For Gaming at 1080p

[jmekelb]

Budget is ~$350 USD. i7 920 @ 3.33ghz. Corsair 850w PSU. No current video card to upgrade from.

Which would you choose and why?

ATI:

HIS 4850 1GB (x2) $154.99 x 2 = $309.98

Sapphire 4870 1GB (x2) $179.99 x 2 = $359.98 (after MIR)

Sapphire 4850x2 2GB $264.99 (after MIR)

XFX 4890 1GB $229.99 (after MIR)

4770 (x2) $99.99 x 2 = $199.98???
When it comes out

NVidia

EVGA 260 216 (x2) $167.99 x 2 = $335.98 (after MIR)

EVGA 275 $249.99

EVGA 285 $319.99 (after MIR)

 

[lasoski311]

4870 1GB x2 Crossfire

or

260 216 x2 SLI

 

[alyarb]

Originally posted by: lasoski311
4870 1GB x2 Crossfire

or

260 216 x2 SLI

 

[MarcVenice]

You sure you need 1GB ram a card? There's some nice HD 4870's 512MB cards for $135 AR from Asus.

Also, GTX285 is 310-ish after rebate, comes with FC2 and CoD5, from XFX.

Prices of HD 4890 and GTX275 suck to hard compared to HD 4870 and GTX260. In Holland they are a lot more competitive.

 

[Leyawiin]

HD 4890. I'm not a fan of multiple GPU setups and its a very quick card for the price. More than capable of handling 1920x1080 and keep a good FPS. If I need a little more performance I would get the GTX 285 vs. the multiple card setups.

The HD 4850 X2 is a dud:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Recent review comparing it to a GTX 275. They weren't impressed.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
You sure you need 1GB ram a card? There's some nice HD 4870's 512MB cards for $135 AR from Asus.

Also, GTX285 is 310-ish after rebate, comes with FC2 and CoD5, from XFX.

Prices of HD 4890 and GTX275 suck to hard compared to HD 4870 and GTX260. In Holland they are a lot more competitive.

Really? I think they're priced fine, especially the HD4890 @ $230. Both the GTX275 and HD4890 come even closer to the performance of the GTX285 (in some cases, besting it) and basically split the price gap in half between a 260/HD4870 and the 285. This seems like a pretty good deal to me, especially when you consider historically you pay exponentially more the higher up you go and that just doesn't seem the case right now.

As for what I would do, here's how I'd rank them:

1. HD4890
2. GTX275
3. GTX260 x2
4. HD4870 x2
5. GTX 285

I would not even consider getting any HD4770 or HD4850.

 

[jmekelb]

Thanks for the replies guys...

The benchmarks I've seen have the GTX260 216 SLI above the 4870 crossfire in nearly all cases so I think it's going to come down to GTX260 216 SLI or (stretching my budget by $90) 4890 crossfire.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: lasoski311
4870 1GB x2 Crossfire

or

260 216 x2 SLI

 

[TC91]

I am not a fan of multi gpu setups either, so I would highly recommend the GTX 285 or 275 or wait until the new DX11 cards. If you don't mind the drawbacks of multi gpu setups, then I would definitely go with the GTX 260 core 216 in SLI in a heartbeat because that price on them is just awesome and you will actually be able to make your own custom SLI profile for really new games that does not have a profile (most of the time they already do). EVGA actually even releases a SLI enhancement patch for SLI setups that will implement those profiles for you, see here: http://www.evga.com/articles/00463/. The radeons on the other hand, they do not have user creatable crossfire profiles and you will be stuck waiting until the next set of drivers that will implement the crossfire support are released.

 

[cbn]

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
HD 4890. I'm not a fan of multiple GPU setups and its a very quick card for the price. More than capable of handling 1920x1080 and keep a good FPS. If I need a little more performance I would get the GTX 285 vs. the multiple card setups.

