Gtx 260sli (216) or Single gtx285 for 2560x1600

[orson]

Hi there.

My parents are buying my brother a 30" monitor for his birthday and i would like to get him a nice graphics card upgrade.

I was wondering what would be better between

http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx2851024oce.aspx

or 2 of these

http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx260mc896oce.aspx

for a 2560x1600 res


I am thinking the 260's purely for the increased video mem, especially running at such a high res with AA settings on.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: orson


I am thinking the 260's purely for the increased video mem, especially running at such a high res with AA settings on.

Actually with two GTX 260 you have only 896 mb of vram, because only one card's memory is available, the other one is just mirrored ( it has the same data in it the first one has ). So, GTX 285 has more vram then 2Xgtx 260.

Why don't you get a GTX295 or a 4870X2, instead of the SLI option? I wouldn't get 285 since I don't feel it has enough horse power to run everything at that resolution. For 2560X1600 you need the fastest card on the planet and sometimes, even that isn't enough.

 

[orson]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: orson


I am thinking the 260's purely for the increased video mem, especially running at such a high res with AA settings on.

Actually with two GTX 260 you have only 896 mb of vram, because only one card's memory is available, the other one is just mirrored ( it has the same data in it the first one has ). So, GTX 285 has more vram then 2Xgtx 260.

Why don't you get a GTX295 or a 4870X2, instead of the SLI option? I wouldn't get 285 since I don't feel it has enough horse power to run everything at that resolution. For 2560X1600 you need the fastest card on the planet and sometimes, even that isn't enough.

there is a pretty substantial price difference though jumping up to a 295.

Is the gtx 285 classed as having 512mb per card though ?

as for the radeon my brother likes to leave his system on to fold as we've known a couple of people to pass away from cancer and i've read that the any attempt at folding on the radeon = fail

i personally run 3x gtx 280's all overclocked and water cooled on my dell 3007wfp

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: orson

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: orson


I am thinking the 260's purely for the increased video mem, especially running at such a high res with AA settings on.

Actually with two GTX 260 you have only 896 mb of vram, because only one card's memory is available, the other one is just mirrored ( it has the same data in it the first one has ). So, GTX 285 has more vram then 2Xgtx 260.

Why don't you get a GTX295 or a 4870X2, instead of the SLI option? I wouldn't get 285 since I don't feel it has enough horse power to run everything at that resolution. For 2560X1600 you need the fastest card on the planet and sometimes, even that isn't enough.

there is a pretty substantial price difference though jumping up to a 295.

Is the gtx 285 classed as having 512mb per card though ?

No, it has a "pure" 1 gb.

Originally posted by: orson
as for the radeon my brother likes to leave his system on to fold as we've known a couple of people to pass away from cancer and i've read that the any attempt at folding on the radeon = fail

Not true. I'm folding on my 4870 and there is no problem with it. If Nvidia folds faster, then that is another story. But it works with no issues on ATi cards.

 

[MrK6]

It's not that you CAN'T fold on an ATI card, it's just that the NVIDIA architecture is much faster at folding.

2x GTX 260 will blow a GTX 285 away at 2560x1600, no doubt. I have a GTX 295 (really, it's just GTX 260's with unlocked shaders in SLI) and it eats everything alive at 2560x1600.

 

[happy medium]

At 2560x1600 I'm fairly sure the 260gtx cards start to crap out.

He will need at least a 280gtx sli setup with a e8600@ 4.0 or overclocked Core i7 cpu to run modern games at that resolution. IMO.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/...e-performance-review/5

 

[orson]

No, it has a "pure" 1 gb.

Ok cool, this was a primary concern as i remember people saying that they had issues with their 9800gx2's when running high res high AA and running out of video mem

It's not that you CAN'T fold on an ATI card, it's just that the NVIDIA architecture is much faster at folding.

2x GTX 260 will blow a GTX 285 away at 2560x1600, no doubt. I have a GTX 295 (really, it's just GTX 260's with unlocked shaders in SLI) and it eats everything alive at 2560x1600.

hmmm is the 295 classed as also havign a pure 1800mb ram ? or is it 2 sets of 900 ?

