which video cards to SLI or crossfire for 300$

crazy.wingman

Senior member
Jan 5, 2011
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hi ppl

which video cards i should by for 300$ ?
i want to use them for editing,rendering n for CG content.
also must be good enough to run max games on max settings.
 

Skurge

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2009
5,195
1
71
What kind of rendering?

Single card options are GTX560ti and 6950. You can get 2 6850s for about $300 that are MUCH faster than both. But you have to deal with the usual dual card issues.
 

crazy.wingman

Senior member
Jan 5, 2011
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for renderings will nvidia be better than ati ? i mean more cuda processors or steam processors ?

what abt nvidia physics as ati lacks it ?
which will provide fast n quality rendering for caustics,ray tracing n encoding ?
will the new fermi architecture be an advantage for rendering ?
 
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RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
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PhysX are useless. It's either GTX460 SLi or HD6850 Xfire.

Last time i heard, HD6850 Xfire was better than a single GTX570.
 

crazy.wingman

Senior member
Jan 5, 2011
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can quadro cards be sli'ed or fireGL be crossfired ?
i was thinking of buying 2 Zotac GTS 450's in 300$ it will perform better than GTX 480 i guess n also i get hdmi cable n vga to dvi converters with it. 580 is out of my budget.
 

ShadowVVL

Senior member
May 1, 2010
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yes quadro can sli and firepro can crossfire but only on the larger more expensive ones which would cost a lot more then $300 even a good single work station gpu will cost $400 and up

i would say go for a single460 gtx and if your doing a major project then 580gtx
 
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dpodblood

Diamond Member
May 20, 2010
4,020
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Go with a single $300 card instead. You will be much better off. HD 6950 should do the trick, especially since it will most unlikely unlock to a 6970 no problem.
 

crazy.wingman

Senior member
Jan 5, 2011
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yes quadro can sli and firepro can crossfire but only on the larger more expensive ones which would cost a lot more then $300 even a good single work station gpu will cost $400 and up

i would say go for a single460 gtx and if your doing a major project then 580gtx

580 out of my league, will gts 450's will perform better than single gtx 460 ?
what do you think abt ZOTAC cards or some other manufacturer ?
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
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580 out of my league, will gts 450's will perform better than single gtx 460 ?
what do you think abt ZOTAC cards or some other manufacturer ?
what is your obsession with trying to run two cards? buy a SINGLE card that delivers the performance you want. two gts450 cards would only match or best case scenario, slightly beat a gtx460 while costing much more.
 

dpodblood

Diamond Member
May 20, 2010
4,020
1
81
what is your obsession with trying to run two cards? buy a SINGLE card that delivers the performance you want. two gts450 cards would only match or best case scenario, slightly beat a gtx460 while costing much more.

That's what I was trying to get at... Maybe OP just wants to show off 2 cards in his shiny windowed case.
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
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alienbabeltech.com
580 out of my league, will gts 450's will perform better than single gtx 460 ?
what do you think abt ZOTAC cards or some other manufacturer ?
i just did a Crossfire vs SLI evaluation which used GTX 450s in SLI
(GTS 450/GTX 460/480/560ti/570/580 and GTS 450 SLI & GTX 460/560ti SLI; also HD 6970/6950/6870/5870 and HD 5870 & HD 6870 CF)

i would not recommend that particular combination; the GTS 450 is just too weak of a performer. OtOh, if you can spend about $400 for GTX 460 SLI, you will have very close to GTX 580 performance
 
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ShadowVVL

Senior member
May 1, 2010
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580 out of my league, will gts 450's will perform better than single gtx 460 ? what do you think abt ZOTAC cards or some other manufacturer ?

I think 2 450gts would be ok, but i think a 460gtx would be better since you can buy one now then buy the other later. I have never heard anything bad about zotac cards but i dont know how good they are i have only owned cards from evega.



here a 460 gtx se from evega for $169.99 and $149.99 after mail in rebate
so for 2 thats $339 and $299 after rebate. I cant vouch for their rebates since i dont do rebates.

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-1366-TR&family=GeForce%20400%20Series%20Family&sw=
 
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happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
14,387
480
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Another wait for the gtx550 card to release in a few weeks recommendation. Should be gtx580 like performance for under 300$ in sli.

The gtx460 and 6850 combo's are more then 300$.
 

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
1
0
Another wait for the gtx550 card to release in a few weeks recommendation. Should be gtx580 like performance for under 300$ in sli.

The gtx460 and 6850 combo's are more then 300$.
what? it looks like it is still 192sp card so two of those will not beat a gtx580 in any way. even two 336sp gtx460 cards would not be faster than a gtx580 in most cases.

the op seems to want two cards no matter what which is silly. he just asked about gts450 sli being as fast as gtx460 so that means gtx460 level performance would probably be okay. he should get just ONE gtx460 if that is so becuase its cheaper and just as fast as gts450 sli.
 

happy medium

Lifer
Jun 8, 2003
14,387
480
126
what? it looks like it is still 192sp card so two of those will not beat a gtx580 in any way. even two 336sp gtx460 cards would not be faster than a gtx580 in most cases.

the op seems to want two cards no matter what which is silly. he just asked about gts450 sli being as fast as gtx460 so that means gtx460 level performance would probably be okay. he should get just ONE gtx460 if that is so becuase its cheaper and just as fast as gts450 sli.

Crap I meant "like gtx 480" performance sorry.