ongh69

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Hi, I am about to build a custom computer for myself and not so sure if I should (or can) go with the GTX (more likely 260, less likely 275 or above) or the 4870/4890, cross fire or SLI. Is it better to use two 512MB or one 1GB? Two 1GB or one 2GB? So far I have Gigabyte x38-dq6 8GB Corsair Dominator DDR2-1066 (5-5-5-15) Q9550 Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro 2x150GB Raptor 850W PSU Cooler Master Mysticque 632 I plan to use my system mainly for: Video editting/converting/ modifying/etc. Game Thanks in advance.
 

pepperman

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if you have the money, you may just want to get a single card solution HD 5850 or HD 5870. The 5870 performs solidly ahead of a CF setup of 4870's and a bit faster than a CF setup of 4890's. The 5850 is a tad behind the 5870.

you can compare them here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+106793261&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
 

pepperman

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I'm not a fanboy; I recommend whoever has the best performance for the best price. currently that is ATI with the HD 5000 series.
Regardless of that, the OP has an x38 board, meaning CF is the only option for a multi-gpu setup. Considering this, his best bet would be to get an HD 5000 series card so that if he wishes to upgrade in the future, all he has to do is get another one for CF.
 

4745454b

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For video editing/converting, it wont' really make a difference. CUDA (Nvidia) might work out at some point, but I believe you get better results with CPU converters last I checked. You really only need the card for gaming. A single GTX260 or 4890 will work well for most monitors. Without knowing your resolution, its hard to say what you should get. Try to stick with one card, 1GB is fine unless your gaming at 2560x1600.
 
I don't think he was referring to you pepperman, just this thread in general.

Anyway, I always suggest firstly getting the best single video card you can buy. A 4870/260 is a good choice, and the 5850 is even better if it doesn't blow your budget too much. From there, especially if you plan to crossfire in the future, I'd recommend 1GB ram. 2GB (per card, of course) is excessive in all but very rare cases, and 512 is a little low for high res/demanding games/crossfire. And if your board only supports crossfire, that is a fairly good reason to go the ATI route.
 

randomizer

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There are more CUDA applications for video editing and encoding than Stream (ATI) currently, so based on that alone I'd say NVIDIA. But I'd need to know precisely what applications you want to use to make a better judgement.
 

ongh69

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Thanks guys for the quick replies.

I just checked the MB spec which only supports crossfire. Coupling with your suggestions, I think my best bet (for performance/upgradability/money) is a 1GB 4870. Does anyone have any reference of a good 1GB 4870?
 

deadcell

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For your needs, as stated clearly in your request, you may just get away with 1 good card. Your choices should range anywhere between GTX260 maxcore55 896MB to HD 5850. I would highly recommend the 5850, if you can get your hands on one. Best performance/value to date. However, if its out of reach, either because of availability or due to limited budget, I would settle for BFG GTX260 Maxcore 55 OC2 896MB (189.00 USD). This card will perform better than the 1G 4870. Also, with a little patience, uppon Nvidia 300 release possibly this December, the 200 series prices will decline even more. To conclude, I would not recommend the 1G 4870, unless they are in crossfire. As for your memory question, the quantity of RAM that the graphics card contains doesn't have a direct impact on software performance, but an indirect impact. Graphics card RAM will only negatively affect performance if there isn't enough to handle what a specific software requires. To explain farther more, with everything else being exactlly equal, a graphics card with 2GB should perform exactly the same as a graphics card with 512MB as long as the software's graphics memory requirements are below 512MB. If the software SETTINGS and RESOLUTION inhancements require more than 512MB of graphics card RAM, the 512MB card will expirence a "bottleneck" or a lag so to say, to the 2GB card. In addition, 2x512 GPUs and a 1G GPU will be equal in the amount of Ram available for graphics, or at lease to my understanding of this concept. My recommendation surley wil satisfy your needs and will not drain you either. I hope I was somewhat of a help and let me know what you think or if you have any questions.
deadcell
1xBFG GTX295 1792MB DDR3
 

pepperman

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deadcell has the RAM issue mostly right, but 2 cards with 512 each do not perform like they have 1 GB; Tom's found this out in their initial review of the HD5870 (look at the GTX 295 (only 896 MB RAM per GPU) in the GTA4 benchmark @2560 X 1600). This only happens in really high resolutions, so it really depends on what res you game at.
The HD 4870 1 GB and the GTX 260 (216 Core) are pretty much neck and neck with each other; they trade blows across all the benchmarks (http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/graphics-cards,1.html). I recommend the 4870 due to the fact that you have CF mobo, allowing you to add an additional graphics card in the future, and because it is much cheaper than the GTX 260 (HD 4870~$140 vs. GTX 260~$165 (cheapest one I saw on newegg))
 

deadcell

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You are right pepperman. 2cards with 512MB do not perform like one 1GB card, regardless the fact that their RAM capacity is the same. Thank you for clearing that, since I wasn't too sure of the concept. As for the GTX295, you have read right. while running this in my machine, my sources always indicaid that I have only 896MB (not 1792MB) at my disposal for dedicaided graphics memory. However, here is the catch, it recognizes 2 GPUs, each @ 896MB at the advance system information/component/display dialog box. I never figured why the CPU just doesn't combined the 2 GPUs and indicaid and use the total RAM at disposal at the same time. Does that make the newly released GTX295 single board (mine being duel boards, 2 GPUs) still with 1792MB a better performer than my old 2x896? If you can help me with this consern of mine, I sure appreciate it in advance.
deadcell
 

pepperman

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So do you have two GTX 260's? If so, the GTX 295 is just a tad better (the GTX 295 is essentially two GTX 260's on the same board; clocks are all the same, but it has a few more stream processors) the resulting performance discrepancies are negligible, however. (http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-2009-high-quality/compare,1451.html?prod[2657]=on&prod[2670]=on).

The reason it doesn't combine the RAM is because the GPU's work in parallel, kind of like a dual or quad core cpu with cache. The RAM is like level 1 cache (albeit not nearly as fast, however) in the sense that it can't be shared with the other GPU, like most cpus' level 2 and 3 cache can be shared between the different cores.
 

deadcell

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I don't have the 260 in SLi. I have the BFG GTX295 1792MB. The GTX295 is a bit of a hybrid, as stated by many sources, between the 260 and the 280 GPUs. You take this "hybrid" and multiply it by 2 folds and you get the GTX295, which is an internal 2-way SLi graphics. As for the GTX295 being faster than the 260 in SLi, you are correct. Nvidia 200 series speaking, only the GTX280, 275 or the 285 in 2-way SLi can outperform the 295. Also, thanks for explaining the RAM combination question that I had, it did help. I understand completly. Now, the reason that I not only purchase, but also highly recommend BFG cards is because of three main reasons; 1. They are great performers with extremely minimum to no problems, 2. They carry a life-time warranty once registered and 3. They are tradeable through BFG. If you want to trade your old BFG card for a new and better performer from the company, BFG has a trade-up program with registered GPUs that you can use. The trade will not be the same price that you paid for, but the value of the card at the time being. Still, it will ease the upgrading approch financially. But thats just a preference. Someone else might dispute these reasons or prefer other brands. Again, thanks for the usefull informations, I sure appreciate it.
 

pepperman

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XFX and EVGA have similar options; XFX offers a double lifetime warranty, meaning if you sell your card to someone else, the warranty follows (and they sell ATI), and EVGA offers a lifetime warranty and a step up program, which is similar to BFG's trade in program.

For ongh69, I would recommend the and XFX HD 4870 (the one I posted above), as he has a CF board.