The 9800 GTX+'s competitor

[krnmastersgt]

So anyways people have been discussing which would be better, 9800GTX+ SLI or 4850/4870 CF. Keep in mind I'm asking who the 9800 GTX+'s true competitor is in multi-gpu set-ups. When we look at the tests that AT has done, mainly the 4870X2 review, the 9800 GTX+ SLI only seems to lose when the res is at 2560x1900. And when it's at a lower resolution it seems to consistently beat the 4850 in CF and trade wins with the 4870 CF. But when people look at the prices they compare the GTX+ to the 4850, so who's its real competition? What it performs with or what its priced with?

 

[BassBomb]

Comparable to 4850 due to price and performance

9800gtx+ does not perform near a 4870

 

[krnmastersgt]

Maybe not in single card testing, but from what I see with multi-gpu it performs near the 4870.

 

[DaveSimmons]

A single 4870 is fine for most games at 19x12 and has no scaling or stuttering issues. At 19x12 I'd probably get a GTX 280 (at $400 max) instead of CF 4850.

Right now I'd only be buying the 4870x2 or SLI 9800GTX+ to run at 25x19, so then the better performance of the x2 would be worth the extra $100 to me.

So my picks would be:

19 x 12 resolution:
Below $200: single 4850
Up to $300: single 4870 or GTX 260 if you prefer nv and don't mind it being slower
$400: single GTX 280

25 x 19:
$350: CF 4850
$400: SLI 9800GTX
$500: 4870x2

Note that you need to spend extra on the motherboard for full CF or SLI support, so a cheaper single-slot motherboard like my gigabyte P43 would let you get the 4870x2 for almost the same price:

P35 / P43 MB + 4870x2 = $600 <-- better value than X48
X48 MB + CF 4850 = $575
SLI MB + 9800GTX+ = ?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well if we look at it from my shoes, I already have a 780i so the SLI is usually more appealing to me, or an X2. In any case I really wish I could find a comparison chart of GTX+ SLI, GTX 280, 4850 CF, and 4870 CF. Anyone know of one?

Edit: Nvm, AT's 4850/4870 review has one.

 

[SSChevy2001]

Also you need to take into to mind that the 4850CF is better on power and cheaper. 86w less on load, which will save some coin down the road. Also I believe the 9800GTX+ price is going to be $230 on release. x2 = $460 $40 short of 4870x2, which hopefully by that time will have better crysis score and idle power.

 

[krnmastersgt]

So anyways when you look at this, aside from the scenarios where SLI doesn't wanna scale much, ex. Bioshock. The 9800 GTX+ seems to be performing near the 4870 CF rather than the 4850, except in the COD4 test. I know half of those games are optimized for SLI but still, in that real world scenario for gaming doesn't that mean the GTX+ is competing with the 4870?

Also, aside from Bioshock, the GTX+ SLI always beats the single GTX 280, so I'd say since the price is close enough, assuming you have an nForce board like myself, GTX+ SLI is the more practical choice. (Disregarding power consumption anyways)

 

[runawayprisoner]

SLI 9800GTX+ is definitely competitive. But on a single card level, and as you can see from those graphs, single 9800GTX+ is only about on par with 4850.

So... if you are comparing SLI, then the 9800GTX+ has an edge in games that support SLI better. If you are only comparing a single card, you should be able to see from those graphs that the direct and actual competition of 9800GTX+ is just the 4850.

P.S.: But keep in mind 4850 is quite overclockable, and so does 4870. So the verdict is still unclear about whether or not SLI or CF would be better. Stock clocks would favor the 9800GTX+, but I'm not so sure about overclocked clocks. 4870 is already catching up with GTX 280 level at 900MHz core clock, and that only requires some simple tweaks.

 

[SSChevy2001]

I would want to see more games compared before coming to that conclusion, but yes by these results. Also ATI drivers are still very early for these new cards. Where 9800GTX+ is just a new revision of a older card. Personally I think GTX260 SLI, GTX280 SLI, 4870X2 are the best options because of the extra memory down the road. The GTX260 is only going for 247.99 after rebate. Consider that.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Naturally I've seen that the GTX+ competes with the 4850 in terms of single card performance, but whether CF or SLI scales better, or has a better future is not what I'm trying to find out. Given the tendency to optimize games towards SLI, whatever the reason may be, that still has the GTX+ performing on par with the 4870. Power draw wise, the GTX+ draws less than the 4870 in dual-cpu. Performance wise, they trade wins, aside from when SLI scales poorly like in Bioshock, where a single 4870 beats the GTX+ in SLI.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: SSChevy2001
I would want to see more games compared before coming to that conclusion, but yes by these results. Also ATI drivers are still very early for these new cards. Where 9800GTX+ is just a new revision of a older card. Personally I think GTX260 SLI, GTX280 SLI, 4870X2 are the best options because of the extra memory down the road. The GTX260 is only going for 247.99 after rebate. Consider that.

Nevermind, the power draws for 280 SLI would lead me to believe the costs of running the 260s wouldn't really be worth it to me. Misread earlier