Asus P5Q Deluxe P45 Socket 775 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer

ABIT IX38 QuadGT iX38 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer

Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 Socket 775 X48 7.1 Channel audio DDR2 ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer

Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 iX48 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer

MSI P45 Platinum Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer

I'll stop there.

[alanharte]

Thanks for those motherboard options, I'm most interested in the Asus P5Q Deluxe P45 out of that list. However it might be stretching my budget just a little too much - although I may want to use Crossfire in the future, I don't think I will be overclocking things to their maximum, probably just the E8400 to around 3.6GHZ, for example.

Could I get by using an ABIT IP35 Pro iP35 ABIT IP35 Pro iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer, or is it really worth spending the extra £30 for the Asus P5Q Deluxe P45?

[KarmaKiller]

The big difference in those boards are the speeds of the PCI-E slots. The P5Q board supports a full 16x bandwidth to both cards while in crossfire. The P35 boards only support 8x in both, or one at 16x one at 8x. And with the 4870, I'd give that thing all the bandwidth you can. Especially if your talking a crossfire setup.
But if that's out of your budget, then that Abit board would work fine, you just wouldn't see as large as performance increase as you could with crossfire.

[alanharte]

ahh, very interesting! I think I will pay the extra £30 to squeeze a little extra juice out of the crossfire, thanks!

[KarmaKiller]

[pullmyfoot]

Thats gonna be a very sweet system. Im building something similar for myself but with the cheaper HD4850

[geddes-i]

according to what i have read the 4870 is a much better card so go for that one

[colliedog]

I'm running a Q9450 on a ASUS Maximus Formula 2 motherboard with a ATI 4870 and 4GB of 1333 OCZ Reaper memory Its absolutely the fastest machine I have ever used. All overclocked. Raw computing power alone is approaching 3 tflops thats what mainframes were doing only 8 years ago. If you can afford it stretch to the Maximus/4870. An early warning keep away from x2 4870 boards coming on the market now if you like playing games like Crysis for some reason they crash at each new level.

[pullmyfoot]

I'm running a Q9450 on a ASUS Maximus Formula 2 motherboard with a ATI 4870 and 4GB of 1333 OCZ Reaper memory Its absolutely the fastest machine I have ever used. All overclocked. Raw computing power alone is approaching 3 tflops thats what mainframes were doing only 8 years ago. If you can afford it stretch to the Maximus/4870. An early warning keep away from x2 4870 boards coming on the market now if you like playing games like Crysis for some reason they crash at each new level.

Theyre new. The drivers will get better and more mature in due time. But they destroy anything Nvidia currently has

[Stevie Blaze]

I have the Abit board and its great for overclocking but doesn't support crossfire

[nemowolf]

There is a review link in the tech news section on a Gigabyte P45 board that im going to be using for my next build.

[Fizur2002]

i had the IP35-Pro board, now sits on my wall due to water cooling accident, but i did get my Q6600 up to 3.8Ghz with that board, it does support crossfire and happens to be my favorite intel board out at the moment. It can handle 1800mhz FSB without flinching.