I dunno what to buy anymore, gx2, 4870?

[Swampthing]

I still have a 8800gtx, thought i'd wait to see what the 280's were and frankly i'm majorly disapointed in them for how they perform and what they cost. It's time to buy a new video card though as that 8800gtx is getting long in the tooth.

The 9800gx2's are down to like 300 bucks now and then there's the hd4870. The gx2 seems to outperform the 4870 almost in every game by alot, but is "sli" really that big a pain to deal with? I see the 4870x2 coming out but that's 200 bucks more and i really don't feel like paying another 500 bucks on a card that's only good for 6 months to a year.

So for replacing a 8800gtx to game at 1900x1200 what recomendation would you guys have.

 

[Hugh H]

Originally posted by: Swampthing
I still have a 8800gtx, thought i'd wait to see what the 280's were and frankly i'm majorly disapointed in them for how they perform and what they cost. It's time to buy a new video card though as that 8800gtx is getting long in the tooth.

The 9800gx2's are down to like 300 bucks now and then there's the hd4870. The gx2 seems to outperform the 4870 almost in every game by alot, but is "sli" really that big a pain to deal with? I see the 4870x2 coming out but that's 200 bucks more and i really don't feel like paying another 500 bucks on a card that's only good for 6 months to a year.

So for replacing a 8800gtx to game at 1900x1200 what recomendation would you guys have.

"SLI" is not the PITA that some people make it out to be (where is <redacted>?). If you really want to avoid multi-GPU solutions, then a gtx280 or 4870 will serve you well... with GTX280 costing significantly more but offering only a 10 - 15 % performance increase. One thing I don't like about the 9800GX2 is that it dumps all the heat inside the case, so temperature management becomes a concern. Other than that, it is a good card that is faster than a gtx280 at several instances, but is not too adequate when enabling high levels of AA/AF.

The 4870 X2 is where is at though, I think that card will be the performance king until early 2009... I don't see how a die shrink of the gtx280 could increase performance so much as to match a 4870 X2. And of course, like everything else in the PC world, if you keep waiting for "the next big thing" you would be waiting forever and you would never upgrade.

No call-outs please.

-ViRGE

 

[Piuc2020]

Wait for the HD 4870 X2 (I think it's coming out pretty soon, reviews are already out), it's the only card that will really give you a worthwhile upgrade over your 8800GTX.

 

[jaded25]

@piuc the 4870 x2 came out today already

I'd say go with the 4870x2 its a big upgrade from the 8800gtx. The only gripe that I have with it right now is the price gouging, which should die down later on.

 

[Swampthing]

Is the 4870x2 really worth the 200$ price premium over the 9800 gx2 though? That's where i'm really struggling. Heat really isn't an issue for me, i leave the side of my case off. The gtx280 just seems like a ripoff. The 4870 seems like a good deal for the price but it doesn't seem like a huge improvement over the 8800gtx.

I actually had bought a gx2 from newegg like 3 weeks ago. It came and it looked like it was used and it was DOA so i returned it and didn't buy another. Frankly i was glad i waiting because when i bought mine it was like 449 and now they are down as low as 289. Never actually got to use it. But all i see is posts how SLI sucks and is just a pain in the butt, maybe these are just forum noisemakers.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Wait for the HD 4870 X2 (I think it's coming out pretty soon, reviews are already out), it's the only card that will really give you a worthwhile upgrade over your 8800GTX.

Are you serious? LOL.

9800gx2 will work great, and 4870 will to. 9800gx2 benches out a little better, but 4870 is 1 gpu.


Unless you have a 30 inch monitor, the 4870x2 is overkill, and doesnt stretch its legs.

 

[Piuc2020]

Unless he has money to burn I suggest he keeps his still VERY capable 8800GTX and waits for the next gen. If he HAS to upgrade then the HD 4870 X2 is the only card that is really a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Unless he has money to burn I suggest he keeps his still VERY capable 8800GTX and waits for the next gen. If he HAS to upgrade then the HD 4870 X2 is the only card that is really a worthwhile upgrade.

Riight...because 4870, 260, and 280 are childsplay.

 

[Tempered81]

two 4850's in crossfire is a sweet setup too for under 300.

 

[JPB]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Unless he has money to burn I suggest he keeps his still VERY capable 8800GTX and waits for the next gen. If he HAS to upgrade then the HD 4870 X2 is the only card that is really a worthwhile upgrade.

Riight...because 4870, 260, and 280 are childsplay.

