Keep 2x 4870x2 CrossFireX or install 2x GTX 295 SLI???

Y

yenniedn

2[H]4U
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Nov 26, 2007
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I'm sorry if this has been covered already . . . but . . .

I have the system in my signature with 2x Diamond 4870x2's in CrossFireX. To be honest, I certainly don't need all that video processing power since my gaming time has become pretty much nonexistent. But you know how it is, I just want to be able to play whatever game currently out at the best possible settings on my 30" LCD when I do get a chance to game.

The 4870x2's in CFX seem decent but they're crazy hot even at idle. I've been reading around the net to get a comparison between the 4870x2's vs. the GTX 295's.

Well, The Man in Brown brought me 2x EVGA GTX 295's this afternoon - the result of an impulse buy. I'm just wondering if I should just rip open the boxes and put them in or stick with the 4870x2's???

What would YOU do if you had the choice . . . and why?

Thx!
 
If it were me in your position, I'd stick with what I got cause it's already a high performance setup.

I don't think the upgrade is going to give you a significant enough performance boost to justify the purchase.
 
I'd stick them in and see if GTX 295 sli is better then 4870x2 crossfirex on a 30" monitor.
 
HD 4870 X2 has a higher frame buffer than the GTX 295, it is not worth the cost for a "sidegrade". I would just return the cards and keep the money.
 
Keep what you got dude. Also, if you think that they are hot, get some waterblocks and water cool them. This will not only keep your temps down, but allow you to squeeze even more performance out of them by OC'ing them.
 
I'm not so sure that impulse buys in the range of $1000 is a very good thing to be doing ever.
 
If money is not an issue keep both of them and run some bench's and see which one's you prefer.:D
 
retun the 295's and keep what you already have...why spend so much money on something that will not improve anything of importance?
 
I would keep the two 295's so you could sell me both 4870x2's. :) My mobo is xfire only, no sli.

Seriously though. I would probably keep the 295's just because most sites agree they are the top dog, albeit not by much. With a 30" monitor, any performance boost is meaningful.

At this point, I'm assuming with your rig and purchases, money does not appear to be a real factor.
 
Wow, I'm surprised there are so many responsible spenders on [H]!!! I figured most everyone would say go for the newer stuff!!! ;)

What if I told you guys that in the end, the cost difference would be only $100 more for the two GTX 295's after selling off my 4870x2's? Would that make a difference or do you still think $100 is too much to pay for the performance difference?
 
there doesn't seem to be any reliable information floating around to suggest that quad sli via the gtx 295 cards actually works. even some owners of the card on these forums note unusual behavior in crysis. it suggest to me that perhaps some driver optimizations are ahead. i'm only speculating of course as i don't own these cards, but i do own 4870x2's and the performance is spectacular. for a while, two x2's were oddly on par with two 280's in cryengine 2 games, but once the 8.1x catalyst drivers arrived the crossfire platform just blew the sli setup away. i was able to run all high/gamer settings at 25x16 with 16x aniso and still get better frame rates than a similar sli 280 setup using lower in games setting at the same resolution. the performance of x2's in cf is a known quantity and considering the price, i would go with ati.

Picture036.jpg
 
TurK-FX said:
also you can increase fan speed for 4870x2 so it will work cooler.
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Yes, you're right . . . but if I wanted to leaf blower inside my computer case, I would've ghetto rigged one in there and it would've been cheaper!!! ;)

Have you heard these fans at anything past 60 or 70%?
 
yenniedn said:
Yes, you're right . . . but if I wanted to leaf blower inside my computer case, I would've ghetto rigged one in there and it would've been cheaper!!! ;)

Have you heard these fans at anything past 60 or 70%?
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you would probably do better just to get some water blocks for the 4870X2 if that is your issue. at least I would wait a while before trying quad sli, think how long its taken ATI to get most of the issues worked out. at any rate your probably going to loose some AA performance going over as all other things equal that is Xfires advantage
 
at 2560x1600 you might run into some performance issues with the 295s... it's been outlined in comparisons the 4870x2 does better at that res... likely due to it's larger memory per core ratio..
 
I was about to "impulse buy" two GTX 295s a couple days ago. I decided against it since the only reason I was doing so was out of boredom. The difference between 4870 X2 X-fire and 2x GTX 295 will be unoticable in real-life. You're better off holding onto that $1000 for the next GPU generation.

