Help me press "Buy" on my new video card

GnomeTank

I am currently debating a GTX460 or an HD6850. I understand the 6850 draws less power, yada yada...in benchmarks it's almost a wash and I've used Nvidia for years. Last time I used an ATI was the 9800 Pro.

Are ATI's drivers still shit? Also, should I talk myself in to up-splurging 50 more bucks and getting the 6870? I currently run a 1680x1050 setup, so I am not even sure if the power of the 6870 is justified.

My hand is hovering over the buy button on the 6850, I guess I just need a nudge that I will be happy about the switch from Nvidia to ATI, and that I won't regret not spending a tad more for the 6870.

(As a point of reference, my current card is a GTX260 216 Core).

TehSloth

I've been in this same debate myself between the 470 and the 6870. Most benchmarks are extremely close, price is extremely close, and my 8800 isn't getting any newer while I hold off. I just remember catalyst being awful many years ago, and it kinda bugs me that all the 6870 are just reference boards, unlike the 6850.

archonwarp

I've had ATI for most of my cards, and I'm currently using a 4870. Catalyst isn't nearly as bad now, and it's pretty easy to configure with things like GUI based overclocking and simple text-based.ini fan control. It also handles multiple monitors pretty easily. I can't give a great comparison of the nvidea control panel, as I only have it on my laptop, but I prefer CCC. My vote is ATI, but I'd say you should consider waiting for more cards to come out.

GnomeTank

It's not the control panel, but the drivers themselves. Back in the 9800 Pro days, ATI drivers had this really bad habit of locking up the video card, forcing you to reset the driver. I use a third party control panel for my Nvidia cards anyway (RivaTuner).

GnomeTank

I pulled the trigger on a 6870. After reading a bunch of reviews and benchmarks, it just seemed like the better buy right now.

LoneIgadzra

GnomeTank wrote: »

It's not the control panel, but the drivers themselves. Back in the 9800 Pro days, ATI drivers had this really bad habit of locking up the video card, forcing you to reset the driver. I use a third party control panel for my Nvidia cards anyway (RivaTuner).

I had the same setup and my fair share of problems, but can't say I ever encountered that particular issue.

Then again, maybe I did now that I think about it. (But only in source games, infuriatingly.)

Anyway, I have a 4890 in Windows 7 and no complaints about the drivers. Well I mean the tray icon could load a little faster, and the UI is not very well thought-out, but the feature-set is nice and games work great which is the real point. No driver freezing, built-in overclocking, very nice multi-monitor controls. I wish I could set up profiles that auto-load when I start certain games instead of having to switch to the profile first, but I can live without.

GnomeTank

Yah, I put my driver fears aside and got the MSI 6870. Supposedly MSI's Afterburner software is great for OC'ing, and the 6870 has so much headroom to OC it's unreal. It already runs super cool, and the Barts chip can be overvolted quite a bit (though I won't be overvolting mine, I will be tweaking the memory and core clocks a bit).

GnomeTank

So far, this has been a great purchasing decision. Installation was a snap. Removed the Nvidia drivers, ran DriverSweeper, popped out the old card, popped in the new one. Booted right up, installed the Catalyst drivers and was done. I had to tweak the gamma and brightness a bit because I found the colors at stock slightly washed out compared to my GTX 260. A little tweaking, and they were back where I wanted them.

The fan is reasonably quite, and the card runs quite cool for a modern GPU. It's also slightly smaller than the GTX 260, which was a welcome surprise.