GeForce GTX 280 SLI vs. Radeon HD 4870X2 Crossfire

Atm i'm building a new gaming computer and i've been doing a lot of reading about what type for graphics cards to choose..
uhmm.. I've found it pretty hard to actully find some pure simple facts about the what would be the better choise for a high-end gaming computer..

atm.. i'm looking at

GeForce GTX 280 SLI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130368

and

Radeon HD 4870X2 Crossfire:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121269

-------------------

What generely works best for a high-end gaming computer?
With what other parts does X work best?
When and for what does X work best?
etc.

Thanks beforehand..

//Aware

Well, you could Tri-SLI the Geforce GTX 280 and I imagine it would be faster than the 4870X2 crossfire, but I haven't seen any side by side benchmarks to know for sure.

hope you'll get nice 30'' monitor as well, anything smaller and you'll be wasting so much potential... and your money

I'd get one HD 4870X2 for now. Combine it with a 1000HX PSU or bigger and an X48 motherboard (P5E, Rampage Formula, GA-X48-DS4, etc.). Later add a HD 4870 or a HD 4870X2 or a HD 4850X2, whatever. Either way, I'd stay away from SLI motherboards these days, until nVidia is done with the product recalls and fixes whatever supplier issues they've got.

Here's a better review:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3372&p=11

From the looks of those benchmarks, 4870x2 cf either gives no or very little improvement. Sometimes it performs below a single 4870x2. Better stay away from it and get a second one only after they come up with better drivers.

280 GTX tri sli > 4870 X2 CrossX > 9800 GX2 Quad > 280 GTX sli > 4870 CrossX/ 4870 X2

From some of the reviews I've seen.

But like Dagger said the 4 series the drivers will only get better Especially with the introduction of DX 10.1

Thats actually not true anymore, in most cases the 280 GTX in sli outperforms the quad only in resolutions above 1920x1200.

Call of duty 4 it loses and it beats 280 GTX in tri sli
Fear it loses
world in conflict it loses
Crysis is wins
Half life 2 loses


All from Guru3D direct comparison Charts.

Yes there are som games that don't scale, but I can tell you first hand that it scales enough as it is.

Some games such as Doom 3, Oblivion, UT 3 it doesn't do as well of a good job as I would think, it really scales enough as it is

pfft. Tri-sli = waste of money!! Not enough gains if any and no bugs to make it anywhere near wortht eh mney. WC your 280's and clock em up a bit probably get more positive results overall!!!

I'd rather go with 2x GTX280 > 2x 4870X2 tbh.

But I don't see why you would need more than a single 4870X2 these days unless you're at 2560x1600.

I wouldn't even consider 2x 9800Gx2. Its a good card for a 1slot mobo and cost effective but quad sli really is a no go when other cards can do it so much more effectivly.

GTX280 SLI > 4870X2 Xfire > 4870X2 > 9800GX2 > GTX280

Yep, im quite happy with that

Great, now someones going to go around telling everyone to get 2x9800GTX quad ohhh nooeeessss

Microstuttering, general driver errors in a LOT of games not shown in just a few benches. It just isn't as stable or reliable as 2 card setup. No 4card setup ever will be.

And the GTX280, reallyy, isn't as good as the 4870X2. Maybe you're thinking of the single 4870?


When you say "any" benchmarks, that's jsut your guru3d ones If you look around enough you'#ll notice that even a single 4870"X2" can come close to dual GTX280 in more than one case. Not that it performs that well generally.

So basically your saying that the 280 GTX in sli is the best since there is less micro stuttering

Thats not the thing we are actually discussing, we talking about FPS performance not Micro stuttering, Re read the posts again.

I'm defend Quad 4870 X2, and it does get more frames than 280 GTX in sli, I'm not saying that it doesn't get more Micro stuttering...

And when it comes to micro stuttering, it really depends on the person on how much it bothers em, I for one only notice it in CSS when I play but doesn't affect my game play

Basically what im saying is that GTX280 sli is much more stable than quad 9800.


It is. And it doesnt rely on good drivers as much!

It may ahve worked great got you well done with that enjoy it but it hasn't worked smoothly for quite a lotttttttt of other ppl. Otherwise more would use it and i'd be agreeing with you.

lol I never said Quad is easy, but ppl should see benchies with updated drivers.

And yes QUad is a pain in the ass, but when it works, it does its job great. And you'll see this more on SLI optimized games (thank god for Bioshock and COD4 best games ever)!

I get the feeling there are less than "a few" games that can beat 9800gx2 quad sli down to 30-40 fps. At least not today.

Uhmm.. atm i'm going for:

Mobo:
If Sli - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188025
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131274

If Crossfire:
I'm actully kinda clueless.. I'm thinking about going for a x48 (Rampage Formula), but i dont really know what would be the better choice..

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115130

Ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 4G1800C8DF

Graphics cards: Still the same as before -
GeForce GTX 280 SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130368
or
Radeon HD 4870X2 Crossfire:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121269

Other parts as harddisk, powersupply etc. is easy to sort so the only things i need comments and opinions about are pretty much just the parts above.

So.. Feel free to comment etc.

IMO, if you plan on rebuilding/upgrading within the next 12 months or so, then get the GTX280SLi, if you plan on holding on to your rig longer than that then go with the two X2 Crossfired. Right now they trade blows but the quad scaling is a little less so the X2 is a little less competitive overall, but both are good. Long term it comes down to features, and then the X2 gets a boost. But if you're refreshing with next year's cards then the GTX will last you until then, no big title core changes coming before Xmas.

512 Meg Cards seem to lose their taste at anything over 1920x1200 Thank god a monitor like that will never be an option for me

^+1

seriously

you should read the commnents
anand's post is too sided to nvidia.. funny same with toms.. ( using old drivers? no 4870x2, for gods sake.. )
its funny that after seeing tha tmany bad news of nvidia, suddenly toms and anand try to "nerf" the 4870X2 spanking the 280GTX as much as possible....

also fully agree with xrodney on that review no sight of the4870x2 as well.

*edit*
lmao not even of crossfire 4870's or 4850's..
seriously, seems nvidia as been playing the "marketting way" than the performance way.
plus leaning on review sites to post skewed results.. or silly pro-nvidia views despite the performance leaning towards ATI ( except on crysis )

ok people, 4870x2 by itself is the fastest single card solution, i'm sure we all agree (excluding crysis and all the nvidia based games or wateva). but gtx 280 sli is better than 1 4870x2 except in GRID. 4870x2 in crossfire doesn't really scale well according to some benchies i've seen but when they actually work, they work like crazy. i've got benchmarks to prove it.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15105
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=14178
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3354
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?t [...] =590&pid=2
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/745/1/
http://www.hexus.net/content/item. [...] 28&page=10

take a look here for yourself. the links below are from alienware, so u know there not fake!

http://www.alienware.com/microsite [...] ce=PRE0071
http://image.alienware.com/Images/ [...] ysis_b.jpg
http://image.alienware.com/Images/ [...] onan_b.jpg
http://image.alienware.com/Images/ [...] vion_b.jpg

Heres some info using vista http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=g [...] rticID=869 Keep in mind, using AA with ATI vs nVidia, you have to make sure you know the difference http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthre [...] 08&page=15 Youll end up getting superior IQ with a much lessor hit in fps going with the 4870x2

dude this thread is over 2 months old...

well its 7 months now!!!!