Single GTX 260 as good as ATI 4870x2?!

[chieftain20]

All right, I just got a refurbed Ati 4870x2 off ebay for $288. And finally got all the drivers and stuff settled out, and decided to run a 3DMarkVantage on it and see what I get.

So I did and I got:

P12263 with stock clock speeds. http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1583943
Btw, Catalyst drivers version 9.10

And comparing it to my previous tests with my GTX 260 it was:

P13354 oc'd to 704/1482/1158. It was an EVGA GTX 260 c216 (576mhz) version. http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1016137
Drivers for this was the 181.71.

I haven't messed with overclocking on my 4870x2 yet, since I don't like the stock cooler and it hits 100*C like nothing, and 40% fan speed is just way too loud for my uses (so its turned down to 30% via rivatuner). I just bought an Artic Cooler Accelero XTREME 4870X2, still in the mail, probably be in next week.

So if you got some ideas as to why this is doing this or have any questions, just leave a reply.

Oh yeah before I post, I'm running Windows 7 64-bit.

 

[EXT64]

I wouldn't use Vantage as a comparo tool, especially between different types of cards. It very rarely translates to real world performance. Also, did you have GPU PhysX on with your 260? That would inflate your 260's score as the 4870 cannot do that. Try comparing it with other similar systems, or try running a game/game benchmark.

 

[EXT64]

And yeah, 100C is way too hot, so as you are already doing, better cooling is needed. 100-110C is the very max these cards can handle, so definitely don't OC.

 

[chieftain20]

Yeah 100C is ridiculous. That's why I ordered that after market cooler. And my GTX 260 did have the PhysX stuff enabled, so I guess that may be why its score is just as good. But the 4870x2's should be better anyway. I'll have to run some more tests to figure out what is going on.

 

[EXT64]

Yeah, I've lost all sense of what is 'good' on Vantage since they added all the different levels and the PhysX test. I'd try looking for something like '4870X2 Vantage Performance' just so you can try to compare apples to apples. I don't remember which card type Vantage prefers and how much of a boost GPU PhysX gives. And also, if the card thinks it is overheating, it could be downclocking to protect itself (though if it actually were overheating, it would more likely just crash).

 

[chieftain20]

Ok just did a search similar to that, and it shows similar scores as to what I was scoring as far as the Graphics score went.

Graphics: 14688 (4870x2) vs 11012 (gtx 260)
CPU: 8201 (4870x2) vs 36906 (gtx 260)

So I guess the added PhysX computations that the 260 was making helped push the score higher than the 4870x2.

But I was monitoring the test the whole time with the RivaTuner to see what my statistics looked like when running and, the card didn't downclock itself, it just kicked on the fan at 100% to cool it off 8C in about 10 seconds then went back to the 40% that it was set at. I'm still trying to figure out the automatic fan control with RivaTuner, but as yet again the new cooler will be able to solve that as it is virtually silent at 50% and at 100% its still quieter than the stock at 40%. So now I can't wait to get it in!

 

[topper743]

chieftain20 hi ya, just use CCC and not riva tuner for your fan speed and GPU OC. Yes that seems like a low score. Is crossfire selected in CCC? You might be able to lower the temp by re-pasting and re-mounting the GPU cooler. Did you go from an installed 260 to the 4870x2? Did you use driver sweeper or some such to clear the system? I'm just throwing out ideas. I have two 4870s in Xfire so I would think that they would run about the same as a 4870x2. I get 21k in 3dmark06 without killing the system.

 

[chieftain20]

Well the reason I don't use CCC is the fact that the default fan speed is 40% and that is too loud for my uses. Like my whole computer is as quiet as the fan is at 30%, so that is as you can see a lot louder than the rest and it gets annoying.

But for right now, I don't feel like repasting up my card to see if that helps it. But as for right now, the Riva Tuner is finally configured the way I wanted it to be, where the fan is at 27% up to 60C and then fan speed increases according to the temps.

And since I'm running Windows 7, for some reason my 3dMark06 isn't wanting to install and run. I'll see if I can get that working better.

 

[jyjjy]

Just test some actual games rather than relying on synthetic benchmarks.