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Nvidia's $200 GTX 460 Ups Bargain Performance

NervousNerd writes "Nvidia's first DirectX 11 offerings ran hot and offered a negligible performance difference compared to ATI's Radeon HD 5800 series for the cost. Also missing was the $200 mid-range part. But that stopped when Nvidia released the GTX 460 based on a modified version of their infamous Fermi architecture. The GTX 460 offers incredible performance for the price and soundly beats ATI's $200 offering, the HD 5830."

197 comments

  1. Bargain? $200? by ajlitt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

  2. NV has it made until... by spammeister · · Score: 2, Insightful

    AMD lowers their prices, which they can do quite easily.

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    1. Re:NV has it made until... by radicalpi · · Score: 1

      Good ol' American Competition... I'm always in favor of lower prices, but who isn't?

    2. Re:NV has it made until... by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Good ol' American Competition... I'm always in favor of lower prices, but who isn't?

      The colluding GPU manufacturers?
      The colluding memory manufacturers?
      The colluding storage manufacturers?
      The colluding LCD panel manufacturers?
      The CPU monopolist Intel?

    3. Re:NV has it made until... by paeanblack · · Score: 3, Interesting

      AMD lowers their prices, which they can do quite easily.

      Whichever company restores sanity to their chipset numbering scheme will get my money.

      "Bargain" or not, it's simply not worth my time to investigate each card and decipher how a 460 GTX would perform compare to my 8800 GTX. My four year-old card has so far handled every game I've thrown at it at 1920x1080 without giving me the impression that I'm lacking on the eye-candy.

      I have the money to spare, but I no longer have the free time to make a hobby of staying up to date on all the graphics card releases. All the manufacturers are failing to sell me on how returning to a more frequent upgrade cycle would improve my life, and they certainly aren't making it easy (in terms of time) to find out the relevant details.

    4. Re:NV has it made until... by logjon · · Score: 0

      Newegg makes it pretty easy to compare specs, and I'm assuming you know your price range ahead of time.

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    5. Re:NV has it made until... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The people in China who have to make this stuff?

    6. Re:NV has it made until... by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2, Informative

      ATi's numbering has been pretty easy to follow lately. The first number is the series, this tells you the basics in terms of features, process, and so on. 5 series are DX11 40nm parts, 4 series are DX 10.1 40nm parts, etc. The next number tells you the major performance class. The ones they seem to like to use are 9 for their high end dual boards, 8 for their high end single boards, 7 for their midrange boards, and 5 (and sometimes 6) for low end boards. The final two numbers are the sub category for performance, 3 being on the lower end, 7 being on the higher end.

      So a 5870 is a 5 series board, one GPU, high end performance line, with high clocks. A 5750 is a 5 series board, midrange, middle clocks.

      In terms of numbering, that's about as good as it can get. They can't give you a single "goodness" number and if you demand one that simply shows you want an oversimplification where one cannot be had. Different things will have different performance. For example in Uengine 2.0, the GTX 480 out scores the 5870 by a wide margin. The reason is that benchmark has a very heavy tessellation mode, and the 480 has some heavy hitting tessellation hardware. Ok, but that only tells the story for something that heavily uses tessellation, which at this time games don't, though the might later. For, say, Bad Company 2, the difference is much smaller, both cards are rather similar when working on the problem it presents.

      With video cards you have to turn your brain on a bit and do some research to determine what you are really getting. No way to give you a single, universally applicable, number.

      However, if you don't want to do that, you don't have to. What you do is figure out what you are willing to spend every 12-18 months on a video card. Then, spend that. Video card technology moves fast, so frequent upgrades are better than big infrequent upgrades. So if $200 is what you are willing to spend, then keep an eye on video card releases and after about 12 months, start looking. When a new launch happens with a card you like for that price, get it. Repeat the process 12-28 months later.

    7. Re:NV has it made until... by paeanblack · · Score: 1

      With video cards you have to turn your brain on a bit and do some research to determine what you are really getting. No way to give you a single, universally applicable, number.

      From an engineering viewpoint, that statement is absolutely true. The end user, however, doesn't spend their day benchmarking...they care about one thing: does X card run Y game at Z settings?. At one time I cared about clock speed, memory speed, pipelines, etc, but not any more.

      What I'm saying is that my money is up for grabs for the video card manufacturer that is willing to maintain a database that answers the only question that matters: will it work? Beyond that, I just don't give a fuck anymore. I've seen the forest for the benchmarks.

    8. Re:NV has it made until... by djdanlib · · Score: 1

      Thank you for offering clarity in a subject that's frequently confusing to people who don't spend enormous amounts of effort learning the intricacies of the GFX card industry.

    9. Re:NV has it made until... by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

      Benchmarks are easy to find. If you are interested in latest greatest, go to HardOCP. They bench new cards in a highly realistic manner. You can then compare that to what you get on your current card and see if you like the upgrade. For bigger benchmark sets that do multiple generations of hardware, go look at Tom's Hardware's charts. They have a bunch of cards running something and show you the results, though they are more synthetic.

    10. Re:NV has it made until... by afidel · · Score: 1

      I hope AMD does lower their prices because the HD5750 has actually gone UP about 10-15% in the last 8 months! I'd love to get something with more capability than my 9600GSO but because my HTPC is on 24x7 I don't want a power sucking monster so the 5750 is the best bet, unfortunately it's still out of the price range where I can justify it to myself.

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    11. Re:NV has it made until... by MojoStan · · Score: 1

      ATi's numbering has been pretty easy to follow lately.

      I agree, but the key word is lately. I despised product names like Radeon X600 (based on Radeon 9600) and Radeon 9200 (based on Radeon 8500).

      The first number is the series, this tells you the basics in terms of features, process, and so on. 5 series are DX11 40nm parts, 4 series are DX 10.1 40nm parts, etc.

      Still mostly true. My heart broke a little when I read about Mobility Radeon HD 5165/5145, which are DX 10.1 parts.

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  3. Re:Bargain? $200? by dnaumov · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can we have ONE video card news posting discussion without a flood of people preaching how it's supposedly stupid to spend anything more than 100$ on a videocard? Please? People have different needs and expectations.

  4. It took over 9 months... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    But it seems like they finally have a decent performing (temperature, power use and of course, in-game) card.
    The 5830 is a terrible card. Maybe now ATI will lower the prices (they could probably afford a $200 5850 and a $300 5870).

    1. Re:It took over 9 months... by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Maybe now ATI will lower the prices

      Ofcourse, just after pushing news or release of the "next generation" card.
      Then, Nvidia will be like "oh no way! you mofferuckers!"
      And release their own shiny new nextgeneration DirectHDSuperplus vision in 4D XL video card, they have been making in a secret monkey lab and has been animal tested by suicidal Japanese childlabourers, to cut costs to give you a "bargain";

      'we really want you to play with our hardware, man. I'll give you a cheap price, because I have a good heart", and once you fork out, they smile at you "this one goes faster ;) But, man, I know you want to play with our stuff and make things look shiny... I'll cut you in.. Just 10% off man.. you can get the money, it's a bargain.. ".

      .
      "Woah! Woah!", will ATI scream, "no way! you are busting our balls here Nvidia!"

      ATI will relabel or redesign their architecture, while they're secretly working on their n-D SuperFantastic alternative reality renderer, trying to divert attention away from it by coming out with the dud-kindof refurbished graphic card.

      Nvidia will think "ha!ha!ha! Your puny card! Our 5D, handcrank accellerated M-based probability engine makes your piece of hardware look Mexican...

      Until ATI releases and Nvidia is all like "ok, that's pretty awesome.. but we are now using dolphins and sharks for our assembly, how much cooler can you get?"

      Then Matrox sends out some PR, and people wont care:
      "Oh hai, who are you?"
      ""it're those guys for professionals stuff I cannot afford."
      "oh, don't care. Give me the card assembled by SHARKS!"

      (I think Matrox has to rework PR, really.)

      tl:dr; it's been that game for decades and you're buying it as an industrial or corporate opera show.

      --
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    2. Re:It took over 9 months... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What are you on and where can I get some lol?

    3. Re:It took over 9 months... by Drawsalot · · Score: 1

      So fracking funny I almost wet myself.

  5. Re:Bargain? $200? by yincrash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't think it's stupid to spend more than $100 on a video carrd (I definitely have), but it does seem hard to argue that $200 is a bargain priced video card. I would probably call it mid-range?

  6. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Did you consult the dictionary before typing that? Bargain isn't related to how much something costs, but how much it is worth compared to how much it costs. This is a bargain.

  7. Re:Bargain? $200? by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well for a hard core gamer that is pretty cheap. I do not spend that much on video cards but if it is your hobby.
    Ever see how much golf clubs costs? Or motorcycle gear? How about the cost of gas for a boat?
    This isn't that bad in comparison.

    --
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  8. Re:Bargain? $200? by dnaumov · · Score: 1

    I don't think it's stupid to spend more than $100 on a video carrd (I definitely have), but it does seem hard to argue that $200 is a bargain priced video card. I would probably call it mid-range?

    If 200$ is mid-range, what does that make 300$ and 400$ videocards, assuming we call 500-600$ videocards the high-end?

  9. Re:Bargain? $200? by yincrash · · Score: 2, Insightful

    mid-range.

  10. Re:Bargain? $200? by radicalpi · · Score: 5, Funny

    If 200$ is mid-range, what does that make 300$ and 400$ videocards, assuming we call 500-600$ videocards the high-end?

    Upper middle class with distinction

  11. NVidia engineering sucks badly by gweihir · · Score: 2, Insightful

    After two Nvidia video cards and one chip-set died early on me from overheating, despite additional cooling, I am not buying their trash again. Maybe "pro-gamers" do not mind an expensive card or main-board dying after 1-1.5 years, but I do mind rather strongly.

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    1. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by binarylarry · · Score: 1

      Just know that graphics developers everywhere hate you for buying an ATI card.

