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Geforce GTX 280
- Thread starter Bman
- Start date
So I guess you heard,
ATI's Radeon HD 4870 X2 card, 2.4 teraflops of graphics power and so forth. First to have 2GB of onboard RAM.
My question (reason to be in this thread) is does my 780i SLI MOBO that has the 8800GT in it at the moment and does SLI with Nvidia cards, does it support a single ATI card?
ATI's Radeon HD 4870 X2 card, 2.4 teraflops of graphics power and so forth. First to have 2GB of onboard RAM.
My question (reason to be in this thread) is does my 780i SLI MOBO that has the 8800GT in it at the moment and does SLI with Nvidia cards, does it support a single ATI card?
well.... i wouldn't say FIRST to have 2GB of on-board memory, since some moronic board partner put 2GB on a standard 4870 i believe. And judging from benchmarks i've seen... it's not all THAT much better over the GTX 280... at least not to justify the up to $150 higher price tag for the 4870X2 compared to the GTX 280.
well.... depends on the game and the resolution. I tend to go by the more common resolutions that people use.... around the 1680x1050/1600x1200 and 1920x1200 range. I don't really bother with that 2560x1600 crap because i don't think very many gamers out there also decided to blow over a grand on a 30" monitor. Pretty sure most people, if having the choice of blowing a bit over a grand on a 30" monitor, or a 40"+ flatscreen TV.... would probably go for the TV, which does 1920x1080 max. And granted... after just looking at the review on Guru3D.... i'd still kinda rather have the GTX 280. For one.... It still holds the crown in Crysis, and if the same story holds true for Crysis: Warhead i'd rather have the card that performs better. Two... 80% of the time when the 4870X2 decimates the GTX 280.... they're all running around at LEAST 60fps.... which to me is fine no matter how you look at it. I'd still rather save the $150 from buying the GTX 280 over the 4870X2.
Let me put it this way....... i've had my 8800GTX since they were released over a year and a half ago, and the only game that i haven't been able to max out and play the entire way through has been Crysis. With the way the PC gaming industry has been going for the past several months.... i don't see the GTX 280 as being a remotely bad choice for being $150 less.
Let me put it this way....... i've had my 8800GTX since they were released over a year and a half ago, and the only game that i haven't been able to max out and play the entire way through has been Crysis. With the way the PC gaming industry has been going for the past several months.... i don't see the GTX 280 as being a remotely bad choice for being $150 less.
Let me put it this way, the overwhelmingly vast majority of people play more than just Crysis. I may be crazy but I think I may be right about that.
And as far as Crysis goes, the 4870X2 and the 280 are neck and neck.
You have higher quality filtering available with the 4870x2 at high resolutions while maintaining playability. I don't know about you, but I love playing games with all the eye-candy maxed out. I am needing a new card as is since I want to run HL2 and the episodes with my cinematic mod @ full res and filtering
And as far as Crysis goes, the 4870X2 and the 280 are neck and neck.
You have higher quality filtering available with the 4870x2 at high resolutions while maintaining playability. I don't know about you, but I love playing games with all the eye-candy maxed out. I am needing a new card as is since I want to run HL2 and the episodes with my cinematic mod @ full res and filtering
Do you mean the 4870 X2 or two ATI 4870s externally Crossfired? Crossfiring two 4870s externally is not as good as the X2. Performance-wise they are pretty much dead even but there are other issues.
Reasons to go with the 4870 X2
In terms of going with the NVIDIA 200 series cards and the ATI 4800 series of cards I think that it's a bit obvious which is more feasible.
ATI evolved their entire line of cards. They will release high-end 4800 cards and go right down to entry level cards all based on that generation of cards. What they have accomplished is superb. The only real negative of the ATI 4800 series is the heat they give off and the power consumption being a bit higher than the NVIDIA cards.
NVIDIA created the 200 series of cards and created these monsters and yet turned around and are re-releasing the 9xxx cards. Their approach confuses me in that they are working with two different generations and different architectures.
I have always been an NVIDIA fan since the death of 3dfx and had avoided ATI but in this case I think ATI has definitely taken the better approach. Take PhysX out of the equation and ATI has the better card. Even if the GTX 280 can beat the ATI cards in some scenarios the price point and the performance of the 4870 and 4870 X2 make them the winner in my book.
Let's see what the next generation of ATI and NVIDIA cards has in store for us.
- If you Crossfired two 4870s you'd need four 6 pin power connectors.
- If you bought two 4870s the price shouldn't be all that different than the 4870 X2. It should be cheaper for the 4870 X2.
- In the past people have noticed micros-stutters when using Crossfire but this may have been fixed with the 4800 series and the Catalyst drivers.
- You'll be required to have a Crossfire capable motherboard.
