Sapphire makes good cards, I have an HD2600 and other than the overheating issue (my fault) I am very pleased with it.

Just make sure your case has very good ventelation around the graphics card, otherwhise the card will overheat.

Just about every newer card needs its own exhaust port out the back of the computer, otherwhise they overheat.

well, an nvidia 9600gt costs a bit more and it should be noticeably faster than the 4670. Is that the best you could do for that price range in your area? I know in America, there are ati and nvidia cards that are faster than that card for the same price. The 4670 consumes very little power, though. about half as many watts as the 9600gt, but its not that big of a deal. the 9600gt is only 95w. I guess its the 55nm tech and low specs. It should run LFS fine and other games okay (w/ decent cpu and ram) as long as you dont expect to run uber high resolutions.

Quote from Gabkicks :

well, an nvidia 9600gt costs a bit more and it should be noticeably faster than the 4670...

Well, having seen THIS benchmark it seems the 9600GT is only a bit faster than the gxo (whatever that means :-)). It is not listed in the marks, but the 9600 is just a newer 8800, ah well, read it:

"NVIDIA's two latest entries into the sub $100 market. The 9600 GSO is just an 8800 GS. Though we didn't compare it here, the 9600 GT is priced right around $100 and offers performance a little better than the 9600 GSO."
(quote from the magazine)

Anyway, I'd take the 4670 over nvidia, I've got a 4850 running up to 400fps and being cool and quiet through a passive cooler mod...

gotta go, turkey is done, food with the in-laws :-)

Have a nice christmas everyone!

der butz

Yeah, I've got a 4850 on my main rig. and i got a 9600GT from newegg for $78 for my 2ndary computer, and it runs noticeably faster than a pc w/ a 4670 that also has a superior CPU. Also, ATi drivers have not been too good over the last 2 years... If you look around. you can find 4850's for $100 in america as well as 9800 GT.

It's not about being an ATi or Nvidia fanboy for me. it is about getting the best performance for price for me. I wanted to stay with AMD, but their last generation of CPUS were just weaker "pound for pound", so now I've got an Intel CPU.

Quote from Gabkicks :

...Also, ATi drivers have not been too good over the last 2 years...

doesn't count for me... I've had a Geforce 4200 a few years ago. Was a brilliant card back in the days :-). Then I've bought an Ati 9600xt. This one was significantly cheaper than the nvidia cards for the same price. The 2600xt I've got afterwards was quite good, but I have to admit I should have got a Geforce instead... those were cheaper. Now with the 4series of Ati you can get very reliable and "green" gfx-cards for less money than nvidia wants to have for comparable cards. Sure, it depends on where you live/buy. Drivers have never ever been a problem for me, I've installed them and played my games. I think the biggest problem on a computer is always the user, not the os, not the drivers, not the hardware :-)

Quote from Gabkicks :

... I wanted to stay with AMD, but their last generation of CPUS were just weaker "pound for pound", so now I've got an Intel CPU.

Same here. I've had quite a few amds, and at the moment I decided on which processor I should get into my recent rig, intel have been the better choice for me. I don't know which is the best "normal-priced" cpu atm, but that's not the topic.

greetz

der butz

yes, i mentioned the cpus to make my point again. I mistakenly assumed I didn't need to explain myself. ATi drivers are giving people problems in some games, but they'll be resolved eventually. If you look on any forums, you'll see the same trend. Anyways, the 4670 is not a bad choice for the price.

No worries mate, we germans are known to sound quite harsh sometimes, didn't mean to offend here :-)

greetz

der santa butz