GTX 280 Extreme on its way

[lopri]

738/1666/2520

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...t.php?prodid=GX-144-LT

 

[BassBomb]

oh dear

let me guess 700+$?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I like how is says "get pulled deeper into the game..." but what I read was "get pulled deeper into debt..."

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: lopri
738/1666/2520

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...t.php?prodid=GX-144-LT

I was hoping that when you said "on it's way", you meant you ordered a GTX 280... I'd love to hear someone's opinion on this card that also owns a 4870.

 

[airhendrix13]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
I like how is says "get pulled deeper into the game..." but what I read was "get pulled deeper into debt..."

So true...

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
oh dear

let me guess 700+$?

yep...

387.74 GBP = 763.561 USD

 

[Sentry2]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: lopri
738/1666/2520

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...t.php?prodid=GX-144-LT

I was hoping that when you said "on it's way", you meant you ordered a GTX 280... I'd love to hear someone's opinion on this card that also owns a 4870.

Well, I had a GTX 280. Had it running @ 792MHz(only 1660MHz shaders though) and over 2.6GHz on the memory. While it was pretty fast it I wasn't really that impressed with it at all. Granted this is coming from 8800GTX SLI, 8800Ultra SLI, a 9800GX2 to a single GTX 280. Somehow I expected more. The minimum framerates seemed like one of the only benefits of this over the GX2(and sometimes there was no difference). As for the 4870, I don't own one....waiting for the X2...but I do own a pair of 4850's. I'd take these any day over a GTX 280. I would probably even take a single 4870 over a 280 as well. There is some nice overclocking to be had on that GDDR5. Now IF the 280 launched at $449 then it would probably still be in my system.

BTW: I had a MCW60R mounted on the GTX 280 which doesn't officially fit but it can be done. I could also run the memory on that card @ 2800+MHz. It would only artifact when I took it past 2860MHz. :Q Never posted any such results because I'm still in disbelief myself. Since stock it already has loads of bandwidth...overclocking the memory did next to nothing for performance anyway(at least anything under 25x16).

 

[Munky]

Well, gotta give it to NV marketing for finding new names for cards. I thought they'd stick with gtx280+ for sure this time, but no, that would have been way too predictable.

If this is the same 65nm gpu, I wonder what kind of cooling and availability this will have? We don't need another gtx512 launch.

 

[taltamir]

whats so extreme about it? a little OC on the crappy default HSF?
Considering it is 300$ more then the cheapest 280 you can find, it makes more sense to buy a GTX280, put on some serious cooling on it, and OC it (much higher then their OC) yourself.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: taltamir

, it makes more sense to

I don't think we're necessarily talking about 'sense' here.

Originally posted by: nitromullet

I was hoping that when you said "on it's way", you meant you ordered a GTX 280... I'd love to hear someone's opinion on this card that also owns a 4870.

I'd love to get rid of my 8800 GTs and get a GTX 280, let alone having fun comparing it with HD 4870. Can't seem to bite the bullet, yet, though. Too many unknowns both tech-wise and price-wise.

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

I like how is says "get pulled deeper into the game..." but what I read was "get pulled deeper into debt..."

lol that was a funny one. "Get pulled deeper into the game.. "

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: Sentry2
Well, I had a GTX 280. Had it running @ 792MHz(only 1660MHz shaders though) and over 2.6GHz on the memory.

792MHz?! Wow that's a crazy OC on a card clocked @602MHz. That's almost 25% OC on 1.4 billion transistors. How did you do that? :shocked:

Edit: Saw how you did it. It's still amazing. re Memory: It's really easy to overclock memory on my 4870, but I didn't see much benefit either. It's fun to see GPU-Z reading 140GB/s bandwidth, however.

Edit 2: I see you have 4850's @950MHz, too. That's nuts. lol.

 

[Sentry2]

It's a secret.. :laugh:



Nothing a little voltage and some nice cooling can't accomplish.


