Video Card Upgrade - 9800GX2 or 4870

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GuruX

Gawd
Joined
Jul 8, 2001
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I currently have an ATI Radeon 3870X2 video card, and am looking to upgrade it. Right now, I can snag either a Radeon 4870 or an nVidia 9800GX2 for $300, and I'm debating on which one I want to use. Here's how I see it:

If I bought a single 4870 now, I could always add a second one later and this would beat the 9800GX2 easily. Of course, this means I'd also end up having twice the number of power cables in my system, and I'd need extra airflow to cool two separate graphics cards (not to mention the added noise from two cooling fans).

If I bought the 9800GX2, I'd gain more performance than a single Radeon 4870 (I think), but I couldn't upgrade the performance further should I need it down the road (without getting rid of the GX2 entirely).

Of course, there is always the option of paying a bit more and getting a GTX 280 as well, but I think the GX2 would be a better overall value in this case (considering it's $150 less).
 
4870 or GTX 280 -- the 9800GX2 was a very fast card in theory and a very poor card in practice based on the findings of numerous previous owners on these forums.

I guess if you were never bothered by microstuttering with the 3870X2 and are very concerned with pure framerates (which is.. a bit odd) the 9800GX2 would be a 'better deal', but otherwise, I'd avoid it.
 
Gee, if only I had searched the forums before making my post (oops) :(

Looks like the 4870 is what I should go with -- though I do wonder if two 4870s in Crossfire (down the road) would suffer from micro-stuttering again (or if I'd need a 4870X2 to do that).

Either way though, after searching a bit, it seems the 9800GX2 is not the card I should choose.
 
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