4870 X2 / GTX 280

[NitroTurtle]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Well, now you're getting down what my graphs comparing the GTX 280 and 4870 X2 in WoW are all about... You see, with the GTX 280 8x transparency AA is possible. In the hardest hit area I know of, Terokkar Forest, the GTX is still playable. That's what makes my benchmarks relevant, and why someone who plays WoW might care.

So, it sounds like the GTX 280 is the way to go for me then. Thanks for saving me 150 bucks. :thumbsup:

 

[Dadofamunky]

I have to say, that is an excellent review page. Well done! Painstakingly detailed.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: NitroTurtle
Actually, you can type /timetest before taking any flight path and it will disable players and NPCs and give a nice performance summary when you land. I know what you mean about the rest of it though. I've built the rest of my machine with that in mind and I can maintain 50-60 FPS even standing in Shattrath with heavy traffic. I'd just like to enable more AA without a performance hit, and really would like to prepare for the shadow system used in WotLK. Both of which will require a faster video card that my 8800.

After reading all of this, I'm really starting to change my mind and lean toward the 280GTX now. It's cheaper and doesn't have any of the problems associated with the dual card/GPU setup.

Ahh yeah, I forgot about the /timetest that they added a couple patches ago... thanks for the reminder. The only problem with that is... those NPCs and players loading are what cause most of my hiccups. I mean that can be quite a lot of models and skins being loaded just for one relatively small area.

Originally posted by: sourthings
Get a 280 or wait for the 1GB memory version of the 4870.

I was thinking about possibly upgrading to the 1GB version when it comes out... it'll help alleviate those memory issues that I have.

Although I did see a weird graphic anomaly yesterday while in Shatt and weird anomalies always have me worried that something's wrong. A big ol green triangle formed at one point on the screen and then disappeared (it was quite hard to miss) and I have never seen it before. I checked the temp of the card and it was only 75C (I was only running one WoW client instead of the typical two). I hope something's not dying again... I'm running out of video cards to replace them with .

 

[Compddd]

My GTX 280 won't downclock itself while in desktop mode, any reason why its running at full clocks after I'm done playing games>

 

[Elfear]

Hey nitromullet, seems like there a lot of people who are wondering if a PCI-E 1.1 slot would bottleneck the 4870x2. I haven't seen any comparisons on the net yet. Is there a way to change your x16 slots to x8 to simulate a x16 PCI-E 1.1 slot? It would probably show the biggest difference at 2560x1600 with lots of AA but it may manifest at 1920x1200 with max details as well. Thanks.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Hey nitromullet, seems like there a lot of people who are wondering if a PCI-E 1.1 slot would bottleneck the 4870x2. I haven't seen any comparisons on the net yet. Is there a way to change your x16 slots to x8 to simulate a x16 PCI-E 1.1 slot? It would probably show the biggest difference at 2560x1600 with lots of AA but it may manifest at 1920x1200 with max details as well. Thanks.

I think I'm probably going to be boxing up the X2 this evening for sale on eBay. I've pretty much decided to stick with the GTX 280.

I will say that the X2 is a nice card, but for the games I play at the resolution I play at it isn't worth the additional cost over the GTX 280. The GTX 280 is a tad bit slower in some games, it also appears to be more consistent and predictable overall. It might be worth it to risk poor multi-gpu scaling if one is in turn able to reap the benefits of more playable frames on a 30" LCD, but this doesn't describe my situation.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Is there a way to change your x16 slots to x8 to simulate a x16 PCI-E 1.1 slot?

I saw a fairly detailed guide that showed how taping the actual traces on the card allowed you to control number of PCIE lanes. Makes sense, but fairly archaic I suppose. I don't think there's any software or BIOS tools that allow you to change this manually. Can't seem to find the link, but I believe it was from THG......

 

[alcoholbob]

I wonder if you SLI GTX 280s if the game will also exhibit microstutter?

If so then technically maxed out Crysis will be unplayable for a long time. Triple SLI seems to manage 40fps+ average at 1920x1200 Very High (no AA/AF) but if there is stutter then there's really no SLI gains.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: Elfear
Is there a way to change your x16 slots to x8 to simulate a x16 PCI-E 1.1 slot?

I saw a fairly detailed guide that showed how taping the actual traces on the card allowed you to control number of PCIE lanes. Makes sense, but fairly archaic I suppose. I don't think there's any software or BIOS tools that allow you to change this manually. Can't seem to find the link, but I believe it was from THG......

Hmm. Well that would make it a bit more difficult to simulate. I really hope one of the review sites digs into this issue a little more. I seem to get a little bit of stuttering in Stalker with my 4870x2 at 2560x1600 all max details. I'd think the game would be butter smooth after seeing all the recent reviews. I'd rather not have to fork over the money for a PCI-E 2.0 board if I don't have to.

Anyone else have experience switching from 1.1 to 2.0?

 

[Compddd]

This might be off topic, but how do you tell when or if a game has an AF setting or you need to always force it through nvidia control panel?