GTX 260 216 Core SLI or HD 4870 X2?

[fragr]

I'll be ordering my new system monday and it will be composing of... Intel Core i7 920 OC 3.6ghz, 6GB 3x 2GB Corsair Dominator 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600, CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W, Asus P6T Deluxe, and a Antec Twelve Hundred case. I've always been an nVidia fan and this will be my first time leaving nVidia if I went with the ATI HD 4870 X2. I'm looking at getting two of the XFX, or eVga, or BFG GTX 260 216 Core cards that are OC'd quite a bit. Two of any of those or one of the HD 4870 X2. How much of a performance gap is there between these two options? Or are they pretty much equal? I've tried researching benchmarks regarding these two options but have yet to find any reliable ones. -Thanks

 

[fragr]

Forgot to add. If I went with the two GTX 260 216 Core I'd ether get the BFG OCX Maxcore one or the EVGA FTW Edition one. Both are OC'd a very good amount as most of you know.

 

[xxcoop42xx]

well since you said price isnt an issue and from my experience id say go with the SLI GTX 260-216 FTW. i run SLI GTX 260-216 stock cards but i overclocked them to the GTX 260-216 FTW edition speeds and they run everything super smooth. my friend HAD (i emphasize had) a 4870x2 so we tested them side by side a few weekends ago at a resolution of 1920x1080 in crysis/warhead and farcry 2 and there wasnt a noticeable difference between the 2 setups. the only time i fell behind with my SLI GTX 260-216 is when we turned on 8x AA in crysis. at that time he pulled ahead in fps in intense area's but by 10 frames or less. in farcry 2 it was pretty much deadlocked. we ran crysis at all very high settings and we ran farcry 2 at all high settings (or whatever is below ultra) and i only fell behind in 8xAA crysis. the system setups were pretty close, they looked like this:

my rig:
EVGA 780i SLI mobo
Q9300 @ 2.5GHz oc'ed to 3.2GHz
4GB OCZ SLI RAM @ 800 MHz oc'ed to 854MHz for fsb : dram ratio of 1:1
SLI GTX 260-216 oc'ed to FTW speeds

his rig:
EVGA 780i FTW mobo
Q6600 @ 2.4GHz oc'ed to 3.2GHz
4GB OCZ Gold RAM @ 800 oc'ed to make 1:1 ratio (dont remember exact speed)
Visiontek HD4870X2

so you see not much difference between the systems, so id say the SLI GTX 260-216 will be just as good and cheaper than the HD4870X2. i do recommend to save yourself a little cash to buy the stock GTX 260-216 and just oc it to FTW speeds.

 

[fragr]

Awesome dude thanks for this detailed response! I love nVidia to death and would hate leaving them. After seeing this it has really helped me in my decision. Not really important, but who did you go with for your GTX 260's? I'm going with either EVGA, BFG, or XFX obviously. All the nVidia cards I've had though have been BFG and never once had any problems with them.

 

[the last resort]

dont forget about the recent driver release from AMD, it upped the performance on the 4870's a little bit and was even with the 216, especially when AA and AF were turned up quite a bit. although SLI'd 260's is pretty sweet.

 

[xxcoop42xx]

i bought from newegg.com and they were EVGA. i would get either EVGA (1st choice always) or XFX (2nd always). also remember to install/download the EVGA precision tool to overclock/change fan speed.

 

[fragr]

What are the temps of your cards idle/load since you bought the standard ones and just OC'd them quite a bit? Also what case do you have?

 

[xxcoop42xx]

my pc is a dell XPS 630i but i have stripped all the dell parts and put my own in so i have the case of a XPS 630i which only has 2x 120mm front intake fans, no exhaust fans but i did put a 90mm pci slot fan to help that issue. the temps are great for these cards. at idle/surfing the web they idle around gpu 1: 43C and gpu 2 : 44-45C (that card is right under psu which blows air into case so card intakes already warm air but it stays cool amazingly) and under load like after i play crysis for 1-2 hours temps are gpu 1: 65C and gpu 2 (because of psu): 67C and thats crysis at all very high settings and i only have my fan speed set to 50%. one thing to inform you on is when your not playing a game or doing any 3d intense apps, the card(s) half there clock speeds to consume less power/produce less heat. so if you have your core clock at 600MHz, at idle it will drop to 300MHz and then auto raise when you play game/3d app. these cards run very cool.