Believe it or not, I have got to agree with ocguy31 here. There is nothing wrong with a 8800GTX even still. And even the GTX280 is a great upgrade over his current card. The 4870X2 I think is overkill though for your resolution. Now if you were running 2500 or so, then by all means it would be well worth it.

But since you have a GTX now, you might as well just get a GTX280. And put the rest of the cash towards something else.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
two 4850's in crossfire is a sweet setup too for under 300.

i think thats the best performance you can get for $300 right now.

 

[WT]

Wait another month and go 4850x2 ? $399 is on the higher end, but it really looks like a great card.

 

[Swampthing]

is microstutter still a problem with SLI/Crossfire solutions? I've never had a SLI setup, well, i have, but it was back in the 3dfx days with a pair of voodoo 2's. Haven't had one since. Been reading about it and i can't seem to see if it's still a problem or not. That issue alone will make up my mind, there's no way i can put up with something like that. I want a smooth consistent framerate, not something bouncing around. The GX2 just seemed attractive sine it's cheaper than the 280 and according to most benchmarks has a higher framerate overall. Although most of the ones i've seen don't also include minimum framerates and average framerates which frankly is a more important number for me.

 

[amtbr]

I was thinking of the GX2 as well, since it costs about the same as a 4870 and in benchmarks performs better. But I see all this talk of microstutter, yet I cant find any threads anywhere of an actual GX2 owner complaining of microstutter. It seems to either be a myth, or a function of older misbehaving drivers.

 

[ashishmishra]

I had a 9800GX2, I never noticed any micro-stutter issues. I 'downgraded' to an eVGA GTX260-SC and I must say it is a better card in some situations where G92 either ran out of memory/bandwith, once a single GPU tanks (~0-15fps) SLI can't do much to save your gaming experience. GTX 260's Framerates are very very stable and are not all over the place. Plus the benefit of not worrying about whether SLI is working or not and just setting everything high and gaming is just wonderful......again. Not to mention the great low idle power consumption & temperature. Perfect card for 1680x1050 IMHO. Except mine doesn't overclock very well at all, even GTX 260 FTW speeds aren't fully stable

Here is my honest opinion, if you are a die-hard hardware enthusiast at heart, love benchmarking, love knowing you have the best, love tweaking games for extra performance go for the dual GPU cards like the 9800GX2 or HD4870 X2 it is a great experience. If you can swallow the power consumption/heat/noise factors I would recommend the HD4870X2 over the 9800GX2, as the single gpu in the X2 is much much better so even if crossfire doesn't scale you still are getting great performance. However, all you want to do is install your new games, crank all settings to high and go right to play not worrying about the card you have in your machine, get something like HD4850/HD4870/GTX260/GTX280.

@OP: If I was in your position I would wait to see what the die shrink does for the GTX 280 before I make a decision. Single GPU is always the best way to go if the performance is very close with multi-GPU.

 

[E6700]

i would stay away from that gx2 if i were u. i recommended my friend to buy that evga 9800gx2 from newegg 2 weeks ago for $263 after rebate. after helping him installed it and ran 3dmark05 and got a same score range 19,xxx as my radeon 4850. that was dissapointing from a gx2.

 

[Synomenon]

I got the same 9800GX2 as well from Newegg. I don't notice any micro-stuttering. Also, it performs much better than the card I upgraded from (8800GT). The 4870X2 and GTX280 are nice, but there's no way I or anyone I know would pay over $400 for a video card.

At less than $300 for a 9800GX2 or GTX260, they're pretty good deals. I'm satisfied with my GX2's performance w/ my 24" Dell LCD. If you have deep pockets though, Definitely go for a 4870X2

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: amtbr
I was thinking of the GX2 as well, since it costs about the same as a 4870 and in benchmarks performs better. But I see all this talk of microstutter, yet I cant find any threads anywhere of an actual GX2 owner complaining of microstutter. It seems to either be a myth, or a function of older misbehaving drivers.

It's not a myth, it's just that the majority of people on Earth don't seem to notice it. It's kind of like the rainbow effect that some people notice when watching a DLP projector or television. I don't see it at all, but if you see it, it will drive you crazy. And it has nothing to do with drivers, it involves AFR, which both SLI and XFire use. It effects all mutiple GPU solutions that are used today.

AFR= Alternate Frame Rendering, where card/GPU #1 renders frame #1, while card/GPU #2 works on rendering frame #2. Microstutter happens when frame #2 is rendered too quickly after frame #1 was rendered. When that happens (frame #2 rendered too quickly), then both cards will be waiting on the CPU and/or system RAM to send the data for the next frame(s), which makes you get two frames almost instantaneously (in a worst case scenario), then have to wait what seems like forever (in CPU/GPU time) for frame #3, that will again render only a a millisecond or so before frame #4, then the long wait for frame #5 to be rendered, etc.

