graphic card woes

requiem1

Hi all,

I'm in need of some advice on making a purchase. I put up the debate of whether or not to get a 4870X2 or the gtx295 and what I established is that the gtx295 is slightly better and less noisy and consumes less power than the 4870x2; otherwise they're on par in performance.

But I haven't considered the bang per buck element when looking at these and a lot of forums suggest getting an 4850x2 for this reason. I will upgrade my system to a core i7 soon enough which will let me go sli or crossfire.

So with this in mind would you guys choose
A)gtx295
B)4870x2
C)4850x2
D)Something like a 280, 285 or 260(the 55nm one)

Just a note: I have no issue paying out its just if i'm spending €200 more for minimal benefits i'd like to know in advance. I have a 24" inch monitor as well.

Thanks,

req:D

uberpixie

requiem1 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm in need of some advice on making a purchase. I put up the debate of whether or not to get a 4870X2 or the gtx295 and what I established is that the gtx295 is slightly better and less noisy and consumes less power than the 4870x2; otherwise they're on par in performance.

But I haven't considered the bang per buck element when looking at these and a lot of forums suggest getting an 4850x2 for this reason. I will upgrade my system to a core i7 soon enough which will let me go sli or crossfire.

So with this in mind would you guys choose
A)gtx295
B)4870x2
C)4850x2
D)Something like a 280, 285 or 260(the 55nm one)

Just a note: I have no issue paying out its just if i'm spending €200 more for minimal benefits i'd like to know in advance. I have a 24" inch monitor as well.

Thanks,

req:D

TBH with a q6600 @ 3.4ghz I'm suprised you would even bother to upgrade to i7 now as there are no real benefits for games for i7 @ high res Vs a core2quad.

Personally I would buy what ever new gfx card you want and sit on your rig for another few months.

Knowing Intel, there will be a slot change shortly or a newier batch of i7 that are better than gen 1. (always the way:D)

I'm on a q6600 B3 @ stock with 4gig of ram and a 4870 512mb and gaming quite happily for the next year or so. Another gfx card in a while or clocking up to 3.0ghz might be on the cards but thats about it. I want to see where Intel are going with i7 and a genuine reason to go for i7 bar Crossfire/SLI performance, which to be fair might be worth it for you if you are on a 24".

TBH your bottle neck is your gfx card not the cpu for any game atm.

requiem1

uberpixie wrote: »

TBH with a q6600 @ 3.4ghz I'm suprised you would even bother to upgrade to i7 now as there are no real benefits for games for i7 @ high res Vs a core2quad.

Personally I would buy what ever new gfx card you want and sit on your rig for another few months.

Knowing Intel, there will be a slot change shortly or a newier batch of i7 that are better than gen 1. (always the way:D)

I'm on a q6600 B3 @ stock with 4gig of ram and a 4870 512mb and gaming quite happily for the next year or so. Another gfx card in a while or clocking up to 3.0ghz might be on the cards but thats about it. I want to see where Intel are going with i7 and a genuine reason to go for i7 bar Crossfire/SLI performance, which to be fair might be worth it for you if you are on a 24".

TBH your bottle neck is your gfx card not the cpu for any game atm.

I'm on an E6600 dude but I'm a fan of your reasoning, I was going to get this card and sit for another 6 months to a year and see what intel are bringing to the plate. My only issue is that performance will not justify the price i'm paying. Looking at it price wise I have the following little breakdown:

GTX295 = €450-500
4870x2 = €400-430
4850x2 = €305
GTX285 = €350-370
GTX260 = €265-275

It looks like a decreasing performance by around 10-15fps at a high res could save me around 200 against the gtx295. I'm thinking a bit into the future about this and thats probably why i can't decide what to do.

uberpixie

requiem1 wrote: »

I'm on an E6600 dude but I'm a fan of your reasoning, I was going to get this card and sit for another 6 months to a year and see what intel are bringing to the plate. My only issue is that performance will not justify the price i'm paying. Looking at it price wise I have the following little breakdown:

GTX295 = €450-500
4870x2 = €400-430
4850x2 = €305
GTX285 = €350-370
GTX260 = €265-275

It looks like a decreasing performance by around 10-15fps at a high res could save me around 200 against the gtx295. I'm thinking a bit into the future about this and thats probably why i can't decide what to do.

Bear minimum: 4870 1gig starting @ €230 on komplett
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=388744

Would also look at the Sapphire toxic edition 4870 1gig @ €250

A 4870 1gig would def be the best bang for the buck.

Would skip the 260 GTXs: 4870s are cheaper and faster and 4850x2s not much more expensive if not the same price for the 2gig versions. e.g €300
(do not get a 1gig 4850 x2...)

Ditto the GTX 280s not much more expensive than the 260s atm.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=354806

After that: it's a toss between the 4870x2 and the GTX295.

so

4870 1gig -> 4850x2 or a GTX280 -> 4870x2 or a GTX295.
Really I would decide what you are most comfortable with and just buy it.

If you prefer one fast card with fairly Vs crossfire you can always get the 280 (4870 is not very far behind thsi card) or the 295.

Atm there seems to be no real difference in performance between the 4870X2 and the GTX295. so it really comes down to heat, noice and power requirements and how important they are to you.

requiem1

uberpixie wrote: »

Bear minimum: 4870 1gig starting @ €230 on komplett
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=388744

Would also look at the Sapphire toxic edition 4870 1gig @ €250

A 4870 1gig would def be the best bang for the buck.

Would skip the 260 GTXs: 4870s are cheaper and faster and 4850x2s not much more expensive if not the same price for the 2gig versions. e.g €300
(do not get a 1gig 4850 x2...)

Ditto the GTX 280s not much more expensive than the 260s atm.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=354806

After that: it's a toss between the 4870x2 and the GTX295.

so

4870 1gig -> 4850x2 or a GTX280 -> 4870x2 or a GTX295.
Really I would decide what you are most comfortable with and just buy it.

If you prefer one fast card with fairly Vs crossfire you can always get the 280 (4870 is not very far behind thsi card) or the 295.

Atm there seems to be no real difference in performance between the 4870X2 and the GTX295. so it really comes down to heat, noice and power requirements and how important they are to you.

You've done it for me mon frere, I'm gonna go with the gtx295, now comes the hassle of draining the loop and deciding what to do with an 8800tgs and waterblock. I hear they can run as a secondary or tertiary card for more physics support? is this true? obviously not on my system but possibly on an sli rig?

uberpixie

requiem1 wrote: »

You've done it for me mon frere, I'm gonna go with the gtx295, now comes the hassle of draining the loop and deciding what to do with an 8800tgs and waterblock. I hear they can run as a secondary or tertiary card for more physics support? is this true? obviously not on my system but possibly on an sli rig?

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=222
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTAwNSwyLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA=

From what little I read: you need an SLI board.

You then set either pure SLI or x1 gfx card for graphics and x1 for physics in the driver.