Reasons to go with the 4870 X2
- Cheaper price tag in many cases than buying two 4870s
- You require one 6 pin and one 8 pin power connector instead of four 6 pin power connectors.
- The 5 GB/s sideport bandwidth between the two GPUs
- You only require one PCI-e slot so even people with motherboards that don't support Crossfire can use the card
In terms of going with the NVIDIA 200 series cards and the ATI 4800 series of cards I think that it's a bit obvious which is more feasible.
ATI evolved their entire line of cards. They will release high-end 4800 cards and go right down to entry level cards all based on that generation of cards. What they have accomplished is superb. The only real negative of the ATI 4800 series is the heat they give off and the power consumption being a bit higher than the NVIDIA cards.
NVIDIA created the 200 series of cards and created these monsters and yet turned around and are re-releasing the 9xxx cards. Their approach confuses me in that they are working with two different generations and different architectures.
I have always been an NVIDIA fan since the death of 3dfx and had avoided ATI but in this case I think ATI has definitely taken the better approach. Take PhysX out of the equation and ATI has the better card. Even if the GTX 280 can beat the ATI cards in some scenarios the price point and the performance of the 4870 and 4870 X2 make them the winner in my book.
Let's see what the next generation of ATI and NVIDIA cards has in store for us.
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Sazar: i'm assuming you mean the FakeFactory Cinematic Mod or whatever it's called (can't remember off the top of my head exactly)for HL2? if so.... not sure exactly what's giving you trouble with running it maxed in every way, shape, and form. Unless you're actually using a 30" monitor at 2560x1600.... which then i can kinda see why. Didn't have a problem running maxed on my PC, and the only difference is that i have an 8800GTX while you have a G92 GTS... but you also have double the system memory that i do.
And i never said that everyone only plays Crysis. I just don't see the point in paying $150 more for the 4870X2 just so you can get a fair amount more fps that the majority of people will probably hardly notice anyway.
And you have to give the GTX 280 credit. I mean... for how much of a hulk Crysis is.... if it's single lonely GPU can keep up with a dual-GPU solution.... props to it.
And i never said that everyone only plays Crysis. I just don't see the point in paying $150 more for the 4870X2 just so you can get a fair amount more fps that the majority of people will probably hardly notice anyway.
And you have to give the GTX 280 credit. I mean... for how much of a hulk Crysis is.... if it's single lonely GPU can keep up with a dual-GPU solution.... props to it.
I'm not a huge fan on Vistiontek but you can get a Visiontek ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB GDDR5 card for 469.99 USD from Best Buy (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8986225&type=product&id=1218005635566). It's on sale but we also know Best Buy doesn't offer the best prices in the world. Compare that price to the Vistiontek Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 card for ~284.99 USD after a 10 USD rebate from NewEgg. The 4870 X2 is less than the price of two Visiontek 4870s and you get 2 GB of memory in this case rather than just 1 GB of combined memory from two 4870s which have 512 MB of GDDR5 in Crossfire. Now compare the price of that 4870 X2 to the price of a NVIDIA GTX 280 which is in the ~440 USD ballpark from nearly all the NVIDIA AIBs.
My point being that if you know where to look that price difference of 100+ USD isn't really a factor between the GTX 280 and the 4870 X2.
I go with what I consider the better technology. ATI is ahead right now in my book. Come 2009 things may change and NVIDIA may win me back or ATI may keep me as a repeat customer. I'm not a fan of a company (ATI vs NVIDIA) as much as I am a fan of the technology.
In the end people should go with what feels right for them. I have no issues whatsoever with people thinking one is better than the other. I do have a severe issue with blind fanboyism, though, which runs rampant during nearly any discussion about video cards.
Edit: Let us also not forget that NVIDIA dropped their price to compete with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 in the first place so those prices are lower because it's been out for a little bit and because NVIDIA was forced to drop the price to compete. The GTX 280 has been out longer. Give the 4870 X2 a few months and check on the price of it then. It'll likely have dropped, as well.
My point being that if you know where to look that price difference of 100+ USD isn't really a factor between the GTX 280 and the 4870 X2.
I go with what I consider the better technology. ATI is ahead right now in my book. Come 2009 things may change and NVIDIA may win me back or ATI may keep me as a repeat customer. I'm not a fan of a company (ATI vs NVIDIA) as much as I am a fan of the technology.
In the end people should go with what feels right for them. I have no issues whatsoever with people thinking one is better than the other. I do have a severe issue with blind fanboyism, though, which runs rampant during nearly any discussion about video cards.
Edit: Let us also not forget that NVIDIA dropped their price to compete with the ATI Radeon HD 4870 in the first place so those prices are lower because it's been out for a little bit and because NVIDIA was forced to drop the price to compete. The GTX 280 has been out longer. Give the 4870 X2 a few months and check on the price of it then. It'll likely have dropped, as well.
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