Need help on buying a new graphic card!!

[Diabolical]

hey guys, am new on buying a new graphic card and i wonder if you can help me, am looking for a graphic card that is good for gaming, and i got 2 in mind, but its difficult to decide when your new at this.. am either getting

XFX Radeon HD 4890 Video Card - 1024MB DDR5, PCI Express 2.0 x16, CrossFireX Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV

or a ..

EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 280 1 GB 01G-P3-1280-AR

the radeon is a bit cheaper, but the price is not my concern, the performance is, becuase i want a graphic card that would be good in gaming, and i also want to know the difference between Nividia and Radeon, Is Radeon not compatible with some games such as unreal tournament or COD MWF2? i checked on the top ten best graphic cards for gaming and the radeon ranks on 5 yet the Nividia GTX 280 ranks on 6 or 7 but i dont really trust it, and since you guys are experts at this i want your opinion please give me as much details and information about these two graphic cards, this is my computer information incase you want to know if my cpu is compatible or could handle the graphic card ( like i said before am new at this stuff )

System Operating system : Window 7 Home Premium
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz 2.67GHz
Installed Memory (RAM) : 4GB
System type : 64 bit-operating system
System Manufactor : HP-Pavilion
Computer Memory : Terabyte (1000GB)
Current Graphic Card : Nividia GeForce 8600 GT
(if you need more details about my cpu please comment back, and leave direction how to get to it )

Also if you want more information on the graphic card go to the links below

Nividia
EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 280 1 GB 01G-P3-1280-AR - eBay (item 260532674264 end time Feb-02-10 16:49:59 PST)

Radeon
XFX Radeon HD 4890 Video Card - 1024MB DDR5, PCI Express 2.0 x16, CrossFireX Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV at TigerDirect.com

Thank you for your help!

 

[Zidane24]

If price isn't a concern...how about stepping the ATI up to the 5000 series?

 

[thefabe]

If price isn't a concern...how about stepping the ATI up to the 5000 series?

I agree might as well this way your ready for the DX 11 games

 

[computersplus]

Something To Consider

something to consider here is your power supply I did not see a spec listed for what you have but you need to make sure you have a power supply that will run a high power card correctly a lot of people overlook the power supply but it's actually the most important piece of equipment in your computer.

you need to check power requirements of the card you intend to buy I can tell though what you want is a single +12 volt rail power supply design to run a high power graphics card don't buy into all the multi rail power supply hype get one that can deliver at least 25 Amps of current the more the better don't get hung up on watts only I would recommend PC Power and Cooling or Corsair power supplies both are really good power supplies.

Also my vote go for ATI brand video and DX11

 

[Fumz]

+1 to computersplus, only I would instead suggest 34 amps on the +12 volt rail, or higher; it's also got to run the rest of the rig.

This is just a personal preference, but if it's between the two cards you listed, I would go nVidia... if for no other reason than you can be almost assured their driver team will put out some sick new driver in a month or two that will really increase performance; whereas with ATI, not sure what it is, but their drivers have always been... well... not inspiring.​

 

[Zidane24]

+1 to computersplus, only I would instead suggest 34 amps on the +12 volt rail, or higher; it's also got to run the rest of the rig.

This is just a personal preference, but if it's between the two cards you listed, I would go nVidia... if for no other reason than you can be almost assured their driver team will put out some sick new driver in a month or two that will really increase performance; whereas with ATI, not sure what it is, but their drivers have always been... well... not inspiring.​

That is true also...it is just hard to pass up the big 5000 card from ATI...that thing is just a monster

 

[Fumz]

That's actually a choice I'm weighing right now. I got my 88 3 years ago when they first came out and it's high time to retire her to another box; although, truth be told, there's no compelling reason yet other than, "I want a new one". It'll be easier when Fermi drops... cause I really really want one of those.

 

[Orpheous]

check here for performance reviews...
Best Graphics Cards For The Money: December '09 : November Review And December Updates
January list should be released soon hopefully.
Fortunately for my bank balance, the 5000 cards are in short supply here in Australia

 

[ickymay]

I moved from the NVidia 9800GTX+ up to the ATI HD5770 and I am very impressed, it wasn't expensive £115.00 ish and it is quiet and cool using less power than the 9800 and I can turn up lots of settings in all my games using anti aliasing in most with no lag , also dual display is great to my HD TV using the HDMI output with sound included

 

[ThePizzaMan]

the 4890 is a good card, and will get you great fps, the 5000 series is still better, and as far as drivers with nvidia, they have had a few bad ones lately, the 280 is not a bad card either..... if you want best price for the dollar go with the 4890, if you want best future proofing go with the 5000 series, if you want whats usually the best drivers go with the 280, just make sure your psu can handle it and that your case is big enough for the card

 

[WDAexodus]

I would go up to a ATI 5000 series card if I were in your shoes(money no object). Plus the power requirement is actually less on these because of the new GPU arcitecture.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

now if you can afford it...... you'd be very happy with the performance of a 5870 as it is equal to a 295 and much faster than the 280, but its up to you on what you want

 

[Dom]

IMO go with the 5000 series. Definitely better horsepower and better visual effects without compensating any performance, unlike nvidia, even the new 'Fermi' series looks like they are not supporting DirectX 11. If you want 280 performance, go with the 5850, more bang for the buck.

 

[Diabolical]

?

How do i check if my pc can handle the card or has enough power?

 

[Adrian]

Power Supply

As with any upgrade power must be given priority, with most pc's built by major companies cost margins are kept low by using the most least expensive parts. Therfore you would be looking in the 300-350 watt range in your power supply. If you overload the power supply you reduce its life and it will overload by adding a hi watt demand grafix card that will destroy your pc. As I counsel all custom builders think power supply and what are your needs agoing to be in the future.


Hope this helps,
Adrian

 

[Adrian]

How do i check if my pc can handle the card or has enough power?

As I mentioned, if its built by HP, Dell Gateway etc, you are looking between 300-350 watts.

Adrian

 

[computersplus]

Power Supply

basically if you have a stock power supply you need to replace it plain and simple the stock power supply that comes with an OEM machine is just barely enough to run the hardware it came with.

honestly I don't even recommend taking any OEM machine and use it for the base for a gaming computer you are better of building from scratch

 

[Orpheous]

If you open the tower or desktop case, there should be a label on the side of the power supply which will tell you what wattage the power supply is rated at
Check that opening the case doesn't void your warranty first

 

[computersplus]

Power Supply

most OEM's use Bestec power supply's which have a long history of failure

 

[Diabolical]

-_-

this might sound stupid but is there anyway u can add more power to your cpu? and like i said before is there anyway to really check how much power your cpu has just be on the safe side and make sure, becuase if am only stuck on 300-350 watts, then am basically screwed..