Anyone stuck between a 4870x2 and GTX295?

I am just plain not a fan of a sandwiched card. If it was a similar design to the X2 I may have waited. Don't get it twisted though, the X2 is a beast no matter what comes out this year.
 
mikecoscia said:
And some of us are on ancient hardware, my computer needs to go out to pasture.
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I feel your pain. Currently trying to decide between getting a new rig now with a 4850X2 or a new rig later with the Q2 card releases.
 
Honestly I don't see the need to wait till spring. I mean sure, if your looking for the lastest and greatest, I guess theres a reason. But me personally, Im just looking for something to play my games better. My 9600GT doesn't run to many games that great @ 1920x1080. Either a 4870x2 or a GTX 295 will be more then enough for awhile imo. I think for someone like me, either of these cars or even just a GTX 280 will be a nice upgrade. I just want a little overkill.
 
S203 said:
Honestly I don't see the need to wait till spring. I mean sure, if your looking for the lastest and greatest, I guess theres a reason. But me personally, Im just looking for something to play my games better. My 9600GT doesn't run to many games that great @ 1920x1080. Either a 4870x2 or a GTX 295 will be more then enough for awhile imo. I think for someone like me, either of these cars or even just a GTX 280 will be a nice upgrade. I just want a little overkill.
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well with your cpu in your sig even a gtx260 wouldnt get fully utilized. a gtx295 would be a real waste with that setup.
 
cannondale06 said:
well with your cpu in your sig even a gtx260 wouldnt get fully utilized. a gtx295 would be a real waste with that setup.
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lol I know that. Im in the process of getting a Core i7 920 base rig going. But ill be using it in this rig until my i7 is complete which should be by the end of this month.
 
S203 said:
lol I know that. Im in the process of getting a Core i7 920 base rig going. But ill be using it in this rig until my i7 is complete which should be by the end of this month.
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well I never can tell. I have seen people stick 4870 and gtx260 cards in systems with a single core P4 and 1gig of ram. :eek: :cool:
 
sold my 4870x2 to see how final results would be for this card, but I'm ready to be disappointed. Picked up a 512 MB 4850 as an interim card, but I'm not holding my breath. Looks like I'm waiting for GT212.
 
I wouldn't mind going with a GTX295 over my X2, but can't justify it. I've always had Nvidia cards, mainly SLI'ed until I got the X2. If it wasn't watercooled, I'd probably sell it and switch, but it hasn't let me down in anything I've done with it. I even had one of the GTX 295's in hand tonight, but couldn't bring myself to buy it.
 
crawlgsx said:
The idea is tempting, but At this point... Why?

Their isn't a single game that even comes CLOSE to maxing a 4870 x2. Maybe if I had a 30"? Certainly no chance at 1920x1200.
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I was under the impression Crysis could barely be run above 30fps/ slightly unplayable @ 1920x1200 with everything completely maxed with a 4870x2. (16x AA + 8x AF)
 
crawlgsx said:
What?

You sold it to see results? results on what? How much you could get? Results on the 295?

You made a silly move sir :)
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Not a silly move :)

Picked it up with 30% cashback for $315. Wanted to max what I could sell it for so I got rid of it for $420. Picked up a 4850 with the difference :) figure I can sell this and pick something else up when the time is right.
 
I'm waitng for those 40nm NVIDIA chips personally. Badaboom is awesome too. I'm sticking with nvidia until ATI gets its act together with the Avivo Video Converter. Actually lets me do something with my video card except play games!
 
why would anyone want nvidia after their recent laptop.g80/g92 etc debacle is beyond me. no thanks ;)

waiting on the price of a 4870x2 to drop massively :)
 
matrix563 said:
why would anyone want nvidia after their recent laptop.g80/g92 etc debacle is beyond me. no thanks ;)

waiting on the price of a 4870x2 to drop massively :)
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Well the companys that produce Nvidia cards have superior customer support, better warranties, and some step-up programs.

Although I hear you with the problems, its one of the things making my decision between the two cards harder.
 
ivandurago said:
I was under the impression Crysis could barely be run above 30fps/ slightly unplayable @ 1920x1200 with everything completely maxed with a 4870x2. (16x AA + 8x AF)
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Yes their is that one game that can't be played on any setup maxed out. I don't care, not one bit. Crysis didn't hold my attention at all, pretty game, horrible game play.

I could play the game just fine at high setting just not maxed out on warhead.
 
crawlgsx said:
The idea is tempting, but At this point... Why?