 

[orson]

Originally posted by: happy medium
At 2560x1600 I'm fairly sure the 260gtx cards start to crap out.

He will need at least a 280gtx sli setup with a e8600@ 4.0 or overclocked Core i7 cpu to run modern games at that resolution. IMO.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/...e-performance-review/5

The system is a qx9650, evga 790i board with 4gb ram.

It is oc'd to 4ghz

 

[Viper GTS]

GTX 295 is two sets of 896 = 1792. It's kind of a hybrid between the 260 & 280/285.

For a 30" that's really what you need. What you could though is buy him one 285 & let him buy himself another - He already has the SLI board, & the resultant SLI setup will be faster than a 295.

Viper GTS

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
GTX 295 is two sets of 896 = 1792. It's kind of a hybrid between the 260 & 280/285.

For a 30" that's really what you need. What you could though is buy him one 285 & let him buy himself another - He already has the SLI board, & the resultant SLI setup will be faster than a 295.

Viper GTS

gtx 285 with free call of duty 5 and far cry 2 games for 348.00$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150334

:thumbsup: or mabe the new gtx 275 sli'ed comming out in a week or 2?

 

[orson]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
GTX 295 is two sets of 896 = 1792. It's kind of a hybrid between the 260 & 280/285.

For a 30" that's really what you need. What you could though is buy him one 285 & let him buy himself another - He already has the SLI board, & the resultant SLI setup will be faster than a 295.

Viper GTS

looks like it keeps coming back to the 295 which is around £450.

going the route of 2x 285's is in the region of £700, for just over that price i could get 3x gtx 280's

or would 3x gtx 260's be better than 2x 285's or a single ?

apologies for all the confusing questions just want to make the right choice for him, if i am forced to spend a little more and eat tins of beans for a month i would rather that then buy him the wrong one

 

[Dadofamunky]

Nice birthday present!

I'd just go for 2x GTX 260 216's to keep costs down.

 

[orson]

Originally posted by: Dadofamunky
Nice birthday present!

I'd just go for 2x GTX 260 216's to keep costs down.

i would prefer to make sure i go with the right choice though i don't want him to be struggling playing games or new releases.

It's bad enough when he comes to see me he steals the comp for several hours to play crysis warhead lol

 

[happy medium]

How much are 280gtx's where you live? L 280?

 

[MrK6]

Originally posted by: orson

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
GTX 295 is two sets of 896 = 1792. It's kind of a hybrid between the 260 & 280/285.

For a 30" that's really what you need. What you could though is buy him one 285 & let him buy himself another - He already has the SLI board, & the resultant SLI setup will be faster than a 295.

Viper GTS

looks like it keeps coming back to the 295 which is around £450.

going the route of 2x 285's is in the region of £700, for just over that price i could get 3x gtx 280's

or would 3x gtx 260's be better than 2x 285's or a single ?

apologies for all the confusing questions just want to make the right choice for him, if i am forced to spend a little more and eat tins of beans for a month i would rather that then buy him the wrong one

If money is not an option, I would go with GTX 285's in SLI. This set-up at stock will be the fastest (bar anything extreme like Tri-SLI or two HD4870X2's), and probably has some of the best overclocking potential as well (I highly recommend overclocking them). However, it is in no way the most efficient or best price/performance. I think two GTX 260's in SLI will net you 85-90% of the performance of SLI GTX 285's at about $200-250 less. I chose the GTX 295 because it was a happy medium. It has a lot of the power of the GTX 285's (really it's GTX 285 cores on the GTX 260 memory bus), but costs less (although it isn't as cheap as two GTX 260's), and is more efficient than either GTX 260 or GTX 285 SLI power-wise.

You could also consider a 4870X2 or 2x 4870 1GB from ATI. To be honest, when I did my research for my purchase I thought the Crossfire performance left something to be desired, especially in terms of reliability, so I went with the GTX 295.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: orson

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
GTX 295 is two sets of 896 = 1792. It's kind of a hybrid between the 260 & 280/285.

For a 30" that's really what you need. What you could though is buy him one 285 & let him buy himself another - He already has the SLI board, & the resultant SLI setup will be faster than a 295.

