7900GT SLI to...?

[beanman101283]

I kind of fell away from the computer hardware scene a couple years ago, but I've got the bug again and was wondering what would be a good upgrade for me. I'm looking forward to playing FEAR 2 and DragonAge early next year.

Right now I've got 2 7900GT's in SLI, a 1600 x 1200 LCD monitor, and a Q6600 processor. I've been browsing around the reviews here and the GTX 260's and Radeon 4870 cards are both good performers for the amount of money I'm looking to spend. My bigger question is will either of those give me a pretty big boost over what I've got in there now? I'm not particularly interested in spending the money for SLI again, so $250-$300 is about my upper limit at this point.

If it's not a large boost, then I can wait a few months since those games aren't coming out for a while. But I figured I'd at least start looking into things now.

 

[kllrnohj]

It would be a huge jump in performance - easily 1.7 times as fast, if not more. You would be able to run everything at that resolution with AA/AF without a sweat

 

[TheBlueChanell]

Since you've already got a SLi motherboard and a Quad-core CPU I'd suggest looking into GTX260 SLi. If you look hard enough you can find a set for about $450. You could also try and sell your 7900's to offset the cost even more though idk how much they're worth now a days.

 

[PlatinumPC]

Hi there,
here is a link to toms VGA charts that will show that you will have at leas 2 x the performance with either the GTX 260 or HD4870:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...tml?prod[2095]=on&prod[2062]=on&prod[2114]=on
when you start testing individual benchmarks at 1680x1200 res, though, you may be suprosed to find that both cards are regularly more than 3 x the performance of your SLI setup!
The GTX 260 will run ALOT cooler than the HD4870 and clock far higher on stock coolong, so if you plan to overclock the GTX 260 should come out on top 9/10.

 

[risqu3]

stock cooler. please stop spreading fud about 4800s being soo hot. a simple fan fix makes it drop its temperatures easily (and i doubt ati would sell video cards that would fry themselves by overheating)

 

[Mr. K6]

Since you already have an SLI motherboard, the GTX 260 probably makes more sense. If you didn't though, I'd say 4870 . However you can't go wrong with either card, they're both very good.

 

[kllrnohj]

The GTX 260 will run ALOT cooler than the HD4870 and clock far higher on stock coolong, so if you plan to overclock the GTX 260 should come out on top 9/10.

The temperature is irrelevant since the 4800's fans are set to be quiet, not run cool (since it doesn't matter unless you OC). The GTX 260 does generate less heat, though, but that doesn't necessarily have any relation to its OC-ability

 

[PlatinumPC]

I realise that, sorry they were meant as seperate points:
1. GTX 260 runs cooler
2. GTX 260 overclocks much higher.

 

[beanman101283]

Thanks everyone. I might save up the extra cash for SLI'd 260's, but I dunno. The games I want don't come out til next year anyway, so maybe the price will have dropped again by then.

 

[kllrnohj]

Thanks everyone. I might save up the extra cash for SLI'd 260's, but I dunno. The games I want don't come out til next year anyway, so maybe the price will have dropped again by then.

You could always just get one GTX 260 now, and see if you actually need more power later on down the line. The GTX 260 by itself is very fast already, you probably won't need SLI to have an excellent gaming experience.

 

[Mr. K6]

Thanks everyone. I might save up the extra cash for SLI'd 260's, but I dunno. The games I want don't come out til next year anyway, so maybe the price will have dropped again by then.

Then you should wait. Honestly, the best plan is to upgrade when you're not getting the gaming experience you want. Don't try to "future proof" and don't try to hang on to old hardware for "the next big thing" because it all results in a headache that is only detrimental to you.