2xHD4830's or a HD4870?

[Steve325]

I'm not sure which route to take. I can't find any benchmarks that compare the two. My friend is getting rid of one of his HD4830's for $70 and I can buy one currently for $85 AR, so I'd be looking at around $155 total or I was considering an HD4870 which I'm seeing for about $50 more than the CrossFire setup. Which route is the best one to take? I will be gaming at 1920x1200

well, I might have found my answer

http://xbitlabs.com/articles/v...rossfire_10.html#sect0

looks like the 2x4830 is the best bang for the buck

 

[nOOky]

If I'm not mistaken, if a particular game doesn't support crossfire then it's running at the speed of 1 4370. I'd go the 4870 1 gig route, that's just me.

 

[techboie]

4830 without a shadow of doubt, it pwns the 4870 bigtime

 

[Denithor]

My thoughts exactly, if you already have a CF capable board - use it. The single drawback is that when it's time for an upgrade, you'll have two low level cards to ditch instead of one mid-range (depending on how long you hold on to hardware, of course).

 

[SickBeast]

For $155 I don't think there is anything on the market that can come remotely close to a pair of 4830s.

I actually can't believe you can buy one of them new for $85. Once you factor in the BOM I'm sure there's not much room for profit on behalf of the manufacturer and the retailer.

 

[Borealis7]

dont forget energy bill costs and hair treatment costs after you pull your hair out because games crash with crossfire :laugh: j/k.

if you dont mind the potential issues (there may be none whatsoever) go for it.
personally, i'd wait for the 4890.

 

[nyker96]

single 4870 of course.

 

[roguerower]

Originally posted by: nyker96
single 4870 of course.

Seconded. Just pop in a 2nd 4870 when you're ready to upgrade

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: roguerower

Originally posted by: nyker96
single 4870 of course.

Seconded. Just pop in a 2nd 4870 when you're ready to upgrade

I also agree. You will see much poorer performance on games that don't scale with with xfire. Get the single 4870 (1GB) and grab another later if you need to.

 

[Steve325]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333

Originally posted by: roguerower

Originally posted by: nyker96
single 4870 of course.

Seconded. Just pop in a 2nd 4870 when you're ready to upgrade

I also agree. You will see much poorer performance on games that don't scale with with xfire. Get the single 4870 (1GB) and grab another later if you need to.

it seems like most of them do? atleast based on the reviews I'm seeing and the older games don't need a super high powered GPU

 

[Insomniator]

I'm about to try SLI myself next week and yes, it seems like most games, especially if they are at all popular do support multi-gpu these days.
With the prices of these 'low end' cards, I am betting it is definitely worth it to go multi-gpu rather than a single card at the same or higher price.
Then again I've heard of issues and am sure drivers are still flaky, but going by the charts it certainly looks to be worth it. I'll see soon...

So you have to sell two cards if you want to upgrade later on. boo hoo. Or you can sell one and still have one left for a spare machine.

 

[roguerower]

Originally posted by: Steve325

Originally posted by: ExarKun333

Originally posted by: roguerower

Originally posted by: nyker96
single 4870 of course.

Seconded. Just pop in a 2nd 4870 when you're ready to upgrade

I also agree. You will see much poorer performance on games that don't scale with with xfire. Get the single 4870 (1GB) and grab another later if you need to.

it seems like most of them do? atleast based on the reviews I'm seeing and the older games don't need a super high powered GPU

True, but future ones will. And why would you buy 2 lesser cards which equal 1 card? You're just asking for a headache.