i was wandering which video cards are better ?

[reaper23]

Hi i would like to know which of the following will boost my fps on games and handle high graphics better.

(3) 3870 in tri crossfire x

OR

(1) 4870.



You're help will gladly be thanked.

 

[-Fran-]

Wow, a tough one indeed.

From the reviews, since the 3870X2 goes just a little behind the 4870 512MB, i'd say that 3x3870's are a little better and go close the 2x4850's range. Hard to tell with no actual reviews, but numbers and statistics should prove so.

Anyway, what res do you game on?

Esop!

 

[-Fran-]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=13

Ok, based on what i see there ^, and assuming a 50% increase from the extra 3870 on the 3870X2 numbers, you sohuld be getting the performance of a GTX280 or a little more, wich is higher than a 4870 in the two flavors 512MB and 1GB.

Esop!

 

[eklipz330]

o pish posh yuka

inconsistencies of tri crossfire of any card doesn't even come close to a theoretical 50% gain with every additional card

1 4870 should destroy tri 3870's

hell, with the third 3870, you might actually lose performance... but even if you were to gain, it would probably be so minimal, you would regret your purchase

i would get the 4870, you don't have to worry about the inconsistent scaling of multiple gpu's...EVER

 

[dozer63]

I don't known what would give you more fps, but sometimes simpler is better and imo a single gtx280 or 4870 would be your best bet for now.

 

[blotch]

I would recommend running a 4870 instead of 3x 3870's. If you already have 2 3870s then a third may not be a bad idea but the AA ability of the 4870 is far superior to the 3870's. Plus i still have driver issues sometimes with only 2 3870's so i wouldn't expect 3 to be any better. Also later down the road you could always add another 4870.

2x 4870's > 4x 3870's

 

[-Fran-]

o pish posh yuka

inconsistencies of tri crossfire of any card doesn't even come close to a theoretical 50% gain with every additional card

1 4870 should destroy tri 3870's

hell, with the third 3870, you might actually lose performance... but even if you were to gain, it would probably be so minimal, you would regret your purchase

i would get the 4870, you don't have to worry about the inconsistent scaling of multiple gpu's...EVER

Hahaha, well i only assumed 50% being generous. In a really bad scaling, it should be 20%? 10%?

They would still be close enough of the GTX280 to call it even. Crysis and Quake Wars are laggin the 3870X2, but almost all others make the 3870X2 shine non the less. And that review is quite old IMO.

And yeah, i'd prefer a single 4870 over the triple CrossFire anyday, but that's a personal opinion XD

Less power draw, maybe a second 4870 along the road, nice AA handling, etc...

Esop!

 

[reaper23]

thank you very much guys for your help =) . i really appreciate it .