260 GTX sli vs 9800 GX2 Quad Tested by me. @ 1680x1080

I'll get straight to the point: Latest Non-Beta Driver: 178.13 Driver used for ATI cards: Catalyst 8.10 Beta (literally took 30 mins for the installation to fully install) The only reason I used the beta for the ATI cards, because I've heard alot of ppl mention the 15% increase this way we get a more throrough result.

COD4 Max 4x AA:

GX2 Quad : 145.67 fps

260 GTX sli: 167.95 fps

280 GTX Sli: 179.32 fps

4870 X2: 169.25 fps

Crysis warhead Max 4 AA:

GX2 Quad: 31.23 fps

260 GTX sli: 36.24 fps

280 GTX sli: 39.37 fps

4870 X2: 32.56 fps
Bioshock Max 4x AA

9800 GX2 quad: 174.23 fps

260 GTX sli: 156.45 fps

280 GTX sli: 167.32 fps

4870 X2: 189.21 fps

Pure Max:

9800 GX2 Quad: 59.25 fps

260 GTX sli: 59.13 fps

280 GTX sli: 60.32 fps

4870 X2: 55.47 fps

Grid MAX 16XQAA:

9800 GX2 Quad: 67.89 fps

260 GTX sli: 87.24

280 GTX sli: 93.19 fps

4870 X2: 104.45 fps

RTS to come
Tri 260 GTXs and 280 GTXs soon too come

can you post the rest of youre test comps specs as well? or is it what is in youre sig? just curious

Bioshock likes the X2s, surprised it beats out the 280s

I have world in conflict AOE 3 and Supreme I'll add them 2day.

I also found that both the 280 GTXs and the 260 GTXs aren't affected as much when adding AA as the 9800 GX2s are.

Plus the overall Minimum frame of both the 260s and 280s is higher than the GX2s and actually makes the game seem alot smoother.

BTW

Oh yes and I have to mention that in Source games, the GX2s in Quad for some reason choose to drop to 20s and 30s randomly during smoke (CSS), heavy light visuals (Half life 2 Ep 2), While only 1 9800 GX2 manages to both almost match the Quad configurations AVG frames while maintaining a much higher minimum framerate.

So as it stands right now for the best gaming experience I've had (proves how much min frame rate actually matters)

280 GTX sli > 260 GTX sli > 9800 GX2 Quad

While the GX2 quad manages to show its long lasting ability, it still manages to show its quarks and problems with the minimum frame rates and poor AA (I'm talking about performance hit wise) capabilities.

4870 X2 results will be posted in my first post in this thread in about couple of minutes I tested it out yesturday night, and it did pretty well

haha i knew the gtx260 could hold against the 9800gx2 quad sli.
liquid the 4870x2 cost 500$+ while the gtx260 can be found for 200$.

The Temperatures are another thing though, the X2 @ load runs at a blazing 89 degrees, GX2 78 degrees, 260 GTX 55 and 280 GTX 63 Degrees.

The X2 is a very hot card, and I have the Palit dual fan model.

My suggestion for 4870 X2 is to do water cooling. I don't kno how some bring it to 45 idle, mine stays @ 49 idle for a bit then jumps to 63, and my room is air Conditioned, CPU is 26 and mobo is fricken 43 from 33 because of the x2

BTW here are the models of the cards. They ARE ALL DOWNCLOCKED TO STOCK DURING THE TESTS!

the 280s are all BFG OC2s

the 260s EVGA Superclocked

9800 GX2s BFGS (already Stock)

4870 X2 Palit ( already Stock)