Graphics 275 Triple-SLI vs 285 SLI... Updated, 4890 in the picture now too.

From what I've seen and read, the initial DX11 cards will still be 55nm. Of course that remains to be seen still at this point...

As it stands right now, 3x 4890's would be about $50 cheaper than 3x GTX 275's, which is a small enough difference to push me to the GTX 275's, though I would be interested in seeing both a CrossfireX 4890 and a Triple-SLI 275 review, neither of which I can't seem to find ANY information on.

For the shooting myself in the foot part, I have never bought 'top of the line' cards simply for the fact that they're typically overpriced for what they are, and I don't think the DX11 cards will be an exception. I honestly don't think the first generation DX11 cards will be THAT much better than the current DX10 cards.

I've also noticed that while the majority of people seem to think the new cards are going to be out in time for the Windows 7 release, there's still no official date on them. If the case I'm waiting for (Corsair Obsidian 800D) and Windows 7 are both released without any official release date on the DX11 cards (I know unlikely, but a possibility at this point), I may end up picking up a single card (probably a 4890) and replacing or expanding on it when the DX11 cards are finally released and I can get what I want to get.

 

well - you know my position on the matter


I think you will see better performance on the 4890's really - if you read that overclocking article on anandtech I reffered to, the 4890 gains the most performance from overclocking @ 2560x1600 - ~+15% from 850-1ghz core

 

I read both the GTX 275 overclocking article and the 4890 overclocking articles, and based on the numbers (and their final opinion), it's still about even performance no matter which you choose.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3575&p=9

There needs to be more articles like this with multiple cards! Still NO info on multiples, much less overclocked multiples.

 

From what i can see it seems the 4890 is a great card on it's own but in crossfire it loses to SLI cards enough to rule it out.

 

Go for a few GTX 280's. There about $60 cheaper than the GTX 285 and the performance difference is minimal.

 

The 275's would perform better than that for even cheaper.
Sucks coz i have a 280.

 

So anyone here just want to recommend 2x GTX275/ 2x HD4890s?

Because 3x anything would just suffer.

 

What do you mean 3x anything would suffer?

 

Where on earth did you read that, any sources? The upcoming DX11 cards, the ATI RV 870 & Nvidia GT 300 are both scheduled to be 40nm parts. If they released them as 55nm units, with their increased number of transistors, they would simply consume too much power and produce excessive heat.

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14609/34/

 

Can't remember where it was posted, but there was word that the initial cards would be 55nm since ATI hasn't perfected their 40nm process (which was also apparently the reason they haven't released any more 4770's than they have). As with anything I read on unreleased hardware, I take it with a grain of salt.

I plan on ordering another chunk of my setup at the end of this week / beginning of next week... At this rate, I'll have everything but the graphics cards and the case in another two weeks.

 

Well 3x cards would just cost too much for pretty much no gain.

 

Well folding@home doesn't have a total card number preference, and there is still a decent gain with three cards at 2560 x 1600 based on the reviews I've read with the GTX 285.

 

How many times do i have to say the 2xCF scales better than 2xSLI?


I agree with Elton though that 3 cards is pointless because the gain is only like 20% if your lucky while a lot of the time you actually see a performance hit (minimal in magnitude but a hit nonetheless)

 

You can say it til you're blue in the face SNiiPE_DoGG. Honestly the total difference is performance between the two is marginal. The 4890 overclocked in Crossfire may very well perform better than the 275 overclocked in SLI, though the folding@home performance is basically half of the 275, and the largest difference I've seen in the SLI / Crossfire benchmarks is roughly 10 FPS.

I'm still contemplating the 4890, though unless the price drops at least a tad more I may very well stick with the 275's, I don't know yet. The 4890 is cheaper than the 275, and in Crossfire it can compete with the 285's in SLI, though in some tests it also falls behind the 275... It all depends on which brand the game prefers. I really don't think real-world performance will suffer with either decision, though I DO want triple cards if I can afford them (budget of about $700 for triple cards).

Quick question as well for anyone that may know... Does any manufacturer make a BLACK Crossfire bridge? Every one of them I've seen is the crap brown color, and it simply won't go with my color scheme.

 

look at my worklog, see if you like what I have done with mine if you like it pm me and I will tell you exactly how to make it, heck I even have extra delrin I could make one for you, very simple.

 

It doesn't look bad, though I think it would be easier to just find a few black cables... =\

 

Now then mate, purchased my classified today, will post gtx260 216 tri sli results. If I can play everything at max levels on my dell 2560x1600 res display then I would get gtx260 tri sli or gtx275 tri sli. Forget crossfire, From the reviews I have seen (little of them) I can see that crossfire scales very well, 3x crossfire cards barely adds anything and adding a 4th (such as 4870x2) is also very quick.. there seems to be issues with the 3rd card for some reason. I'll try and dig these out for you ok??

But as I said, as things go, get tri sli if my gtx260s perform well enough. (ill even compare tri 260s to dual 260s for you, and even a single if you wish.) This help?


Andy

 

That'd help quite a bit. I appreciate the effort!

 

Have you seen the articles on anandtech about two, three and four-way scaling?

Granted, they are from februari, so the 275 and 4890 are not included, but there's still a lot of useful info there.

 

I have indeed seen them, though as you said they don't have the cards on there that I'm trying to decide on, and I don't know how far the drivers have come in the last 6 months. I'm sure the numbers have been improved upon, I'm just not sure by how much.