GTX285 or 4870x2?

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WMBlalock

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 1, 2002
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Hey guys, money aside, what card do you guys think would be better, the GTX285 or the 4870x2? I know in tests the 4870x2 seems to be the clear champ, but I remember reading in the past that the 4870x2 had some driver and game issues, are those pretty much resolved? What about framerate drops during gaming? I have also been reading about the GTX260 SLI and HD4870 Crossfire setups for around the same price. Problem being, I don't have a SLI or Crossfire motherboard. I could probably sell my motherboard and get a SLI or Crossfire 775 motherboard, but I have heard those boards don't perform quite as well as my Intel based Gigabyte board. I use onboard raid to run raid 0, and I run a 28" monitor for games usually at 1920x1200 when I can. As far as what games I play, usually first person shooter style games, a little bit of everything. What do you guys think, GTX285 or 4870x2? I could also consider a 2 card setup, but the performance gains better be great because I'd have to do a lot of work selling my old board, buying an new one, re-doing my overclock and raid 0 setup. Also, I know new cards are coming out, there is no need to chat about that being that whatever I order, I must do it tonight. Thanks guys!
- Mike
 
There are so many reviews, you should read them and decide for yourself. I recently sold a gtx280 sli rig and that system pretty much crushed every game except for _____________, and ___________. I do not want to mention those games any more. Any ways, game titles on the pc are pretty scarce, and you should wait for the upcoming 5870/GT300 series any way.
 
PS3 said:
There are so many reviews, you should read them and decide for yourself. I recently sold a gtx280 sli rig and that system pretty much crushed every game except for _____________, and ___________. I do not want to mention those games any more. Any ways, game titles on the pc are pretty scarce, and you should wait for the upcoming 5870/GT300 series any way.
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Yeah, I've been reading around a ton and it seems like a toss up, but I think the 4870x2 has the edge. I just need to know if the 4870x2 drivers have most of the kinks worked out, I know they had problems for a while. Anyone know? Also, like I said before, I have to order tonight, waiting is not an option. I am basically upgrading from a GTX280 to one of these other cards for free... if I do it tonight.
- Mike
 
ThePunkerGuy said:
Yeah, I've been reading around a ton and it seems like a toss up, but I think the 4870x2 has the edge. I just need to know if the 4870x2 drivers have most of the kinks worked out, I know they had problems for a while. Anyone know? Also, like I said before, I have to order tonight, waiting is not an option. I am basically upgrading from a GTX280 to one of these other cards for free... if I do it tonight.
- Mike
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I see no point of upgrade unless you are a extreme player like me..

and no, 4870X2 does not have major driver problem, some small one maybe, just like nVidia..
 
shansoft said:
I see no point of upgrade unless you are a extreme player like me..

and no, 4870X2 does not have major driver problem, some small one maybe, just like nVidia..
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No point of upgrading? You wouldn't upgrade from a GTX280 to a 4870x2 for $0? Like I said, it is costing me nothing to upgrade, so why wouldn't I?
 
ThePunkerGuy said:
No point of upgrading? You wouldn't upgrade from a GTX280 to a 4870x2 for $0? Like I said, it is costing me nothing to upgrade, so why wouldn't I?
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it kinda boils down to what you play and what you like. CFAA is awesome. and is some games it will crush the GTX285. in others it might match it or even lose badly. and if you fold its no contest. to be honest I would do it just to try it.
 
Valset said:
it kinda boils down to what you play and what you like. CFAA is awesome. and is some games it will crush the GTX285. in others it might match it or even lose badly. and if you fold its no contest. to be honest I would do it just to try it.
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rarely see single GTX 285 outperform a 4870X2...

almost impossible unless the game not supporting crossfire...
 
shansoft said:
rarely see single GTX 285 outperform a 4870X2...

almost impossible unless the game not supporting crossfire...
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or suffers from piss poor scaling, the bane of any multi gpu card. I am not saying that the 4870X2 is not more powerful, as it is considerably, but that its depending on the game. grid, DMC, and a lot of others favor crossfire, others don't. I would probably go for the 4870X2 but I like CFAA.
 
Valset said:
or suffers from piss poor scaling, the bane of any multi gpu card. I am not saying that the 4870X2 is not more powerful, as it is considerably, but that its depending on the game. grid, DMC, and a lot of others favor crossfire, others don't. I would probably go for the 4870X2 but I like CFAA.
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there is very rare chance that the game scale bad in CF..

just name a few, "Dead Space"... which CF doesn't even work... but else, I see no problem with it....
 
