keep 2 9800gx2 ssc or get gtx 280

I just recently ordered 2 9800gx2 ssc cards. They aren't even open yet, I actually haven't even seen them yet. However after seeing the price drop and reviews of the gtx 280s I am not sure which is better. I have searched all over the internet and no one has a real solid answer as to which is better. New drivers, different resolutions.....blah blah blah. I am a serious gamer, playing crysis, call of duty 4.... However, I have been out of the "computing area" for a few years now, due to the console kick. I am currently doing a complete overhaul of my PC which is not bad as it stands, but it needs upgrading. I will be updating my signature with my pc info shortly. I am pretty much looking for someone who has ran a setup with 2x 9800gx2 ssc cards and a setup with 1x or 2x gtx 280s and if the gtx is really worth it.

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Definitely keep them
9800GX2 outperforms a GTX 280 in many games,its a solid card and u have 2 of them wow i say keep them

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Reply to Maziar

^ as he said...... though I'm no fan of the 9800GX2, even one single 9800GX2 does outperform the GTX280.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14990/12

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Reply to mihirkula

That seems to be the way things are, however alot of people are saying that the only reason the gtx 280 lacks is because of the drivers, which is a HUGE gray area.

Reply to Lurch3

Well, does the gtx 280 "outperform" or OUTPERFORM the gx2 ssc. I looked at the specs for them both and well, yes, it "outperforms" but when it comes down to it, when I am sitting in front of my pc playing the game, which one is going to be better.

Reply to Lurch3

SLI GTX 280 will GREATLY outperform SLI 9800GX2.

Anything more than 2 GPU's (which a single GX2 already has 2 of) looses scaling with SLI and Cf. Currently, there is nothing that performs better than SLIed GTX 280's.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
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Reply to outlw6669

How much did you buy your two GX2's for?

SLI GTX280 = $1000

Message edited by mihirkula on 07-09-2008 at 03:09:21 PM

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Reply to mihirkula

The EVGA SSC edition is on newegg right now for $485. It would only be an extra $30 to get SLI GTX 280's which will scale much better.

Message edited by outlw6669 on 07-09-2008 at 03:15:47 PM

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
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Reply to outlw6669

they were something around there, but as I have seen, the prices are dropping DAILY!!! I got two 9800GX2 SSC for about $1100 from newegg.

Reply to Lurch3

how do I get my signature to go all the way across the bottom, it's chopping off half of it!!

Reply to Lurch3

the only problem is that I have already purchased the two 9800GX2s so that means buying the two GTX 280s and either selling/returning the 9800GX2s. That's why I want to make sure it's worth it.

Reply to Lurch3

Yes!
It will be worth it.
9800GX2 SLI dose not scale very well.
SLI GTX 280 will be MUCH better.
Expecialy in games that do not support SLI.

Newegg's return policy is very easy to work with. Just make sure to box the return yourself as UPS charges an arm and a leg for their shiping supplies.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
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Reply to outlw6669

Return them and get two gtx280s ....it will be a much better setup.

Reply to lameness

so I will be able to box the two 9800GX2s and get a full return from newegg?

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Reply to Lurch3

not to get off subject, but how do I get my signature to fit in the "signature window"?

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Reply to Lurch3

Lurch3 wrote :

so I will be able to box the two 9800GX2s and get a full return from newegg?

Erm...
You might want to call newegg now and see what you can work out.
The GX2 SSC has a Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy.

Quote :

Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

Return for refund within: non-refundable
Return for replacement within: 30 days

This is our Detailed Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy. Products that state "This item is covered by Newegg.com's Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy", or items labeled as “Non-refundable” (or similar labeling) must be returned to Newegg.com within 30 days of the invoice date for this policy to apply. Products covered by this return policy may only be returned for a replacement of the same item.

As you have not recieved them yet (are they shipped?) and they are not oppened, you may be able to return them for store credit towards the GTX 280's.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
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Reply to outlw6669

OK, outlw6669 I dont know which version of the GX2 ssc version your looking at but the evga one your link points to right now is not 285.00
its 485.00!! That is still 970.00 bucks. But yes I believe that two GTX280's for only an additional 30.00 will be the way to go without question. The SLI scales much better for two GPU's then 4 currently.

The hope remains that one day Nvidia will release a driver that will take full advantage of all four GPU's in a quad SLI system, and if and when it does, then I think and believe that the 9800GX2 in quad sli will beat the crap out of a dual GTX280 system.

Unfortunately for owners of the 9800GX2 Quad SLi systems, I think Nvidia is going to leave this project unfinished just like they did for the 7950GX2 some years ago. If you don't recall that card was the biggest bust idea ever as many bought two of them only to find out that the drivers sucked for quad sli, and in many respects still do, which is the only reason I still recommend going with two Single Gpu cards over a quad setup.

