Graphics help picking a Graphics card

well im going with a DFI LP JR P45-T2RS LGA 775 Intel P45 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard link and a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor link and i have no idea what to throw on top of it for a graphics card. ive never been very good a choosing cards, and any inpute would be much appreciated

 

If you can find it on sale... ATI Radeon 4870 1GB. They can be had for about $280 and outperform both the 260 and the newer 260 with extra SP's enabled -- while still being half the price of a 280GTX.

Read this article, http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3415 you might find it very informative.

 

Budget?

 

i would like to keep it under $300.00 USD

thats a nice card and i have read about it in the last issue of CPU (it was all about graphics cards)

the thing that throws me the most is paring a AMD GPU with a Intell chipset, hell paring a any GPU with a chipset confuses me greatly

 

I'd get a standard 4870 then and then pick up an akasa cooler for it down the line
must be sweet being in the states with such low prices
nice M/B

 

with the mention of the cooler i should state that im looking to liquid coolthe card and and the Q6600

 

Standard 4870 then, best in my opinion.

Edit, ha 1234 posts

 

Almost at 1337

 

The 4870 1GB is $280.00

Intel chipsets support CrossFire/CrossFireX. It's a good idea to stick with Intel and AMD if you plan to pickup another card down the road.

 

my last build had a amd socket 939
with a nvidia 8800gts
running flawlessly, no conflicts between them
also was on a dfi board

 

No need to be confused. Basically any GPU+chipset combo will work.

However, Crossfire/SLI+chipset is a greatly different question.

 

what's wrong with Bittech's review?
all i can see is the gtx260 Maxcore beats 4870 1GB, don't forget the former also offers CUDA, quieter fans and consumes less electricity while idle.

all my advice is that go for 4870 1GB if all your computer will ever do is gaming, and very little time idling. go for gtx260 Maxcore if you want more out of your computer and your graphics card.

 

CUDA and PhysX is a joke. Get over it. It's a pipe dream -- and a marketing tool to get people to think they're buying into something that'll be of any actual worth. SLi and CrossFire are older technologies, and still haven't been adopted by many game developers or at least not properly supported. nVidia's CUDA is also proprietary -- all the more reason developers won't adopt it. It's a fact that software developers are slow to buy into new technologies. We've yet to see proper scaling in SLi/CrossFire, it's getting there but it'll still take awhile we can't really blame hardware for this because the support and performance has been improving with every generation of new nForce or Intel chipset. Don't make your hardware purchases on the flimsy assumption that something like CUDA will solve your problems -- or make your card more superior.

As far as Anandtech vs. Bit-Tech reviews go? Both are good -- but Anandtech is still my #1 choice because they offer more indepth insights into the technology. While I'm sure its something Bit-Tech could do, it might bore too many users.

 

nice of you to just forget to comment on quieter fans and better power management.

CUDA is not a joke, it's not about developers, it's about possibilities. why would you buy a quad core CPU if dual core is enough? you get faster video encoding, can do other stuff while gaming. why would you buy a 3G mobile phone? because you have the possibility of going on internet, even though it's impossible to navigate without multi-touch. why would you have 4GB of RAM when 32bit with 3GB is just about enough for everything?

currently, IMHO Folding speed along can tip the scale of nVidia or ATI. of course, if someone chooses not to help medicine research (or who never encodes video), im sure quieter fans and less idle power should also count for something.

 

If you read the first few posts you'd notice that Tec_ stated he will be watercooling the GPU. The fans are coming off either way, so your point is moot.

Power management? I'm not sure how many gamers/system builders actually consider the ethical and environmental repercussions of a GPU that uses 10-15watts more power.

Wow. You really like to contradict yourself. Let's break this down: "CUDA is not a joke". Ok, fair enough -- you can hold that opinion and to each his own. No problems there. "It's not about developers". Hmm, I'm not sure what you're smoking but it'd be good to put it down for a moment and consider what CUDA actually is: "CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a compiler and set of development tools that enable programmers to use a variation of C to code algorithms for execution on the graphics processing unit (GPU)."