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    2. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Skuld-Chan · · Score: 1

      I've had about 10-12 nvidia cards in my personal workstation - never had a single issue with any of them drawing a single pixel wrong - currently have 2x GTX 280's in a 2x quad core xeon machine and they are working perfectly and generating a lot of heat but apparently dissipating it properly.

      Now ATI cards - I had the problem documented here: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1288 - after 6 cards (not even kidding) die in less than 24 hours of use I finally sent the last one back and told them to really take their time (I had bought a Nvidia 59xx by then) because I really didn't care about the card anymore and that one worked like a top (took them a solid month to get one that worked I should mention). Sold it on eBay to someone in Australia and never bought an ATI video card again. I'm sure they are just fine - especially as now they allow 3rd party OEM's to make them, but back in the day their quality assurance was horrible.

    3. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by soupbowl · · Score: 1

      After two Nvidia video cards and one chip-set died early on me from overheating, despite additional cooling, I am not buying their trash again. Maybe "pro-gamers" do not mind an expensive card or main-board dying after 1-1.5 years, but I do mind rather strongly.

      I am with you, I have had 4 Nvidia cards and the only one that doesn't overheat, I spent 100$ on a new heat sink and another 25$ on a good quality fan.

    4. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why?

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    5. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing you just have had bad luck. I've had 7 Nvidia based video cards and 3 mobo chipsets. Never had one die on me yet. Only card I've ever had die on my was a 3dfx Banshee based card.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    6. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well then, maybe they should take it up with nVidia's quality control department, for basically forcing the hand of us folk who don't enjoy cards dying early no matter how pure and nice the feature set and/or API is, and ATI's engineers, for making their feature set and/or API ugly. I'm betting neither department is willing, agile or unrestricted enough to make the changes you want.

      You can't sell me some supposed "holy grail" of accelerator technology if it's not going to last as long as the competition. That instead would be the holy grail - a long-lasting, fully-featured card.

    7. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

      nVidia makes the chips, not the board they are on.

      That isn't to say they couldn't still be responsible, but the only problems I've had with nVidia video cards were when I bought the really cheap ones from an unknown vendor... and that was ages ago (during the GeForce 2 line).

      --
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    8. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NVidia just makes the chips. The rest is made by third parties. You are buying from a poor supplier. Your experience says nothing about NVidia.

    9. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another datapoint. This is all old equipment so take it however you want. Almost all the NVIDIA cards at work have failed (~15 cards)
      and almost none of the ATI Cards (30-40). The ATI cards are passively cooled and the NVIDIA cards all have fans, still. Bought my kids
      video cards, got 3 NVIDIAs and 2 failed within 2 years. Replaced them with ATI cards and none have failed yet.

    10. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Nicolay77 · · Score: 1

      Workstation being the key word there.

      nVidia had some extremely bad mobile chipsets and mobile video cards when the 8800GT reigned on the desktops.

      By bad I mean that the solder stopped working after some time.

      It still haunts them today.

      --
      We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.
    11. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Stealth+Dave · · Score: 1

      Everyone's experience is different, I suppose. I have a GeForce 5200 that's been in operation for over 7 years now, and it's still going strong.

      --
      Evil is as eval("does");
    12. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bad luck, indeed. My old Geforce MX400 is still running strong. Ok, running weakly and barely doing anything on my neolithic machine, but running properly.

    13. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Kesch · · Score: 1

      Well, the good news is that these new 460 boards (GF104 based) have shown to be some of the coolest and lowest power contenders in their performance range, which is a big contrast to the previous three 4xx cards (GF 100 based) which are known as hot, noisy monsters.

      Each new batch of cards come with their own pluses and problems. You shouldn't make generalizations. If you're really worried about overheated cards, find an nVidia or ATI vendor that puts a better cooling system on the card and offers a lifetime warranty.

      --
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    14. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by mjwx · · Score: 1

      After two Nvidia video cards and one chip-set died early on me from overheating, despite additional cooling, I am not buying their trash again. Maybe "pro-gamers" do not mind an expensive card or main-board dying after 1-1.5 years, but I do mind rather strongly.

      You are unlucky, please stay away from my gaming rig.

      Further more, you know that Nvidia doesn't make the actual cards, often not even the actual chips (I believe this work is outsourced). The companies that make the cards are the likes of Asus, Leadtek, Gigabyte and others so if the cooling system is deficient, this is where the cause is. The thing I've learned is if you buy a cheap card from a cheap brand you get crap, there is a world of difference between a Inno3D Geforce 285 and a Gigabyte Geforce 285. I've always bough decent cards and I've got a Leadtek Geforce 6600 that still gets daily use without missing a beat. The only video card issue I've seen recently was when the heat sink fell off a cheap Geforce 6200. I've bought Nvidia more expensive Nvidia cards since then, an 8800 and 285 which are both in good working order.

      I choose Nvidia over ATI for Linux compatibility, not fanboyism.

      --
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    15. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by mjwx · · Score: 1

      By bad I mean that the solder stopped working after some time.

      Soldering is done by the manufacturer (Leadtek, Gigabyte, Inno3D) not by Nvidia.

      Whilst buying a cheap NIC is OK, quality of manufacturer really matters with video cards.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    16. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been through a number of video cards over the years, and I can say that I've always replaced ATI cards because they died. I've replaced nVidia cards because they were just too old. I've still got GeForce 3's sitting around. They work fine, but too old to do anything. In fact, I'm posting from a machine using two GeForce 6600's.

    17. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by Drawsalot · · Score: 1

      I currently have two Radeon 4890's but immediately before these I had a pair of nVidia 8800GTS 340's which I had no problem with. My new 4890's however had one die inside six months.

    18. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      What manufacturer? After the last DFI piece of crap I bought, I've sworn off other manufacturers, and am sticking with Asus.

      Plus eVGA for my videocards.

    19. Re:NVidia engineering sucks badly by gweihir · · Score: 1

      All three Asus. Their thermal design has gone down the drain too.

      --
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  12. Re:Bargain? $200? by MonChrMe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would probably call it mid-range?

    So would the TFS, apparently. I guess Taco's got some cash to play with. :)

    That said, if it beats out the other cards in it's price range, and has the same price then it's probably fair to call it a bargain within that slice of the market.

  13. There's only one problem by Pojut · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They are months too late, and ATI's next offering will be released (or at least announced) relatively soon, given their track record. I'm glad to see Nvidia releasing something that gives ATI a run for their money in the budget arena, but still...I think that advantage is going to disappear once ATI updates their line again.

    1. Re:There's only one problem by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh, I wouldn't say that. A couple weeks ago I decided to upgrade my 8800GTS. I read a few reviews, saw some benchmarks, and wasn't really impressed with ATI, but was willing to give them a chance. I decided to spend anywhere between $150 and $200.

      At my local Microcenter I could get a 5770 for around $179 or a GTX275 for $199. The difference between these cards is night and day. I bought the 4770 and returned it because it wasn't much faster than my 8800. The GTX275 on the other hand, just blows the 5770 away. Sure, I don't get directx11, but I don't have a need for it.

      I guess I could have bought a 5830, but that was at least $50 more than I was willing to spend. I'm not sure what "bargain" card ATI has, but from what I can tell, right now, the bang-for-your-buck crown goes to Nvidia.

    2. Re:There's only one problem by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Interesting

      An announcement doesn't mean much without a release. Also, I'd guess that nVidia will be offering updates fairly soon as well. Basically updates to cards are generally either because there's a new architecture, which isn't happening for either company in this case since that take a much longer time, or a new lithography process. I'm not sure what the companies are looking at next, but Global Foundries has a 32nm node online now. They could be looking at using that.

      You have to remember that development continues all the time, and even as a card is being released the next gen, and the gen after that and probably even more than that are being worked on. Takes a long time to bring something from idea to released silicon. So this isn't a race where a company get ahead and the other one can never catch up. Were that the case, well then ATi would be long behind now, because the 8800 series was completely unexpected, and had performance ATi could not match. They had to delay their launch a cycle and still their hardware wasn't a match for it. However, as time went on, they caught up and now have exceeded nVidia in many regards (certainly in being first with DX11).

      The only way this would be "too late" in any respect is if ATi already had a better card out. Remember that people do not wait forever to buy parts. You can't say "But something better will come in a few months!" because something better will ALWAYS come in a few months. Do that and you'll never have a system. If someone buys a computer now, and wants to spend $200ish on a video card, the 460 is a realistic choice.

      Also note that despite the 480s being hot, and late to the game, it isn't a failure. They moved plenty of units. Not near as many as they'd like I'm sure, but people bought those things left and right.

    3. Re:There's only one problem by AtariDatacenter · · Score: 1

      An announcement without a release? I just bought one at Newegg. They have quite a large variety of GTX 460 cards available.

    4. Re:There's only one problem by AtariDatacenter · · Score: 1

      Disregard that. I now see you were talking about ATI's announcement.

    5. Re:There's only one problem by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

      I bought the 4770

      I'm assuming you meant 5770 here and that the 4 was a typo, since the other time the card number is mentioned, it's the 5770.

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    6. Re:There's only one problem by Kjella · · Score: 1

      At my local Microcenter I could get a 5770 for around $179 or a GTX275 for $199. The difference between these cards is night and day. I bought the 4770 and returned it because it wasn't much faster than my 8800. The GTX275 on the other hand, just blows the 5770 away.

      As always, check the benchmarks for the game you play. They're close in many games, but a few go exceptionally one way or the other. Mass Effect 2 for example is a very good game for the GTX275 compared to the 5770, other games not so much.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    7. Re:There's only one problem by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      > but from what I can tell, right now, the bang-for-your-buck crown goes to Nvidia.

      Um, no.

      $320 5770 CF >= $500 GTX 295
      $400 5870 = $500 GTX 295

      http://www.anandtech.com/show/2856/
      http://www.anandtech.com/show/2841/

    8. Re:There's only one problem by WuphonsReach · · Score: 1

      Oh, I wouldn't say that. A couple weeks ago I decided to upgrade my 8800GTS.

      I'm in a similar boat, running an 8800 GT 512MB card that is getting long in the tooth.