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Reply to dragoncyber

Lurch3 wrote :

not to get off subject, but how do I get my signature to fit in the "signature window"?

THG's fourms are more like a construction zone latly. It dose not always do what you ask of it. You can play with it in the testing grounds and see if typing it diffrent ways will get it to fit.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
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Reply to outlw6669

dragoncyber wrote :

OK, outlw6669 I dont know which version of the GX2 ssc version your looking at but the evga one your link points to right now is not 285.00
its 485.00!!

Yup, saw that and already got it changed.
Ain't jet lag a bioch :pt1cable:

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
PSA
Reply to outlw6669

well, I am deployed right now and I just had them sent to a friends house about a week ago. Surfing the net, I am now not sure if the 9800GX2s were a good idea with the arrival of the GTX 280. So I could order the two GTX 280s now and return the two 9800 GX2s when I get back.

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Reply to Lurch3

Lurch3 wrote :

So I could order the two GTX 280s now and return the two 9800 GX2s when I get back.

If that is your plan, call newegg now and see what they will do for you. Your EVGA SSC card is non-refundable.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
PSA
Reply to outlw6669

if that's the case I will try to sell them instead. I should be able to get a decent turn around on it, hopefully.

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Reply to Lurch3

Lurch3 wrote :

if that's the case I will try to sell them instead. I should be able to get a decent turn around on it, hopefully.

Perhaps, but it will not hurt to call and ask if they will give you credit towards your GTX 280's. If they will, you can use the extra $100 to buy a shiping lable from newegg. You will definatly get more cash back from newegg than re-selling them.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
PSA
Reply to outlw6669

yeah, I am going to give them a call and see what they say. however I will probably order the gtx 280s either way and deal with the 9800gx2s afterwards, depending on what newegg says.

Reply to Lurch3

Mate GTX 280 SLI isn't as bombastic as you think it is.... you only get a paltry 21 FPS for Crysis at very high.... if i were you i would think before i spend $1000 on GPU just for a crappiola 21 FPS at 1920 resolution.

http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=170751

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------------------------------ Intel E6750 * Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L * Galaxy 8800GT 512mb 620MHz* Corsair VX450 * 2GB Transcend 667* 2x120GB Seagate SATA * Altec Lansing ATP3*
Reply to mihirkula

mihirkula wrote :

Mate GTX 280 SLI isn't as bombastic as you think it is.... you only get a paltry 21 FPS for Crysis at very high.... if i were you i would think before i spend $1000 on GPU just for a crappiola 21 FPS at 1920 resolution.

http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=170751

I think you missed the update posted below the chart...

Quote :

** update - in the chart where it says "Very High" that should be reading "GeForce GTX 280", the single card @ Very high IQ settings.

Link to the page.

With this in mind, it gets a more respectible 35 FPS in Crysis DX10 Very High.

Message edited by outlw6669 on 07-09-2008 at 05:03:41 PM

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
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Reply to outlw6669

well lets put it this way, I am going from this.....

Velocity Micro LXe-W Silver case
1200 Watt Velocity Micro Nvidia SLI Certified
EVGA nForce 680i SLI
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz cores, 8MB L2 cache
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Heatsink
2048MB Corsair DDR2 PC6400 DDR-800 (2x1024)
640MB EVGA GeForce 8800GTS DDR3
VideoCool Positive Pressure Airflow System
320GB Hitachi 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA Drive
On-Board HD 7.1
Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

to this....

Velocity Micro LXe-W Silver case
1200 Watt Velocity Micro Nvidia SLI Certified
EVGA nForce 680i SLI
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz cores, 8MB L2 cache
Zalman 110mm 2 ball CPU cooler
8192MB OCZ SLI-ready DDR2 PC6400 DDR-800 (4x2048)
2x 1GB EVGA GeForce 9800 GX2 SSC in SLI
N/A (GPU fan)
300GB WD VelociRaptor 10000RPM SATA Drive
On-Board HD 7.1
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Will getting 2x 1GB EVGA GeForce GTX 280s boost my performance increase that much? Or will the upgrade I am making already be drastic enough to put my "gaming satisfaction" at ease, at least for a little while...?