ThePunkerGuy said:
No point of upgrading? You wouldn't upgrade from a GTX280 to a 4870x2 for $0? Like I said, it is costing me nothing to upgrade, so why wouldn't I?
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You just answered your own question then... Why come and ask if you know the answer
 
I own a 4870x2 (2 of them to be precise) and I'm troubled that either some games developers or AMD/ATI haven't worked out proper CrossFire(X) support. Granted, the performance between a competing card in the same class is not that great, it would be fantastic to see progress be made to correct the current issues.
 
My 2 cents..........at 1920 x 1200 either one of those cards will offer you exceptional gaming.......at the highest settings.

I have GTX 285s in SLi currently, but I had the 4870 X2 last winter and fall. My only gripe about the X2 was some lack of support for Crossfire and CrossfireX which gimped the card quite a bit. But when it was good it was very good.

Honestly, nvidia seems to have a better driver program and offers better multi-GPU support and "seems" to me to keep on top of new games with driver support. That's why I went back to nvidia.
 
AceGoober said:
I own a 4870x2 (2 of them to be precise) and I'm troubled that either some games developers or AMD/ATI haven't worked out proper CrossFire(X) support. Granted, the performance between a competing card in the same class is not that great, it would be fantastic to see progress be made to correct the current issues.
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what kind of game you experience? Please don't list some MMORPG where it is not graphic intensive..
The games I played almost all CF supported, and I do play lots of games...
to be honest, I rarely find a game that lack of support on multi-GPU for a recent game..

magoo said:
My 2 cents..........at 1920 x 1200 either one of those cards will offer you exceptional gaming.......at the highest settings.

I have GTX 285s in SLi currently, but I had the 4870 X2 last winter and fall. My only gripe about the X2 was some lack of support for Crossfire and CrossfireX which gimped the card quite a bit. But when it was good it was very good.

Honestly, nvidia seems to have a better driver program and offers better multi-GPU support and "seems" to me to keep on top of new games with driver support. That's why I went back to nvidia.
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same goes to you..
SLi actually have worse scaling in most cases compare to CF, and no, they do not offer better driver in any possible way...
They "SEEM" but they dont...a good example is drivers after 182 that really creeps people out..
 
Go for HD 4870x2. Driver scaling has been worked out by now so its a great card and the near equivalent of GTX 260c216 SLI.
 
Thawaxshop said:
You just answered your own question then... Why come and ask if you know the answer
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I guess I need to make sure every sentence is spelled out fully for you..
The statement was a general statement that was supposed to mean, if I can get something for nothing, why not. Not specifically the 4870x2. For you, I should have phrased the sentence "No point of upgrading? You wouldn't upgrade from a GTX280 to a 4870x2 or GTX260 SLI or GTX285 for $0? Like I said, it is costing me nothing to upgrade, so why wouldn't I?"
- Mike
 
Thanks guys for all the opinions. I think I will give the 4870x2 a try, and If I don't like I, I can always try something else. Over the years I have bounced back and forth between ATI and Nvidia depending on who is better at the time. I will let you guys know how it goes when the card gets here. Thanks guys!
- Mike
 
either card is a no lose situation, its like, should i take this ferrari or the lambo? either one will get you from point a to b with a quickness... enjoy the card!!
 
IMO, the 4870X2 wins by a small margin.
Be aware that the X2 is noisier and is a little bit more unstable due to Crossfire inherent additional complexity. But the X2 is generally faster and that what's matter the most.
BTW, I own both video cards so I talk from experience.
 
RadXge said:
IMO, the 4870X2 wins by a small margin.
Be aware that the X2 is noisier and is a little bit more unstable due to Crossfire inherent additional complexity. But the X2 is generally faster and that what's matter the most.
BTW, I own both video cards so I talk from experience.
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I have no idea where u get that "wins by a small margin"

from the games I have played so far, it crushed GTX 285 in almost every single game beside the one that does not have CF support, which usually fixed in the next driver release..
 
RadXge said:
IMO, the 4870X2 wins by a small margin.
Be aware that the X2 is noisier and is a little bit more unstable due to Crossfire inherent additional complexity. But the X2 is generally faster and that what's matter the most.
BTW, I own both video cards so I talk from experience.
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GTX 280 is only 10-11% faster then a stock HD 4870. Now GTX 285 is only about 8% faster then a 280. Even if you get a 750 core / 1600 overclock on a GTX 285 which would make it somewhere 35% faster then a HD 4870 its still not going to be able to compete with HD 4870x2 which is basically 2 x HD 4870 1Gb crossfire. Pure numbers game and GTX 285 will lose.
 
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