GTX 275 vs 280 vs HD 4890

[the real sansari]

Right now I'm getting a GTX 260. In a couple of months, I'm probably going to sell it to my friend and get either 2 gtx 275's, 280's, or hd 4890's. After rebate 275 is $220, 280 is $265, 4890 is $210. I was initially intending on getting either of the gtx's, but I noticed this article that showed that the 4890 performs much better with i7 processors. I'm getting an i7 and a 1080p monitor.

If anyone has experience or extensive knowledge on these cards, which do you think I should get? The 4890 is cheaper and it will probably perform better. GTX 280 is known for holding high performance at high resolutions though.

Also, would this evga motherboard support crossfire well? It says crossfire ready, but evga is an nvidia manufacturer so I thought it may not accept crossfire as well.

-GTX's have lifetime warranty, 4890 is only 2 years
-4890 seems to crap out in crossfire, so 2 gtx 275's will probably destroy 2 4890's. I wouldn't know though.

So. Which should I get?


Edit: It's really between 275 and 4890 I think. So $10 price difference (except 275 comes w/ game) so price is negligible. They seem close, but I assume the 275 would win in sli vs crossfire.

 

[coozie7]

Could you please give us the complete system specs?

 

[Helloworld_98]

1) get the 4890's.

2) look at the XFX 4890's.

3) the only times I've seen 4890's crap out in CF is if they didn't uninstall the nvidia drivers which were previously on there.

4) all X58 mobo's support CF.

 

[the real sansari]

I dunno, I like the 275's and they seem to have good benchmarks.
Do you have comparison benchmarks between the 275 and 4890?

 

[coozie7]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/HD_4830_Green/
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/bfg-gf-gtx275oc.html
Or just google: GTX275 review

 

[chripuck]

Except Nvidia has historically and continues to provide better driver support for SLI than ATI does for Xfire... I mean come on, ATI has their Vista drivers under their Windows 7 drivers section. They don't even have dedicated notes for Windows 7, it still references Vista in the Windows 7 notes...

Nvidia on the other hand has been putting out dedicated Windows 7 drivers since early March. They've also already got WDDM 1.2 drivers out supporting the new Windows Graphics API.

All that being said, the ATI cards and nvidia cards are about even in performance. Just depends on how the game was written.

Final note, best bang for the buck on the market right now is the 4770 in Xfire...

 

[davebacca]

The CF 4890's can beat out a GTX 295, which is what sli GTX 275's are. either way, CF or sli, it will perform extremely well. My plan is to buy 1 4890 now and grab another when the 5000 series comes out, which hopefully will drop some prices

 

[the real sansari]

Thanks guys, and coozie, I found that very xbit review
Well it seems the 285 sli beats 4890 crossfire, and the 275 comes close. I'm partial to nvidia...
Take into account the better cooling, quieter fan, and driver support, plus probably a free game, and the 275 sli seems like a better choice. And I still believe the ati cards have more trouble in crossfire than nvidia in sli.

edit: I am still concerned with the nvidia/i7 problem though.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

GTX295s are basically two GTX260s OCed, since they perform at that level.

GTX295s are nowhere close to the performance of two GTX275 SLied. Two GTX275s equals the performance of two GTX280s Slied or two 4890s Xfired.

 

[coozie7]

There is no Nvidia/i7 issue as far as I know, all the current i7 motherboards use the Intel X58 chipset, reguardless of the board maker.

 

[the real sansari]

Ok, I'll rest easy with 2 gtx 275's in SLI

Lots of games seem to be optimized for Nvidia more than ATI, no?