The HD 4850 X2 is a dud:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Recent review comparing it to a GTX 275. They weren't impressed.

Asus Blitz Formula?

Isn't that a PCI-E 1.0 motherboard?

If so then I wouldn't expect a single 4850x2 Video card do well. Other reviews I have seen have shown this card is too much for the bandwidth of that slot. It looks like actual PCI-E 2.0 slots are needed for those cards.

 

[cbn]

Originally posted by: jmekelb
Budget is ~$350 USD. i7 920 @ 3.33ghz. Corsair 850w PSU. No current video card to upgrade from.

Which would you choose and why?

ATI:

HIS 4850 1GB (x2) $154.99 x 2 = $309.98

Sapphire 4870 1GB (x2) $179.99 x 2 = $359.98 (after MIR)

Sapphire 4850x2 2GB $264.99 (after MIR)

XFX 4890 1GB $229.99 (after MIR)

4770 (x2) $99.99 x 2 = $199.98???
When it comes out

NVidia

EVGA 260 216 (x2) $167.99 x 2 = $335.98 (after MIR)

EVGA 275 $249.99

EVGA 285 $319.99 (after MIR)

I would get two 4770's for $199.98 (or whatever they cost).

A single 4890 might be nice too if you suspect your 1080p resolution needs the extra Vram. (Running two 4770s in crossfire would only benefit from one of the sets of 512MB VRam rather than both sets)

 

[Psynaut]

There were two separate deals last week on the HD 4890 for around $170 - $180 after rebate and CB. Compared to $300.00+ for a GTX 285, this looks pretty good considering it comes very close to the GTX 285 in performance.

 

[bryanW1995]

I would get the 4870 512 for $135 if you can find it that cheap. 2nd choice is gtx 260, that's a better card but it's a bit more expensive and probably not necessary at that resolution. If you're not satisfied with the card that you get, sell it this fall when the dx11 cards come out and upgrade then.

 

[happy medium]

Bang for your buck I'd go 260gtx sli or 4770 x 2 if they make em in 1 gb flavor.

 

[jmekelb]

How about EVGA 260 216 SLI with the hopes that they drop the price of the 275 within the next 90 days so I could step up at a minimal cost?

Do they let you step up two cards at once? I know I'll need to get sneaky just to get the two mail in rebates.

 

[MarcVenice]

My review is showing the GTX275 to beat the HD 4980. Five games tested. Had to use cat 9,3 though, but I doubt 9.4 will close the gap. If GTX275 = HD4890 in price, you should get a GTX275.

Also, with my recent experience with dual gpu setups (hd 4850x2/x3, HD4890x2 and gtx295, gtx275 in sli and gtx260 in sli) I'd have to say it's childplay and it hasn't given me any trouble whatsoever.

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
my recent experience with dual gpu setups (hd 4850x2/x3, HD4890x2 and gtx295, gtx275 in sli and gtx260 in sli) I'd have to say it's childplay and it hasn't given me any trouble whatsoever.

I agree - never had any trouble with my sli rig. Not sure why people still dont like multi-gpu.

It is the fastest gaming rig

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Just learning

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
HD 4890. I'm not a fan of multiple GPU setups and its a very quick card for the price. More than capable of handling 1920x1080 and keep a good FPS. If I need a little more performance I would get the GTX 285 vs. the multiple card setups.

The HD 4850 X2 is a dud:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Recent review comparing it to a GTX 275. They weren't impressed.

Asus Blitz Formula?

Isn't that a PCI-E 1.0 motherboard?

If so then I wouldn't expect a single 4850x2 Video card do well. Other reviews I have seen have shown this card is too much for the bandwidth of that slot. It looks like actual PCI-E 2.0 slots are needed for those cards.

Weird. Why the hell would they use a P35/Penryn setup and not X58/Nehalem?

 

[cbn]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Just learning

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
HD 4890. I'm not a fan of multiple GPU setups and its a very quick card for the price. More than capable of handling 1920x1080 and keep a good FPS. If I need a little more performance I would get the GTX 285 vs. the multiple card setups.

