By tomorrow evening my new pair of 8800GTs will arrive. Basically NewEgg was "dumping" them, to make way for newer products. I don't feel bad about this because I understood what I was buying. (Read: outdated, cheap, parts....)

And while I bought Nvidia parts this round, I was very interested in 4850s. It's just that the 4850s were just out of my price range, and I needed a new P/S if I was even going to try dual cards of ANY flavor. So maybe just before Christmas I'll have done the other upgrades I want and funds will be available to consider swapping in that X38 board and trying a pair of 4850s. Time will tell!

Unfortunately I own an 8800GT, 8800GTS, 9800GTX, HD3870, HD3870X2, and actually more than one of each. My results very greatly from what I have seen here. The 8800GT and GTS were pretty much a wash. They are not anywhere close to a 9800GTX which really flat flies. The HD3870's while disappointing, in no way showed the performance gap between them and the 8800 series indicated by some of the game benchmarks presented here. I made the change to ATI because the motherboards I own support crossfire and not SLI. Currently running two HD3870X2's in Crossfire and happy as can be. I will admit the handicap in Crysis, but that is just one game and I have not seen it elsewhere. Looking forward to what the 4870's have to offer. No doubt someone will discredit this for lack of actual numbers. They are not here as I have no point to prove about either platform. They both have good products. Just leaving my impressions. If they help, great. If not, sorry.

Awww, this is just a slap in the face to all those that bought a 9800GTX in the last few months, including myself. Selling a faster version a lot cheaper ... grrr, makes me so angry. Angry enough to join the dark ... I mean red side.

ATI 4850 + Counter part wahehe perhaps an OC version using dual slot cooler from other VC distributors will kill that GTX+. ATI is no longer required just to counter it. :p

Why is everyone gushing? I like team RED very much. I just don't think this is all that awesome. You can get an 8800GTS 512MB for $150ish (AR) (8800GTS 512MB = ~9800GTX in my book) - and this was before the 4850 release. 4850 = DX10.1, I know.

I don't understand the hype surrounding performance gains for a $200 card when compared to cards that have already been out for a while the can be purchased for a similar price. I'm glad team RED did something to help bring those prices down, but we're talking several months ago.

I'm impressed with AMD and I totally want to be team RED, but I can't muster any sincere excitement past fanboy flap. The performance is nice - especially for a $200 card, but all that heat stays IN your system. If anything, this makes me want to wait and see who's the first to add on a cooler that throws that heat out of the box. I'm not really impressed with Nvidia's "new" releases either. Part of me is tempted to just hold on to my 8800GTS until either more games show a greater significant boost (and have less compatibility issues (HEAR ME AMD/ATI)) or possibly until DX11.

I'm glad ATI finally has a solid competing product after what, 3-4 years? The fanboy side of me is hyped. Realistcally though, I can't be all THAT impressed with anything from either team.

Nvidia also controlling Newegg's display pricing:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTUxOSwxLCxoZW50aHVz...

Please remove. Duplicate post.

you gota be kidding me... just received my 9800 gtx yesterday... for 280 bucks...

$200 for a 9800GTX?

SOLD!

That's an awesome price considering I paid $270+ for my 8600GTS the week it came out...

Cudos to Nvidia!

The Nvidia GTX 200 is just another paper launch. It exists just to exist, and no one will be able to get their hands on it.

Wow things are going to heat up, HD4850 and 9800GTX are like neck and neck in performance except for when FSAA is turned on then HD4850 gets the edge....

my next mobo will be based on the new amd 790gx for sure. considering 4xxx series can be xfired with 3xxx

Lots of 4850 reviews, where are the 4870 and crossfire benches?

At press time, the precise effects of these events on my health were unclear, but doctors expressed grave concern.

Rogue Gratuitous writes in from BannedLand to note that he hopes Scott doesn't pull a Russert on us.

For me, I say 'Think of all the future reviews! You have to save your health!!'.

That Donkey MMA line was gold, though.