Originally posted by: Swampthing
I've never had a SLI setup, well, i have, but it was back in the 3dfx days with a pair of voodoo 2's.

Voodoo 2's used a different, superior type of rendering, called Split Frame rendering, where both cards render only one frame at a time. Card #1 rendered the even lines, while card #2 rendered the odd numbered lines, making microstutter impossible. It was vastly superior to the way ATI and nVidia do it, using AFR.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: E6700
i would stay away from that gx2 if i were u. i recommended my friend to buy that evga 9800gx2 from newegg 2 weeks ago for $263 after rebate. after helping him installed it and ran 3dmark05 and got a same score range 19,xxx as my radeon 4850. that was dissapointing from a gx2.

LOL why would you run 3dm05 to see how good a new graphics card is?


Alot of the reviews from the X2 yesterday show the 9800gx2 and the 4850/4870...its not even close.

 

[videopho]

Keep the 8800gtx and wait until the price on 4870x2 to drop a bit then go for it.
I did make a mistake by going from the 8800gts-512 to the gx2 in a 4 months spans.
All I gain is a few fps (~5-10%) in most games.
It's not worth the $$$ as I was advised prior to the gx2 purchase.
I should have waited for the 4870x2.

 

[Tempered81]

I should have waited for the 4870x2.

About sums up the current GPU market

 

[imported_Shaq]

What is your motherboard? Do you have 1 pci-express slot? If you have one slot you can get a GX2 and you have a card that will handle PhysX quite nicely if your res is 1920x1200 and below. If you have 2 slots you could keep the 8800 and add a 260 or 280. If you don't care about PhysX then a 4870 would be good when OC'd.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: amtbr
I was thinking of the GX2 as well, since it costs about the same as a 4870 and in benchmarks performs better. But I see all this talk of microstutter, yet I cant find any threads anywhere of an actual GX2 owner complaining of microstutter. It seems to either be a myth, or a function of older misbehaving drivers.

It's not a myth, it's just that the majority of people on Earth don't seem to notice it. It's kind of like the rainbow effect that some people notice when watching a DLP projector or television. I don't see it at all, but if you see it, it will drive you crazy. And it has nothing to do with drivers, it involves AFR, which both SLI and XFire use. It effects all mutiple GPU solutions that are used today.

AFR= Alternate Frame Rendering, where card/GPU #1 renders frame #1, while card/GPU #2 works on rendering frame #2. Microstutter happens when frame #2 is rendered too quickly after frame #1 was rendered. When that happens (frame #2 rendered too quickly), then both cards will be waiting on the CPU and/or system RAM to send the data for the next frame(s), which makes you get two frames almost instantaneously (in a worst case scenario), then have to wait what seems like forever (in CPU/GPU time) for frame #3, that will again render only a a millisecond or so before frame #4, then the long wait for frame #5 to be rendered, etc.

Originally posted by: Swampthing
I've never had a SLI setup, well, i have, but it was back in the 3dfx days with a pair of voodoo 2's.

Voodoo 2's used a different, superior type of rendering, called Split Frame rendering, where both cards render only one frame at a time. Card #1 rendered the even lines, while card #2 rendered the odd numbered lines, making microstutter impossible. It was vastly superior to the way ATI and nVidia do it, using AFR.

AFR is extremely difficult and so scissors mode is often used. You would think that NV uses 3dfx's SLI technology no?

 

[Swampthing]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: amtbr
I was thinking of the GX2 as well, since it costs about the same as a 4870 and in benchmarks performs better. But I see all this talk of microstutter, yet I cant find any threads anywhere of an actual GX2 owner complaining of microstutter. It seems to either be a myth, or a function of older misbehaving drivers.

It's not a myth, it's just that the majority of people on Earth don't seem to notice it. It's kind of like the rainbow effect that some people notice when watching a DLP projector or television. I don't see it at all, but if you see it, it will drive you crazy. And it has nothing to do with drivers, it involves AFR, which both SLI and XFire use. It effects all mutiple GPU solutions that are used today.
.

I know i'll notice the microstutter so i decided against the GX2. The price was just really attractive for the performance but that stutter would drive me insane.

I saw newegg had the 4870 x2 in stock so i just shelled out the extra money and ordered that. Thanks for the feedback everyone.