      The GTX 460 1GB looks like the successor to the old 8800GT 512MB. Lowish power draw, lowish noise and heat, but with excellent performance for about $200. I used to run a pair of 8800GT in SLI mode, but so much of my gaming is now done in windowed mode, with a 2nd monitor running that the SLI didn't get me anything. (SLI is disabled on the 8800GT if you have 2 monitors active.)

      I'm still tempted by the GTX 465 1GB part... but will probably go with the GTX 460 1GB part instead in late summer.

      --
      Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
  14. Soundly beats the 5830? by dward90 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Soundly beating the 5830 is a stretch at best. On Tom's Hardware's Benchmark Results, the 460 is outperformed by the 5830 in every benchmark, Crysis, and AvP test. It loses sparingly in the rest of the games, but calling it the clear better of the 2 is just isn't realistic.

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    1. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by TheKidWho · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The GTX460 is an overclocking monster, you can bring it to within GTX470 speeds for 2/3 of the price.

    2. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you don't mind the additional heat, noise (due to fan spinning up due to heat), artifacts, crashes (I've yet to meet an overclocker that gets the fact that even though the stress test doesn't crash, that doesn't mean that the crashes in XYZ game aren't overclocking related), void guarantee, reduced lifetime, and other problems associated with overclocking.

      Plus, I've yet to see a game which won't run happily on a 9800 GT. There are so many console ports these days that even a card a few years old is plenty (for comparison, the ps3 has a geforce 7800 in it, and the 360 is only slightly more powerful).

      Says someone with a GTX 285, a card with similar performance as the 470, and that's roughly twice as powerful as the 9800 GT I mentioned...

    3. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by TheKidWho · · Score: 2, Informative

      The GTX460 runs cooler and produces less noise than a GTX470... Even overclocked...

      EVGA also warranties their cards even if you overclock them.

    4. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by StikyPad · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In the event of a tie, any card that doesn't require Catalyst is a win in my book.

    5. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Sure, it will be within GTX470 speeds for at least few days before it burns up...

      --
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    6. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by TheKidWho · · Score: 1

      Where's your proof? I run a vast majority of my gear over clocked, and have so for years without issue.

    7. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by kalirion · · Score: 1

      Plus, I've yet to see a game which won't run happily on a 9800 GT.

      That really depends on the game settings, resolution, etc.

    8. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by johnhp · · Score: 1
      1. Buy EVGA card

      2. overclock is slowly until it dies

      3. get a replacement

      4. overclock it just under the death level

      5. profit!

    9. Re:Soundly beats the 5830? by TheKidWho · · Score: 1

      Eaxctly, I run an 8800 at the moment since I sold off my gtx275. It cant run games very well at 1920x1200...

  15. Re:Bargain? $200? by tsalmark · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Maybe we can call them "Gaming video cards" in which case $200 may well be bargain priced.

  16. Re:Bargain? $200? by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

    No it does. When you use this card you have to negotiate with it for it to decide what performance it will give, and what you will do for it in return.

  17. Re:Bargain? $200? by CAIMLAS · · Score: 2, Informative

    Why is this modded funny? He's right - $200 isn't a "bargain price". I don't think I've paid that much for a video card ever - and if I have, it was back around 2001, and only once.

    A "bargain" card is under $100, at most. To most people, that's what the cost of an upgrade (to pretty much anything) should cost. Most products try really, really hard to get in under that $100 mark on account of people trying to not spend more than that amount on a given item.

    In my book, a "bargain" card is $50 or less. You know, the ones being discounted because they're being discontinued, which will serve as a good upgrade for an aging machine. These cards won't even work in most aging machines (whether due to bus or power requirements).

    --
    ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
  18. Another review, with architecture comparison by Vigile · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=954

    This review also has a page that attempts to compare the new GF104 architecture on a clock per clock basis with the original GF100: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=954&type=expert&pid=12

    1. Re:Another review, with architecture comparison by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      Later drivers will probably correct the Metro 2033 anomaly.

      It took a year, but nVidia delivered drivers for L4D that provided ~50% FPS gains.

      I suspect we'll see the same thing here, in a couple months to a half-year.

  19. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you brush up on Princess Bride quotes before typing that? Don't feel bad, neither did your mods. ;)

  20. Holy Slashvertising Batman by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Funny

    The summary reads like it was written by someone at nVidia; based on the summary you'd think this card could do cold fusion and mow my lawn at the same time while creating mind-blowing graphical displays.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:Holy Slashvertising Batman by The+Grim+Reefer2 · · Score: 1

      The summary reads like it was written by someone at nVidia; based on the summary you'd think this card could do cold fusion and mow my lawn at the same time while creating mind-blowing graphical displays.

      Well damn, that pretty much settles the above debate about it being a bargain card as far as I'm concerned.

    2. Re:Holy Slashvertising Batman by Snufu · · Score: 1

      you'd think this card could do cold fusion and mow my lawn at the same time while creating mind-blowing graphical displays.

      Two out of three ain't bad.

    3. Re:Holy Slashvertising Batman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dont mind a graphic blowing display, but prefer the fusion to be hot

  21. ATI Users: A Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Are current ATI graphics cards, especially the cards with 1GB RAM, comparable or better than current Nvidia cards for PC gaming? I've heard for years people calling out ATI drivers as *^#@, convince me otherwise. This isn't a troll, it's a call for opinions from someone who would rather avoid an Nvidia purchase, even though game title after title splash the Nvidia logo in your face when you launch them. How are ATI's drivers now, how well do these cards "game"?

    1. Re:ATI Users: A Question by ground.zero.612 · · Score: 1
      I run a pair of 5770s in Crossfire mode. I game on them daily. I have no complaints other than I spent $800 in video cards over 3mo ago.

      Currently playing:

      Fallout 3
      Bad Company 2
      Borderlands
      AvP

      All at 1920x1080 with high detail textures etc.

      --
      "Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
    2. Re:ATI Users: A Question by logjon · · Score: 0

      My brother has a laptop that came with a Radeon. He games extensively on top of developing, and hasn't had a lick of trouble with it to date. This is Windows 7 x64 that I upgraded from Vista for him; had to uninstall the Radeon drivers before the upgrade then reinstall them afterwards. What I'm getting at with my rambling is that he's had no more trouble, driver-related or otherwise, than I have with my 9800gt on the same OS.

      --
      The stories and info posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood.
      Only fools would take it as fact.
    3. Re:ATI Users: A Question by InvisiBill · · Score: 2, Interesting
      http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-radeon-hd-geforce-gtx,2676-7.html

      That's not the end-all, be-all for all comparisons, but it gives you a good idea how the different brands and generations compare to each other in general. Before Nvidia released the GTX400 series months later, ATI had the two fastest video cards available (the HD5870 and the dual-GPU HD5970 which is still the fastest single card).

      Nvidia seems to throw more money at developers with their The Way It's Meant To Be Played program, but I honestly haven't noticed any specific problems after upgrading to my HD5870 a few months ago (after having only Nvidia since buying my GeForce 2 GTS the week they were released). A lot of people seem to be coming to the conclusion that both camps' drivers suck but in different ways. I honestly think that most people running single cards in common configs with popular games will never notice a difference in gameplay either way.

      You do get some bonuses like PhysX with Nvidia, but there are open options in the works, and the Radeons are more efficient. The 5870 uses about 15% less power than my old GTX285, and in the GPGPU apps I run (dnetc), it's actually about 6x as fast (and still over twice as fast as an overclocked GTX480, which is a little faster in most games). The efficiency difference probably won't be noticed on your power bill, but it does mean a cooler card, which in turn means less fan noise and less heat in your case/room.

    4. Re:ATI Users: A Question by pinkj · · Score: 1

      I have a single 512mb 4770 and I'm running Borderlands with everything maxed at 1280X960 (4:3 monitor) on an AM2+ mobo with a Phenom II 965 3.5Ghz BE.

    5. Re:ATI Users: A Question by Ecuador · · Score: 1

      For drivers:
      ATI (AMD now) has not had a problem with drivers for some years now and they are considered at least on par with nVidia. Where nVidia has a slight advantage is that for the titles that they pay (The Way It's Meant To Be Played) they have excellent support from day 1. For ATI in some cases you will have to wait for the next driver update for e.g. eyefinity to work properly, although as I said the good quality of the drivers generally leads to newly released games having no problems. Also, note that ATI has a very strict driver release schedule. Once a month. This can be an advantage (no more wondering when a driver will come out) or a disadvantage (say the new game that had the eyefinity problem got released just after the driver update) depending how you look at it.
      Also for my Linux multiple-display system I have had no problems with ATI during the last few years, although I haven't tried running anything graphically demanding like games on that system.
      For performance of ATI graphics cards:
      Until the release of the GTX 460, ATI had at least equal or often better performance/price ratio during this generation compared to nVidia, and even with the GTX 460, ATI still has better performance/watt if you care about that. Now, it seems that at the $200 price point the ATI 5830 1GB trades blows with the nVidia GTX 460 768MB, and the GTX 460 1GB is better (although at an extra $30). I bet ATI did not expect the performance of the new nVidia part, so wait for a few days for the market to adapt, e.g. the superior 5850 dropping price to come closer to the GTX 460 etc

      --
      Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    6. Re:ATI Users: A Question by djdanlib · · Score: 1

      I don't have any problems with ATI drivers. I suspect some of the people complaining are doing some odd things, like overclocking various components past the limits of their particular hardware (some units perform better than others at this obviously) and/or using cheap components elsewhere in their systems - e.g. built-in sound, low cost "Value" RAM, factory seconds from a computer fair, etc... All of these things contribute to instability. It's also possible that yet others were using off-brand bargain ATI cards with drivers that lagged behind the manufacturer's driver, but the off-brand card had a special feature that made it impossible to use the plain drivers. Sometimes, those clearance sales at Best Circuit Fry Egg Mart USA or whatever are NOT THAT GOOD OF A DEAL. "Mega Voodoo Accelerator powered $100 off (KrudCo brand) total price after rebate LESS THAN HALF! VERY QUIET!" should trigger some critical thinking... Maybe this is not as good of a board as it would appear from the specs!