Viper GTS

looks like it keeps coming back to the 295 which is around £450.

going the route of 2x 285's is in the region of £700, for just over that price i could get 3x gtx 280's

or would 3x gtx 260's be better than 2x 285's or a single ?

apologies for all the confusing questions just want to make the right choice for him, if i am forced to spend a little more and eat tins of beans for a month i would rather that then buy him the wrong one

I just did a little U.K. shopping and it looks like you can get 2 gtx280's for 550.00.

Best bang for your buck is the 4870x2 for 329.oo inc vat and 1 4870 for 180.00 inc vat for some tri fire action. For 510.00 it's better then tri 260gtx's, 2 gtx 285's, and would demolish a 295gtx.


http://www.dabs.com/productvie...1137,43990000,50520000


http://www.dabs.com/productvie...1137,43990000,50520000

 

[orson]

Originally posted by: happy medium

Originally posted by: orson

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
GTX 295 is two sets of 896 = 1792. It's kind of a hybrid between the 260 & 280/285.

For a 30" that's really what you need. What you could though is buy him one 285 & let him buy himself another - He already has the SLI board, & the resultant SLI setup will be faster than a 295.

Viper GTS

looks like it keeps coming back to the 295 which is around £450.

going the route of 2x 285's is in the region of £700, for just over that price i could get 3x gtx 280's

or would 3x gtx 260's be better than 2x 285's or a single ?

apologies for all the confusing questions just want to make the right choice for him, if i am forced to spend a little more and eat tins of beans for a month i would rather that then buy him the wrong one

I just did a little U.K. shopping and it looks like you can get 2 gtx280's for 550.00.

Best bang for your buck is the 4870x2 for 329.oo inc vat and 1 4870 for 180.00 inc vat for some tri fire action. For 510.00 it's better then tri 260gtx's, 2 gtx 285's, and would demolish a 295gtx.


http://www.dabs.com/productvie...1137,43990000,50520000


http://www.dabs.com/productvie...1137,43990000,50520000

the board is an sli board though so i would need to get a xfire board

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: orson


I am thinking the 260's purely for the increased video mem, especially running at such a high res with AA settings on.

Actually with two GTX 260 you have only 896 mb of vram, because only one card's memory is available, the other one is just mirrored ( it has the same data in it the first one has ). So, GTX 285 has more vram then 2Xgtx 260.

Why don't you get a GTX295 or a 4870X2, instead of the SLI option? I wouldn't get 285 since I don't feel it has enough horse power to run everything at that resolution. For 2560X1600 you need the fastest card on the planet and sometimes, even that isn't enough.

well with the gtx295 he would still have only 896mb just like the gtx260 sli.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: orson


I am thinking the 260's purely for the increased video mem, especially running at such a high res with AA settings on.

Actually with two GTX 260 you have only 896 mb of vram, because only one card's memory is available, the other one is just mirrored ( it has the same data in it the first one has ). So, GTX 285 has more vram then 2Xgtx 260.

Why don't you get a GTX295 or a 4870X2, instead of the SLI option? I wouldn't get 285 since I don't feel it has enough horse power to run everything at that resolution. For 2560X1600 you need the fastest card on the planet and sometimes, even that isn't enough.

well with the gtx295 he would still have only 896mb just like the gtx260 sli.

Yes, but I felt that it's simpler to use a single dual gpu card instead of two in SLI. It leaves you more room inside the case.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: orson


I am thinking the 260's purely for the increased video mem, especially running at such a high res with AA settings on.

Actually with two GTX 260 you have only 896 mb of vram, because only one card's memory is available, the other one is just mirrored ( it has the same data in it the first one has ). So, GTX 285 has more vram then 2Xgtx 260.

Why don't you get a GTX295 or a 4870X2, instead of the SLI option? I wouldn't get 285 since I don't feel it has enough horse power to run everything at that resolution. For 2560X1600 you need the fastest card on the planet and sometimes, even that isn't enough.

well with the gtx295 he would still have only 896mb just like the gtx260 sli.