As mentioned X2 X-fire will perform better in a few games at 2560x1600 due to the higher frame-buffer. Also, it seems AMD/ATI is a little more forward-looking as far as mult-GPU support -- this would indicate to me better drivers for quad GPUs.
 
yeah, just looking at the comparisons again and the performance diff will be so slight... and it does seem like that performance hit due to smaller frame buffer on the 295 is limited to only certain games.. but it's especially noticeable when enabling higher levels of AA and AF.. at that res I am not sure what level of AA you need really, but that's a matter of personal choice I guess.. but I would also keep whatchoo got and wait for the next gen stuff... if heat is your big concern well, you can get some more fans placed around the cards (spot cool, or other) turn the fan speeds up or just try and ventilate your case better I guess... as long as you're not getting artifacts or crashes I would not worry about it too much.
 
It'll save you less hassle if you just return the GTX 295s than to have to sell of those 4870x2s. Haha
 
I can't really leave any input on this, but i am still having a hard time getting over how you IMPULSE bought that.... seriously..
 
Valset said:
you would probably do better just to get some water blocks for the 4870X2 if that is your issue. at least I would wait a while before trying quad sli, think how long its taken ATI to get most of the issues worked out. at any rate your probably going to loose some AA performance going over as all other things equal that is Xfires advantage
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If I was going to watercool, I would've done it already. It's something I've not had the desire to get into and don't see myself doing it anytime in the near future.

revenant said:
at 2560x1600 you might run into some performance issues with the 295s... it's been outlined in comparisons the 4870x2 does better at that res... likely due to it's larger memory per core ratio..
Click to expand...

I've read that as well . . .

harmattan said:
I was about to "impulse buy" two GTX 295s a couple days ago. I decided against it since the only reason I was doing so was out of boredom. The difference between 4870 X2 X-fire and 2x GTX 295 will be unoticable in real-life. You're better off holding onto that $1000 for the next GPU generation.

As mentioned X2 X-fire will perform better in a few games at 2560x1600 due to the higher frame-buffer. Also, it seems AMD/ATI is a little more forward-looking as far as mult-GPU support -- this would indicate to me better drivers for quad GPUs.
Click to expand...

Damn all you guys for making too much damned sense. I expected the [H]'ers to more blindly gung-ho for new stuff :) I've seldomly if ever purchased something, have it delivered to my house and at least not give it a whirl before moving on. But if I move these as new, sealed units, at least I break even. If I break the seal and try it out for even 5 minutes, I get to take a nice loss on it???

Hmmmmmm.
 
CousinVin said:
I can't really leave any input on this, but i am still having a hard time getting over how you IMPULSE bought that.... seriously..
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What, you haven't ever done such a thing???

I mean, it's new. It's shiny (not really). I like shiny, new things.
 
Starcrossed said:
I'd return the cards and light your wallet on fire, because that seems more up your alley.
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In the end, the cost difference between the two setups is about $100 - hardly significant. My only concern is whether the GTX295's will be noticeably better at my native resolution - and since there's doubt about that, that's the ONLY reason these nVidia cards aren't already installed. $100 in the grand scheme of things isn't what I'd call lighting my wallet on fire.
 
I would just drop another 1k to build a second PC, figure out which is better, then give the worse one to my wife... If it were me and I had already thrown away 1k.
 
In the end, the cost difference between the two setups is about $100 - hardly significant. My only concern is whether the GTX295's will be noticeably better at my native resolution - and since there's doubt about that, that's the ONLY reason these nVidia cards aren't already installed. $100 in the grand scheme of things isn't what I'd call lighting my wallet on fire.
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Thanks for being a good sport about it. My comment was probably a bit idiotic. :) I'd love to hear how you are only losing $100, though. Maybe you found a killer deal, but if you bought the cheapest 295 @ newegg for $480 shipped and you can sell 4870x2 for about 365 shipped here, meaning that you'd be spending about $135 per card....
 