Reply to Lurch3

If i had $900 I'd rather ditch that irritating 680i board...get a Gigabyte EX38....forget about GX2 or GTX....and get two 4870X2 cards when they come....and also swicth the cooler to Xigmatek S1283.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Intel E6750 * Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L * Galaxy 8800GT 512mb 620MHz* Corsair VX450 * 2GB Transcend 667* 2x120GB Seagate SATA * Altec Lansing ATP3*
Reply to mihirkula

They will bouth be good upgrades and you will be happy with either. If you were going with only 1 GX2 or 1 GTX 280 I would say stick with what you have. As you are going the SLI route, as I have stated earlier, the GX2 will scale very badly. In this situation, GTX 280 SLI will be much more powerful than GX2 SLI. You will get good performance increases with either but if you want maximium performance, trade the GX2's in.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
PSA
Reply to outlw6669

Also, with plans of going to school for autoCAD in the near future, I am thinking of going with two of the WD VelociRaptor drives in RAID (don't really understand what the benefits are of RAID, but anyways). If I were to do this, does the computer access both drives at the same rate, i.e. a master drive takes priority over a slave drive type idea, or are they both accessed at the same speed. My main concern is using one drive for my school stuff and the other for my games, ALOT, of games.

Reply to Lurch3

mihirkula wrote :

If i had $900 I'd rather ditch that irritating 680i board...get a Gigabyte EX38....forget about GX2 or GTX....and get two 4870X2 cards when they come....and also swicth the cooler to Xigmatek S1283.

This is also what I would chose sans the Xigmatek. Having the heatpipes directly on the CPU sounds like a great option except you will have a smaller contact surface that is less machined to transfer the heat. Go with a Tuniq Tower or a Schthe ninja.

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------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
PSA
Reply to outlw6669

You will need to OC your cpu if you want to get good framrates with whatever card setup you get.

Reply to lameness

+1 lameless

If you used raid 0 with 2 Hd's, it would be alternating each read/wright operation between the drives. In theory, it will double your drives performance. If you use raid 1, it will backup one drive to the other real time with no performance increases.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
PSA
Reply to outlw6669

Quote :

They will bouth be good upgrades and you will be happy with either. If you were going with only 1 GX2 or 1 GTX 280 I would say stick with what you have. As you are going the SLI route, as I have stated earlier, the GX2 will scale very badly. In this situation, GTX 280 SLI will be much more powerful than GX2 SLI. You will get good performance increases with either but if you want maximium performance, trade the GX2's in.

what do you mean by "the GX2 will scale very badly" I have seen this in a few other comments made in other forums and don't really understand what it means.

Reply to Lurch3

Quote :

You will need to OC your cpu if you want to get good framrates with whatever card setup you get.

so you're saying basically that my cpu is becoming a "bottle neck" to my GPU's wether I use the 9800gx2s or the gtx280s?

Reply to Lurch3

Quote :

If you used raid 0 with 2 Hd's, it would be alternating each read/wright operation between the drives. In theory, it will double your drives performance. If you use raid 1, it will backup one drive to the other real time with no performance increases.

I don't really understand the RAID idea, I should probably read up on it, but... I don't understand the RAID 0, RAID 1 explanations. i.e. alternating read/write operation between the drives. does that mean it is going to use both drives at the same time, spreading out all my stored data, putting it wherever it wants to. i.e. 2, since I am currently reading from "drive 1" it is going to write to "drive 2" instead of waiting for "drive 1" to finish reading?

I could be totally off on understanding this, just let me know if I need to do some reading.

Reply to Lurch3

outlw6669 wrote :

This is also what I would chose sans the Xigmatek. Having the heatpipes directly on the CPU sounds like a great option except you will have a smaller contact surface that is less machined to transfer the heat. Go with a Tuniq Tower or a Schthe ninja.

oh cmon...the Xigmatek is a much better cooler than either of those two mentioned... its still the very best cooler thats available in the market. Check Frostytec.

anyhow all of that would mean squat if this guy wants to overclock on the atrocious 680i board. Good luck with that.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Intel E6750 * Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L * Galaxy 8800GT 512mb 620MHz* Corsair VX450 * 2GB Transcend 667* 2x120GB Seagate SATA * Altec Lansing ATP3*
Reply to mihirkula

That is not True at all, the GX2 does scale better than the 280 GTX in alot of games, especially since alot of new games are becoming SLI compatible.

Source: Guru3D

EDIT: btw the price you got the GX2 is pretty weird, here in Toronto there are GX2s that are around 350-400$:S

Message edited by L1qu1d on 07-09-2008 at 05:53:17 PM

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Reply to L1qu1d

keep it

Reply to th_username

I see the 9800GX2 and the GTX280 as being somewhat in the same class of performance. There will be differences, depending on the game. I do think that a system with fewer vga chips might be better, overall though. Since you bought EVGA 9800GX2 units, you will be eligible for their "step-up" upgrade program. Register the cards, and keep all the original packaging. You can trade in and apply the purchase price towards a higher priced card within 90 days. Nvidia has been hurt by the 4870, and will want to react to the 4870X2, so there may well be an upgrade to the GTX280, perhaps within your 90 days.

