Heres me thinking i had my set up all planned out for after christmas then bit-tech goes and updates their buyers guide and i realise i can afford a better graphics card (i was after a 4870 1gb) The buyers guide recommends a 4870x2 however as it relies on crossfire im a bit dubious about buying it. So i suppose i got 3 to pick from: 4870x2 GTX 260 216 x 2 in sli GTX 280 obviously 2 260's are going to have the same problems as the 4870x2 but i believe a single 260 216 is better most of time then a single 4870 1gb? GTX 280 is great that it truly is a single card but the slowest of the lot most of time. Any thoughts or comments to try and help me break the deadlock of the 3 cards?
I don't know if I'm missing something you aren't but I would go with a 4870 1GB over a GTX 260 any day. As for the question in hand, I would say the 4870x2; it's overkill but it's the best one there. SLI is pointless so that rules out the GTX 260 in SLI. I say a 4870 or a 4870 1GB to be honest.
why is sli pointless? the new gtx 260 216, on many benchmarks is basically comes out equal to the 4870 1gb with the 4870x2 being £20ish cheaper compared to 2 gtx260's that answers that question but still wondering over the gtx 280 just for the fact it is a true single card and doesnt rely on crossfire/sli support.
I may be wrong in assuming this, but just about everywhere I turn I am seeing the 4870 X2 outperform everything out there on benchmarks from Crysis, COD5, L4D, FC2, ect. All the new DX10 games. Anyways, if the reviewers are getting this thing to perform like that, don't you suppose Crossfire support in terms of drivers is out there? Is the "SLI/Crossfire Support" arguement for single card setups starting to go of the way of "plasma screen burn in issues"? Which I might add I dispelled when I fell asleep with COD5 paused for 5 hours with no imagine burn in visible.
SLI is pointless because you pay for 2 cards and get the performance of about 30% increase, not even close to being worth the money! That meaning the 4870x2 will out perform due to it being a single card, the 4870x2 out performs everything out there!
the new 260 may outperform the 4870 in SOME things but its certainly not the hands down winner you seem to think. The 180 drivers have helped a lot. http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=16385&page=1 SLI is generally considered useless unless you are buying two top of the range cards. in any other situation you can spend more on a single card and 9 times out of 10 beat the sli set up.
But at that level are we really worried about trying to get 200% improvement in performance for 200% cost? If that is your case, you probably should be looking at something in the 7000 Series from Nvidia. Just playing Devil's Advocate...
thanks all for the comments got me convinced to go with the 4870x2 i guess if the worse comes to worse i be using 4870 if a new game doesnt support crossfire on release which aint that bad, its a wicked card if its own right
and driver support for an all in one solution is much better. good choice i reckon just make sure you can keep it cool!
I don't think you're making a bad choice at all. The 4870 X2 is going to be right at the center of my new i7 system as soon as I settle on a couple other pieces. I really think that two processors on a single board will become common for the high end graphics market. If that is the case, drivers will need to be out at release of new games to keep the world going round.
Will be my first attempt at water cooling when i build the new rig. so cooling should be no problem at all
why go 4870 1GB every time when gtx260 216 outperforms it, runs cooler and is cheaper? http://forums.bit-tech.net/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=1875435 Why go crossfire or SLI for 1920/1200, seems a waste, just get a 280gtx but even 4870,4870 1GB or gtx 260 216 will be fine at that res. For higher resolutions thats when you need the power of multiple GPU's IMO. Waste of money at 1920/1200.
the price drop of the 260 has certainly changed the landscape a bit in that segment. just goes to show that these new nvidia cards are good, they were just massively overpriced
Well if I'm putting my money in something then I want the best return, you may have money to throw away but I certainly don't. 2 GTX 260s will set you back over £400, I would want £400's worth of graphical power please. Well when I was saying about the 4870x2 being overkill I meant, it wont struggle at that resolution so ... will be a waste.
