graphics card upgrade - GTX260 Maxcore?

Having just ordered crysis warhead, far cry 2 and fallout 3 I'm tempted to buy a new graphics card now.

I was originally planning on waiting until the 4850 x2 and the gtx 270 were released, but having done a bit of research it seems as though the x2 will be out of my price range and it isnt out until early december. Also, the GTX 270 is rumoured to be nothing more than a die-shrink of the current GTX 260 with slightly faster clocks.

With £230 to spend, my options are either the 4870 1gb or the gtx 260 maxcore. I'm currently inclined towards the 260 Maxcore at the moment - Novatech are doing the Zotac GTX AMP Edition with Race Driver GRID for £233 and I can pick it up from the Reading store. They also doing the HIS 1gb version of the 4870 for £196.

Does anyone have one of these cards? Are they quiet under load? What do you recommend?

The 260 stock cooler is better than the 4870 stock cooler especially under load I believe but the 1GB 4870 is certainly a nice card.

Something like this might be nice
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...)%20-%20Retail

sorry about OCUK link if it offends you lol

How much difference is the newer gtx 260 from the original? the original is only £190 for an evga one
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...+DL+DVI%2fHDTV

Or £182 for a asus 4870 http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...f+HDTV%2c+HDCP

ID consider going with the gtx260 because its cooler on load but the 4870 is a nice card. Mike linked to a good one.

Should have asked the important questions really. What res are you playing at? If it's that 22" then what HICKS is saying makes good sense. The standard 4870 and 260 are pretty much overkill so teh beefed up one's will be wasting your money.

I'm gonna be playing at 1650x1050. I take your point about these cards being overkill for playing at this resolution - but I think it is worth paying a bit extra to future proof my system as best as possible. In the reviews I've read the Maxcore has higher minimum frame-rates than the 4870 and vanilla 260 - and the overclocked ones are very close to GTX 280 performance at 1650x1050.

Thanks for the heads up about the coolers - my current system is nice and quiet when idle, but as soon as im playing something graphically intensive the tiny fan on the 8800gt spins up and sounds like its taking off. I want the next card to be cooler and quieter :D

for 1680x1050 i believe the gtx 260 is better because the 4870 would be better of higher res with 1gb of memory with ddr5 speeds.

That zotac might be good, is it the 216 core ones? grid is a great game and so id go for that lol.