The HD 4850 X2 is a dud:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Recent review comparing it to a GTX 275. They weren't impressed.

Asus Blitz Formula?

Isn't that a PCI-E 1.0 motherboard?

If so then I wouldn't expect a single 4850x2 Video card do well. Other reviews I have seen have shown this card is too much for the bandwidth of that slot. It looks like actual PCI-E 2.0 slots are needed for those cards.

Weird. Why the hell would they use a P35/Penryn setup and not X58/Nehalem?

Who knows why they used a PCI-E 1.x Board? But trying to get 4850x2 working in PCI-E 1.x slot has relatively failed in other tests also. I suspect that next generation of highend single GPU cards (GT300 and HD58xx) could be the same way.

 

[DaveSimmons]

A single 4890 ?

I don't want to mess with SLI/CF glitches.

 

[evolucion8]

At high resolutions, you will have to rely on Crossfire/SLI if you want eye candy at high resolutions, but if you play below 1600x1200, any HD 4890 or HD 4870 1GB will suit you nicely. The HD 4850 X2 is a beast of it's own but you won't want to deal with scaling issues when they appear. In the Guru's 3D interview with Dave, he stated that soon will be incorporated an option that allow the users to select the best rendering profile for a game when there's no default profile for it, like nVidia does currently. But still none of the multiple GPU solutions are 100% trouble free.

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
The HD 4850 X2 is a dud:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Recent review comparing it to a GTX 275. They weren't impressed.

Call of Duty 5 was slighly faster with slighly higher min, average and max FPS

Crysis Warhead was only playable in Gamer, we all know that Crysis doesn't scale very good with multi GPU setups, so is a win for the GTX 275 which allowed for higher quality settings.

Fallout 3 was a clear victory for the HD 4850X2 which had better fps across all scenarios.

Far Cry 2 was almost a tie giving the sligh edge to the HD 4850X2

FEAR 2 was a clear victory for the HD 4850X2 which mopped the floor with the GTX 275 with higher min, max and average FPS.

GTAIV was slighly slower than the GTX 275 which allowed for higher eye candy, but like Crysis, GTAIV is a game which doesn't benefit of multi GPU setups.

Overall, the HD 4850X2 is slighly faster than the GTX 280 when there are no scaling issues, but from those 6 games, 2 didn't scale well enough, if you go to the HD 4870X2, when it doesn't scale wel,l at least it would be as fast as a GTX 260+ which is not a slow card by any standard, but that's up to you if you like to deal with multi GPU issues.

 

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: Just learning

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Just learning

Originally posted by: Leyawiin
HD 4890. I'm not a fan of multiple GPU setups and its a very quick card for the price. More than capable of handling 1920x1080 and keep a good FPS. If I need a little more performance I would get the GTX 285 vs. the multiple card setups.

The HD 4850 X2 is a dud:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Recent review comparing it to a GTX 275. They weren't impressed.

Asus Blitz Formula?

Isn't that a PCI-E 1.0 motherboard?

If so then I wouldn't expect a single 4850x2 Video card do well. Other reviews I have seen have shown this card is too much for the bandwidth of that slot. It looks like actual PCI-E 2.0 slots are needed for those cards.

Weird. Why the hell would they use a P35/Penryn setup and not X58/Nehalem?

Who knows why they used a PCI-E 1.x Board? But trying to get 4850x2 working in PCI-E 1.x slot has relatively failed in other tests also. I suspect that next generation of highend single GPU cards (GT300 and HD58xx) could be the same way.

Good catch guys. I would have never noticed that (and apparently no one on their boards noticed it either - skimmed the discussion link about it).

 

[jmekelb]

The EVGA GTX260 216 I linked is now down to $159.99 after rebate. I'm not sure I can pass up a pair of those for $320.