HD4870X2 or GTX280 ??

[falconhr92]

Hi,

im building a new high performance gaming rig
im having difficulty with choosing out of the two cards mentioned
i have always been a nvidia supporter but with some reviews i have seen
that the ATI card is better and also cheaper in some cases.

performance wise which card should i get and
also is ATI as good and reliable as Nvidia???

 

[sabot00]

The ATI 4870x2 slaughters the GTX280. Also it's got support for DX10.1 and GDDR5. Performance wise the 4870x2 is better and since the release of the new drivers it's great.

 

[falconhr92]

i read in another forum that the radeons dont support physx or sumthin what does this mean and will it effect games???

 

[dzeric]

Physx is a physics processing engine, it will only change the visuals of certain items (waving flags, particle emiters, etc...) in a very small group of games. I have the 4870x2 and love it, it gets my recommendation.

 

[rambo117]

ok, ATi has had physx long before nvidia got it. and in order to determine which card would be better, more system specs would be nice.

the 4870x2 is the dominate card vs the GTX280 but if you have a nvidia chipset and have SLI options availible, the GTX280 would be a good choice

but please provide more info. it would help

 

[werxen]

Both cards annihilate all but my vote goes to the x2.

 

[rambo117]

well, 2 cards are better than one

especially in the 4870 perspective

 

[cyber_jockey]

+1 4870×2, have seen cases where the X2 is 80 percent faster. Extreme high resolutions performer with free AA you can't go wrong.

 

[falconhr92]

the specs of my build are

i7 920
3x2gb geil 1333mhz ram
either Asus oc palm x58 mobo or msi eclipse
samsung 500gb spinpoint hdd
1000w PSU Modular
20x DVD RW
coolermaster HAF 932 case
Noctua Pro 1633 colling heatsink + fan


is this enough info??

i know that all of the x58 boards dont have the nf200 SLI in them so would this mean that if im building in the next month i should go with HD4870x2 because crossfire is nativley supported????????????????

 

[falconhr92]

so will the card still perform well?

 

[L1qu1d]

the 4870 X2 is generally up to 30% faster than the 280 GTX. It all depends if you want to go dual GPU or single.

If you have Nvidia chipset and you can find the 280 GTX cheap, its a good choice.

The only time I've seen the 4870 X2 be more than 30% faster is with GRID, and thats it.

The 4870 X2s min frame rate is still lower than the 280 GTX in a lot of games, which can really piss me off because it is a very powerful card.

I would wait for the 295 GTX, since it will lower prices and its only a couple of weeks away.

If you really must, and you can't find the 280 GTX for around 350$ than the 4870 X2 is your best bet.

 

[falconhr92]

thanks

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

I agree with Liquid, see what the nV 55nm launches (including the GTX 295) do to prices overall, and the GTX295 gives you the option to either go with that or get an X2 for cheaper than now.

Usually I say don't wait, but that's when it's weeks or months, for the new cards they are days away and even if you don't like them, they should affect the prices of others, so it's worth a few days' wait.

 

[falconhr92]

just wondering if it will be two weeks for release in Australia since that is where i am based?

 

[falconhr92]

Hi,

just wondering if the size of my screen will effect the performance of the two cards as i have read about the differing resolutions in other threads and im not sure if i need to upgrade my 19inch samsung lcd tv/monitor.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Don't know, but it's unlikely for such a limited edition part to begin with (same goes for Canada and we're right next door).

It really depends on how nVidia decides to distribute the product. If it's a wide distribution like the GF9800GX2 then maybe you'll see it a week or so afterwards, but if it's like the GF7900/7950GX2 then it may never reach you at anywhere near MSRP let alone in reasonable time.

 

[falconhr92]

thanks.

i was just reading in an aussie forum that it is being released on the 8th of Jan, is this the US release date or could i be that this is a wide distribution date??

 

[doormatderek]

Its all about the pixels man. My 19" is 1440x900. Which is a relatively low resolution actually. My 4850 can handle that with every setting at high in every game I play. You having either one of those cards is almost a waste on a 19". You will like what you see, but you probably will want a bigger monitor to really take advantage of their power

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

US date, as for the rest of the world, it's a wait and see. Remember this is likely a limited edition niche part despite being priced where the GTX280 were lowered to.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Try to keep these questions in the same thread.
Merging.

Quick answer, yes, the X2 is for higher resolutions, the GTX280 is better for lower resolutions, and also doesn't have the CPU overhead of multi-card solutions.

If you don't upgrade your monitor, then just get a single GTX260 216 shader 55nm card or a single HD4870, only if you have a higher resolution would I bother with the other solutions. Save yourself lot of dough towards future upgrades.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

This next topics has been merged by TheGreatGrapeApe
■ HD4870x2 and GTX280

 

[falconhr92]

thanks.