4850 or 4850?

[Lithium Flower]

After a terrible experience trying to run Fallout 3 with my 8600GT, I decided it had run out of mana and have decided to upgrade to an ATI 4850.

Now, being two oceans and two continents from Newegg, my options are limited to two variations of the 4850 and I can't decide between them.

HIS ICE-Q 4 Turbo 4850 (http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-27.shtml)

It's overclocked and has more memory bandwidth and runs cooler as well.

The second is this Force3D option.

Force3D HD 4850 1 GB 256 bit (http://www.force3d.com/products/hd4850.html)

This has the default clocks and all, and no fancy cooling. The link is to the 512 mb version but there's a 1GB version as well.

The Force3D card is about 25 USD more expensive.

The rest of my system is as follows:

2.13 Ghz E6400 Core2Duo.
2 GB RAM
Windows XP Pro SP3.

Am thinking of switching to Vista 64 bit after throwing in another 2 GB memory stick.

I have a 19" 1440 X 900 LCD which I have no plans to upgrade, so I'm more or less resolution bound with that.

What's a better option?

[Ancalagon]

I'd go with the IceQ4 card. From what I've heard, the better cooling will do more for your card than the extra memory.

[KingGorilla]

I'd go with the IceQ4 card. From what I've heard, the better cooling will do more for your card than the extra memory.

Seconded, I currently have a HIS 1900 XT with that gen of the IceQ cooler. It is powerful, it makes little noise after over two years of use. I have replaced CPU and Chip fans, but this GPU is still going strong.

[Disgustipated]

Get the 1 GB. If you're sticking with this card for a while, it'll be a lot more beneficial than the better cooling. The 4850 runs cool enough with stock cooling anyways.

[Rogue_hunter]

1 GB of RAM will get more life out of the card for gaming, but the IceQ cooler can make the system more quiet. It all depends if you want a silent system or a system that can last longer. The 4850 is a single slot card anyways, they tend to run cooler than the dual slot cards.

EDIT: regarding your other message, higher clock speeds mean that the card can do more graphics calculations per cycle. More RAM means there is a bigger frame buffer for the card to display, as well as more available memory for the card to store upcoming information for impending calculations. Essentially, a graphics card is a specialized computer system. It has a processor and RAM to do calculations. Personally, having the higher RAM allows the card to last longer because you can play the graphic intensive games further into your system life. It's one little feature that can keep an upgrade at bay.

Your 400W PSU may or may not be enough. It's all dependent on what else you have hooked up. The motherboard, processor, heatsink/fan, RAM, any hard drives, optical disk drives, any item attached via USB, system fans, and any add-in cards attached to the motherboard all draw power. It's just a matter of how many things you have hooked up, and if you have done any overclocking. But, judging by the rest of your system, you should be fine. If not, you'll know pretty quickly.