      I've also heard from an uninformed nVidia fanboy that you have to pay for old ATI drivers. This is a load of utter crap - all you have to do is visit their website, and all the drivers are available there.

      I do recall a patch for UT2004 that replaced the nVidia logo with an ATI one ;)

    7. Re:ATI Users: A Question by slater.jay · · Score: 1

      There's a simple reason why the 5870 kicks the pants off of comparable Nvidia cards for GPGPU applications: number of stream processors. Your 5870 has 1,600 of them, and your old GTX285 has 240.

    8. Re:ATI Users: A Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're using the wrong numbers there. The 1600 on the 5870 needs to be divided by 8 due to SP configuration, which puts the 5870 at 200 SPs and the GTX285 at 240, so yes, actually, the 5870 is much faster for a comparable amount of SPs.

      If you don't believe me, google it, there was a big discussion about the #'s back when the HD2xxx cards came out.

      And I say this as a long time ATI user (mostly for open source driver support, which meant sitting on my hands for two generations of cards before they decided to focus on open documentation support with the R600 series. (IE for the entire R400/500 generation I was still running on R200 series hardware for linux and R300 series hardware for windows.)

    9. Re:ATI Users: A Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My 8800GT died on me about two months ago, so after some research I replaced it with a 5770. As far as I remember, the 5770 scores somewhat better than the GTX260 and slightly worse than the GTX275, but uses less power than the GTX260 (since I have a cramped MicroATX case, heat is of concern to me). Also, it cost less. In fact, at the time I looked, ATI had better price/performance compared to NVidia at just about every price point.

      My PC doesn't seem to crash more than it did with NVidia drivers (which is rarely). If I had taken all the online bitching about drivers seriously, I would have ditched my gaming PC and gotten a console instead, as according to the online forums both ATI and NVidia drivers are teh suxor. I do think the NVidia control panel is better than the ATI equivalent (but that may just be familiarity bias after having used NVidia cards exclusively since the GeForce 2).

    10. Re:ATI Users: A Question by soramimicake · · Score: 1

      I bought a 4670 for an XP machine after an nvidia 6600gt card in it failed after a few years of use. It would bluescreen immediately whenever I bring up the TV viewing application that came with a TV card that I also had in the system.

      I had to try multiple drivers, going back a few versions until I could find one that didn't bluescreen and ran relatively stable. But it still did little things wrongly sometimes that gets annoying. e.g. I ran 2 monitors with different resolutions on it and it insists on re-detecting them every time when waking up from sleep. But it got it wrong and swapped the resolutions once in a while!

      The 6600gt never did any of those things. I did clean out the old drivers (including nvidia's) and reinstalled the drivers numerous times to isolate the bluescreen down to particular driver versions so it was not the old drivers messing the system up. So yes, I did have some negative feeling towards ATI's driver quality.

      That said, I have a hd5870 in my current Win7 system that runs fine for the most part... Though I'd not say 100% perfect. e.g. h.264 video would glitch once in a while if I turn on hardware decoding acceleration (not always in the same spot and not if I go back and played the same scene so it is not the file nor the player), and sometimes a few scan lines are corrupted after waking up from sleep. I ran RAM test for the system and on the video card and they came up fine, so I'm not sure whether it is hardware or the drivers.

      The 5870's performance is quite good and the glitches don't happen often enough to get in the way, at least not when I'm playing games, so I've been mostly satisfied with it, but I wouldn't rule out switching back to nvidia for my next upgrade if they come up with something fast, less heat and has a good bang-for-the-buck.

  22. $200 is "mid" range? by fredjh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When a decent computer sells for $500, how is $200 "mid" range?

    I must be getting old... I still have to hold my nose to pay more than $100 for a video card.

    --
    Stupid, sexy Flanders.
    1. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Yvan256 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm confused that some people call $200 a bargain for a videocard alone and then turn around and say that $700 for a Mac is way too expensive.

    2. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by LurkerXXX · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In much the way $600 is cheap for a SLR camera, but $50 is cheap for an average home camera.

      The $200 mid range for a card for a gaming rig, not mid range for an e-machine or other generic computer 'decent enough to use for most stuff' computer you get from a big box store.

      If you aren't into high end gaming with the latest graphics crunching game, at really high resolution and fps, that's fine. Other folks are and have a different definition of what's 'mid' range for a gaming machine than you have for a generic machine.

      In other words, this article isn't aimed at you. That's ok. Not every one has to be.

    3. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by fredjh · · Score: 1

      Ahh... but I do play games (sometimes), and I also do video editing (which, granted, doesn't require a lot of 3D performance). I don't buy $30 video cards, I buy cards that are actually quite good in the $100 range.

      I understand the scale... if the high end of consumer cards is $400 or more, then $200 is more mid than high end, but the article frames this as being a "bargain" card.

      If, on the other hand, you were to look at the median price paid for a new graphics card, I think it would be far below $200, in the $100+ range (of course, that's just my anecdotal experience). That would make the "average" gamer (yes, gamer, because everyone else is just using their "built in" graphics) have close to a $100 card.

      --
      Stupid, sexy Flanders.
    4. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Runefox · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure I'd call a $500 computer a "decent" computer in any respect (these are typically the disposable cameras of the computer world), but $200 for a video card isn't too out of touch. If you consider that you're buying a computer anyway and that you'll be getting a base level of value out of the computer whether or not you added that video card, you end up with adding a $200 piece of hardware to the machine in order to play games on it. Considering that the cheapest of consoles on the market right now retail at $200, you're getting a fair deal for this "mid" range card, which would for all intents and purposes outperform and provide better video quality than what those consoles would offer.

      And if you don't want to play games? Don't bother with it. The only reason these cards are "mid range" is because that's where they lie in terms of video performance. Integrated graphics solutions nowadays are generally able to handle your desktop and any kind of multimedia-centric task you can throw at them, so if you don't care about much else, don't go out and buy a video card.

      --
      Screw the rules, I have green hair!
    5. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by LurkerXXX · · Score: 1

      If I can get the features and framerate of cards that normally cost $500 for $250, that's a bargain.

      First you were complaining $200 wasn't mid range by your definition, now you are complaining a bargain isn't a bargain unless it's in your price range.

      Once again, you are not the target market for this article. That's ok.

    6. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Runefox · · Score: 1

      I'm not. The major reason why $200 is a bargain for a video card is because that adds capability to the computer - Compare it to buying a game console. As far as a Mac goes, you're paying more for virtually the same machine but for running a different OS - Hell, even the hardware other than the processor in a Mac are generic OEM parts, like for example Hitachi hard drives. Considering the "$500 for a decent computer" remark, saying that a Mac costs $700 (they don't - Try $1300 for an iMac) means that, for that extra $200, you could either have added a video card to the computer for gaming purposes, or you could buy a different computer, ill-equipped for the gaming task, simply for the sake of having it and without much extra functionality unless you're counting the OS.

      --
      Screw the rules, I have green hair!
    7. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3. Something offered or acquired at a price advantageous to the buyer.

      http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bargain

      The $700 for a mac doesn't get you very much compared to the $200 video card. Bargain is a relative term.

    8. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      For some of us, $300 is too expensive for a Mac.

      My SE/30 was free. But I run NetBSD on it, so it's worth more than any other Mac I know of anywhere.

    9. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

      I wasn't talking about you specifically, sorry if it sounded that way. Yes a Mac is 99% the same as a PC as far as hardware goes, but that gets you Mac OS X too, which I am indeed counting. As for the $700 Mac, look at the Mac mini.

    10. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by dward90 · · Score: 1

      A $500 computer, if you build it yourself, can be a superb machine for 90% or more of users. I recently specced a $500 machine with an Athlon II x4, 6GB ram, discrete graphics, and TB storage. It's not "state-of-the-art", but it will be able to play almost any current game with modest settings, while watching an HD movie on a second monitor, while compressing a copy of that movie into an archive. I'm not sure what your definition of "decent" is, but I don't see most users needing more power than described for a while.

      --
      My other sig is clever.
    11. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Guysmiley777 · · Score: 1

      $200 is a bargain for a midrange gaming video card. Computer part price vs performance is a hockey stick, it always has been. You pay 80% of the price for the last 20% of performance. But for some people that last 20% is worth paying for.

      Right now you can get a GeForce 240 512MB card for $98.00 with a 3DMark Vantage score of 6130 or a Radeon 5670 that scores 6223 for $99.99. This GTX 460 gets a 3DMark Vantage score of 14700. So on a price per performance measure, yes, it is a bargain.

      --
      Coding with assembly is like playing with Legos. Coding an application in assembly is like building a car with Legos.
    12. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When a decent computer sells for $500, how is $200 "mid" range?

      Well, for the past few years, the knee in the price/performance curve has stayed pretty much in the $150-$250 range. Spending $200 instead of $100 got you a very sizable increase in speed, but spending $300 instead of $200 didn't get you much more.

      For the cash strapped folks, I always tell them to look at the $100-$150 range. For the more die-hard gamers, I recommend something in the vicinity of $200.

      My gaming systems usually end up in the $1050 range. That includes:

      $125 for a nice case and PSU
      $100 for a upper-end motherboard
      $150 for a good/fast CPU
      $100 for memory (4 or 8 GB)
      $150 for a 10k RPM drive
      $75 for misc parts
      $200 for the video card
      $150 for the OS license

      Those are the price points at which I find that I get a system that will last for 3-5 years, that I'll be happy with, that I won't feel like it's cheap, and the parts are not bargain-basement die-in-30-days.

      In addition, I usually keep at least half of those components for use in the next upgrade after 2-3 years.

    13. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      Right now you can get a GeForce 240 512MB card for $98.00 with a 3DMark Vantage score of 6130 or a Radeon 5670 that scores 6223 for $99.99. This GTX 460 gets a 3DMark Vantage score of 14700. So on a price per performance measure, yes, it is a bargain.

