New card to power my 24"?

[SourceQuench]

Hi All,

I recently put together the system in my profile; the graphics card is a left-over from another system to get me by until I buy a better one.

Hence my question here: could I please have some recommendations for a suitable card so that I can game on my 24" monitor? I play things like GTA IV, Crysis and maybe even some Sims 3, although there are some newer games that I wish to play, such as fallout 3.

I have been looking at an ATI Gainward GS 4870 for about £133, since I like the cooler on it (and also I like the quiet!), although a friend recommended that I maybe ought to think about a 4850 X2 since that is a similar price. I also found a nVidia 260 for about the same price as the 4870.

So I am a bit confused now which would be a good purchase and which would last me until the next-gen cards came out. My budget is up to about £150.

Hope you can help, any opinion is more than welcome!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Go for an HD4890 1gb as it will be faster than any other graphics card for the price:

http://www.scan.co.uk/search.aspx?q=hd+4890

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=pr...imit=10&page=1

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/d...s=hd%204890&d=

It should certainly be able to play many current games on high settings at the native resolution of your screen:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/...ard_evaluation

You should also be able to get free postage from Scan as you have 20+ posts.

[Phage]

+1 for the 4890 1Gb. I just bought this model becuase it's quiter and cooler, which you mention as being important. The stock coolers appear to have a bad reputation for noise.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1Gb-S...90-1GB-VAPOR-X

[djglenn]

+1 for the 4890 1Gb. I just bought this model becuase it's quiter and cooler, which you mention as being important. The stock coolers appear to have a bad reputation for noise.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1Gb-S...90-1GB-VAPOR-X

What are the Vapor-X's like for overclocking?

I like the look of the new 2 fan Asus cards as they are supposed to be damn good for overclocking, however I am not sure of what the noise would be like (if it was quiet I would probably buy it):

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...56&subcat=1403

By the way your friend is right that the 4850X2 is a better card in reference to performance. HOWEVER you have mentioned that you want a quiet card, and all reports state that this thing is very loud.

If you are debating between a GTX260 & ATI 4870 most reviews give the GTX260 the edge in performance, so if they are the same price I would probably go for the 260.

[holy god of nil]

If you are debating between a GTX260 & ATI 4870 most reviews give the GTX260 the edge in performance, so if they are the same price I would probably go for the 260.

I don't know where you're getting that from, almost every review I've seen gives 4870's the edge (in some cases quite a big one)

[Phage]

What are the Vapor-X's like for overclocking?

Haven't tried it yet due to delays on the build. (A small cabling issue that requires some bits to be sent out.) But from what I have read, the overclock very well.

[SourceQuench]

Thanks a lot everyone for your thoughts, will probably go for a 4890 but wait until the Sapphire Vapor-X is back in stoc. Most appreciated!