What's even more crazy is 950MHz on a 625MHz card(s). Even if they're big brother happens to run @ 750MHz. Either way you slice it.....that's a 52% overclock on a pair of gpu's running in crossfire. :Q

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Sentry2

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: lopri
738/1666/2520

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...t.php?prodid=GX-144-LT

I was hoping that when you said "on it's way", you meant you ordered a GTX 280... I'd love to hear someone's opinion on this card that also owns a 4870.

Well, I had a GTX 280. Had it running @ 792MHz(only 1660MHz shaders though) and over 2.6GHz on the memory. While it was pretty fast it I wasn't really that impressed with it at all. Granted this is coming from 8800GTX SLI, 8800Ultra SLI, a 9800GX2 to a single GTX 280. Somehow I expected more. The minimum framerates seemed like one of the only benefits of this over the GX2(and sometimes there was no difference). As for the 4870, I don't own one....waiting for the X2...but I do own a pair of 4850's. I'd take these any day over a GTX 280. I would probably even take a single 4870 over a 280 as well. There is some nice overclocking to be had on that GDDR5. Now IF the 280 launched at $449 then it would probably still be in my system.

BTW: I had a MCW60R mounted on the GTX 280 which doesn't officially fit but it can be done. I could also run the memory on that card @ 2800+MHz. It would only artifact when I took it past 2860MHz. :Q Never posted any such results because I'm still in disbelief myself. Since stock it already has loads of bandwidth...overclocking the memory did next to nothing for performance anyway(at least anything under 25x16).

Thanks for the info. I also had an 8800GTX and a 9800GX2, so I'm wondering how I'd feel about it.

I had issues with my 4850 artifacting, so I took them back and exchanged them for a GTX 260. I didn't realize at the time that BB was charging $450 for the 260 instead of the MSRP of $400 (at that time), which ended up being $490 after sales tax (WA state - no income tax). So, I took them back to BB for ripping me off. Although, the GTX 260 was a nice card, but not nearly worth $490..

Originally posted by: lopri

Originally posted by: nitromullet

I was hoping that when you said "on it's way", you meant you ordered a GTX 280... I'd love to hear someone's opinion on this card that also owns a 4870.

I'd love to get rid of my 8800 GTs and get a GTX 280, let alone having fun comparing it with HD 4870. Can't seem to bite the bullet, yet, though. Too many unknowns both tech-wise and price-wise.

I'm in the same boat here... Although, I'm honestly thinking about picking up a GTX 280 and doing some head to head comparisons between it and the 4870 at 1920x1200 with some transparency AA and other AA options.

I know it's not the be all end all benchmark, but I am once again somewhat disappointed with ATI's 8xAAA/super sampling performance in WoW. 8x is simply not uniformly smooth (dips into the teens), and I am forced to use 4x for consistently smooth gaming. The GTX 260 ran 8x trSSAA smoothly (at least 20+ constantly).

In Crysis, I think the GTX 260 would run the same settings as the 4870, but with 2xAA at roughly the same fps.

I didn't have the 260 for that long, so I could be mistaken about Crysis. I am absolutely sure about WoW though. WoW is kind of my old standby game (and I spend a lot of time playing it), so I tend to check out performance in WoW first.

I really want to run a 280 and 4870 head-to-head to see of the additional ~$200 is worth it for the 280, but home grown benchmarking isn't cheap. Once you spend ~$800 on two video cards to determine which one offers the best value, you have to question your perspective on 'value'.

 

[Sentry2]

Sounds about right for crysis. With one 4850 oc'ed in crysis @ 1920x1080 Very High No AA I get low to mid 20's. Crossfire is not scaling in Crysis for me even with the hotfix drivers. Even with the GTX 280 @ 792MHz I wasn't really that impressed in Crysis...my GX2 did quite a bit better.

Lets hope the 4870X2 is what it's all cracked up to be. That is the card I'll be keeping my eyes on in the near future.

