Graphics

I'm thinking on buying a new gaming pc . I would play at 22" lcd.core i7 2.6 ghz processor and 8gb ddr3 ram. I've a choice of two hd 4850 x2 in crossfirex or one hd 4870 x2.anyone plz help me.i want to play the latest games with maximum setting.

If money is no object, the absolute best graphics performance available presently would be a Triple-SLI GTX 285 configuration. However, that level of performance would only be available in games that fully support/utilize SLI properly, as not all games do.

Since it seems you may be limited to two PCI-E slots, as it implies in the choices you outlined, your most powerful configuration would be using the 4870X2 along with another 4870 installed in the 2nd PCI-E slot, creating a Triple-Crossfire configuration. Triple-Crossfire is not something I have any personal experience with, so I cannot comment further on it's stability or support, though I have seen some people report problems with it.

If a triple-GPU solution would be too difficult a setup to maintain and troubleshoot in game titles, the final option would be a dual-GPU solution called the nVIDIA GTX 295. It's two GPUs in one card, like the 4870X2, so it would only use one PCI-E slot.

I should mention that all of these would be overkill for a 22" monitor and would require a very high-output power supply of 1000W or more.

Edit: A single 4870 would be sufficient for that resolution. I'd go with a 1GB version just in case you upgrade to a higher resolution monitor later.

Well 1650X1050 resolution, 4870X2, 8GB DDR3 doesn't go well together...
Could you post more info on where you are planning to buy the parts, whether you will be assembling it or pre-built system, budget, any parts you have???
We could suggest better options...

I've just fixed these things in my mind for buying and now searching the net for any better opinion. Money is no problem for me . I would buy anything except 22" monitor because i don't like big screens.at first i thought that i would buy three gtx 295 but i thought about future especially about dx 10.1. So i'm going to ati.

While you could buy 3 GTX295's, only 2 of them could be used at once in an SLI configuration, as that's already a quad-GPU solution. The 295 is a 2-GPU-in-1-card solution.

i7, 8GBs, X2 video card, 22" LCD, sounds like a guy who has lots of money and no clue. (Later confirmed with the "Money is no problem for me . I would buy anything" comment" ) Nobody puts 8GBs with the i7, they use 6GBs due to the triple channel memory controller on the i7. As mentioned by Jaysin, all the options discussed so far are overkill for a 22" LCD. If you don't want to worry about any current game at that res, get the 4970. Even the 4870 1GB would be fine. We are talking about 1680x1050 or 1600x1200 here. This is not a huge resolution requiring CF or x2 cards. An i7 with 6GBs and a single 4970 might not be as sexy, but without wasting money its all you need for 1680x1050.

Anyway, can a third one be used for PhysX?

4970? Since when could you "get the 4970?" There's no such card yet.

^That's good, but OP says money is not a problem. So 4890 1GB CF should do great.

hell, if money is no problem

try this out

motherboard: $369.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813151091

cpu: 2 x $770.00
2 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819105241

graphics: 2 x $539.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130449

ram: 8 x $195.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148126

2 quad cores and 64GB memoy
(this is a joke, but it would work!!!)

Thanks my friend, bandit. I will check that out. But i am really sure that mindless is really mindless !

I play at 1440 x 900 and I do not find the 4850 overkill. I could even do with a 4890 OC. But since he has the money, it 4890 CF will result in quite high min. fps ensuring smooth gaming.

Both the 4870x2 and 4850x2 use CF. In that case, single card - 4890 1GB.

You're likely to get BETTER performance with a BETTER card, no matter what the resolution is.

Mindless , i hope you planning for such a system or you have that.wish you a good luck

Because every dual-gpu card out there (48x0X2, 9800GX2, GTX295) is already using SLI or CrossFire technology to link the two GPUs on the card, and you can't have more than 4 GPUs in SLI or Crossfire, so 2 of each of those cards is the maximum.

to the OP:

there are 22" LCD panels that can do 1920x1080, you should look into that. at that resolution, its justifiable to get a multi-gpu configuration.

depends on the games that you're talking about. and the degree of gameplay fluidity in question. i dont believe a gts250 can handle tc:hawx with vsync-on @ that resolution, unless proven otherwise.

Why do you keep saying that? I really could do with a better card even if I run at just 1440 x 900.

^Lol. 4890 should do fine for anything except Crysis/Warhead. That's what I meant. I'd be better off with a 4870/4890, not GTX 295 8-SLI

With 16xAA and 16xAF? No.

thats an affirmative for farcry2;

gta4 thats a negative.

crysis warhead? i think so, but limit yourself to no AA or up to 2x AA.

im not planning on that system, im a poor college student, im waiting for someone to tell me that i can make them a computer that powerful =)

If he's got a "Tri-SLI" motherboard (with an nVIDIA chipset) he's limited to nVIDIA cards by default, as ATI cards do not support SLI - it's nVIDIA's technology.

However, DFI makes several AMD/ATI 790FX motherboards with all the necessary space required between the three PCIe x16 slots for Triple-Crossfire configurations of dual-slot ATI video cards.

If he's goes with an Intel X58-based motherboard that has the same required space between the PCIe x16 slots as the DFI boards, he could go either way - Triple-SLI or Triple-Crossfire.