      Are you kidding me? I got a brand new GTS 250 512MB for $99 CAD six months ago. (worked out to about $85 USD shipped)

      A friend of mine picked up a brand new Radeon 4870 1GB (slightly faster than a 5770 in DX10) for $104 USD shipped in late June.

      These cards are approximately 3-6x as fast as the ones you listed, for the same price. More importantly, GTX 460 is only ~25% faster for +100% price. If DX11 matters that much to you, go ahead. To me it's hardly a bargain.

      P.S. 4870 1GB's score closer to 10k in 3Dmark Vantage, so for benchmarking the performance difference may be 50%

    14. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Guysmiley777 · · Score: 1

      I took prices right off Newegg, imaginary magical sales were not taken into account.

      --
      Coding with assembly is like playing with Legos. Coding an application in assembly is like building a car with Legos.
    15. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      Surprise special prices on newegg are neither imaginary nor magical.

      But I assure you GTX460's won't show up in the surprise specials for quite a while. They seem to use it to flog off old stock.

    16. Re:$200 is "mid" range? by Runefox · · Score: 1

      The Mac Mini is a very basic system that is entirely disposable. The $700 ($749 CAD) variant comes with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive - It hardly competes with even the last generation of other Mac models, and isn't really all that upgradeable (not to say an iMac would be, either, but at least they have more staying power). At its best, you can equip it with a 2.66GHz C2D, 4GB of RAM (8 is available but $500 extra) and a 500GB hard drive, and then it costs $1,100 and still isn't even remotely comparable to a PC at that price range. I realize it's "mini", but really, that's not much of a bonus unless you truly have very little space to work with. Yes, you get OS X, but even if that mattered, you could design/buy a computer designed around the hackintosh concept and just buy a copy of Snow Leopard for an extra $30. Against the EULA, yeah (and I realize that Apple makes most of their money by charging premiums on their hardware and counting on lock-in), but you'd be getting much more for your dollar.

      --
      Screw the rules, I have green hair!
  23. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cool story; get with the times, gramps.

  24. Growing problem with graphics... by CFBMoo1 · · Score: 1

    I know cooling is important to keep things running smoothly but we've gone from video cards to video bricks. I swear I could take a bunch of those things and use them to lay as brick for a house. Next thing you know they're going to put enough cooling hardware on these things to have em the size of cinder blocks.

    I'd love it if they could work on the cooling and/or materials to get it back down to a heat sink only, card sized, and still retain great performance.

    --
    ~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
  25. Remember the LOLAMO by sexconker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Remember Nvidia's last great bargain card, the 8800 GT?

    You know, the one everyone bought at $200?
    You know, the one everyone said was the best value?
    You know, the one with the bad bumps?

    For GPUs:
    If you don't need to play games, go integrated or go with cheap, cheap shit.
    If you want to play games, ALWAYS go with a flagship line.
    For Nvidia, these have been 6800, 7800, 8800, 9800, 280, 480.
    For ATi these have been 9700/9800, x800 x1800, HD 2850, HD 3870, HD 4870.

    If you can't afford the latest and greatest, get a used one from the last generation. The flagship cards are the only ones that undergo any worthwhile testing. The flagship cards are the only ones where the OEMs and Nvidia/ATi work together and formulate a gameplan.

    1. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by radish · · Score: 1

      OK, a question for you as I've been trying to figure out the answer to this for a while :) Maybe you'd be so kind as to offer a bit of advice.

      I currently have a 7800GT which is basically fine for me performance wise, but I'd like to get some of the nice stuff like HD video and Photoshop acceleration which newer cards have. I don't really game heavily on the PC but I do sometimes fire up something like Audiosurf or Civ so I'd like something better than integrated graphics. Otherwise, my main concern is power consumption and noise level (my 7800 has a retrofit zalman cooler on it for noise reasons). I also need 2xDVI outs as I run 2 monitors. I thought the 240 looked good for my needs but they don't seem to have dual DVI, just HDMI & VGA. The 250 is possibly too high end, as it seems to pull a lot of power even when idle and I'm not sure how quiet they can be made.

      Any ideas?

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    2. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by TheKidWho · · Score: 1

      Genius, the cards with the bad bumps were the mobile GPUs, not the desktop chips.

      Also the 8800GT was the best value card. I'm still running one and it runs great.

    3. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by VinylPusher · · Score: 1

      Absolute rubbish advice. If a card doesn't work right through defective manufacturing or design, you're due a free repair, replacement or full refund.

      Nobody likes getting a lemon, but that's no reason to spend stupid amounts of money on a flagship card from *any* generation.

      Getting a previous generation flagship is as dumb an idea. Not only will technological advances be entirely missed (DX11 features, maybe), energy usage will be woefully inefficient compared to a low or mid-range card from the current generation.

      If you want an 'always' rule, always buy the card in the very middle of the current generation, or the one below that if your budget doesn't permit. This would mean a 465 from Nvidia (though this is likely due to be dropped, or price dropped very soon).

      I speak from experience. I'd never paid more than 100GBP for a graphics card until I decided to buy a 256MB 7800GTX some years ago, when it was the fastest card available. >300GBP and I've got a card which is an OK performer (Half-Life 2 at 1920x1200 with decent quality), but nowhere near as capable as a 100GBP card of today. I should have just spent 100GBP at the time and then upgraded twice more between then and now.

      I was thinking of putting an ATI 5670 into a new computer, this year. For various reasons, I want a single-slot card. I'm somewhat hoping that at least one OEM can create a single-slot cooling solution for Nvidia's 460, because it's a much better proposition, performance-wise.

    4. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by Hatta · · Score: 1

      For Nvidia, these have been 6800, 7800, 8800, 9800, 280, 480.

      An Nvidia 250GTS *is* a 9800 with slightly less power consumption. If you can't afford a 280, a 250 is a reasonable purchase. Makes more sense than buying a 9800 today.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    5. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot.

      The sub-$100 market segment utterly destroys every other segment as far as volume and if you think that isn't where they focus most of their attention internally (not in the PR shit they feed gamer retards like yourself) then... well... I've already said it several times.

      It's not unusual that going with a used previous generation card will leave you without key features, possibly even the unable to play some newer games at all, that the sub-$100 card would at least have support for.

      You need to take a look at benchmarks for the games you want to play at the settings you want and find the card with the best price/performance ratio that also achieves a minimum playable FPS, factor in driver issues (boo ATI on Linux), and take into any other concerns (noise pollution, power supply support, slot support, etc). Then, regardless of the price point or stupid rules of thumb you read on Slashdot, you've found your card.

    6. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by Runefox · · Score: 1

      Well, HDMI is generally compatible with DVI via a relatively inexpensive adapter (which I think most cards come with). So a card with one of each DVI, HDMI and VGA ports actually has the capacity for two DVI devices (or two HDMI devices). I'm fairly sure this is the case with the GT 240; In Zotac's case, they actually include an HDMI to DVI cable (it's just a dongle, shown here, but should do the job).

      For a while, I was running my X-Box 360 Elite via an HDMI to DVI converter on my 22" monitor; Interestingly (and mostly unrelated to your question), it actually treated it as a monitor and not a TV, allowing me to choose the native resolution. Hooray for EDID. :P

      --
      Screw the rules, I have green hair!
    7. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      An Nvidia 250GTS *is* a 9800 with slightly less power consumption. If you can't afford a 280, a 250 is a reasonable purchase. Makes more sense than buying a 9800 today.

      I've been seeing 9800s for around $80, so depending on what titles you want to play it might be fine. I bought a GT240 which is 3/4 the processors of a 250, it is a little more than 3/4 the card for around 1/2 the wattage. right now newegg has it for $69.99 after MIR and $6.98 shipping. It's non-SLI, it goes with my GA-MA770-UD3P and Phenom II X3 720, all (relatively) low power. And mb/cpu/vid each cost $100 when I got them which is my personal maximum, and the board while slightly warty (black screen on XPwSP3 install on various known good video cards) has every port I desired on the backplane and an absolute raft of USB2 and SATA connectors without sacrificing anything, except some stuff is moved to headers.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

      Actually, I bought a GT240 (for $10 more than this, but it was 6 months ago and had a free Capcom game (I chose Resident Evil 5) with it). The difference is that there were two models for the same price: a 1GB DDR3 model and a 512MB GDDR5 model... and one of my friends warned me that the GDDR5 model was probably the better buy, simply because the memory clock speed was more likely to be a bottleneck before the memory amount was.

      Speaking of which, that exact card as well as its 1GB DDR3 edition are $64.99 on NewEgg after MIR. The 512MB GDDR5 model has $7.56 shipping, the 1GB DDR3 model has free shipping.

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    9. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by kalirion · · Score: 1

      Wait, the 8800 GT is part of the flagship line, is it not? I mean you included the 8800 in the flagship list without specifying GTX....

    10. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by cynyr · · Score: 1

      but what if i have a total power requirement, the 280 requires too much current on the 12 volt rail to work in some of the smaller cases. silverstone SG05/SG06 for example. Thats where nvidia is failing at the moment, their highest performance card that only needs a single PCIE power connector is the GTS250... i'm hoping they put out a GTX450 at ~9"-10" and needs a single pcie power connector.

      --
      All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
    11. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Wrong.

      Every single video card using the G92 GPU was defective.

      Every.
      Single.
      One.

    12. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by sexconker · · Score: 1

      So all the people with broken cards from bumpgate got refunds? No, they got driver updates that ran the fan at a higher speed in an attempt to make the part outlast the warranty period.

      Reality is different from what it should be.

    13. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by sexconker · · Score: 1

      The 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra were the flagship parts.

      The 8800 GTS was the down-binned 8800 part.
      Then there was the 8800 GT once they had a die shrink. They also did a partial packaging change, and this is what caused bump gate. All 8800 GT parts are effective.
      Then there was a second 8800 GTS revision, it was basically the same as the 8800 GT. All 8800 GTS 512 MB parts are defective.

      In terms of performance of the GPUs:

      8800 GTS
      8800 GTS 512
      8800 GT
      8800 GTX
      8800 Ultra

      The gap from GTS to GTS 512 to GT is very narrow.

