Poll / Discussion: Best Dual GPU Solution for Gaming

[exe163]

The sig is outdated , I don't have a 4870x2 anymore.

 

[Brashen]

What happened to it? Anyways I'mma stick to my 280 for now and see if the 285s drop down in pricing and grab me 2 of those...if not I'll get another 280. Or maybe I'll get another 280 now....or perhaps triple SLI.......whats wrong with the world!!!!

 

[MrWizard6600]

I really dont want to get flamed for this, but in my limited experience Crossfire scales better than SLI. whether the marketing propaganda ATI spreads about their X2 solution is true/relevant or not aside, a single 4870 is on par with the 260, but the X2 seems to be more closely tied to the GTX 295.

 

[rennyf77]

hard to say definitively now. absolutely wasn't the case with x850xt cf, x1800xt cf but the tech was in its infancy then. by x1900xt cf ati had gotten very close that it was practically indistinguishable along side 7900gtx sli. of course the ati solution had better texture filtering then. when the 3870 and 8800gt were hot sellers, i argued that it didn't matter if the 3870 produced a higher delta in performance when you add the second card because it was slower than the 8800gt to begin with. it would be easier to compare the 4870 1024 cf and gtx 260 sli as both cards more closely compete with each other in price and performance. 4870 512 cf was once very competitive with gtx 260 sli (192sp) but with the last handfull of aaa titles released, my 4870 512 cf setup falls behind a similar machine with a single gtx 260. the ati drivers just don't show up fast enough.

 

[MocciBoo]

I had the x1900xtx...good card, played hl2 well but I was amazed after upgrading from that card to 8800 ultra sli back in the day.

 

[rennyf77]

I had the x1900xtx...good card, played hl2 well but I was amazed after upgrading from that card to 8800 ultra sli back in the day.

i still have my x1900xt and cf card but they don't seem to work on the x58 chipset.

 

[DeadSkull]

GTX 295 should be top dog, unlike the 4870x2 you can still get a 10% oc on the gtx 295 cores no problem. Ati's top cards of this generation (hd 4870, 4870x2) really suck with oc compared to nvidia cards. '

 

[exe163]

GTX 295 should be top dog, unlike the 4870x2 you can still get a 10% oc on the gtx 295 cores no problem. Ati's top cards of this generation (hd 4870, 4870x2) really suck with oc compared to nvidia cards. '

Yeah that's why you don't see many versions of 4870. How much performance boost does a 100mhz OC does to a 280?

 

[MocciBoo]

I don't know about ocing a gtx295, I mean that's one hot 260 sandwich...and more heat on it's already toasted bun and it's likely to get burned. Nvidia kept the clocks low on the gtx295 for a reason....too much heat.

 

[DeadSkull]

Yeah that's why you don't see many versions of 4870. How much performance boost does a 100mhz OC does to a 280?

A lot, thats for sure. I'm running my Evga GTX 280 @ 738/1532/1248 right now and thats almoust 20% improvement over stock SC clocks. Crysis even with an Ultra High config and a texture improvement pack still runs really smooth at 1920x1200 for me. Just played awakening map right now and rarely did I see fps drop under 25, most of the time it hovered in the low 30s which is impressive for that map.

 

[MocciBoo]

A lot of people seem to get bsod with gt200 cards even at ssc speeds. Just luck of the draw I guess. 4850 overclocks like crazy. Got my 4850x2 at 700 / 1100 no problem from the stock 625 / 1800 clocks just fine. Haven't run any benches though to confirm any improvement, as it handles all the new games at 1920x1200 easily...no need to OC.

 

[veedubfreak]

I went from crossfired 4870s to SLI 260s due to the drivers pissing me off constantly. I'll be going tri 285 as soon as prices come down a little more. The 260s choke at 25x16, thats why i wont mess with 295s.