Whats better? 2x ATI HD 3870's or 1x 8800GTX

[techface]

Can't decide. My mobo is an Asus Maximus Formula SE. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[techface]

Each option is roughly the same price, ideally i would go for the GTX with a view to SLI in the future but my mobo supports xfire.

 

[Extelleron]

2x HD 3870 will be faster in most situations, but there are sometimes that Crossfire/SLI don't work well, in those situations the GTX will be faster.

I'd consider waiting for the HD 3870 X2, a single card that will have two RV670 chips onboard. It'll probably end up cheaper than 2x HD 3870s and *may* have better performance. It's not as concrete, but there are also rumors that nVidia will introduce a dual-G92 card. Regardless, we know that the X2 is coming sometime later this month, along with the rest of AMD's 55nm GPU lineup.

 

[Sylvanas]

You'll get better performance with Crossfire 3870's however people will tell you that 2 cards may be more problematic than 1 card. I figure that drivers are always improving so why not- but you might be better off going for a G92 GT or GTS which would fit within the price range of a GTX or 2 3870's. Google some reviews, plenty out there.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
You'll get better performance with Crossfire 3870's however people will tell you that 2 cards may be more problematic than 1 card. I figure that drivers are always improving so why not- but you might be better off going for a G92 GT or GTS which would fit within the price range of a GTX or 2 3870's. Google some reviews, plenty out there.

Yep. Get an 8800GTS 512MB and save some money over either option. The only game I've tried that the GTS 512MB doesn't handle well enough is Crysis, and neither of your other options handle that very well either.

 

[daveybrat]

Or get one 3870 for now and that way when prices drop on them you can add a second later. A single 3870 is more than sufficient for today's games with the exception of Crisis which no card plays well.

 

[Hauk]

How long before we can throw this puppy in the mix?

A couple weeks? $400-450? The fun never ends...

 

[nitromullet]

The whole idea of adding a second card later as an upgrade has almost always proven to be a bad idea in terms of price/performance. The reason for this is that usually by the time your singe card begins to show its age and a second card would be in order, there is a new card out that either outperforms your potential dual card setup or is cheaper. If you want dual cards, that's cool... get dual cards... but don't do think of either SLI or Crossfire as upgrade options. Dual card systems are generally a poor value, but they are kinda fun to own.

 

[BFG10K]

Or get one 3870 for now and that way when prices drop on them you can add a second later.

This tactic is almost never worthwhile.

 

[happy medium]

Or you could crossfire these 2900pro's for 290.00$ and get gtx performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102717