      8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra were the flagship GPUs of their generation.
      The 8800 GT came much later and was exactly like the 460 now. Performance + value = bargain!

    14. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by sexconker · · Score: 1

      It ISN'T where they focus their attention when designing a new GPU architecture, sorry.
      Flagship parts mark the launch of a new generation of GPUs. The flagship parts are feature complete, and the rest of the parts are designed around them - from the "super gamer dual GPU elite model" to the "shitty game performance but does video decoding just as well" model.

    15. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by sexconker · · Score: 1

      The 8800 line is the earliest line that offers up their CUDA / DirectCompute / whatever stuff, as well as the DXVA stuff.

      If you want to be cheap, get a used 8800 GT. There will be plenty flooding the market because of people getting the 460. If you can afford $200 bucks, then yeah, go for the 460.

      Your concerns are power and noise, so you want the 8800 GT or 460 level of card (contrary to my advice to the gamer and "don't fucking care" crowds). I'd recommend the 460 if you can justify the cost simply because it's probably not defective (while the 8800 GT is guaranteed to be defective). You may also be able to find some GTX or GTS 2x0 cards used for under $100. Those are great for what you want, though it's a minefield because some of those (I don't know off of the top of my head) are simply rebadged parts from the previous generation.

      On the ATi side, everything post the HD 2000 series should be fine.
      For $50, why not grab a 5450 like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150469 , or similar from whatever OEM you like? I'm not as familiar with ATI's GPGPU stuff, so of course, make sure your software supports any card you intend to purchase. I did buy an AGP 4650 (or 3650?) a year ago for an aging system I wanted to get video decoding working on. ATi pretends that variant of the card doesn't even exist anymore, but I was able to get the DXVA thing working.

      HDMI outs will work with DVI just fine assuming your monitor isn't a DVI-Analog ONLY monitor. Cards usually ship with an adapter. If not, a few bucks after tax/shipping on Monoprice/Amazon.

    16. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      I always jump generations late, when you can get the best deals on new cards. My card choice is primarily based on what I can get for the money I have available.

      I got an eVGA 7900GS when they came out at about $150. I lucked out - mine overclocked 70%, making it quite a bit faster than 7900GTX's - roughly the same speed as an 8800GS. (minus some shader power)

      But, when I had a chance to get an 8800GS for $35, I jumped on that too. Turned out the memory wasn't stable at stock speeds, so I had to underclock it, making it slightly slower than my old card. Bummer. But at least it solved the crash issues L4D/L4D2 have with GeForce 7's.

      When I finally got a chance to flip to a GTS 250 for $99, and sell my old card, I did that. It too was unstable at stock speeds, but some copper RAM sinks fixed that, and it now runs happily with a 20% memory overclock. It currently plays everything I throw at it at 2048x1152 - but newer games do require AA to be turned off.

      My next GPU upgrade won't be for a while. I already have too many games to find time to finish. But I'll probably pick up a new CPU to speed up video encoding, shortly.

    17. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by VinylPusher · · Score: 1

      Your reply has nothing to do with basing a purchasing decision on a value-for-money process.

      *any* card can be a lemon. Top-end, low-end, mid-range.

      I get your point that top-end cards go through rigorous QA and thus are less likely to be defective, but to base a purchasing decision on this criteria alone is pure madness. Top-end cards are enormously overpriced, however you want to measure it ($ per fps, FLOPS per $). This is because supply is limited and the market will bear it. Everyone expects to pay a premium for the kudos of having the fastest card. The law of diminishing returns is vividly evident in the graphics card marketplace.

      Sensible people will offset the incredibly small risk of purchasing a lemon against the real and immediate lower purchase cost of a mid-range (or just not top-end) card.

    18. Re:Remember the LOLAMO by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Any card can be shit, sure.
      But the flagships have an order of magnitude more planning, testing, and driver support focus.

      Sensible people will buy a PC they expect to last for 5 years or more.

      And flagship parts are NOT the top end parts any more. The dual-GPU boards are the top of the line. (Or getting two of them and putting them in SLi / CrossFire...).

      Getting the flagship card (typically $400 a couple weeks after the initial launch, with some rebates or a free game or some shit) will give you a significant performance jump over the mid-range of the same generation. This gives you about an extra year before you need to upgrade based on performance reasons, and more years of use in a secondary PC, or a higher resale value.

  26. "Infamous" Fermi architecture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is the poster one of the three amigos?

  27. Re:Bargain? $200? by gblackwo · · Score: 1

    Maybe you forgot that price points are not based on U.S. currency only. 100 may be a nice round number in dollars but it is certainly not such a nice number in other currencies.

  28. Re:Bargain? $200? by vadim_t · · Score: 1

    Something is a "bargain" when it has a very good price/value ratio.

    A full frame DSLR camera for $1000 would be a bargain, though you can get a DSLR for $400 easily, and if you're not picky and just want any digital camera at all you can get it for $50.

  29. Your first advice is bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your first advice is bad. DO NOT go integrated. Memory bandwidth and contention will kill you. Go for the bargain basement, even if it uses the same chip as the onboard, you get memory all to itself. NOTE: would love to see sockets to put even ordinary memory for use with the builtin chipset. For some games, the change in speed is completely acceptable.

    The second piece of advice is, if anything, worse. GO MIDRANGE. Or wait until the new model set comes out and buy the previous model range's top of the range for 1/2 price. The only reason to go current top of the range or even one step below is if you have money to burn and people to impress.

    1. Re:Your first advice is bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      DO NOT go integrated. Memory bandwidth and contention will kill you.

      Yikes... I knew it could be a performance bottleneck but I had no idea it was fatal. Thanks for the heads up.

      The only reason to go current top of the range or even one step below is if you have money to burn and people to impress.

      Been there, done that. I was buying a card every other month in the late '90s but since I stopped playing games or running modelling apps I've made do with onboard chipsets (and open source drivers).

      Now for the first time in several years, I've started considering graphics cards again. I don't need or want DirectX support, simply a workstation class OpenGL card for WebGL (inc modelling and texture work). Can anybody tell me if there is a vendor currently making reasonable priced cards that'll fit this need?

    2. Re:Your first advice is bad by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you should read my post.
      "If you don't need to play games, go integrated or go with cheap, cheap shit."

      " If you don't need to play games , go integrated or go with cheap, cheap shit."

      As to my second point:
      "If you can't afford the latest and greatest, get a used one from the last generation."

      Please read next time.
      There are very real reasons to avoid refreshes and clock variations. The top of the line crap that comes out soon after the launch of the flagship are simply parts that have been clocked up after some sampling and binning, and a few tweaks to the game plan between Nvidia/ATi and the OEMs regarding power and cooling. These parts DO NOT undergo the same level of testing, and are simply the same silicon with more current pumping through it.
      The same holds true for the under clocked, feature-disabled, versions. These are typically BROKEN parts that have been binned down.

      Refreshes that come out many months later are even riskier. They represent a complete change in the fabrication process and very little testing to go along with it. This is what caused Nvidia's bumpgate fiasco.

      Flagship GPUs are the only GPUs that are reliable.

      But I bet you think that the "ZOMG HYPER SPEED" RAM you buy is hot shit, too. Enthusiast RAM is BAD regular RAM with a shiny heatsink, maybe some LEDs, and a higher voltage requirement to get it to behave properly.
      The dirty little non-secret is that people buying the expensive shit are idiots. They'll probably never see the memory errors. And if they do, they'll blame it something else, or just accept it.
      Those that do jump through the hoops to get the memory replaced are covered by the ridiculous margins, and the fact that the RAM they send back will be sent out to someone else, as new, once the rebate program starts.

    3. Re:Your first advice is bad by Nadaka · · Score: 1

      Generally going integrated is a bad bad idea because most are made by intel. But there are "decent" integrated graphics chipsets out there.

      The Radeon HD 3300 integrated card is the best integrated chipset available (at least it was last year, have not paid attention this year) and will match or exceed the performance of the low end (~$50) graphics cards out there right now.

  30. Integrated can be fine... by Junta · · Score: 1

    Many builds I've done have used integrated where the toughest task the card would have is compiz/aero/video scaling. Memory bandwidth and contention will only kill you if you do something significantly more than that.

    I do agree that the flagship is overrated, and while the 8800* parts were afflicted by poor quality, that is not a good reason to extrapolate across the board on the quality of midrange parts. Generally, the benchmarks are what you get and quality isn't a big problem.

    His last point has some merit though, a 4870 can perform admirably against the current generation and can be had at lower prices. Counteracting this though is that for a little more you can have a current midrange that eats less electricity/puts out less heat to get roughly the same performance.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
  31. Re:Bargain? $200? by Hatta · · Score: 1

    I didn't see a scatter plot of price vs fps. Does this $200 card get you twice the fps of a $100 card? What do you get for the extra hundred that's actually worth an extra hundred?

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  32. Re:Bargain? $200? by poopdeville · · Score: 1

    If 200$ is a bargain, what does that make all those 50$ last generation cards with proper drivers on many platforms? Oh, "the right choice for most applications".

    --
    After all, I am strangely colored.
  33. Re:Bargain? $200? by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    Also not everything is about speed or horsepower but capability.

    I would buy the ATI card all things being equal for the "Eyefinity" technology alone.

    It would let me use 3 monitors not just 2 (tho one needs to be a special new one with a "display port" apparently)
    It would also let me set different resolutions on my different monitors.

    With my current setup I would likely have HD 1080 resolution set on my 37" HD TV DVI-HDMI 16:9 connection, and then run my 4:3 normal LCD monitors at a more usable resolution.

    With my current video card I have to set my TV basically at 720p because it is the highest supported resolution between both TV and Monitor, and they have to be the same but due to different aspect ratios this is problematic.

    Eyefinity would change that, and that's a pretty big deal to me. To my knowlege the Geforce cards cannot do it.

    I would even go cheaper and get a 5750 or 5770 in the 125-150$ range as they still have that technology even in the lower range cards.

