AMD vs. Nvidia: $150(ish) 3D card smackdown
Unlike our recent look into high-end 3D cards, we know exactly what we have on-hand in the way of budget cards (thank you, Techpowerup's GPU-Z). For AMD's part, we have the Diamond Radeon HD 4850, with updated benchmarks from the numbers we ran in our July review. In Nvidia's camp, we get the EVGA GeForce GTX 9800+ Superclocked edition, an overclocked (for real this time), version of Nvidia's stock GeForce GTX 9800+ card.
The single-slot Diamond Viper Radeon HD 4850 is now available for $180.
(Credit: CNET)While both of these cards debuted this past summer, their prices have dropped slightly since then, creating an affordable little sweet spot for mainstream PC-gaming performance. If you shop at retailers like NewEgg.com and TheNerds.com that tend to have more aggressive pricing, the formerly $200 Radeon HD 4850 card is now available for about $180, and the GeForce GTX 9800+ is down from $225 to around $165. On the one hand, the $15 difference between them now may tip the scale towards the overclocked Nvidia card. On the other, the Diamond card only takes up a single card-expansion slot. The Nvidia card's double-wide design puts some limits on the kinds of systems that will accept it.
EVGA's double-wide GeForce GTX 9800+ Superclocked edition.
(Credit: CNET)Regardless of their physical attributes, the performance of these cards is almost identical. We even found that as long as you stick to a resolution of 1,680x1,050 you get the most headroom for higher image-quality settings, (except on original flavor Crysis, naturally). With very little performance differentiation, we're calling this round an effective draw, as the price and design differences create some situational advantages for each card.
The high-end and the budget-price ranges out of the way, that leaves us with only the midrange, $300 price point left to go. We still have to get our hands on one more card to complete that match-up. Once we do, we'll have those reviews posted as soon as we can.
Rich Brown reviews desktops and various other components and peripherals for CNET. E-mail Rich. 
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A 4850 from a reputable, trustworthy vendor runs around $150, normally with a mail-in rebate of around $20 on Newegg. It's been months since the card was anywhere even close to $200.
Meanwhile, a 9800GTX+ starts at $160, with the majority coming in around $180 before rebate, making the card actually more expensive than its ATI counterpart.
Check facts before posting.
That said, I'm not swayed by a difference of $10 or even $15 in either vendor's favor. If you follow graphics card prices, you know that price drops and rebates happen constantly. It's arguably impossible to pin down a specific price at any given point in time. Thus, in a case where performance and prices are basically the same, I don't find either factor useful in picking a winner.
I used to be an NVIDIA guy , now love my ATI card.
That has the most recent numbers for both cards. We actually reviewed the Diamond card when it first came out last year, but with a different set of benchmarks, provided by GameSpot: http://reviews.cnet.com/graphics-cards/diamond-viper-radeon-hd/4505-8902_7-33107341.html
The scores in the new review came from our own lab.
No, they do not. Graphics chips/cards in laptops are typically not upgradeable as there isn't space enough to make them easily swappable. There are exceptions, but the number is tiny and the cost is high.
- by hongsungone February 8, 2009 6:35 PM PST
- I got my 4850 for 99 dollars with rebate. Beat that NVIDIA
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