Yes, but I felt that it's simpler to use a single dual gpu card instead of two in SLI. It leaves you more room inside the case.

well I wasnt sure if you knew that since you only pointed it out with the gtx260 setup. the only thing i dislike about the gtx295 is that it is quite loud. also at 2560x1600 896mb can be a problem in a few games. if I had a 30inch monitor I would go with 4870x2 or gtx285 sli. I also hope that guy has a decent modern dual or preferably quad core and 4 gigs(or 6 with i7) of memory if he decides to go all out on the gpu setup. no point in having all that gpu power and not be able to fully enjoy games like gta 4.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: orson

Originally posted by: happy medium
At 2560x1600 I'm fairly sure the 260gtx cards start to crap out.

He will need at least a 280gtx sli setup with a e8600@ 4.0 or overclocked Core i7 cpu to run modern games at that resolution. IMO.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/...e-performance-review/5

The system is a qx9650, evga 790i board with 4gb ram.

It is oc'd to 4ghz

He's got that covered.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: orson

Originally posted by: happy medium

Originally posted by: orson

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
GTX 295 is two sets of 896 = 1792. It's kind of a hybrid between the 260 & 280/285.

For a 30" that's really what you need. What you could though is buy him one 285 & let him buy himself another - He already has the SLI board, & the resultant SLI setup will be faster than a 295.

Viper GTS

looks like it keeps coming back to the 295 which is around £450.

going the route of 2x 285's is in the region of £700, for just over that price i could get 3x gtx 280's

or would 3x gtx 260's be better than 2x 285's or a single ?

apologies for all the confusing questions just want to make the right choice for him, if i am forced to spend a little more and eat tins of beans for a month i would rather that then buy him the wrong one

I just did a little U.K. shopping and it looks like you can get 2 gtx280's for 550.00.

Best bang for your buck is the 4870x2 for 329.oo inc vat and 1 4870 for 180.00 inc vat for some tri fire action. For 510.00 it's better then tri 260gtx's, 2 gtx 285's, and would demolish a 295gtx.


http://www.dabs.com/productvie...1137,43990000,50520000


http://www.dabs.com/productvie...1137,43990000,50520000

the board is an sli board though so i would need to get a xfire board

Then where you live it's easy grab 2 gtx280's for 550.00. Two 285's are 660.00! thats too much.

 

[orson]

I've been looking through a lot of real world benchmarks, the reviews on the anandtech site and some good reviews from here http://www.hardocp.com/ also.

there really doesn't seem to be a huge difference in performance @ the 2560x1600 resolutions

there is a shootout here
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

of 295 vs 260 sli vs 4870x2, there is only about 2-3 fps difference in various games between the setups.

With the negligible difference in frame rates the 4870x2 would be a good choice being over £100 less than the 295, but for the same price and from what appears a very very similar performance the 260 sli setup would allow my brother to do some good folding and still net very very close FPS in games to the 4870x2 and 295, even at a 2560x1600 resolution.

I should be able to get a good clock out of the 260's as well, whereas i've read on a few forums people have had trouble with the 4870x2 overheating when being overclocked.

So it looks like my final decision is the 260 setup, i really really appreciate all the advice and input on this topic.

I do like the idea of the 2x 285's but it just doesn't seem worth forking out another £200 on top.

thanks again to everyone

 

[happy medium]

some more benchies for ya

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...adeon-hd-4850-x2-2gb/4

 

[orson]

Originally posted by: happy medium
some more benchies for ya

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...adeon-hd-4850-x2-2gb/4

the 260 sli setup is still scoring highly against the competitors only really beaten down by the
280's running in sli

in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R bench it is only 6 fps behind the 280's and 10-11 fps behind the 280 and the radeon in RD:G.

In fallout 3 the sli 260 setup does get raped at 8xAA but at 4x it is almost equal to the other high end cards.

But you don't need 8xAA at 2560x1600 and the only option i would go for amongst them would be the 4870 X2 which would compromise his folding and if he wanted to ever go x-fire he would need to change his mobo, whereas with price drops on the 260 he could possibly nab himself another for a cheap price in the near future with DX11 cards on the way.