Hi I recently replaced an Ati 4850 with an 260 GTX Maxcore OCX. In the past I`ve just NV cards in this machine (an XPS710 converted to 720) and been happy but when the Ati`s came out I picked up one of the 4850`s to try for a while. It was okay, but with the fan just blowing out the hot air internally, that just isn`t ideal. It also looks a cheap card (plasticy) and runs so hot it probably doesn`t have a great lifespan (idle can be 78deg C). You can quite noticably hear the fan also in games which isn`t bad but I`m noting it for this for comparison.

I recently installed a 260 GTX Maxcore OCX. It looks of a better quality, is quieter and runs much cooler and exhausts hot air out the back of the case. I`ve run a number of benchmark tests against both cards (the exact same tests) and will try to post a summary later. Of course the 260 wins. However,more importantly I feel that actually the 4850 is not a great bang for buck as it seems. To me the quality of the NVidia product, the quieter fan, the better performance, the lower temps all contribute to actually in my view make the 260 worth paying for. Sometimes the performance isn`t far off twice as good, especially regarding minimum FPS. I don`t have the results handy so am working from memory but overall the 260 is worth the money in my opinion. I believe the 260 uses less idle power also which is important these days of high energy costs. Over the course of a year maybe this alone reduces the cost of the 260.

For people on a budget of course the 4850 is probably better suited but with most things in life, you`re better off paying that little bit more, or what you can afford, or saving a little longer. You get what you pay for.Over here the Ati is still around £120. The 260 Maxcore OCX was £230.

I also tried the 4850x2. Expensive, didn`t work in my machine, came with rubbish support and setup etc and I hear they are quite prone to problems. If I was in the market for the best card, me, I`d rather buy the best NVidia have to offer even if it is just a little slower than the best Ati offer because it probably will last longer, use less power, have better support, be less prone to failure. Times do change however and the Ati & Nvidia battle moving forward will be interesting.

Of course this is all IMO.