  34. Re:Bargain? $200? by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 1

    You realize thats as silly as arguing some people only need a windows 95 machine, right? Why would that kind of article be exciting?

    You shouldn't even need to spend anything on a video card, everything now-adays has something integrated, from laptops to desktops there is always some form of output. That would fit most people's needs.

    People who need stronger video cards should be expecting to shell out a bit of money.

  35. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ever see how much golf clubs costs? Or motorcycle gear? How about the cost of gas for a boat?
    This isn't that bad in comparison.

    The critical difference here is that the other three will at least get you out of the house and into the sunshine and fresh air.

  36. A video card that will live in infamy! by synth7 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Off-topic pedanticism here: "Infamous" means that something or someone is famous for negative reasons or for having a very bad reputation, along the lines of "notorious". Methinks that it really isn't the word you were looking for, and that "famous" or some synonym would do nicely.

    1. Re:A video card that will live in infamy! by broken_chaos · · Score: 1

      It is somewhat infamous, mostly due to being vastly over-hyped -- running comparably to ATI's six-month-old cards at the time of its release was not worthy of the hype machine Nvidia had going throughout the several delays.

  37. Cool and fast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nice to finally get that from NVidia. Not interested in 200W TPD chips or cooler chips that can't match a G92 from 2007. The 460 hits the sweet spot for me.

    Now keep the X server developers on the ball! I'd like to keep buying your products.

  38. Rubbish by Joce640k · · Score: 1

    The bandwidth needed to supply an integrated graphics card is about 0.00001% of what's available in a modern PC. You're just not going to notice it.

    Plus ... integrated undergoes an awful lot of testing. eg. Intel drivers are always rock solid, unlike some 'high end' cards I've bought where I had to wait a couple of months before I could even put it in the machine.

    --
    No sig today...
  39. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While I would like to see a scatter plot, it would be pretty misleading. The (performance) value of a video card can't be judged by the ratio of FPS/$ alone. If a video card was $100 but could only run a game at 10 FPS, while a $300 FPS video card could run that same game at 30FPS, the $100 card is obviously a ridiculous ripoff. Gamers know that that sort of value comparison situation isn't too uncommon, either. Games are unplayable below 30 FPS. That said, this card is a bargain.

  40. Re:Bargain? $200? by Kamots · · Score: 1

    It's a bargin priced performance video card not a bargin priced video card. Interestingly enough, "bargin performance" is the phrase used in the summary.

    You're not going to get solid performance at a respectable resolution in modern video games for below $150-200 or so. If you spend below that you're either having to drastically cut resolution or you're cutting way back on the settings. The $200ish range of cards will let you run with most all of the pretty stuff turned on at approximately 1080p resolution with a solid framerate that's not being killed by stuttering or slowdowns. (i.e., acceptable mins)

    The mid-range and high-end cards allow you to run at yet higher resolutions and/or with lots of AA. And yes, there are people that play modern FPSers at 2560x1600 with AA. I'm not one of them. I tend to go the budget performance card route and game at 1600x1200 with low or no AA but with high settings and a good frame rate. I'll likely need to upgrade come this fall though, and this card is definately on my radar.

  41. How Slashdot has changed (fallen?) by BenEnglishAtHome · · Score: 1

    Here's a story about a video card and I don't see any posts on how it works with Linux.

    And the number of "new, weird and/or funky Linux distro" stories has fallen to less than one per week. There used to be two a day.

    My, how times have changed.

    1. Re:How Slashdot has changed (fallen?) by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Also, there's a thriving apple.slashdot.org domain.

      It's a far cry from the old Slashdot. I blame it on the crowding in of 'IT' types. 'IT' is enhanced file clerking. This site used to be for tech types, who handled code closer to the bare metal, or the bare metal itself.

    2. Re:How Slashdot has changed (fallen?) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      having a bad reputation; of bad report; notoriously vile; detestable

      Fermi had a bad reputation of running late, being more expensive than the Radeon 5800 and using more electricity. So, infamous? You bet.

  42. Re:Bargain? $200? by JudgeFurious · · Score: 1

    I can only speak for myself (different needs as has been mentioned already) but I think of $500-600 video cards as fucking insane. A $400 video card is (again, just "in my eyes") plain ridiculous and buying a pair of them to connect for even "MORE EXTREME VIDEO!!!!!!" is functionally retarded. Somewhere around my 40th birthday I decided this was all just a big scam and can no longer bring myself to pay more than $100 for a video card.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
  43. Re:Bargain? $200? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    The term isn't 'stronger video cards.'

    You're not stronger if you are better at playing video games. Having a more powerful video card does not make you stronger.

  44. Re:Bargain? $200? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 0, Troll

    Ever see how much golf clubs costs? Or motorcycle gear? How about the cost of gas for a boat?

    This past weekend I checked, and .22 shells were still only $1.47 per box. They won't make you 'stronger' in any sense of the word, but if your hobby is plinking with a .22 handgun, it's a low cost hobby that is very rewarding. Now, if you're one of those over-compensating types who needs to shoot off bigger calibre bullets, which are less accurate, you won't get as much practice in.

    But stick to your FPS video games. Nobody will ever even notice you down in the basement if trouble arises. When it's all settled and done we'll have you roust you out and you can help in the kitchen.

  45. Re:Bargain? $200? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Can we have ONE video card news posting discussion without a flood of people preaching how it's supposedly stupid to spend anything more than 100$ on a videocard? Please? People have different needs and expectations.

    It's not about whether it's stupid, it's about the definition of the word bargain. Frankly, even $100 is stretching the term in this economy, but we're still so awed by not-even-raytraced 3D graphics in realtime that we're willing to accept that we should be grateful to pay a hundred bucks for a couple wafers of fiberglass with some plastic-packed chips of interestingly impure sand that we're going to replace in a few years at most* anyway. And I say that as someone who was grateful to get a GTS 240 for $100ish when it was a newish card. (I wanted low power, no fanboys ranting about how I could have got more card for less money please kthxbye)

    Suggesting that $200 is a bargain for a video card is nuts. You can buy a whole PC capable of playing a generation-ago's games at medium quality for that, shipped! At least you still can't accomplish that for $100. (Willing to be proven wrong)

    * (statistically)

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  46. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is more power than any game in the next few years will need to run smoothly.

    It IS a bargain if your hobby is waving around your e-peen.

  47. Re:Bargain? $200? by Hatta · · Score: 1

    That's true. The first 30FPS are pretty worthless. But after you reach 60FPS, that's pretty worthless too. A $200 card that gives you 120FPS is not twice as good as a $100 card that gives you 60FPS.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  48. Re:Bargain? $200? by yurtinus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ever see how much golf clubs costs? Or motorcycle gear? How about the cost of gas for a boat? This isn't that bad in comparison.

    The critical difference here is that the other three will at least get you out of the house and into the sunshine and fresh air.

    What's your point?

    --
    +1 Disagree
  49. Re:Bargain? $200? by drsmithy · · Score: 1

    You can buy a whole PC capable of playing a generation-ago's games at medium quality for that, shipped!

    From where ?

  50. Re:Bargain? $200? by gblackwo · · Score: 1

    You are right about the framerates until gamers start to embrace... drumroll... 3D. Then we pretty much need to double our framerates.

  51. gas for the boat by zogger · · Score: 1

    Ha, mine's free now. I use a solar panel to charge a deep cycle battery to run an electric trolling motor. Ya, no water skiing with it, but I clean up on the bass for the frying pan ;)

    Anyway, I don't have any huge problem with richer guys being the earlier adopters of more modern tech (usually), it's the only way people with lower incomes can ever get anything better.

    Notice, I didn't ever drop the coin on an expensive video card, I am always several generations back (currently running an nvidia fx 5500, works fine..) but I did on the solar panels, wanted to do my part (besides using them obviously) to get prices down and quality up so that eventually they are a lot more affordable and get wider use for "the masses" guys.. Today, the little trolling motor, maybe tomorrow, the all electric ride...

  52. Re:Bargain? $200? by mangu · · Score: 1

    Ever see how much golf clubs costs? Or motorcycle gear? How about the cost of gas for a boat?
    This isn't that bad in comparison.

    The critical difference here is that the other three will at least get you out of the house and into the sunshine and fresh air.

    The critical difference here is that you can play computer games in summer or winter, sunshine or rain.

  53. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Upper middle class with distinction" ... of not paying enough taxes for the entitlement programs of the GPU underclass.

  54. Re:Bargain? $200? by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    True but riding a motorcycle and or riding around in a boat will not always burn any more calories than playing video games.
    Off road riding or track time on a motor cycle probably will. Getting on your cruiser and going to the bar for a beer not so much.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  55. Re:Bargain? $200? by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    I can do that with my motorcycle. I live in Florida :)

    The thing is simply what do you want to spend your money on for fun.
    Truth be known it would probably be better if we used it to pay down any debt that we have and or put into our retirement accounts but man does not live by bread alone.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  56. Re:Bargain? $200? by tepples · · Score: 1

    You shouldn't even need to spend anything on a video card, everything now-adays has something integrated, from laptops to desktops there is always some form of output. That would fit most people's needs.

    VESA isn't good enough, and neither is integrated graphics if you want to run games or CAD apps from past the Voodoo3 era. (Like Voodoo3, Intel GMA 950 lacks hardware vertex processing.)

  57. Re:Bargain? $200? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    Compared to the cost of hookers and blow, it's a downright bargain!

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  58. Re:Bargain? $200? by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 1

    Fine fine. We'll get off your lawn already. Can we have our ball back please? :-)

    But yeah, 500-600 is kinda insane, that'll get you a complete PS3 Slim and a stack of games to keep you entertained for quite a while. I prefer the 150-200 range myself. Gives me a lot of bang for my buck and will keep long enough.

    --

    People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
  59. Re:Bargain? $200? by Snarkalicious · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    mid-range.

    Please this correction as mod redundant/troll.

  60. Re:Bargain? $200? by Beardydog · · Score: 2, Informative

    My nVidia requires identical resolutions on both monitors when set to Horizontal Span or Vertical Span. I assume that's what we're talking about, since other settings can't be used for multi-monitor gaming.

