Sli 460 2gb vs 7870

[sharpiedpanda]

Greetings,

So say my budget its ~$360 do you guys think that spending almost $100 more for a 7870 is worth it? I could get two 460's (2gb) for around $280.

The benchies seem to put sli'd 460's right above a 6970, which is around where the 7870 would be. I am looking for something relatively soon so your advice is appreciated. I am looking to game at 1920x1080 with some 5760x1080 here and there

 

[purple stain]

If your gaming in Surround/Eyefinity weather it's off and on or not then your gonna want a 2GB card at least.So going with the 7870 does seem like a better option.A GTX460 SLI is still a very powerful setup by today's standards but they are fading fast and the new cards just offer so much more.

My advise would be to wait until Nvidia finishes releasing their lineup.It could make prices drop for the current cards and/or Nvidia might offer something better.

What are your full system specs?(CPU,RAM,etc.)

 

[kajabla]

I've recently been recommending a single, powerful card over two in SLI. For one thing, you may have micro-stuttering problems with the 460s; they're right around the problem tier. There's a good economic reason for the decision too: if you get the 460s now, you'll have to get rid of them entirely when you next upgrade, but you can look at the 7870 as an investment for future Xfire. Xfire is too effective and relatively cheap to throw away immediately.

 

[sharpiedpanda]

Thanks for your input so far.

The 460's I am looking at are both 2gb but they are clocked at 700mhz with not too much room for oc (from some reviews) where as my friend's 460 1gb is clocked at 925mhz.

I like the 7870 all around but i'm not sure which after market version to go with, some people are saying wait for the xfx edition. Also with the 7870, they changed the outputs (removed one dvi out) which is unfortunate because I don't have a display port monitors and an active display-port to dvi cable is relatively expensive..

current specs (w.o the gpu):
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3
CPU: Intel i5-2500k (4.1ghz)
PSU: OCZ os 650w
ram: 8gb g-skill 1600 (9-9-9-24)
sound card: X-Fi Titanium Fatality

 

[purple stain]

Their are plenty good 7870's out there.I personally like the Asus and MSI cards as they are usually the leader in cooling performance.The only reason I would consider XFX is for their lifetime warranty.

 

[sykozis]

If you're going to be gaming at such a high resolution, I'd recommend the 7870. While the GTX460 has plenty of kick for 1920x1080 at moderate settings (high settings for SLI), you're limited to 2 cards which may start to struggle at such a high resolution. Also, with a single 7870, you can always add a second later if you need more power. Depending on your hurry, waiting to see how the rest of the 600 series looks could be an option as well....but I don't know how soon they'll be coming out.

 

[wolfram23]

Performance would be very similar, nothing wrong with a pair of 460s. However, you won't have any upgrade path.

I'd suggest the 7870 if you can afford it in your budget.

 

[sharpiedpanda]

Do you guys think that Nvidia will extend the 4 simultaneous outputs from their gtx680 to their other 6xx cards?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxXk-iXLjiY ~around 2:40

 

[wolfram23]

Yes they probably will. Just my opinion, but I think it would be dumb not to.

 

[purple stain]

^+1

 

[sharpiedpanda]

Well I'm just wondering because looking at the last gen and the one before that only the 590 supported more than 2 outputs. But that is a multi gpu card so technically its an sli setup.

So I'm just looking to see if its worth it to wait for the other kepler cards

 

[purple stain]

The GTX680 supports 3 monitors by itself.Hopefully Nvidia will do the same for the rest of their lineup.

 

[sykozis]

I wouldn't expect to see a 650 or lower supporting 3 displays, but the GTX660 and 670 cards should.

 

[purple stain]

Well AMD supports Eyefinity all the way down to their lowest end cards.So if Nvidia wants to step it up I would imagine they would have to add the support for their lower tier cards.

 

[sharpiedpanda]

That's kinda what I'm hoping. A little something for the relaxed gamer who appreciates the productivity from a third or forth screen.

 

[sharpiedpanda]

Best answer selected by sharpiedpanda.