 

[fragr]

Very nice man. That's extremely impressive since you have them OC'd so much. I'm either going with EVGA or BFG. I was wondering though, do you know if the EVGA overclocking program would work if I went with BFG instead?

 

[fragr]

Holy crap dude I just found a deal for an EVGA X58 motherboard and 3x GTX 260 216 Core Video Cards. The only thing though is that would mean NO audio card. How is the stock audio on the motherboard? The main things I'd be using it for are music and gaming. Would I be able to turn sound quality on high for games using the motherboard audio? -Thanks

 

[boulard83]

X58 is for I7 you know ? haah just noticed you want I7 sorry ! its fine and I7 + X58 are WAY better for 3 sli !!!!

 

[fragr]

Now the thing I'm concerned about is the PSU. That Corsair 1000w is rated as one of the TOP PSU's but now that's really going to be pushing it with all the fans in my case, the i7 920 OC'd and then 3 GTX 260 216 Cores that it has to power. Do you guys think it will power all my components without any hiccups or do I need to upgrade the PSU now?

 

[boulard83]

this whole setup should pump ...

GTX 260 is supposed to pump 192 watts in full gaming. x3 = about 600watts only for the cards.

Your ok with this 1000watts PSU. but the lifespan should be better with a 1250watts

Edit 1 : Your still REALLY fine at my opinion

 

[xxcoop42xx]

yeha nice system build, if you would have mentioned you wanted i7 i wouldve told you to jump all over the EVGA bundle/deal they have right now. you should be golden with the 1000W psu, good luck with this build and enjoy the hell out of it. you'll crush anything with 3 TRI-SLI GTX 260-216. jebus. i believe the EVGa program only works for EVGA products, you could call or email customer support and ask. and they are quick even with email questions, EVGA has the greatest customer support.

 

[rangers]

your going for the best, so tell me why you would want to give your cash to a company that has, in the past, sacrificed image quality for FPS, i just cant understand some one wanting to give there cash to a company would do that.
the amount of cash your going to spend, image quality must have some significance to you, yet you buy nvidia, tut tut

 

[L1qu1d]

see thats where your wrong.

Past doesn't affect present. If its not there don't complain

Go for the cheapest setup bud

both perform almost the same, with the 260 GTXs ahead most of the time lately, even with the 8.12 driver.

Please stop this none sense about OMG the company did this did that. Its not there, don't b!tch.

They did a far cry 2 comparison on image quality, no difference btw, I think it was at anandtech

Just remember, when you go with 4870 X2, you get single slot card, which can leave more room for airflow, and other extra hardware. But I believe that that comes at a cost. plus Dx 10.1 would do some benefit to some.

Either way. your good.

I went with the 4870 X2 in my secondary to save room and Star craft 2 has dx 10.1

 

[rangers]

are you thick, what makes you think they wont do it again, after all they have a history of sticking it to there customers

 

[L1qu1d]

You are nothing about facts are u? Just assumptions

Japan is US's direct Rival from WW2, lets not buy their cars they might do it again..


.....


Instead of judging Current GEN cards, that have been proven to be the same, on the older cards means that in your book God forbid any1 makes a mistake

Moving on...

 

[rangers]

You are nothing about facts are u? Just assumptions

Japan is US's direct Rival from WW2, lets not buy their cars they might do it again..


.....


Instead of judging Current GEN cards, that have been proven to be the same, on the older cards means that in your book God forbid any1 makes a mistake

Moving on...

war and graphics cards, thats new, have you got any more wisdom to impart, oh wise one, or is that you for the night.
S-A-N-D-R-A

 

[L1qu1d]

they are called indirect comparisons, but your too young to figure it out.

Leave the forums u scrub, no1 takes you seriously anymore.

Mr "I have my sources"

PLease leave the name calling for kinder garden little boy.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'ma go play Mirror's Edge

 

[rangers]

old enough to be your dad little girl, indirect comparisons, get it together, only you could go from one company treating its customers with respect, to getting the vaseline out and taking up the ass by the other, and some how coming up with WW2 and japan.
yes and im the one with no respect, i just cant stop laughing, good one, you made my night

 

[L1qu1d]

Love the language.

Good luck with ur life.

Peace

 

[rangers]

are you just going to give up, please don't go, ill stop calling you sandra if you would just stay.
N-O-T

 

[L1qu1d]

not giving up, but we're both thick headed.

Its a lose lose situation.

We'll both end up looking like idiots if it continues.

So I'll end it.

 

[rangers]

well that's got me stumped, that must be the most sensible thing you've said to me