Crossfire 4850's vs GTX280

[Sind]

Unless you already have a multi-gpu ready mother board and the proper powersupply to get into it, what exactly do you think is the cheaper alternative?

Any new multi-gpu user, whom is not using a single multi-gpu card solution ala 3870x2/9800gx2, is also tying themselves to either company along with a particular chipset.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: Isaac MM
Avoid CF and SLI, that's what i think.

I feel the same way but it sure hell beats $650 280gtx and perform relatively on par for fraction of the cost.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
There is no way IN HELL I would ever spend $200 more for the same performance just because I wanted it to be one card. That IMO is just stupid. But, maybe you guys have money to blow. <shrug>

You need a multi GPU motherboard and a power supply that can push it, that pushes costs up further, and crossfire and SLI far from ironed out fully driver-wise.

Its probably a lot closer to $30-$80 more with finnicky drivers/performance.

 

[bryanW1995]

normally that would be the case, especially with nvidia, but keep in mind that most people who care about high end computer performance have bought crossfire-ready motherboards for the past year +. Heck, I bought an ip35 pro with absolutely no intention of ever using the crossfire features, I just wanted a mobo that would be good at overclocking quads. Also, dual 4850's are only 110w x 2 = 220w, while a gtx 280 is 236w, so you wouldn't need any more psu and in fact could get away with LESS since you'd only need 2 x 6 pin connectors instead of a 6 pin and an 8 pin. Daamit has a large supply of people with the ability and the desire to easily crossfire 48xx cpus, thus making it a viable alternative to gtx 2x0 AND 4870x2.

 

[Tempered81]

well it's now safe to say $649 Vs. $298 since millions jumped on the 4850 Bestbuy deal.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
There is no way IN HELL I would ever spend $200 more for the same performance just because I wanted it to be one card. That IMO is just stupid. But, maybe you guys have money to blow. <shrug>

You need a multi GPU motherboard and a power supply that can push it, that pushes costs up further, and crossfire and SLI far from ironed out fully driver-wise.

Its probably a lot closer to $30-$80 more with finnicky drivers/performance.

bryanW1995 spelled it out right here.

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
normally that would be the case, especially with nvidia, but keep in mind that most people who care about high end computer performance have bought crossfire-ready motherboards for the past year +. Heck, I bought an ip35 pro with absolutely no intention of ever using the crossfire features, I just wanted a mobo that would be good at overclocking quads. Also, dual 4850's are only 110w x 2 = 220w, while a gtx 280 is 236w, so you wouldn't need any more psu and in fact could get away with LESS since you'd only need 2 x 6 pin connectors instead of a 6 pin and an 8 pin. Daamit has a large supply of people with the ability and the desire to easily crossfire 48xx cpus, thus making it a viable alternative to gtx 2x0 AND 4870x2.

About the same amount of PSU is needed for dual 4850's as is 1 GTX280. There goes that reason. Secondly as bryan also mentioned, most motherboards have dual PCIe slots even if one is running at 4x. I guess we will have to agree to disagree. If you want a single card so be it, its going to cost you $200 more. Most people won't be able to afford it and may buy one 4850 one week and then another at a later date.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

Originally posted by: Isaac MM
Avoid CF and SLI, that's what i think.

I have Cfed 4850 and its the best alternative, CF has been better than SLI in terms of scale!!

 

[HumblePie]

Glad I went with 4850's. Now is there anyway to tell if you are in CF mode? I plugged in both cards, used the bridge over the "back" connectors between the two cards, and enabled CF mode in the ATI center software. Is that basically it?

 

[manimal]

Do not expect as good of a deal as the BB one for some time. The 4850s were supposed to be released on monday at BBs nationally and the stores that sold them early got foobard something fierce. The vendors are pissed at them since all the boxes that the 4850s came in had a street release date of the 22nd when the 25 percent off coupon expired.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Isaac MM
Avoid CF and SLI, that's what i think.

For the most part I'm a single GPU guy myself, but the last time I tried to use multi GPU's was with 2 6800GS'es. I assume that things have come a long way since then. I like that with just one GPU things just work, but I think for the price difference, and how robust a single 4850 is for worst case CF scenarios, you can't go wrong with 2 x 4850 vs. 1 x GTX280. Just my $.02.

 

[sxr7171]

Well if nVidia lowers the g280 to $450 I'd rather take a single card. If not = no $$$ for nVidia.