I find the velociraptor to be wonderful, and it DOES make a difference.

There is generally no real world(vs. synthetic transfer rate benchmarks) performance advantage to raid of any kind.
Go to www.storagereview.com at this link: http://faq.storagereview.com/tiki- [...] iveVsRaid0
There are some specific applications that will benefit, but
gaming is not one of them. Even if you have an application which reads one input file sequentially, and writes
it out, you will perform about as well by putting the input on one drive, and the output on the other.

For gaming, a higher clocked duo is usually better than a quad. Look into a E8500. Your mobo should support it. A EVGA mobo is also eligible for their "step-up" program, but I don't think you need it. There are supposed to be some nice price cuts on Intel cpu's on July 22. Plan accordingly.

Do you really need Vista ultimate? Go to the vista web site, and compare the capabilities you get with ultimate vs. home premium. There are not many.

Reply to geofelt

keep the 2x 9800gx2s?

thanks for the charts L1qu1d, looks like I'd be best with 4x 9800gx2s.

I paid around 1,100 for two 9800GX2 SSC edition cards from newegg a week ago....went to their website today and they were down about 50 bucks!

Reply to Lurch3

np, I tested out the GX2's in Quad on my friend's computer, and they're monsters! OFC you need Sli games, but most are

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Reply to L1qu1d

SLI and CrossFire are designed to split the workload of rendering 3d games/apps accross multiple GPU's. This is (almost*) never 100% effective. In order for there to be an increase in performance, the cards drivers must be optimised for each game for each possible combination of cards. In some cases it is impossible to optimise and you will see no increase in performance with more than one card. In some games it will even drop performance. In all cases, you will see diminishing returns on the % of increase with adding each extra GPU.

For example, in the review mihirkula linked earlier a single GTX 280 got 21fps in Crysis where as SLI GTX 280 got 35fps. In a perfict system with perfict drivers you would be getting 42fps with 2 GTX 280's pushing Crysis. As it is now, you would see 67% scaling in this application.

Here is a better link for you. It is the SLI analysis from anandtech's GTX 280 review. At the very top of the page it charts the scaling of 1 to 2 cards comparing the GTX 280 to the GX2. In some situations GX2 SLI scales as much as GTX 280 SLI. In most situations, 2 GPU scaling far outclassed 4 GPU scaling. This is something that will probably change with time as SLI becomes more mainstream and drivers are better optimised but for now, you will see the best scaling with 2 GPU's

* In some cases, CrossFire has shown the potential for 100% scaling. See these anandtech results for an example.

For raid, Here is the sticky for it. A little dated but still pertinent.

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
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Reply to outlw6669

The only game that has a prob with it is Oblivion, the rest of the games, the GX2 Quads either win or loose by very little frames, which doesn't justify to spend 50$-100$ more

Message edited by L1qu1d on 07-09-2008 at 06:07:28 PM

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XBL: L1qu1dat1on

Reply to L1qu1d

mihirkula wrote :

anyhow all of that would mean squat if this guy wants to overclock on the atrocious 680i board. Good luck with that.

True dat.
What ever the cooling setup it dose you no good if the Mb is crap. Gotta love my Intel Mb for that!

------------------------------ If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
PSA
Reply to outlw6669

to clear the RAID/hard drive discussion, if I plug in two WD VelociRaptor drives do I HAVE TO RAID them? I want to just have two separate drives, so when I open "My Computer" I see two separate drives. If I do have to RAID them is there a RAID "X" that will treat them as such?

Reply to Lurch3

you dont have to create a RAID b/c you have 2 drives, you will be forced to partition them through disk management in windows (assuming) unless one will be your primary drive which you will then go through the windows install/partition setup.

But really I never understood people who upgrade their cpu/gpu/ram each time nvidia/intel/amd release a new product.

Reply to hovaucf

I have decided that I am going to keep the 9800gx2s!! IT'S FINAL...for now anyways. However, I was thinking of going 3-way with them. The one problem I have is finding a 3-way bridge. If anyone knows how to order these that would be great!

Reply to Lurch3

well, partitioning them, I should be able to have 2 HD's of 300 Gigs each (full size) correct? not having to make each drive into say 2 or 3 partitions each?

Reply to Lurch3

If you have to ask a question about Raid, then you almost certainly don't need/want it.

To answer your question, though, just plug your drives in as normal and you will see individual drives in the device manager.

Your two 9800GX2's will not be the limitation for any game. Don't worry about three.

Reply to geofelt

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - keep 2 9800gx2 ssc or get gtx 280

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keep 2 9800gx2 ssc or get gtx 280

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - keep 2 9800gx2 ssc or get gtx 280

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