8800GT SLI VS 3870 CF Review

Wow I knew the 3870 was good but I didn't think it was THAT good. Is there any more tests like this to confirm that crossfire 3870s are alot better at high res than SLI 8800GT's ?
 
Final thoughts
From the test result we can notice in more than 90% items, Crossfire scale more better than SLI. In 60% test items CrossFire scale up more than 50% performance compare to single card. But in only 40% items SLI can scale up to 50%.

More surprisingly, in 30% items there’s more than 80% scale in Crossfire. But we can hardly find a 70% scale in SLI solutions. In one word to sum this up: ATi’s Crossfire is more efficiency than SLI.
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Looks like Corssfire may be a more better value for midrange gamers here in the immediate future...

It's nice to see ATi doing well with Crossfire, maybe we'll see a nice fight between the two like during the 79xx and 1xxx generations
 
I believe crossfire also support more than one monitor which is why I am considering to buy ati soon ;)
 
aFive said:
Wait a minute, P35 chipsets support Crossfire but not SLI?
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Yes which is why if AMD/ATI "ever" release a dependable crossfire setup that is a significant upgrade to my single nVidia card solution, I may just jump and get it. In fact, if those 3870 CF's were a serious upgrade (they are not), I would have upgraded...

(This is assuming nVidia don't have anything better by then. Given AMD's recent track record of lagging a year or so behind everyone else, this is probably unlikely)
 
Xfire is better than what i thought.

just look at the power consumption:
2 3870 consume only 14 more watts than a single at idle
29 more watts at load.

Isn't it interesting that 2 3870 consumess less power than ONE 8800GT at idle and only 12 watts more at load? :p

I am looking forward to the 3870 X2
 
echn111 said:
Yes which is why if AMD/ATI "ever" release a dependable crossfire setup that is a significant upgrade to my single nVidia card solution, I may just jump and get it. In fact, if those 3870 CF's were a serious upgrade (they are not), I would have upgraded...

(This is assuming nVidia don't have anything better by then. Given AMD's recent track record of lagging a year or so behind everyone else, this is probably unlikely)
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Just hold tight, nvidia will have G96 with a whopping 128-bit memory interface to fight 3850 next year, That will be a SEIROUS upgrade :D
 
Hmmm.

1. Every bench used is known to be a strong suit for ATi hardware.

2. SLI still wins when AA/AF are enabled, by more than XF wins when they are not, except in CoJ. Why on earth would you invest in a dual-card setup and not enable AA/AF?

3. Latest drivers used for XF but not for SLI.

4. All time demos, all the time.

I think I'll wait for real-world testing.
 
bangmal said:
Xfire is better than what i thought.

just look at the power consumption:
2 3870 consume only 14 more watts than a single at idle
29 more watts at load.

Isn't it interesting that 2 3870 consumess less power than ONE 8800GT at idle and only 12 watts more at load? :p

I am looking forward to the 3870 X2
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I don't understand how two 3870's consume only 29 more watts at load. That's news to me. But that's very good news if that's really the way Crossfire works. Even if that's partially true, that gives Crossfire a significant (massive?) energy efficiency advantage over SLI. Can anyone back up these claims as I don't trust that site at all and I still don't understand how two 3870's can consume only 29 more watts at load?

EDIT: Just noticed that NVidia GT SLI is only 50 watts more than the single card solution. Thought it was a lot more, but was probably thinking of GTX's in SLI. If that's all, it's not a big advantage.


bangmal said:
Just hold tight, nvidia will have G96 with a whopping 128-bit memory interface to fight 3850 next year, That will be a SEIROUS upgrade :D
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And exactly what are you trying to say?
 
eric66 said:
and which games do you want for test doom 3 , lost planet , crysis smthng like this :D
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As the latest and hottest game, yes for Crysis. How about Oblivion? How about WiC? I don't want an all-SLI list either--I want a range that gives better credibility to the results. And something more comprehensive than timedemos.
 
Commander Suzdal said:
As the latest and hottest game, yes for Crysis. How about Oblivion? How about WiC? I don't want an all-SLI list either--I want a range that gives better credibility to the results. And something more comprehensive than timedemos.
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Uh.. "Oblivion" is hardly a recent game... :/
 
kllrnohj said:
Uh.. "Oblivion" is hardly a recent game... :/
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Sure, it's not brand new, but discounting it as a reasonable performance indicator is a bit hasty. It was pretty demanding for its time and still is.
And although you wouldn't benchmark it like this, Oblivion can still be made to bring high end rigs to their knees. Once you've loaded up on high res texture replacements and the famous "Almost Everything Viewable When Distant" mod there's a pretty serious hit. Add transparency antialiasing or upgrade to "More-than almost everything viewable when distant" and watch your 8800SLI slow down to a crawl. Oblivion's still the main reason I wish G100/D9E or R700 would come out sooner, but then again I haven't bought crysis yet :p
 
Nice to see Crossfire getting some good press! I can say I like my two 3870's thus far.
 
Going to be a few weeks before CF can be tested in Crysis, right now CF does not work in Crysis DX10, and in DX9 it is very buggy/inconsistent. There is a game patch that will be out in a few weeks + an ATI hotfix driver, so we will have to wait until those are out before we can test CF in Crysis. Note that the game patch will also improve NV SLI performance.
 
Is it possible to get an aftermarket single-slot cooler on a 3870?

