Please Please advise which graphic cards to use

[blakmumba]

Hi, at the moment im running 2 Gigabyte HD4870x2 graphic cards with a AMD Phenom 965 @4.0ghz and all is running great with no complaints and games are running smooth. Iv been offered 2 GTX 480's (different brands MSI and Point of View) at a good price. What I would like to ask is that besides being DX11, would I see any noticable difference in my games and would I be 'bottlenecked' by my cpu? I play mostly FPS games.

All advise would be appreciated.

Kind Regards

 

[Helltech]

What resolution do you play at? In CPU intensive games you'll be bottlenecked, but I wouldn't about it too much. What kind of deal are you talking about here? If you are playing games with no complaints there is no reason to upgrade.

The "good" price is going to have to be really good in my opinion. Becuase the 480 were and still are overpriced. They are heat machines and power hogs, and aren't even that great by today's standards. That's why I'd have to know the deal. You'd also might have to upgrade your PSU depending on what you have. So bear that in mind as well.

However, raw performance wise it will be much better. A single GTX 480 is more powerful than a 4870X2 (not by much albeit).

http://www.overclock.net/graphics-cards-general/502403-graphics-card-ranking-5th-time-last.html

EDIT - Oh you have TWO 4870'sx2s. Well.... that changes my post quite a bit. XD Thought you only had one.

In that case I'm sure your PSU is fine. It would be an upgrade, but not like a huge one. You also might have to use an SLI hack on your motherboard, not that that is a big deal what so ever.

I guess it still all matters what kind of deal you are getting.

 

[hunter315]

A GTX 480 is about even with a 4870x2, and two of them in SLI will have much better scaling than the Quadfire setup you currently have so you should get an overall boost in performance; however, you need to make sure that your motherboard supports SLI as most AMD boards do not.

Two GTX 480s wont be bottlenecked any more than 4 4870s would be so thats not really a concern, if anything there is less load on the CPU as there are fewer GPUs to feed.

 

[-Fran-]

Well, DX11 demands more power than DX9 and DX10/10.1 (sadly, that is), so the GTX480 will be comparable faster in DX11 than your 4870X2 in DX9/10/10.1... But like Helltech says, it will blow the 4870X2 on the same ground.

Be warned though: 2 GTX480's will produce a LOT of heat, so you better prepare your case for extra ventilation if you so choose them. Ask if there are GTX570's instead IMO.

Cheers!

 

[blakmumba]

Many Thanx for the quick replys. I play at 1920x1200 on a iiyama monitor. My psu is a Coolermaster 1000watts with 6x 12v rails. Regarding the motherboard, im running a Asus Crosshair IV and forgot to check if it supports sli. MANY thanx for pointing that out to me.

 

[Helltech]

It honestly doesn't matter if it doesn't support SLI, the SLI hacked drivers are so easy to install. My friend does it all the time. I'd still like to see what kind of deal you are getting. Before I give you a suggestion of what to do. Especially since you are happy with your current performance.

 

[-Fran-]

Nope, that MoBo ain't for SLI (have it myself). It's a 890FX chipset, so CrossFire only, bro.

Cheers!

EDIT: Haven't tried hacked drivers for SLI, so I declare myself ignorant on that issue. But up front, XFire only.

 

[Helltech]

According to post 4, it will gaurenteed work with that board.

http://www.overclock.net/amd-motherboards/774679-890fx-gx-board-sli-hack.html

EDIT - Here is three way SLI on that board (three way 480 I might add).

http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?331-3-way-SLI-on-Crosshair-IV-Formula

 

[blakmumba]

Thanx Helltech, sorry for the late reply, wasnt being ignorant or rude but was just reading up on the hack and also your 1st post (the link to the graphic cards). Im getting both cards for £200.

 

[Helltech]

Thats like, what? 165 USD a peice about, right?

If so, well that is a pretty damn good deal....

Unless my conversion is off or something, I wouldn't pass that up.

 

[blakmumba]

Yes iv just checked on google currency lol and your right. Do you think it would produce more heat than the both the 4870x2's? Iv got a Lian Li PC-P80R case. Thanx for your help, i really appreciate it.