*1920x1200 4AA/16AF

Source: http://www.nordichardware.com/news,7809.html

The table shows results from 3DMark Vantage, a DX10 test suite that estimates real game performance, of the upcoming HD4850, HD4870, GTX260 and GTX280 graphics cards. These are not officially confirmed, but based on the rumoured specs I have llisted in my other topic (http://vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=27628) it is plausible.

I have modified their table given to add the MSRP of the cards (some rumoured prices). I have also guessed that the performance of a 4870X2 will be at in the same ratio as a 3870X2 is to a 3870 (1.78x) and added my estimated Vantage 4870X2 score as 46xx. I have also guessed that its price will be about twice of the 4870's.

Here are my conclusions:

- The HD 4870 X2, which is rumoured to launch in August, will be the fastest card available this generation. The GTX280 will be the fastest from when it launches on the 17th of June until August, and even then will beat the HD4870 X2 in some games. Both of the cards will have a similar retail price.

- Nvidia plans to use existing G92 and 55nm-shrunk G92b cards to fight below the $449 price point. Since the 4870 is above the performance of an 8800 Ultra (and therefore a 9800GTX) while costing much less than either, it will be the best value card on the market with little competition.

- The HD 4850 will likely compete with the existing 8800GT or a rebranded, possibly 55nm version called the 9800GT.

- Price and performance matchups will be close between all cards 4850 and below and 9800GT and below.

- AMD is back. They may not have the outright performance crown and will initially be behind, but maybe their success will be enough to save the dying CPU division. 

When do these come out. I am in the market for a new GPU.

Also, being you are up on all of this. What's the best bang for it's buck if you bought a card today?

Thanks! :)

If you want a card that can handle anything you can throw at it on High at a good resolution except Crysis:

Radeon HD3850 512MB ($99.99 after rebate)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131096

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048+1068310557&Description=8800GT&name=512MB

8800gt for $135 after MIR - Quiet too. (ASUS brand)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161218

Radeon 3870 $130 after MIR but it is dual slot so most of the 150w of heat that the card produces is expelled directly out of your system. HIS brand.

Btw, I hope the radeon series catches the enthusiasts eyes for Xfire setups on their AMD/Intel chipset motherboards. It could be a real big win for AMD if it catches the popular imagination like the 8800gt did.

Will either of those play Crysis on high?

Oh, and I am going to get more ram (I only have 1 gig), and I have an AMD DX2 3800+ CPU. Is that too slow for today's high end games?

Thanks for helping. I usually spend months looking into all this stuff, but being you already have, and I trust your judgment, why bother :)

Oh, and thanks Soleron, but Crisys in high is what I am looking to play. (I also have a 2560x1600 monitor, so I want some older games to play well at high resolutions.)

EDIT: I run XP, and will be skipping Vista all together, if that matters in your assessment.

Yay!!! Finally some benchmarks. And not the usual 3dmark crap, but Vantage (never heard of it before, but finally Sdmark offers something that reflects REAL game performance).

Some comments:
* Nvidia increase over last gens core: ~85% (GTX280 compared to 8800GTX or equivalent)
* ATI increase over last gen: ~85% (4870 vs 3870)
* the test is done with AA on, which usually has been a performance handicap for the ATI cards(HD 2900, 3870)
* on the other hand the gap between GTX 280 and 260 seems too small, only 3FPS. Expect game benches to show at least a 20% difference between the two.

* Hmm... value. The 78% increase in CF (and in X2) is a best case scenario. I'm afraid that the 280GTX will be neck-and-neck with 4870X2 overall in performance before ATIs drivers for CF have matured. Also last gens X2 was slightly overpriced, so winner even in price-per-performance in the extreme high-end I believe goes to GTX 280.

Good performance to price ratio by the Radeon 4870. People need to have in mind this card is NOT competing with the GTX260/280.

BTW, here's the 4870.

 It was only slightly overpriced after the price of the 3870 was dropped to less than $150. When it was $229, 

Yes, I agree that 1.8x is optimistic. I do expect them to be very close, but it is cheaper to produce one R700 than a GT200 (smaller die size due to 55nm instead of 65nm process), so I think the X2 will offer the best price/performance. Then again, in the extreme high end you're more likely to want the best absolute performance regardless of cost, so who knows? Regardless, there will be more competition this generation compared to the previous.

Hot damn! 30" monitor... Ok you need a good fillrate, high memory bandwidth and you will start to need more than 512mb of ram very shortly if you want to run games at your native resolution.

It really depends a lot on you, do you care about slowdowns or do you like running games at their highest visual quality at a framerate that is less than ideal? If you aren't sensitive and are willing to play at 1280/800 - half your monitors native resolution, you could probably get away with running any of the three cards listed above with some CPU intensive settings turned down to medium such as physics. However if you are sensitive, then I would suggest the Radeon 4870 - High memory bandwidth, 1gb ram and fast as a single GPU without being too expensive. I believe that the 4870 will show its class above the g92 cards like the 8800gt because they are quite bandwidth limited.

Budget also plays a big part as well, ideally with a monitor like that I would tell anyone with money to spend to buy the best card they can afford because they need all the performance they can get to push games at such a high resolution. BTW I expect the 4870 to be $3xx and the 4850 to be $2xx.

For the ram - definately upgrade that, you can get 2gb of patriot ddr2 for $25 with MIR.

As crysis doesn't scale well with SLI/Xfire I would recomend you get a good SINGLE gpu.

Your system has no hope of playing Crysis on High.

Firstly, no system in existence can play High 2560x1600.

Next, the cheapest minimum system to achieve High 1920x1200 is approximately (based on http://techreport.com/articles.x/14524/9):

--

Core 2 Duo E8200 ($185)

2GB RAM

HD 3870 X2 + HD 3870 (Cheapest $440 inc. rebates)

--

None of your major components come anywhere close to that. You would need a whole new PC. If you want to be happy with any game except Crysis, try:

--

Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (Brisbane 2.9GHz) $124

2GB RAM

HD 3870 (Cheapest $130 inc. rebate)

--

If you're prepared to wait until June 16th;

--

Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (Brisbane 2.9GHz) $124

2GB RAM

HD 4850 ($189-$219)

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