Help me pick my next video card purchase. 4870x2 or 280GTX

Am looking to upgrade from my 8800GT. Should i get the new ATI 4870x2, two 4870's in CrossFire, or one 280 GTX? I have about $500, maybe a little more.

Also, i have a q6600, is that adequate to power this beast?

One Final question. What size power supply will i need.

THANKS

If you are going to pay that amount of money for a video card get the best - ATI 4870x2. I believe a good 650-750 PSU will be enough for it. But if you want the best image and frames possible you will need at least a 24" monitor to fully take advantage of these cards.

also what mobo?

sorry for all the questions but if you want good answers need all the scoop. what is the brand PSU?

reason i ask is if you have a good one you will be ok with 600w although at the lower end of what is ok. if you want to be safe go up to 750w but make sure to get a good brand (corsair, pc power and cooling, etc).

Depending on how high quality your PSU is, you should be able to get the 280GTX without upgrading it. The 4870X2 would *probably* need a better PSU, but if you dont mind shelling out some extra money on the vid card and the PSU, that would be the best solution.

Maximiza the Nvidia issues are on notebook graphics cards, in particular the 8800m GT I believe.

I would prolly go with the 4870x2 as well.

With my setup (see sig) I'm pulling just north of 600 watts while gaming.

The E6850 is a beast - it'll hit 3.6 on the stock cooler. I could easily see 3.84 on air with a better cooler.

the problem with nvidia's gpu's is with them all not just the laptop parts, but i think they sorted it out b4 the 280/260

AMD seems to be kicking NVidia's ass right now don't you think?

ATI doesn't exist anymore (not the original) you kno that Strangestranger, all the head CEOs and development teams were cut. Now its just purely what AMD chose

@ pizap

You have to look at the games you like, the 4870 X2 is 30 % stronger than the 280 GTX (games like Grid, which are in favor of AMD/ATI, will prob break that trend), and is the better buy for only 100$ more.

Although it will also depend on ur mobo, if you single card mobo, the X2 with out a question. IF you have sli, the I would weigh my odds, see what games I like

For me, I bought the 4870 X2 when it came out because up until the 8800s I was a pretty hardcore fan of ATI starting with TNT 2. all the way to 1950 XTX, plus its performance as a single slot card is pretty fierce.

Look at some benchmarks, and see the games you like and what games that are coming out that were programed on the hardware.

Then make your decision.

Example Crysis runs better on 280 GTX than 4870 X2, same with GRAW 2, there are a couple more including far cry 2 (for now). 4870 X2, grid COD4, and alot more SLI/Crossfire loving games

Honestly its more of a gaming direction than just a raw power question, if the 4870 X2 was only 1 GPU with the same power, then it would be different answer.


Anyways look @ prices 2, the cheapest can also be a good solution