Elow, sorry for double thread but its not related to the other "nVidia GTS250" thread i made once.

Ok, im getting rid of my huge sound system and im getting ready for my new monitor and videocard (ram and other stuff later). Ive been reading reviews and stuff for pretty long time and comes out that i love GTS250. Im pretty sure that i will buy that card, to be excact - XFX nVidia Geforce GTS250 1GB. Nice perfomance and the most important thing is that it fits in my mid-tower case. Im not sure about the PSU, but i hope that my current 550w will be enough. (350w peak on +12v rails with max 38 amps total). So, my first question will be: If i have weak PSU, then it just tells me that i have weak PSU when starting up (bios message) or if i got enough good one, but not enough good one so card can perform on its max power. Depending on my PSU, it just takes like 70% out of my card perfomance (i assume, its example)?

Other question. Today i was looking for benchmarks and in few games, HD4870 was better and in few games GTS250 was better so that made me wanan do a decision (since im nvidia fanboy, i prefer gts250 - but atm, its all about perfomance). What do u guys would think about that?

That's plenty of power for either card.

the 4870 competes with the gtx 260 core 216, or the Vanilla 192. The gts 250 is slightly less powerful than the 4870.

Yea, depends on the game too. In some games, GTS250 owns 4870 but mostly HD4870 owns GTS250. But i think that ill get the nvidia card.

I'm usualy unbiased, but I would take the HD4870.

I've had three Nvidia cards and countless ATI cards, as far as defective cards goes it's three Nvidias and one ATI, thats every Nvidia card I had failed.

I've had alot more ATI cards than that, probably more than ten, so one out of that many isn't alot of defects.

I run an HD3850 on a dual rail 500w power supply. I used the connector that came with the card to power it from both rails instead of one. If you can I would suggest doing that, it will mean that the card will have stable power from both rails at all times.

The rating on a power supply means nothing if the power supply was cheap, a cheap 500w power supply will die if you try to run it anywhere near 70% of that.

Pull out your power supply and see how heavy it is, if it isn't heavy at all get a new one, this sounds odd, but a light power supply is a bad power supply, you want the heaviest one you can buy. That also means a more expensive one. I payed $110 for my 500w power supply, I could have got one for $60 but it would have been dangerous to use it.

Quote from DragonCommando :

I'm usualy unbiased, but I would take the HD4870.

I've had three Nvidia cards and countless ATI cards, as far as defective cards goes it's three Nvidias and one ATI, thats every Nvidia card I had failed.

I've had alot more ATI cards than that, probably more than ten, so one out of that many isn't alot of defects.

I run an HD3850 on a dual rail 500w power supply. I used the connector that came with the card to power it from both rails instead of one. If you can I would suggest doing that, it will mean that the card will have stable power from both rails at all times.

The rating on a power supply means nothing if the power supply was cheap, a cheap 500w power supply will die if you try to run it anywhere near 70% of that.

Pull out your power supply and see how heavy it is, if it isn't heavy at all get a new one, this sounds odd, but a light power supply is a bad power supply, you want the heaviest one you can buy. That also means a more expensive one. I payed $110 for my 500w power supply, I could have got one for $60 but it would have been dangerous to use it.

You seem to be one unlucky guy. I have not had a truly defective video card out of 7 I've bought. 3 ATI 4 Nvidia. Personally I'd go Nvidia because I happen to like the fact that they can do Folding@Home really well, and because their AA and Control Panel seem superior, in my opinion.

About the power supply, specs depend on the hardware of the psu. And if it is a cheapo 'light' one, there wouldn't be a lot of amperage on the +12v rail in most cases. But his has 38v so it should be fine. What brand is it, anyways? If its Apevia or Bestec, buy a PC&P, OCZ (bought out PC&P, and IIRC is using their tech and parts) or a Corsair. A vx450 would be enough to power either of those cards.

Ive got integrated ATX 2.0 PSU (in front bottom). Arctic Cooling case with its own PSU.

Quote from hazaky :

Other question. Today i was looking for benchmarks and in few games, HD4870 was better and in few games GTS250 was better so that made me wanan do a decision (since im nvidia fanboy, i prefer gts250 - but atm, its all about perfomance). What do u guys would think about that?

If its only performance then i think both cards are very good when HD4870 performs better in some games nvidia performs better in some other games but Radeon is slightly better when its comes to perfomance.
But since i am also wanna buy a new rig this two cards are the only card i am taking under consideration because of their power and affordable price.

Personally I chose Nvidia because I am a huge fan of "IL2 Sturmovik" and "lock on" unfortunately There is a lot of complains of bad stutters and compatibility issues with Radeons also Nvidia almost every month releases new drivers and even if they not give much boost in performance they are usually fix some compatibility issues and bugs.
In case of radeons I've heard a lot of complaints that newer drivers are sux since they are not released very often and still they not improve performance and don't fix bugs.
So this is the only reason why i chose Nvidia.
Cuz newer radeons have more problems with compatibility and even that new drivers are released they are not fixing problems with older games.

Well, i was also considering about HD 4890. I could afford it, but then i cant buy myself the monitor - since im on 17" crappy CRT then i really need it

And, i guess that i will get on GTS250 because HD4870 wants kinda alot power. Well see, if my current PSU wont play the thing then i need to get some extra money (drug dealing joking).

I've heard of Folding@Home before, what seriosly, what is it?

Quote from Bose321 :

I've heard of Folding@Home before, what seriosly, what is it?