Starcrossed said:
Thanks for being a good sport about it. My comment was probably a bit idiotic. :) I'd love to hear how you are only losing $100, though. Maybe you found a killer deal, but if you bought the cheapest 295 @ newegg for $480 shipped and you can sell 4870x2 for about 365 shipped here, meaning that you'd be spending about $135 per card....
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I got the two gtx's for $900 delivered, brand new - private party hence no ability to "return" them as others have suggested. I know I can get somebody (or somebodies) to pay $400 plus shipping for the 4870x2's on fleabay - of that I have no doubt. But yeah, add is a little ebay/paypal fee, maybe it'll be a touch more than $100 but still not that big a deal.
 
arentol said:
I would just drop another 1k to build a second PC, figure out which is better, then give the worse one to my wife... If it were me and I had already thrown away 1k.
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I still can't see why multiple people think I've "thrown away" $1k. If sold, the gtx's will easily break even and I lose nothing. If I keep them, I'll take about $100+ hit for moving the 4870x2's.
 
You're better off at that res getting 3 GTX 285s, especially since your MB supports it, too bad your case doesn't without that mb without some modding...

So, what I would do is sell all 4 cards, the P6T Deluxe and the X-Fi, buy an EVGA x58 and 3 GTX 285s to game on the 30".
 
Upon further review:

Q: Whats better than 4870 x2 in Crossfire or GTX295's in Quad SLI
A: 4870 x2 in Crossfire and GTX295's in Quad SLI (thats right, two gaming rigs)
 
ND40oz said:
You're better off at that res getting 3 GTX 285s, especially since your MB supports it, too bad your case doesn't without that mb without some modding...

So, what I would do is sell all 4 cards, the P6T Deluxe and the X-Fi, buy an EVGA x58 and 3 GTX 285s to game on the 30".
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LOL - sounds like a plan.

I'm actually using a Lian Li PC-X500 case right now instead of the TJ09 - but both cases have the standard 7 expansion slots. I'm waiting for the EVGA X58 Classified to be released and then decide if I want to go to that mobo. It never ends.
 
Take the cards, open them up and play all your games. See which ones play smoother and ditch the old cards that you do not want. It is all about preferance.
 
yenniedn said:
If I was going to watercool, I would've done it already. It's something I've not had the desire to get into and don't see myself doing it anytime in the near future.



I've read that as well . . .



Damn all you guys for making too much damned sense. I expected the [H]'ers to more blindly gung-ho for new stuff :) I've seldomly if ever purchased something, have it delivered to my house and at least not give it a whirl before moving on. But if I move these as new, sealed units, at least I break even. If I break the seal and try it out for even 5 minutes, I get to take a nice loss on it???

Hmmmmmm.
Click to expand...
gung-ho for the new stuff yes, but the GTX295 really are not better in that sense of the word, Nvidia made these for the same reason they made the 9800GX2, to regain the performance crown in benchmarks. and they do. but when it actually comes time to play the game the difference is telling, the 4870X2 match or beat the GTX295 in the real world. esp at 4mp where their architecture is better suited. Not so much the vram (if you think about its not that much) difference as it is the AA and textures are handled. that's why the higher you crank the settings the better the 4870X2 tend to do in comparison (this also does cost them sometimes) Not saying that the GTX295 isn't good, at 2.3mp its probably better.

really as said above I would image that tri sli GTX285 would be better
 
Valset said:
gung-ho for the new stuff yes, but the GTX295 really are not better in that sense of the word, Nvidia made these for the same reason they made the 9800GX2, to regain the performance crown in benchmarks. and they do. but when it actually comes time to play the game the difference is telling, the 4870X2 match or beat the GTX295 in the real world. esp at 4mp where their architecture is better suited. Not so much the vram (if you think about its not that much) difference as it is the AA and textures are handled. that's why the higher you crank the settings the better the 4870X2 tend to do in comparison (this also does cost them sometimes) Not saying that the GTX295 isn't good, at 2.3mp its probably better.

really as said above I would image that tri sli GTX285 would be better
Click to expand...

Now THAT'S a compelling answer. Nicely done.
 
ND40oz said:
You're better off at that res getting 3 GTX 285s, especially since your MB supports it, too bad your case doesn't without that mb without some modding...

So, what I would do is sell all 4 cards, the P6T Deluxe and the X-Fi, buy an EVGA x58 and 3 GTX 285s to game on the 30".
Click to expand...

I see no point of getting tri-SLI 285 instead keeping 4870X2 CF...

thats more like a downgrade to me if you ask me, especially 8.12HF did bring us what it promise...

and 285 definitely a bit overprice right now, it just a refresh of GTX 280 with a bit better performance..

the real suggestion to go is, keep 4870X2 CF, and wait until next generation comes out then decide....
 
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