does this seem right?

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georgexi

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i'm reading the latest tom's hardware guide.. best graphics cards for the money, March '09
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-radeon,2218-4.html

when i get to the "best card for $260", the reviewer basically states:

The Radeon HD 4850 X2 is essentially two Radeon HD 4850s in CrossFire mode on a single card, and it will beat the similarly priced GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 and more expensive GeForce GTX 280 hands down. It will even put the hurt on the new, more expensive GeForce GTX 285.
Click to expand...

two 4850's beating a GTX 280/285? does that sound right?
 
All prejudice aside, it is the best card for $260 if you can find it that cheap.
But then again, it's only made by Sapphire and it is relying on CrossFire to beat the 280/285.

edit;
With GTX 260's and 4870's at $180 now, I don't know how good of a deal the 4850X2 is at $260 these days.
 
UtopiA said:
All prejudice aside, it is the best card for $260 if you can find it that cheap.
But then again, it's only made by Sapphire and it is relying on CrossFire to beat the 280/285.

edit;
With GTX 260's and 4870's at $180 now, I don't know how good of a deal the 4850X2 is at $260 these days.
Click to expand...

+1, save yourself some headache and pick up either a gtx 260 core 216 or 4870 1gb. Both use 1 gpu so you won't have crossfire/sli headache and both use less enegry = create less heat.
 
cannondale06 said:
why is that so hard to believe? you certainly didnt think the gtx280 was twice as fast as a single 4850 did you?
Click to expand...

obviously not twice as fast. but just looking at tom hardware's own vga charts, the GTX 280 beat 4850 CF in majority of FPS tests.

is there a site or chart that can tell me where everything ranks compared to one another? (including SLI and CF) cause right now i'm just really confused. like how does 4870 rank vs 4850 X2 vs GTX 280 vs GTX 285 vs GTX 260 SLI, etc etc
 
georgexi said:
obviously not twice as fast. but just looking at tom hardware's own vga charts, the GTX 280 beat 4850 CF in majority of FPS tests.

is there a site or chart that can tell me where everything ranks compared to one another? (including SLI and CF) cause right now i'm just really confused. like how does 4870 rank vs 4850 X2 vs GTX 280 vs GTX 285 vs GTX 260 SLI, etc etc
Click to expand...
well I can give a decent link that will cover some setups. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/01/23/sapphire-ati-radeon-hd-4850-x2-2gb/1
 
georgexi said:
obviously not twice as fast. but just looking at tom hardware's own vga charts, the GTX 280 beat 4850 CF in majority of FPS tests.
Click to expand...

Tom's Hardware FPS charts are full of stupid garbage that don't make sense. Totally unreliable. When you look at the charts that add up all the FPS, you have to realize that if you put garbage in, you get garbage out.

For example:

Crysis v1.21 (1280x1024, 0xAA, Trilinear, High Quality)
You have weirdness like a single 9800GTX+ at the top of the list, about 20 places above GTX 260 in SLI. Ehhhh?

Crysis v1.21 (1920x1200, 0xAA, Trilinear, Very High Quality)
Not quite so crazy - most of the list actually makes some sense - but 4850 512MB CF beats 4870 512MB CF?

Half Life 2 Episode 2 TH-Timedemo (1920x1200, 4xAA, 8xAF, Very High Quality)
Back to crazy again, with a single 4870 512MB at the top of the list, beating the 9800GTX in SLI, which beats the GTX 280 in SLI (lol wut?).

Just randomly choose the game charts, and you'll find stuff that can't possibly be right.
 
i was looking at the link UtopiA sent me:

Age of Conan: 1920x1200 High 4xAA
4870 CF (65.4) > GTX 285 SLI (60.7) > 4850 X2 (56.7) > GTX 295 (46.9) > 4870 (36) > GTX 280 (32.4)

COD:WAW: 1920x1200 HQ 4xAA
GTX 285 SLI (127.9) > GTX 295 (102.8) > 4870 CF (97.6) > 4850 CF (77.9) > GTX 280 (59.6) > 4870 (50.4)

Crysis: 1920x1200
GTX 285 SLI (54.2) > GTX 295 (41.7) > 4870 CF (38.9) > GTX 285 (32.8) ~= 4850 CF (32.7) > 4870 (27.9)

seems like each game at various settings is finicky. would've been nice if things were straight-forward so it'd be easier to determine "best bang for the buck" (ie: going single-card vs SLI/CF)
 
What's not straightforward? It was broken down into cost per fps etc... and at the conclusion it says the 4870x2 crossfire is the fastest solution in most instances.

This is where you figure out what games you plan on playing the most, and upgrade your video card based on that.
 
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