Can only fit single-slot cards in my Shuttle for crossfire so I'm figuring to stick it out until the 512 mb 3850's become available... but I do want the DDR4 for the power savings and better performance. Not sure if the 3870 will ever have a retail version with a single slot cooler so I may have to mod it myself to make it fit in my system.
 
I just ordered a 8800 GT and to be frank, I'm so happy I won't have to deal with SLi anymore... it's so much of a pain at times.. sometimes you don't know if it's working or not, other times games don't support/fully utilize it, other times you have to set your own settings and you're not sure which to use... also uses a lot of power.. ugh, thank god
 
Tylerdurdened said:
I just ordered a 8800 GT and to be frank, I'm so happy I won't have to deal with SLi anymore... it's so much of a pain at times.. sometimes you don't know if it's working or not, other times games don't support/fully utilize it, other times you have to set your own settings and you're not sure which to use... also uses a lot of power.. ugh, thank god
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Me too. I'm upgrading from a MSI 8600GTS OC to the XFX 8800GT (Dell $234) and I'm SOOO happy. The 8600GTS is the best card I've had to this point and from what I've read the 8800GT is close to 4 times better than the 8600GTS. I already have Crysis, COD4 and Unreal 3. So I'm ready to crank up the res and the settings!

I also use a MSI K9N4 SLI motherboard, and a Rosewill Turbo series 550W SLI certified PSU, so SLI is still an option, but I'll just wait and see. I'm not the kind of person who absolutly MUST play at the highest res, I'll settle for the highest settings and the highest playable res.

And it shows in alot of tests that crossfire is more efficient at utilizing both cards than SLI is in most games. So I'm just happy I have a 8800GT coming my way shortly and hopefully it will last me a couple years, or better yet I hope the trend continues with high performance cards priced inbetween $200-$300 so upgrading is less compromising.
 
review is utterly worthless. 3870 cf wins when no features are used. 3870 cf is a noticeable improvement from 2900xt cf, but better than 8800gt sli or any 88 series sli for that matter is hands-down ridiculous. from a 3870 cf owner, believe it.
 
Somebody with a few minutes ought to to compare the 3870 cf results to an 8800gtx results, and then price comparison as well! Could be the end of 8800gtx as we know it...

...for that matter, how close does 8800GT SLI come in price to an 8800gtx? I dont follow prices anymore, otherwise i buy things every time there is a sale...
 
JackAshley said:
Somebody with a few minutes ought to to compare the 3870 cf results to an 8800gtx results, and then price comparison as well! Could be the end of 8800gtx as we know it...

...for that matter, how close does 8800GT SLI come in price to an 8800gtx? I dont follow prices anymore, otherwise i buy things every time there is a sale...
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According to Anandtech, 3850CF is about as fast as a 8800GTX, so 3870CF should be quite a bit faster. Two 3870 = $220 x 2 = $440 (at Dell or NCIX). A quick search on Newegg showed the cheapest 8800GTX is the Foxconn one, at $490.

EDIT: At a second glance, it looks like there is a MSI 8800GTX for $495 with a $40 mail-in rebate.
 
a great test for performance IMO is Oblivion with some mods

It destroyed my 8800GTS when I had it couldn't run out doors at any decent res without lag
 
rennyf77 said:
review is utterly worthless. 3870 cf wins when no features are used. 3870 cf is a noticeable improvement from 2900xt cf, but better than 8800gt sli or any 88 series sli for that matter is hands-down ridiculous. from a 3870 cf owner, believe it.
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I do believe it. That's how the "review" struck me too, good to hear it confirmed from firsthand experience.

Digital Viper-X- said:
a great test for performance IMO is Oblivion with some mods

It destroyed my 8800GTS when I had it couldn't run out doors at any decent res without lag
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I was pretty sure Oblivion wasn't an obsolete performance test quite yet! It has a lot to give in terms of player experience if taken to the max, but then you gotta have the power...
 
I expected it to be better. They had to move on to there 3X line incredibly fast since the 2X line didn't get the job done =).
 
woot crossfire 105% in one two tests, wow. Where did the extra 5% come from? Haha.
 
well if you look at that test there are games with AA enabled the gt sli setup is faster but guys I have to say that amd has come a long way in the last six months with crossfire drivers and lower manufacturing process, 55nm process seems to be way better than 65nm when it comes to power consumption, and the numbers clearly suggest that.

Look at the latest tweaktown.com review of the new 8800gts 512mb g92 based, yea you read that right, lol. go there and look at the last page, the new gts almost burns as much power as the old he 2900 under load, ofcourse its faster but thats a lot of power usage even though it is based on 65nm process, something is certainly not right there, may be nvidia hasn't matured their process yet.
 
There reviews have been questionable as of late imo. Wait for H, Anand, Tech Report, etc.
 
Tylerdurdened said:
I just ordered a 8800 GT and to be frank, I'm so happy I won't have to deal with SLi anymore... it's so much of a pain at times.. sometimes you don't know if it's working or not, other times games don't support/fully utilize it, other times you have to set your own settings and you're not sure which to use... also uses a lot of power.. ugh, thank god
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lol, my buddy is running 8800GTX SLI right now, I was going to go the same route. OMG, it is awful IMO. Besides the features you have mentioned, the heat. He has a PCI sound card that pretty much burns between the two monsters. Seems as if CF might be a good solution however, single slot, lower power consumption, heat.
 
"Crossfire scale more better than SLI." hahaha, I hope [H] does the same review, but with P35 I'm glad ATI is putting something good out there.
 
Hmmm seems Crossfire is finally getting it's shit together.
 
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