It's nice to see them match the rather "old" 9800GTX, but the price is what's exciting. They haven't really outmatched NVIDIA so much with regards to performance or power consumption. G92 has been around for half a year now, even if it didn't arrive in its fully-outfitted edition. NVIDIA is just countering them instantly and properly because they can. NVIDIA always have done this at new release time. It's competition.

4870 may be interesting if the clocks go up a lot while price doesn't. Also sounds like 55nm G92b is coming soon.

Sure as hell is proof for everyone who's not completely blind that competition is absolutely required.

Crossfired 4850's draw at load only 10 watts more than crossfired 3850's, yet they are faster to equal to 9800 GX2 and 3870x2 with less power draw.

Kudos for ATI!

This is a great day for all of us.

Small, cool and cheap. AMD needs this, we all need this.

The Radeon HD 4850 kicks more ass than a pair of donkeys in an MMA cage match.

I gotta say that statement paints a much brighter picture for the 4850 than the early benches I've seen at Hexus and PCPerspective that show the 4850 often getting beat by the 8800GT or in one case even the 9600GT. I really hope its true, I really do. I am very curious to see TR's review.

Scott, if you need me to come over with an oxygen mask, I'll try to make those arrangements, but you'll have to let me know ASAP so I can get moving. Either way, hang in there buddy. Hell, you prolly don't even have time to read any of these comments so I'll just take a minute to wish you luck and light a candle or something.

The Guru3D review, which seems to be really in depth and trustable, is really showing a good light on the 4850. The 4870 should be astounding. I presume that TR is getting similar results given the awesome donkey comment, I hope AMD use it in their advertising.

Clearly AMD have got it right this time. With CrossFire dealing harm on the 280 for only $400, and with the faster 4870 to come, nVidia must be wondering what to do given their incredibly large, expensive GPU that they really can't sell for less. Soon AMD will release a 4850X2 or 4870X2 as well...

Not all bad for nVidia, they did rule the roost for a long time beforehand.

Wow, Nvidia is very fast when comes to the sweet spot 200.Just think, a driver update with real performance, a serious price cut , a new card just for the little 4850. I never thought it cares about one card .
the new 9800gtx+ is equell as fast as 4850 or maybe more.(10x ageia and TWIMTBP)
One thing is for sure , all the people how bought any card from the 9 series was a bit naive.
is possible for Nvidia to lose this war , even if they win this battle for the $200 spot ,the 700 is more powerful then 280 (only if they launch it before a die shrink to 55).

You just have to love competition.................... 9800 GTX was way too overpriced for a long time......i am just glad that ATI knocked some sense into Nvidia.......

I just keep reminding myself that I've had my $250 8800GT for 3 months of good solid happy use already...*sigh*

This is really worth looking at

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ati-radeon-hd-4850-review-force-3...

Getting the 9800GTX for that price is nice of course, but the thing that should actually be draining the blood from the faces of the ATI business folk is just how far and how fast Nvidia is willing to go.

That donkey line is priceless.

The only site I've seen benchmarking the 4850 was expecially delighted by AMD lifting embargo before the NDA term expired, allowing the guys write about performances of the videocard but not about architecture details (which are still on embargo until June 25).
This job must be something like dealing with mental disease...

Yum, ok, Yum Yum, since 'Yum' was too short

4850 revieeeew asap please!

Nvidia should make a 9600gt x2 with a 55nm process, that would be a great gpu...

That better be a typo from NV about the PhysX driver. If it's got some kind of artificial lockout keeping it for the 9800GTX only, no 9800GX2, no 9600, no 8800s, then that will cement my choice of next GPU.

I don't stand for that sort of exclusion. It's one thing if it's hardware, locking out non-CUDA GPUs is legit and justifiable. Locking out all but your current big-profit cards is inexcusable.

Witness Creative and ALchemy. If you lock us out for no reason, we WILL crack your locks, and you will earn nothing but well-justified dislike.