  61. Re:Bargain? $200? by kalirion · · Score: 1

    A $200 card that gives you 120FPS is not twice as good as a $100 card that gives you 60FPS.

    It is when the next generation of games comes around. And even for current games you can just set for maximum anti-aliasing and that will get you back down to 60 :)

    Also, its not all about average framerates - gotta keep the minimum framerates in mind. I'd rather have a card with a rock steady 45fps than one that averages 60 but often drops into the 30s and below.

  62. Re:Bargain? $200? by AdamThor · · Score: 1

    It certainly isn't cheap, but if the performance / dollar ratio is comparatively high (it may well be) then one might call it a bargain. Independent of what you want to spend or if you think it is important.

    How about a car analogy? A $2 million Ferrari for $250,000 is a bargain, even if you can't afford it.

    --
    -- "Oh. This guy again."
  63. Re:Bargain? $200? by davester666 · · Score: 1

    You mean White?

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  64. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    $300 and $400 video cards are high end. So are $500 and $600 cards.

  65. Re:Bargain? $200? by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 1

    You're stronger at playing video games if you're better at playing video games.

    You know that stronger can be applied to more than just physical strength.

    One might say that Video games are one my strengths.

    You know English is flexible like that, which sure is a bitch to people learning it.

  66. Re:Bargain? $200? by Golddess · · Score: 1

    What is your current video card? Because for me, with my GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 7600 GT, GeForce 6600 GT, GeForce FX 5600, and even my GeForce 256 from way back in 2000, I never had a problem setting different resolutions on multiple monitors.

    --
    "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
  67. Rubbish yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rubbish yourself. Texture loading, vertex loading, vertex manipulation and compositing all shift data back and forth like a bugger. This is why most graphics memory is dual or quad ported, so that while you're farting about with vertexes and lighting, you can also work on textures and modding.

    The actual grunt power of an on-board chipset with shared memory is pretty damn good now. The problem is that while the CPU is farting around with working out AI and vertex loading, your graphics card is also farting around with textures, vertexes, lights, transformation and all the other whizzy things.

    And if the CPU runs out of memory bandwidth to keep those base vertices going, your graphics card will stutter until the CPU has sent enough basic info for the graphics card to work with.

  68. Forgot to mention the iPad! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sheesh, talk about expensive!

  69. Re:Bargain? $200? by cynyr · · Score: 1

    how about the need for a fermi card that only needs 1 PCI-E power connector. even if it was $250 and had less performance, than the gtx460, i'd still be interested, Hard to find SFX PSUs that will provide 45amp on the 12 volt rail.

    --
    All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
  70. Quiet and GP-GPU potential by Twinbee · · Score: 1

    As well as being a relative bargain, this is the quietest GPU in its power range, especially considering it uses the Fermi architecture.
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/16

    It's going to be a great boon for those who would like great GP-GPU performance too. Custom raytracing, and scientific research is going to get a kick from this.

    --
    Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
  71. Flagship line naming. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's the problem with using numbers, it becomes this eye glazing list of product. It's like Europe with their auto naming schemes. 300SL, 601, etc. That tells me nothing. Give me a snappy name for a card line. Fast card? Call it the Corvette line. Bargain card? Call it the Yugo. You get the picture.

  72. Re:Bargain? $200? by mangu · · Score: 1

    I can do that with my motorcycle. I live in Florida :)

    Oh, really? Show me where's your motorcycle in these images ;)

  73. Re:Bargain? $200? by stimpleton · · Score: 1

    This is a fair comment and it is how I base my spending decisions. I guessimate I spend less on my high powered gaming rig than :-

    - A golfer(club costs, Green Fees)
    - Weekend car enthusiasts($1200 to upgarde their brakes, petrol for the Saturday hoon, then theres next weeks mod cost)
    - Boating (Docking fees, an engine service is thousands)
    - Woman at work comment they spend half their weekly pay on clothes (eg $300 - $600) *every week*.

    The common factor in all the above would be the influence of dependant children on spending decisions. Factor that, and $100 for a video card may not make it past the purchase committee(the wife).

    --

    In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
  74. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A' bloo bloo, I'm an internet tough guy. I'ma shoot me some terrists!

  75. Re:Bargain? $200? by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    True but you will also not be playing video games. And probably not for days afterwords as well since you will have no AC and only a generator for power.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  76. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    <$150 = low end
    $150-$300 = mid range
    $300-$450 = high end
    >$450 = the video card equivalent of monster cables

    Also, why are these comments full of references to DSLRs? Is it on some "talking points" list for the astroturfers?

  77. Re:Bargain? $200? by Kesch · · Score: 1

    nVidia actually just came out with their eyefinity rival called nVidia Surround. It isn't as good as eyefinity though, since it only drives up to six monitors, and you'll need 2x cards in SLI. I'm also not sure if it can do different resolutions on different displays.

    The one advantage it has is that it can do 3d on the displays if somehow have the cash to spend $200 on the glasses setup, and whatever it costs to get 3 identical versions of one of the supported 120hz monitors.

    --
    If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
  78. Re:Bargain? $200? by epine · · Score: 1

    You can sure tell the difference on this thread between the bargain-rack brigade and those familiar with economic thinking (recommended for the former category: "The Naked Economist").

    Objectively, on historical price/performance trends, what you're getting from this card for $200 is eye popping. So eye popping it's almost hard to find a game that benefits without slathering on the bling. Oh dear, it's so good it has practically eclipsed the utility envelope.

    I'm not sure I prefer the world where "bargain" has become wholly subordinate to the phrase "attention bargain shoppers". It's really quite a stupid stance to blame the economy, because immersive gaming is pretty much purely a luxury item to begin with.

    ATI has an easy answer to this video card: a 5840 with a 1120:56:32 configuration. The 5830 is hammered in most benchmarks by only having half the ROPs enable. Aside from that, it kicks ass.

    This is purely a manufacturing yield consideration. ATI has been in production for longer than Nvidia on this generation, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some additions to the product line based on yield refinements, now that they have a viable competitor in this niche. When yields were lower, it was insane for ATI to direct their massive 334mm^2 Cyprus chips into discount configurations. Talk about not getting economic thinking. It only made sense to discount the chips they couldn't sell otherwise, and mostly those were the ones with a failed ROP unit.

    On paper, people who want high frame rates on a single mid-sized monitor (1680x1050 or less) are fairly well served by a 5830 (at some price point). But the benchies have trouble drawing distinctions at this screen size (the cards are too freaking fast), so all the attention is drawn to frame rate on 30" monster displays.

    Relative to the economic situation of someone gaming for hours a day on a 30" display (and only the latest and greatest titles), I'd say $200 is bargain basement.

    I spent $150 on my last video card, but I won't rent a movie less than a year old, because I'm only willing to pay the back-catalog price. Anyone who pulls a movie off the "new releases" rack is an economic bracket where a $200 video card is fungible entertainment.

    I agree with many of the bargain-rack shoppers here. I'm appalled to pay $10 to watch a movie in the theatre on opening weekend, when I can rent the same movie six months later for $2 and share it with my snuggle bunny while gorging on home-popped popcorn dressed with reggiano parmigiano.

  79. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Displayport to DVI adapter is 36 bucks including shipping (but not tax) at newegg.com Given that the only Displayport monitor offered is 380 bucks you can probably do better with the adapter and have your 3 monitors. :)

  80. Re:Bargain? $200? by prionic6 · · Score: 1

    Ask apple

    99 $
    99 €
    99 £

    no difference

  81. Re:Bargain? $200? by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    ATI 1950Pro.

    I believe you might be able to on old XP drivers, but not on Vista or 7. (I am running Vista)

    If you google around, it is a big problem with no solution apparently.

  82. Re:Bargain? $200? by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    Ya before I posted I checked nVidia to check to see if they had a technology like that. I didn't see it. I did see the 3D stuff, but nothing uses or supports that yet to my knowlege.

    As for Eyefinity, it only allows for 3 rather than 2 monitors to be set up, except for one model of card that does allow for 6 (All display port).

  83. Re:Bargain? $200? by karnal · · Score: 1

    BS.

    I just put together a machine for basic DVR. Core duo (not 2) with a basic MB, Case+PS, passive cooled video card, HDD and 2GB ram/640GB HDD. That's what I would consider last gen gaming - if not even one more generation behind, and at that the video card is probably the weakest link. $350 for all parts from Newegg.com, not including shipping and my cost to throw the system together.

    --
    Karnal
  84. Re:Bargain? $200? by karnal · · Score: 1

    Offtopic - but I don't understand how someone on a motorcycle thinks it is a good idea to go drink and then ride. Just got my temps and don't ever plan on riding after drinking.

    --
    Karnal
  85. Re:Bargain? $200? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ever see how much golf clubs costs? Or motorcycle gear? How about the cost of gas for a boat?
    This isn't that bad in comparison.

    The critical difference here is that the other three will at least get you out of the house and into the sunshine and fresh air.

    What's your point?

    He's a slash dotter making a funny about our lack of sunlight and exercise and the correlation between money spent on GPUs vs. expensive outdoor equipment. Irony you devil, you! On the plus side, the number of blunt trauma head injuries and road rash wounds tend to go waaaaay down when you're investing in GPUs instead of motorcycles.

  86. I dropped ATI... by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    after a long happy stint with an x1640 pro. I tried a 4760 and loved the performance and low heat, but it just wasn't stable (it was a Saphire too). Swapped to a GT240 and it was rock solid. I'd love to go back to ATI. They have better image quality and performance. Colors just look nicer on their hardware. But when I can't get 5 year old games to run stable that's that.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  87. Re:Bargain? $200? by Snarkalicious · · Score: 1

    Offtopic?!?

    Khaaaaaaaaaaaannn!1!!!

  88. 2 9800gt sli vs 460? by chimera15 · · Score: 1

    Will 2 9800gt's in sli outperform a 460? Cause I can get 2 9800's for under $100.