Their isn't a single game that even comes CLOSE to maxing a 4870 x2. Maybe if I had a 30"? Certainly no chance at 1920x1200.
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well apparently we dont go to ravenholm anymore [read: we dont talk about crysis when discussing video cards]
 
jamhamm said:
well apparently we dont go to ravenholm anymore [read: we dont talk about crysis when discussing video cards]
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Clear Sky on max settings is demanding as hell too. maybe he didnt like that game either so it also doesnt count. lol
 
cannondale06 said:
Clear Sky on max settings is demanding as hell too. maybe he didnt like that game either so it also doesnt count. lol
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Personally, No, I don't think Crysis should be compared as the performance mark of a video card. Because a.) it is well past the demand of any other game out (even close) or any game coming in the foreseeable future. and B.) It is a horrible game in my opinion, but That doesn't make it a bad game by any means. It is just my opinion. It is also my opinion that the game barely looks any better maxed out than COD4 does maxed out. Does it look nicer, yes, but not nearly enough to impact the "performance" it requires.

I guess what I should have said is:

"There is not 1 game that comes close to taxing out the 4870 X2 at a very detailed and beautiful game play setting. In most games this is maxed out, however in Crysis you must tone it down a notch. Every other game in existence runs fully maxed out and leaves plenty of room for the card to do more."

I don't see any game in the foreseeable future taxing the 4870 X2 even at maxed out settings, at least for my resolution (1920x1200).

Of course I can get it to tax the card (or maybe its my cpu or memory bandwidth, I'm not sure) if I force "32x" AA (wide-tent max aa)
 
Man, I should read the forums more often XD. This is the exact decision I've been pondering the last few days, and I just pulled a trigger and got a BFG GTX 295 for $499 from Newegg :D. Right now I'm gaming at 2560x1600 on a 4870 512MB, and I wanted a card that would let me turn on AA in games and max out more demanding games like Crysis. The 4870X2 was really tempting, especially with 2GB of on board RAM. However, I don't like how loud the ATI fan is and I don't like the X2 heatsink design (too inefficient IMO). I was impressed by the performance of the GTX 295 in previews, and I think it'll get better with newer drivers. Anyway, I'll be getting it soon and will post my impressions :).
 
GTX 295, i'm card company neutral. I bought into the 4850x2 and couldn't get the god aweful drivers to work with it. If you google any of ati's cards each of them have somewhere someone complaining about driver issues. Hell earlier today i read on the forums a ATI fanboi droping ATI cause he's been one so long that he believes the drivers will always have issues with their cards no matter the generation. If an ati fanboi believes that then it must be true. BTW i rma'd the 4850x2 cause it was so buggy and am waitin on DX11 cards, be it 5870(x2) or GT300 haven't decided yet though thats quite a way down the road. But the final point i'd like to make is yes 4870x2 is great in games and will come down in price, but just cause the hardwares good doesn't mean the drivers will work well with your pc. Ohh and i F-ing love Crysis, the textures are what make it look better then COD4 that was a joke comparison i hope. Walk up to a wall in COD4 and tell me if looks anything but detailed, then do the same in crysis: case and point.
 
Well... Sherloc, I gotta tell ya, the HD4870X2's design is a whole lot more efficient than the GTX 295s design XD
 
Truth be told, but bad drivers will turn me away anyday of the week. I would love to have a ATI card cause the visuals of ATI i think are better, but Nvidia's drivers own.

Quality Drivers + Step-Up program = FTW (Nvidia in my opinion) Any company that reduces my stress is the winner in my book.)
 
MrWizard6600 said:
Well... Sherloc, I gotta tell ya, the HD4870X2's design is a whole lot more efficient than the GTX 295s design XD
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That depends on what you believe is efficient. Thermally the 295 has the advantage in so far as both cores will always be very close in the thermal window. The 4870x2 warm air from one heatsink to the next and maximizes distance air has to go to escape thus making it a warmer card. The physical advantage of the 4870x2 is that it has more thermal dissipation through heatsink surface area. Although if the 295 heatsink was made well enough it would perform better thermally. Both cards are good. Personally if I were to buy one it would be the 295. Of the ATI cards I've used (quite a few) all of them had really shotty drivers. I still use an ATI card in linux and it has the worst drivers I've ever used.
 
flak-spammer said:
That depends on what you believe is efficient. Thermally the 295 has the advantage in so far as both cores will always be very close in the thermal window. The 4870x2 warm air from one heatsink to the next and maximizes distance air has to go to escape thus making it a warmer card. The physical advantage of the 4870x2 is that it has more thermal dissipation through heatsink surface area. Although if the 295 heatsink was made well enough it would perform better thermally. Both cards are good. Personally if I were to buy one it would be the 295. Of the ATI cards I've used (quite a few) all of them had really shotty drivers. I still use an ATI card in linux and it has the worst drivers I've ever used.
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+1, my point exaclty crappy drivers are ATI's major fault.
 
Nothing wrong with loving Nvidia or getting a 295 GTX, but people need to stop this stupid cooling effeciency crap on the X2. If you have a "silent' computer, then yes you may be annoyed by noise (as you would with a GTX260 or 280 if you plan on overclocking at all unless you are water cooling, in which case you could do the same for the X2).

