Need advice

[yannifb]

First off look at my member config to see my specs to help you help me.

I was wondering if i should sell my GTX 295 to get a 5870. The reason being is that my mobo is a crossfire one (just add another card in the future), and i feel i haven't been getting nearly as high framerates as i should. In Crysis i get from 40-45, and in Empire Total war, which i play the most, i get as low as 29 in large battles (but it gets better after about 4 minutes b/c of RAM).
If i am getting lower than normal performance, tell me- that might make my decision easier.

Would it be worth it to switch to a 5870 now (i will have enough money for a 2nd by december) and sell the 295? or should i keep the 295. I am kind of enticed by the new feature (dx11, eyefinity), and supposedly ATI cards run better on AM3 systems than Nvidia ones (is this true? im kinda doubtin it).

P.S: does eyefinity with 3 1920 x 1080 monitors have a perf hit?

EDIT: also how much would an EVGA GTX 295 CO-OP edition, 1 month old sell for now?

 

[yannifb]

Bump, need advice on this

 

[pepperman]

What resolution are you playing at? If those are higher resolutions, your frames sound just fine (Crysis doesn't usually run more than 40 frames on any system, and strategy games usually don't need more than 20 frames). By upgrading to a 5870 now, you probably won't notice a performance difference; adding a second one might give you a little boost, however. You might be best off waiting for the 5870's price to come down.

The new features (though enticing) don't have any realworld uses yet (except eyefinity), which is another reason you may want to wait. As for Nvidia running badly on AMD chipsets, it is false.

If you use eyefinity for basic tasks (spreadsheets and the like) you won't notice a performance hit, but if you try to run multiple instances of high end games, you will likely see a performance hit.

You could check craigslist or ebay to see how much GTX 295's are going for.

 

[bliq]

If you only have a crossfire mobo and you're planning to do 5870 crossfire, then yes, 2 5870s should perform better than a single GTX295, given a GTX295 is about 5% faster than a 4870x2 and a single 5870 is about as fast as a 4870x2. Also, you don't really have a choice to go SLI right?

 

[yannifb]

Yeah you both are right, however:

I do not have a choice to go SLI

The performance of the 5870 is close to the 295, will get better with drivers (im guessin)

And most of all, the GTX 295 wont sell at a price higher than the 5870 for long i assume, so i dont have much time

 

[pepperman]

...And most of all, the GTX 295 wont sell at a price higher than the 5870 for long i assume, so i dont have much time

I hadn't considered this, but yes, you are right; if you want to do this, now would probably be the best time, before the GTX 295 price comes down.

 

[yannifb]

I hadn't considered this, but yes, you are right; if you want to do this, now would probably be the best time, before the GTX 295 price comes down.

Does Ebay or amazon usually have more people buying pc parts? or is there another site?

Also how much do you think i should sell for- i was thinking 400

 

[bliq]

craigslist is good if the one in your city is active. lowest price I saw on ebay was $395 so you're probably in the ballpark. on the other hand, none of the gtx295s had any bids. people who'd want one probably realize the 4870x2 is pretty close in performance and only costs about $185.

 

[yannifb]

I was hopin i could sell it to someone who wants to go sli (and therefore is probably rich, lol) or to someone who prefers nvidia