 

[Mucker]

The thing that bothers me with the 280 (besides the price) is no HDMI out on the card. It's on the 9800GX2 but not on the higher end 280 $600 for an S-Video port. Pathetic......

Even my lowly 4850 (in Crossfire BTW) includes an HDMI adapter and will pump high end sound through it too. NV devolved..........greedy bastages....

For me the choice was very easy, $300 for 2 x 4850 (BB deal) or $600 for, in alot of instances, less performance. I already have a Crossfire MB so the saving was even better.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

I'm really impressed at how much Crossfire has improved over the years.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: sxr7171
Well if nVidia lowers the g280 to $450 I'd rather take a single card. If not = no $$$ for nVidia.

I think that this is the key here. Nvidia COULD lower the gtx 280 to $450, but their margins would completely tank. however, amd has actually pulled a rabbit out of their hats (or, um, other region of the body) b/c nvidia in one day went from dominating every price point over $100 to completely on the defensive in anything under $400. I think that when everything shakes out we'll see nvidia VERY soon coming out with an ultra version of gtx 280 or even rushing out 55nm with ultra-type clocks on 280. At that point the 280 will drop to $399, until then it should be ~ $499. I also think that instead of dragging their feet on the midrange refresh ala g80 to g92, they're going to rush it as fast as humanly possible this time. Nvidia still has the advantage b/c they have so much more $$ to throw at this, but if they allow amd to make serious $$$ right now then they could be REALLY dangerous next time.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Mucker
The thing that bothers me with the 280 (besides the price) is no HDMI out on the card. It's on the 9800GX2 but not on the higher end 280 $600 for an S-Video port. Pathetic......

Even my lowly 4850 (in Crossfire BTW) includes an HDMI adapter and will pump high end sound through it too. NV devolved..........greedy bastages....

For me the choice was very easy, $300 for 2 x 4850 (BB deal) or $600 for, in alot of instances, less performance. I already have a Crossfire MB so the saving was even better.

:::sigh:::

HDMI adapter included in this BFG model

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: Mucker
The thing that bothers me with the 280 (besides the price) is no HDMI out on the card. It's on the 9800GX2 but not on the higher end 280 $600 for an S-Video port. Pathetic......

Even my lowly 4850 (in Crossfire BTW) includes an HDMI adapter and will pump high end sound through it too. NV devolved..........greedy bastages....

For me the choice was very easy, $300 for 2 x 4850 (BB deal) or $600 for, in alot of instances, less performance. I already have a Crossfire MB so the saving was even better.

:::sigh:::

HDMI adapter included in this BFG model

does it put out audio too?

 

[Mucker]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: Mucker
The thing that bothers me with the 280 (besides the price) is no HDMI out on the card. It's on the 9800GX2 but not on the higher end 280 $600 for an S-Video port. Pathetic......

Even my lowly 4850 (in Crossfire BTW) includes an HDMI adapter and will pump high end sound through it too. NV devolved..........greedy bastages....

For me the choice was very easy, $323 for 2 x 4850 (BB deal) or $668 for, in alot of instances, less performance. I already have a Crossfire MB so the saving was even better.

:::sigh:::

HDMI adapter included in this BFG model

does it put out audio too?

+1

Again, why does the 9800GX2 have HDMI built in and the 280 does not? For a cool $668 from your link, you get an adapter.

:::sigh:::

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: Mucker

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: Mucker
The thing that bothers me with the 280 (besides the price) is no HDMI out on the card. It's on the 9800GX2 but not on the higher end 280 $600 for an S-Video port. Pathetic......

Even my lowly 4850 (in Crossfire BTW) includes an HDMI adapter and will pump high end sound through it too. NV devolved..........greedy bastages....

For me the choice was very easy, $323 for 2 x 4850 (BB deal) or $668 for, in alot of instances, less performance. I already have a Crossfire MB so the saving was even better.

:::sigh:::

HDMI adapter included in this BFG model

does it put out audio too?

+1

Again, why does the 9800GX2 have HDMI built in and the 280 does not? For a cool $668 from your link, you get an adapter.

:::sigh:::

im guessing it does not put out audio then?

reason i ask is going forward, any video card i get needs to put out audio. usin an hdmi cable with this 3870 is excellent, it puts out audio as well and i find that to be quite convenient.