ATI 4850 overkill for 1440x900?

[Jack Flash]

Helping a buddy piece together a computer and am questioning my recommendation of a GTX 260 for his 19" 1440x900 monitor.

I thought about moving down to an ATI 4850 for him but am wondering now if even that is overkill for the resolution. His main requirement is that it play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at 60 fps with VSYNC on when that game is released.

No anticipation of getting a new monitor anytime soon.

 

[Denithor]

4850 is about perfect for 1440x900. Slight overkill but I won't tell.

And anything less might not quite max everything.

 

[Clinkster]

I'd agree that the 4850 would be just great for that res. I'm planning on selling my 4850 at that same res.

 

[bigsnyder]

Certainly not overkill considering the great deals on 4850s.

 

[sandorski]

It won't be overkill in the not too distant future. Wouldn't worry about it, especially with the Price being what it is.

 

[deputc26]

Originally posted by: Denithor
4850 is about perfect for 1440x900. Slight overkill but I won't tell.

And anything less might not quite max everything.

Well said, exactly my thoughts.

 

[wrangler]

Another vote that, for the price, HELL NO, it's not overkill. Get a 4850 and crank those settings up. Will serve you well for the next round of games as well I would think.

Do it.

 

[Red Irish]

If you need any more votes, I'll add mine: great card, thoroughly recommended.

 

[TheBurritoBuddy]

I'm running at 1440x900 with a C2D e7400, HIS 4850 ICEQ, and 2x2gb of gforce ram. I can run everygame I've tried on it at max (Oblvion, Fallout 3, Age of Conan, Empire total war). Some games see a dip in the fps at times but it happens. I run most of them at around a 60 fps average. The only game I had trouble with was Age of Conan, but I think that has more to do with how buggy that game can be at times. 4850 is perfect. You can find one for under 100 dollars easily these days also.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

For sure a 4850 is normally slightly more power than required for 1440x900, but when you throw in a requirement of 60 FPS with VYSNC for an unreleased game? I am not as confident as the others in this thread...

 

[Surutcra]

Does it handle everything perfectly at 1440x900? yes. Is it overkill? no way.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: sandorski
It won't be overkill in the not too distant future. Wouldn't worry about it, especially with the Price being what it is.

This. Right now the 4850 is fine, but later it definitely won't be overkill.

 

[ShawnD1]

Isn't the 4850 about the same speed as a 9800 GTX? When I was using an 8800 GTX which is just a bit slower than that, there were lots of games that couldn't run at max settings at 1440x900. Oblivion would run at max settings but Fallout 3 would not. Ghostbusters will not run at max settings, not even close. Crysis, obviously. Far Cry 2 won't.

Modern Warfare 2 isn't even out yet so that should be an indication of how high the graphics can go.

 

[Modular]

You could play any game on high settings with that card at that resolution. For the price and performance, it's a no brainer.

 

[RussianSensation]

I would get a 1GB 4870 for $130 (Asus on Newegg). If you want to save even more EWiz has 4870 512mb for $117 after MIR: http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=HIS-487_51
Extra $20-30 over 4850 for 1GB of ram card with a lot more memory bandwidth is worth it.

 

[faxon]

if what im hearing is true and MW2 will be on the same engine as WaW, then the 4850 will not be enough. you will need at least an HD4870 1GB or a GTX260 to guarantee constant minimum 60FPS playback, based on the benchmarks anand and derek took for WaW. sure, they didnt bench @ 1440x900, but if you look at the scaling from 1680x1050 up to 2560x1600 then you realize a 4850 will come in at just barely 60FPS average, meaning minimum fps will be lower at times. a GTX260 as you originally decided should be fine, though if you are buying a video card now for an unreleased game, which comes out after the next gen hardware is released, i honestly cant recommend anything. if he is playing other modern games, a 4850 will be a powerful placeholder card in the mean time, but i would really wait until next gen to get anything more than that

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Holy crap, I didn't even read the message body when replying. If there is a desire for the user to maintain a constant 60 fps even at high detail settings for a game like CoD, then there really is no overkill right now. Get the fastest card he can willingly afford. An HD4850 class video card would need to have a few settings turned down to reach the desired 60 fps at all times.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
I would get a 1GB 4870 for $130 (Asus on Newegg). If you want to save even more EWiz has 4870 512mb for $117 after MIR: http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=HIS-487_51
Extra $20-30 over 4850 for 1GB of ram card with a lot more memory bandwidth is worth it.

I definitely agree with this statement. While the 4850 is a great card, and certainly will play most games at that resolution with settings up fairly high, if I was in the same spot I would go for the 4870 (prices are great for them right now). 4850 definitely wouldn't be overkill, especially when you are talking about playing un-released games that we know will be fairly demanding... if he has the money... the 4870 is a great bang for the buck performer (as is the 4850). I just think that for the price difference between the two, the 4870 is the better deal right now.

 

[Jack Flash]

Found a used 512MB 4850 for $50 and had to go for it despite recommendations to go a bit higher... but at that price he can definitely upgrade when he sees fit!

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Jack Flash
Found a used 512MB 4850 for $50 and had to go for it despite recommendations to go a bit higher... but at that price he can definitely upgrade when he sees fit!

for $50 that's an amazing price! I just sold my 8800GTS 320mb for $65

 

[FalseChristian]

Originally posted by: Jack Flash
Found a used 512MB 4850 for $50 and had to go for it despite recommendations to go a bit higher... but at that price he can definitely upgrade when he sees fit!

It's incredible what kind of graphics power you can get this generation for so little. Let's hope the next generation is just as inexpensive.

 

[Ben90]

yea; it seems like the top end has really come down a long ways in price; i remember dropping 600 on a 7800 gtx lol

 

[steve wilson]

Hi,
If your friend can wait until the game comes out, or near to when the game come out, I would do that. He will probably get a better deal closer to the time and when I asked about upgrading my card about a month ago, someone said that the new series of graphics card might be out when MW2 comes out.

 

[Jack Flash]

Card ended up arriving last week and he popped it into his system. It works great, but his monitor would only accept 1440x900 at 30 Hz! So he's actually using the card at 1376x768.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: Jack Flash
Card ended up arriving last week and he popped it into his system. It works great, but his monitor would only accept 1440x900 at 30 Hz! So he's actually using the card at 1376x768.

Same here and I'm happy.