I run my X2 at 40% fan and it is not audible over the case/heatsink fans. My card Idle's at 37-40c and reaches up to 68c in some games, usually closer to 60c in most games.

Heat is not an issue.
 
Hmm both cards are the same price. Looks like the GTX285 performs the same or better than the 4870x2 in most cases. Blizzard is an ATI fan boy, but the whole crappy ATI drivers thing I keep reading. UGH decisions, decisions.
 
mikecoscia said:
Hmm both cards are the same price. Looks like the GTX285 performs the same or better than the 4870x2 in most cases. Blizzard is an ATI fan boy, but the whole crappy ATI drivers thing I keep reading. UGH decisions, decisions.
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I have found nothing to complain about with 8.12's, just seen loads of people who do not know how to follow instructions.

If you Uninstall all old drivers, Run driver sweeper, reboot, install new drivers, reboot. You are golden.

That being said You will probably find the GTX285 to overclock better, it might be faster, I don't know.
 
crawlgsx said:
I have found nothing to complain about with 8.12's, just seen loads of people who do not know how to follow instructions.

If you Uninstall all old drivers, Run driver sweeper, reboot, install new drivers, reboot. You are golden.

That being said You will probably find the GTX285 to overclock better, it might be faster, I don't know.
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Good point, other things for me to consider...

I think the 4870x2 is better designed as far a single PCB, but looks like the GTX285 has better cooling. Although I think the 4870x2 has not hit its performance peak yet, and will continue to get better with new drivers. When are the next drivers supposed to be released anyway?
 
Sherloc said:
GTX 295, i'm card company neutral. I bought into the 4850x2 and couldn't get the god aweful drivers to work with it. If you google any of ati's cards each of them have somewhere someone complaining about driver issues. Hell earlier today i read on the forums a ATI fanboi droping ATI cause he's been one so long that he believes the drivers will always have issues with their cards no matter the generation. If an ati fanboi believes that then it must be true. BTW i rma'd the 4850x2 cause it was so buggy and am waitin on DX11 cards, be it 5870(x2) or GT300 haven't decided yet though thats quite a way down the road. But the final point i'd like to make is yes 4870x2 is great in games and will come down in price, but just cause the hardwares good doesn't mean the drivers will work well with your pc. Ohh and i F-ing love Crysis, the textures are what make it look better then COD4 that was a joke comparison i hope. Walk up to a wall in COD4 and tell me if looks anything but detailed, then do the same in crysis: case and point.
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How about you google for nv4disp? I'm sure that there are a lot of ATI cards owners without any problem too. I'm running my HD 4870 X2 troublefree. There is no solid evidence showing that a driver from any company is better than the other. If you search this forum alone, you will find people with problems on both ATi and nVidia card.
 
mikecoscia said:
Good point, other things for me to consider...

I think the 4870x2 is better designed as far a single PCB, but looks like the GTX285 has better cooling. Although I think the 4870x2 has not hit its performance peak yet, and will continue to get better with new drivers. When are the next drivers supposed to be released anyway?
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I dont think an official release for Catalyst 9 has been annouced short of Q1 2009.

I would expect it will come out shortly to combat with the GTX 285 and GTX 295, if the 4870 X2 really has more to offer (I am sure it does, but how much??)

I can say pretty safely that if you are in the market to buy a high end card, And you buy a 4870 X2, Gtx 285 or GTX 295, you won't be disappointed regardless :).

Personally where I have an X2 already the 285 or 295 do not interest me (too little price/possible performance gain no matter how you look at it). But if I didn't have an X2 already, I would say it is a pretty difficult decision. With the 285 you are gauranteed to not have to worry about Scaling and games that do not support crossfire, this to me is a plus. There is nothing more disappointing than launching a game to find out I am running it at 1 x 4870 :(.
 
It would be nice to have a hardware without any driver problem but the truth is both companies have their own driver problems. I'm sure that the majority of the users are not having any problem with their cards.

Btw I'm interested with the lastest Catalyst 9.1. Brent_Justice, the [H] Video Card Managing Editor said in the other thread that he saw a 80% increase in performance with the new driver:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1033562714#post1033562714
 
alg7_munif said:
It would be nice to have a hardware without any driver problem but the truth is both companies have their own driver problems. I'm sure that the majority of the users are not having any problem with their cards.

Btw I'm interested with the lastest Catalyst 9.1. Brent_Justice, the [H] Video Card Managing Editor said in the other thread that he saw a 80% increase in performance with the new driver:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1033562714#post1033562714
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Hmm.. I'm skeptical, but that would be fantastic.
 
crawlgsx said:
Hmm.. I'm skeptical, but that would be fantastic.
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He said that he tested the game and get that kind of increase but didn't mention anything more. This is not just what AMD claims but what [H] saw in a test.
 
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