Distributed computing, complicated maths to do with the folding of protein molecules.

http://folding.stanford.edu/

Cool. I'll download it

Quote from Bose321 :

I've heard of Folding@Home before, what seriosly, what is it?

What is Folding@Home? ... Or, what does it mean?

It's like SETI@home.

Basically it's a small program that runs when your PC is idle. It downloads some data, and does some calculations on it, and then sends it back. By getting millions of computers to do some of the calculations the Folding@home team can get through their simulations of protein folding (or more accurately the mis-folding that leads to diseases) far far quicker than if only their computers try it.

I think the example on their website says that it takes about a day to simulate a nanosecond, and each fold might take 10,000 nanoseconds. So 10,000 days (27 years) to simulate ONE PROTIEN FOLD slows the research quite a lot. With 'distributed computing' that can come down to months, weeks or even less.

And therefore you can help research against Alzheimer's disease, cystic fibrosis, and some forms of cancer amongst others.

Personally, I preferred SETI, but I'm happy to try to do my bit with my computer when I'm not using it.

Hmm, ok. Im not sure - why this was mentioned here but anyways, atleast now im a bit smarter again.

Ontopic, i think that ill just get the GTS250 and live on with my life

Oh well, im probably ending up on the ATI 4870 ...

... But, are there any facts that i should know when going on ATI card? many people are talking that there are bunch of them. Catalyst bugs or something like that and so on.

Quote from hazaky :

... But, are there any facts that i should know when going on ATI card? many people are talking that there are bunch of them. Catalyst bugs or something like that and so on.

ATI drivers were pretty bad during 2000-2002 with the launch of Radeon series, even installer menu on driver cd looked like it was made by 4 year old in MS Paint and had typos.

As for PSU, 500w is well enough for your system, checking few reviews across the internet for that particular card shows that even with fast quad core the system overall power consumption peaks just under 300W

Little bit of reading about the subject:
Xbit labs: PC Power Consumption: How Many Watts Do We Need?

Quote from Crommi :

ATI drivers were pretty bad during 2000-2002 with the launch of Radeon series, even installer menu on driver cd looked like it was made by 4 year old in MS Paint and had typos.

As for PSU, 500w is well enough for your system, checking few reviews across the internet for that particular card shows that even with fast quad core the system overall power consumption peaks just under 300W

Little bit of reading about the subject:
Xbit labs: PC Power Consumption: How Many Watts Do We Need?

Thanks alot for the info and site. Was helpful. Anyways, i guess that ill go with the Club 3D HD 4870 1GB OC - good price for me and it fits in my case well, reference doesnt fit. And i havnt heard that Club 3D is that bad - yet. Because i just got my money today and i just have to make my desicion.

4870 1GB Yes i have it too and i can make fry egg on vga

Quote from hazaky :

Thanks alot for the info and site. Was helpful. Anyways, i guess that ill go with the Club 3D HD 4870 1GB OC - good price for me and it fits in my case well, reference doesnt fit. And i havnt heard that Club 3D is that bad - yet. Because i just got my money today and i just have to make my desicion.

Differences between brands are mostly down to cooler choises and bundled software. However, check what's the price for standard version of that card, overclocked versions are usually quite expensive considering increase in performance is barely noticeable.

Quote from Crommi :

Differences between brands are mostly down to cooler choises and bundled software. However, check what's the price for standard version of that card, overclocked versions are usually quite expensive considering increase in performance is barely noticeable.

Btw!! ... Why i didnt come on this myself? I have no idea but that is some sense shizzle over here, thanks again

I heard this thing once last year, but i didnt save it to my head so ... i guess i had bad sector on it LOL (failed joke ok, back to the google&reviews)

Quote from Crommi :

Differences between brands are mostly down to cooler choises and bundled software. However, check what's the price for standard version of that card, overclocked versions are usually quite expensive considering increase in performance is barely noticeable.

also customer service, RMA process, and warranty should be reviewed for each company's product when making a choice. If a card costs $10 more but has a double lifetime warranty and great customer service, it can easily be worth $50 more than the one cheaper than it.

Hi,

Get the 4870.
Its more powerfull then GTS250 abd dont worry about the 550W psu. It will run without the problem both of the cards. I build several system and always trzing to suggest best options for my friends.

If you want I can prove you with some links with tests.

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

Hi,

Get the 4870.
Its more powerfull then GTS250 abd dont worry about the 550W psu. It will run without the problem both of the cards. I build several system and always trzing to suggest best options for my friends.

If you want I can prove you with some links with tests.

Thanks for the support.

I can find benchmarks and that stuff myself and ive compared everything for now. In some games, gts250 beats 4870 but it really depends and there are only few games what act like that. Anyways, yes ill get the 4870 but ill wait for a second - will order with 23" fullhd monitor and 4gb of ram.

a gts250 is 9800gtx+ and a 8800gts 512mb so i would go with the 4870 or a 9800gtx+. its just re branded so nvidia can get rid of stock

Quote from natedog420 :

a gts250 is 9800gtx+ and a 8800gts 512mb so i would go with the 4870 or a 9800gtx+. its just re branded so nvidia can get rid of stock

gts 250 1gb is 9800gtx+ with lower power usage, so 1 6pin pci-e connector. (some 512mb versions use the same exact 9800gtx+ design, power usage and all) 9800gtx+ is the 9800gtx with a die shrink from 65nm to 55nm. 9800gtx is overclocked 8800gts.

9800gtx+ and gts 250 usually same at the same price, so it doesn't really matter which one you get.