New Graphics Cards are HERE!

[Calneon]

For anyone interested in the latest PC technology, you probably know that the next generation GFX cards from ATI and Nvidia are here, and they are looking great (the ATI ones anyway).

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From Nvidia we have the GTX200 series, which sports two cards, one mid range and one high range. Currently, the performance of these cards doesn't warrant the price you need to pay for them.

GTX280



- Bus Type: PCI Express 2.0 (Backwards compatible with PCI Express)
- Memory: 1GB (1024MB) GDDR3
- Core Clock: 602MHz
- Shader Clock: 1296MHz
- Memory Data Rate: 2214MHz
- Processor Cores: 240
- Shader Model: 4.0
- Texture Fill Rate: 49.2 Billion/sec.
- Memory Interface: 512-bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 141.7GB/sec.
- API Support: Microsoft DirectX 10 and lower, OpenGL 2.1 and lower for Microsoft Windows
- Display Connectors: 2 Dual-Link DVI-I, HDTV + TV Out
- RAMDACs: Dual 400MHz
- HDCP Capable
- HDMI Capable
- 2-Way & 3-Way NVIDIA SLi Support
- Card Dimensions: 266.7mm x 95.3mm x 38.1mm

The GTX280 is the new high end card from Nvidia. It is currently the best performing card on the market, but it comes at a rediculously high price considering it is meant to be only marginally better than the 9800 GX2. See reviews here.

GTX260



- Bus Type: PCI Express 2.0 (Backwards compatible with PCI Express)
- Memory: 896MB GDDR3
- Core Clock: 576MHz
- Shader Clock: 1242MHz
- Memory Data Rate: 1998MHz
- Processor Cores: 192
- Shader Model: 4.0
- Texture Fill Rate: 36.9 Billion/sec.
- Memory Interface: 448-bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 111.9GB/sec.
- API Support: Microsoft DirectX 10 and lower, OpenGL 2.1 and lower for Microsoft Windows
- Display Connectors: 2 Dual-Link DVI-I, HDTV + TV Out
- RAMDACs: Dual 400MHz
- HDCP Capable
- HDMI Capable
- 2-Way & 3-Way NVIDIA SLi Support
- Card Dimensions: 266.7mm x 95.3mm x 38.1mm

The new mid range card from Nvidia, coming in at a more affordable price than the GTX280, it sports almost as much memory as it's bigger brother, giving it comparable performance to a 9800GTX, in some cases even better. See reviews here.

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About a week after the release of Nvidia's next gen cards, ATI gave it's offering, which are a real winner in terms of performance for price. These new cards from ATI really dwarf the Nvidia cards in terms of performance for your cash. Both of these cards are available in 512mb or 1gb versions. It is also important to note that these cards seem to have very good scaling when used in Crossfire, with almost 100% greater performance when paired up in some games.

ATI Radeon HD 4870



- ATI Radeon HD 4870 GPU @ 750MHz
- 512MB GDDR5 Memory @ 3600MHz
- 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
- PCI Express 2.0 support
- ATI CrossFireX Multi-GPU Technology
- Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support
- Shader Model 4.1
- ATI Avivo HD video and display technology
- Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD) for Blu-ray and HD Video
- Built-in HDMI with 7.1 surround sound support
- On-chip HDCP

The 4870 is the higher specced card from ATI, released only a few days ago, and currently not available in 1gb at the moment. This card really is the one to buy if you need a great card for a cheap ammount of money. The concensus is that this card will beat the GTX260 above, while two of them in Crossfire will easily beat a GTX280. See reviews here.

ATI Radeon HD 4850



- ATI Radeon HD 4850 GPU @ 625MHz
- 512MB GDDR3 Memory @ 1986MHz
- 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
- PCI Express 2.0 support
- 256-bit GDDR3 memory interface
- ATI CrossFireX Multi-GPU Technology
- Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support
- Shader Model 4.1
- ATI Avivo HD video and display technology
- Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD) for Blu-ray and HD Video
- Built-in HDMI with 7.1 surround sound support
- On-chip HDCP

Currently the very best performance/price ratio on any card on sale. This card is comparable to a 9800GTX in performance, but while costing only 2/3 of it's price. As before, the scaling in Crossfire of this card is very good, and two paired up will give a GTX260/9800GX2 beating combination, for less than £280. See reviews here.

Also, ATI is releasing the 4870X2 sometime in august/september which is basically two overclocked 4870s running in crossfire, stuck onto one card, and is expected to beat the GTX280 hands down, and for less cash (unless Nvidia gets smart and drops the GTX280's price considerably to make it a viable alternative). It is also rumoured that there will be a 4850X2 released as well.

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So, now you all should know (if you didnt already) about the new cards that were released in the last few weeks, and how the perform. If you are looking for a new graphics card anytime soon, I recommend either the 4850, 4870, or possibly even two 4850s in Crossfire. I am looking to upgrade before i34, probably either to a 4870 or two 4850s .

[ez64]

And nobody wants them since the cheaper 9800GX2's still outrun them by quite a bit in benches done by review sites. *for the 280's

here’s just one of the sites, http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-55...benchmark.html.

I’ve never gone with ATI for a while now, as sure they beat them on paper specs but with the drivers applied and in all the games that Nvidia sponsored they just don’t cut it, my brothers 3870 was newer and cost around the same as my old 8800gts 320mb.

Sure his gfx card beats mine on paper but in real world benches and games mine smashes his.

[Calneon]

Hmm, I agree that nobody really wants the GTX200's unless they come down in price, but you have to admit that ATI are raping the competition with their new cards. Just look at how they perform ingame (not sure what you're on about with paper specs and stuff, ofc there is more to consider than the clock speed and memory frequency, that's why they do ingame benchmarks).

[VoX]

I have had one ATI card and I will never use ATI willingly again for two reasons: 1. They gave me a BSOD with their bad drivers and some of the X800 models have drivers so bad that they don't support Aero for Vista so you have to go back to RC1 drivers.

I'm an nVidia man myself and by the time I get the cash for my new comp, hopefully the GTX200s will be down in price!

[Midge]

ill second that, had an nvidia for bout 3 years, worked fine, decided to switch to ATI and after 2 years the card packed up, got on to ATI for warranty, still havnt heard back from them 1 year on, went back to nvidia, soo much better

[Chalex4]

Cheers for posting this Phantom.

I have been keeping my eye on all of this for quite a while now, and I have decided that if I ever need a graphics upgrade (which I don't at the moment), I will probably get the 4870X2, or two 4870s in Crossfire (the 1GB version). However, if the GTX 280 significantly drops in price then I will snap that up instead.

[Calneon]

Cheers for posting this Phantom.

I have been keeping my eye on all of this for quite a while now, and I have decided that if I ever need a graphics upgrade (which I don't at the moment), I will probably get the 4870X2, or two 4870s in Crossfire (the 1GB version). However, if the GTX 280 significantly drops in price then I will snap that up instead.

My thoughts exactly. 2GB of VRAM *drool*.