New System needs New Graphics Cards.

[Sheriden]

Greetings.

Ok i've been pondering over this since the ATI 3870 was released, I'm building a nice new system from the ground up, Quad Core, 4GB Memory, and Crossfire GFX.

Then ATI went and launched the 3800 series and it messed my whole week up looking at them and comparing etc etc.

Since I come here and read the reviews and the forums so much I thought it best to ask you guys your opinions on this.

I was going to get 2 ATI 2900XT 512's then came Across the 3870 and while looking about got a phone call from my supplier telling me they had the 2900XT 1GB's back in stock.

So now i'm stuck, i'm getting 2 cards for a Xfire config either way the question is

2 X ATI 2900XT 512MB
2 X ATI 3870 512MB
2 X ATI 2900XT 1GB

HELP!

I've had ATI since I swapped from my old TI4600 to a 9800XT a long time ago and i'm happy and like ATI and not really interested in going back to Nvidia so if all your going to post is "Nvidia 8800GTX blah blah blah" please save it i'm not interested.

So yeah which set is gonna keep me busy playing for a while? An money isnt much of a problem so i'm not bothered on saving or going cheap.

Thanx all.

Sheri...

 

[aadamszc]

Well, people may yell at me, but....here is what I say.

2 x ATI 2900XT 1GB.

Yes, it is the most expensive option. It will probably require the most power, generate the most heat, etc.

Method behind my madness: The 2900XT 512Mb performs just a little worse than the 3870 from what I have seen. Add a bunch of V-Ram to the equation and you have a 2900XT that will perform better than the 3870. While it may cost a lot more...they are going to have them in stock. I don't think you could find a decently price 3870 anywhere within the next few weeks.

Then again, I may be wrong.

On another note, if you are thinkiing about spending this much money on a GPU, you might want to wait and see what the new offerings have to offer.

From what I hear:
-nVidia G92 GTS, even though you don't really want to go nVidia and probably have an xFire mobo. ETA = Dec. 12
-Next series: ATI R700 or nVidia 9000, etc. ETA = no idea..1st quarter 2008?

 

[Sheriden]

Anyone else?

 

[Sheriden]

Hey u're not interested in nvidia cause ure ati fanboy or what... lol.
The fastest and cheapest combination is 2x3870... for sure...

But me personally.. I would wait for the new nvidia GTS. It should be even faster than 8800gtx and much cheaper. So if you nvidia hate-ness and non-wait-avaiabelness scales too high go for the 3870's CF

Not a fanboy no, I use to swear by Nvidia and the last card I had was the TI4600 and it was a lovely card, then Nv released the crap that was the Geforce 5 series and thats when I went to ATI with the 9800XT.

 

[yadge]

I would say 2x3870.

Because it will be cooler and probably have more overclocking capability. It will also be cheaper.

You might want to wait until the prices deflate a little bit though.

 

[starcraftfanatic]

dual 3870's if you can find them, or just a single G92 GTS to avoid all the headaches of crossfire/sli and have less heat and power (you could also wait for the dual 3870's if you have the time).