2 280's SLI or single 285

H

Heet

n00b
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
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Simple question, but im stummped!

What would be better to run? Im into gaming and want to play Crysis, TF2, L4D pretty much all the new games

The cost of 2 280's is almost as much as a single 2GB 285 would be.

So what do you think? Pros and cons? This would be my first SLI setup so im trying ot figure it out. Thanks!
 
The GTX 280 and 285 are the same card. Only thing that is different is the die size from 65nm on the 280 to 55nm on the 285 which is supposed to make it more energy efficient and run cooler. Also it has a slightly higher stock overclock.

IMO The difference between the 280 and 285 are neligible and I see no reason for buying those because it is just a marketing gimmick from Nvidia. It doesn't use less power and run cooler to a really measureable extent. Not to offend 285 owners, but the 280 is the same thing. Just matters if you wanna pay 80$ for the same thing. Get the two GTX 280's. You will see greater gains than just one card with 2GB.
 
is this a serious thread? I mean is this really a serious thread? This has to be a troll...
 
The higher clocked one also has the WAW when you go to check out. It's also cheaper.
 
vengence said:
is this a serious thread? I mean is this really a serious thread? This has to be a troll...
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unfortunately its serious. Ive never done SLI before. EVER. And so ive got some dub questions to ask. Sorry
 
For Crysis? Nothing will max crysis out though if you game at 1080p and up. I'd go with just one gtx285, and running an sli board is ill advised.
 
PS3 said:
For Crysis? Nothing will max crysis out though if you game at 1080p and up. I'd go with just one gtx285, and running an sli board is ill advised.
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Umm... do you even know what an X58 is?
 
Heet said:
unfortunately its serious. Ive never done SLI before. EVER. And so ive got some dub questions to ask. Sorry
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If you have any value of money, get your self 2 core 216s GTX 260s, or some 275s if you can find them cheap. If your dead set on spending that much money, a pair of 280s will be about 80% faster than a 285 in any game that supports SLI, and in the rare occasion (havn't seen any main stream game without SLI support at launch in a long time, shame crossfire can't say that.) you'll be MAYBE 10% slower in the absolute worst case.
 
SLI is good if you run X58. The nvidia chipsets are not the greatest. However, out of the two you listed, GTX 280 SLI all the way.
 
CruisD64 said:
The nvidia chipsets are not the greatest.
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As far as pure overclock - agreed, but the 790i and 750i chipsets are more than adequate. I've had zero issues with multiple builds of each. Plus 3.5GHz on a Q9450 is ok too.
 
I would get 1 GTX 260 Core 216 until the GTX 300 series comes out... then SLI that.
 
If the specifications in the original poster's signature are accurate, he's running a Core i7 based system which will have an X58 board in it. So running an "SLI" board is not ill-advised. It is true that the nForce 6 and 7 series boards had their issues. I don't recommend those either.
 
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