So by your logic: You claim its not about developers, and yet CUDA is in itself a compiler and DEVELOPMENT tools that enable PROGRAMMERS (read: software developers) that allow them to execute a variation of C on the GPU. So, how can this not be about developers? And then you claim it's about possibilities? You won't have possibilities without developers. Your own argument is self-defeating. The problem is: The slow update of new technologies is something developers are unwilling to risk lest the technology turn out to be poor/inefficient. Why would a programmer want to learn a new variation of C, if his current knowledge allows him to get everything done? As I stated, it's the same problem that SLi/Crossfire is dealing with: Not enough developers create games that properly balance graphics load across multiple-GPU's if they are present in a system and SLi/Crossfire has been around for a few good years -- CUDA will be no different, IF it succeeds we wont' see the fruits of that labor for a few more years, and in a few years that 280GTX of yours will be an old relic of the past. Another new technology will pop up, and a new wave of marketing will entice users to purchase products that can support something that won't be utilized or only to a limited degree.

Once again, if the software isn't written for multiple cores then you're point is moot once more. There's a reason why dual-cores are still the choice for gamers over quad-cores. Future proofing is a counter-argument for Quad Core but it doesn't change the fact that at this moment a dual-core would be a better choice than a quad-core for gaming.

Faster video encoding? Once again, the software must support it. The same argument was applied to 32-bit vs 64-bit.

Do other stuff while gaming? Like what? What could you possibly be doing in a full-screen game, other than gaming? A true "gamer" wouldn't allow an unnecessary background process to reduce his gaming performance.

Considering the prices for 3G internet access here, I can't justify its price. Actually, why would I need a 3G mobile phone? I can go on the Internet via my laptop with a 15.4" screen and full-size keyboard, why would I want a goofy little 3" display like on the iPhone? Don't push your personal beliefs as truth onto others.

Because a 64-bit OS is capable of addressing that much RAM -- any program will benefit from an increased amount of RAM. Nothing notable currently benefits from CUDA.

Folding@Home has a version dedicated to ATI -- to maximize performance.

Video encodes like VDubMod / VideoDub and similar applications that can transcode/encode into various codecs are single-threaded applications that do not use multiple cores and benefit from higher clock speed than core-count.

Sorry but there isn't much to your arguments.

 

wow getting kinda heated in hear. Still unsure as to what im going to do but i would like to decide soon. and it looks like a chunk of my budget will go to paying my speeding ticket i got in California this week. five years of driving over the speed limit finally caught up with me

 

if that's the case, then im not sure why we even bother with the power saving features. why do we just forget about electricity bills and environment? if everyone turns down the central heating just by 1deg, we can save the world. if everyone, every day, close a game while AFK and it saves 15w every day, that would be a huge saving.

i never contradicted myself a single bit: although CUDA hasn't been used by a lot of developers, those who have used it provided many great programs. i am fully aware of what CUDA is, but without it, GPGPU is very difficult to program. again, you came back to gaming, GPU is not all about gaming any more, with CUDA, it is possible to do massively parallel calculations for projects or to encode a video, or to track face emotions with webcams. it's about possibilities why would anyone limit themselves to just gaming with a £200/$300 computing equipment?

again, it seems all you care about with your computer is gaming. have you ever thought about the need of running VMware on 2 cores to do simulation all day? have you ever thought about the need for massively parallel executable code for modelling? not everyone is a 24/7 gamer in front of the computer. (then may i ask you why would you let your GPU idle when on the internet, shouldn't you be a game? that's the only place 4870 is good at)

it was a rhetorical question, to proof some people want the possibility.

if 64bit can address that amount of RAM, then it it sensible to have 8GB RAM. that way, RAM disk and simulation plus gaming can be run at the same time. again, people may want to do more than gaming on their computer.

show me a client that produces 6000 PPD just like the GPU2 client for gtx260 maxcore.

you sir need to look into multi-core technology. almost all modern encodes support maximum core usage. but im not sure which part of my argument said anything about the need to encoding on CPU with Badaboom on nVidia cards .....

same to you, sir.

 

omg, another fanboy war that the intartubes are famous for. IMO i would go for the 4870. then you know you can go get another later on and have it in crossfire on that mobo

 

agreed! makes for an interesting read but all someone wanted was some graphics card advice

 

well, i am by no means one sided. get the 4870 if:
a. all you will ever do with the computer is gaming.
b. don't care about environment or your electricity bill
c. don't do Fold@Home
d. in the future, want to spend 2x the month for 1.6x the performance (go Multi-GPU, which im not a big fan)

but then, gtx260 Maxcore is similar priced with similar performance (it goes ups and down in every game) yet have more possibilities. i personally don't understand what's the advantage of going 4870. (apart from crossfire)