 

[lopri]

I have too much to say about Blizzard games.. Let's just say that since I finally managed to stop playing WarCraft 3, I have been determined not to touch another Blizzard game. My next test would be StarCraft 2. I should resist temptation no matter what. It's harder than quitting cigarettes, IMO.

Jokes (and half truth) aside, usually when it comes to AA, I take whatever I could afford and super-sampling has been totally out of question. Does the performance dip occur with super sampling/transparency AA only or MSAA as well? I could imagine super sampling eats up more memory so maybe 512MB is not cutting it for x8 super sampling. Gosh, x8 super sampling.. it sounds so foreign to me.

 

[lopri]

Anyway, the reason I posted this was it didn't look like your typical 'factory OC'ed' card. 738MHz is rather steep for such a guarantee. I was thinking the lines of "6800 Ultra Extreme" or "8800 Ultra".

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: lopri
Anyway, the reason I posted this was it didn't look like your typical 'factory OC'ed' card. 738MHz is rather steep for such a guarantee.

That is pretty "extreme." I don't see XFX or EVGA doing it, and we (BFG) don't either. I don't know how rigorous their testing is, but I know that few-to-none would pass our testing for sale at those speeds.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: lopri
I have too much to say about Blizzard games.. Let's just say that since I finally managed to stop playing WarCraft 3, I have been determined not to touch another Blizzard game. My next test would be StarCraft 2. I should resist temptation no matter what. It's harder than quitting cigarettes, IMO.

Jokes (and half truth) aside, usually when it comes to AA, I take whatever I could afford and super-sampling has been totally out of question. Does the performance dip occur with super sampling/transparency AA only or MSAA as well? I could imagine super sampling eats up more memory so maybe 512MB is not cutting it for x8 super sampling. Gosh, x8 super sampling.. it sounds so foreign to me.

Take the addictiveness of a Blizzard game, add in your friends from around the country calling you up to play, and you have World of Warcraft.

Generally, the slowdown occurs with Supersampling 8xAA, and not MSAA. Honestly, the performance I'm seeing from the 4870 in WoW isn't any better than what I was getting with the 3870 X2. Another thing to consider is that my 7900GS can play WoW with 2x trSSAA @ 1920x1200 with about the same fps as the 4870 with 4xAAA. 4x on the 7900GS is about the same as 8x on the 4870, which is playable in most places but not consistently so...

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: Sentry2
It's a secret.. :laugh:



Nothing a little voltage and some nice cooling can't accomplish.


What's even more crazy is 950MHz on a 625MHz card(s). Even if they're big brother happens to run @ 750MHz. Either way you slice it.....that's a 52% overclock on a pair of gpu's running in crossfire. :Q

Holy crap, Id love to see some benchs of a 4870 @ 950/4500 or so, it should annihilate everything

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: lopri
Anyway, the reason I posted this was it didn't look like your typical 'factory OC'ed' card. 738MHz is rather steep for such a guarantee.

That is pretty "extreme." I don't see XFX or EVGA doing it, and we (BFG) don't either. I don't know how rigorous their testing is, but I know that few-to-none would pass our testing for sale at those speeds.

What I meant was not a vendor-overclocked version, but rather an official new model from NV. (like 8800 Ultra) Could it be?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Holy crap, Id love to see some benchs of a 4870 @ 950/4500 or so, it should annihilate everything

I'd love to see it as well, but I doubt it would annihilate a GTX280, I'd definitely expect it to catch up, perhaps even pass it up here and there...of course if we consider an overclock on the 4870 we'd have to do the same for the GTX280...

Also I think the 4870's current 512MB flavor would be the primary reason it wouldn't annihilate considering there's already evidence suggesting the limitation could be holding it back.

 

[n7]

I just pulled the trigger.

On a slightly less extreme BFG GTX 280 OC

$444 less $20 rebate baby!

/n7 is a bit excited...