please have a look at my (modest) gaming rig!

[Savage13]

Zotac GeForce GTX 260 "55nm Maxcore" 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (288-OK101-000ZT)

Cheaper, supports Physx, and this GTX 260 is based on 55nm

You can get eVGA model for a little more
EVGA GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216 55nm" 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (896-P3-1255-AR)

Would someone mind explaining what Physx is, and 55nm? I'm a real noob here...

Thanks for all comments so far.

 

[Luke]

Some games support physx, it kinda makes your interactions in the game with objects more realistic. 55nm is the size of the core architecture. Although i would never buy from that brand, i have owned a good deal of hardware and never even heard of them.

 

[maroon1]

then get the eVGA brand

 

[veg1992]

Would someone mind explaining what Physx is, and 55nm? I'm a real noob here...

Thanks for all comments so far.

Pretty much what Luke said.... most games don't have support for it, but if you like Mirror's Edge or a lot of Unreal Tournament based games.. it might be worth considering...

 

[Luke]

Graw 1 and 2 i also know support it. It isn't really a big thing though, i think there are under 50 titles that support it, most of them are not popular.

 

[Oreo]

just get nVidia, while ATI seems to be good on raw performance terms the catalyst control panel is terrible (imo) and PhysX is allways a good point. I'll sure as heck be getting a nVidia card next time, unless the price performance ratio of ATI is significantly better ofcourse.

I love how you say modest gaming rig, you could do alot worse

 

[Savage13]

Graw 1 and 2 i also know support it. It isn't really a big thing though, i think there are under 50 titles that support it, most of them are not popular.

So, in terms of performance, which is the better card? The GTX 260 or the Sapphire 4870?

EDIT - I'll be playing games like Crysis, Far Cry 2, COD5, Empire: Total War, Fallout 3 etc

 

[Thresh25]

A lot of those games are supported by nvidia, go with the 260

 

[veg1992]

So, in terms of performance, which is the better card? The GTX 260 or the Sapphire 4870?

EDIT - I'll be playing games like Crysis, Far Cry 2, COD5, Empire: Total War, Fallout 3 etc

Wow you love nVidia biased games

Nvidia will give you better performance in this case, because most of the games you have like the nVidia architecture and sponsored by nVidia..

Regardless performance wise... an HD 4870 512MB > GTX 260

HD 4870 512MB < GTX 260 Core 216
HD 4870 1GB = GTX 260 Core 216

 

[Luke]

So, in terms of performance, which is the better card? The GTX 260 or the Sapphire 4870?

EDIT - I'll be playing games like Crysis, Far Cry 2, COD5, Empire: Total War, Fallout 3 etc

oced, the core 216 is more powerful (by just a bit)