1x 295 or 2x 4870X2

[CompuTamer]

I'm at a bit of a wall... cost really isn't a problem, i have 2K to finish up this system with... i just want to know which would offer better performance?:burn:

Anyone out there that can help me?

[sandyduff]

I think 2 4870x2's may struggle with a 650W PSU... so i would go for a 295...

[EarthDog]

2 HD4870x2 would offer better performance. The GTX295 beats a single 4870x2, but not by much. Add another x2 and well.....read between the lines in the games it scales well.

To that end, I hope you are looking at 24" @ 1920x1200 or better. Otherwise, even though you have the money its a waste. ;)

[CompuTamer]

I'm actually looking for 22" @ 1920x1080. :D

What do you think that it would take to run 2 4870X2s?

[EarthDog]

30" @ 2560x1900 or w/e would be solid for those cards. Dont get me wrong, they will be utilized on a 1920x1200 monitor. But one of those can run 1920x1200 or 1920x1080.

[CompuTamer]

So... GTX295 it is?

[diaz]

Yes. Best solution for your setup. Your PSU cannot handle 2 4870x2's, plus there is no way to tell if your games will take advantage of quadfire.

-D

[CompuTamer]

Okay, thanks for the help. I think i'll spend that extra $ on another SSD... have an all SSD system :attn:

[sandyduff]

you would probably need a 1KW PSU to run 2 4870x2's....

[CompuTamer]

I don't think that i would be able to fit one of those in my Antec 900 lol

[sandyduff]

yeh they are power hungry beasts!!!

I don't think you would be disappointed with a 295... they seem to be very good....

[CompuTamer]

I hope not. Only having to buy one videocard means that i can have a 500gig SSD storage array.

[CompuTamer]

How ever much it costs to buy two 250gig drives and run them as one drive. (RAID 6 i think?) Probably not cheap...

EDIT: Just checked and it looks like it would be 1K... i think i may settle for three 1TB drives in RAID 1...

[Poffik]

go with GTX 295 , has good stuff in it like NVIDIA CUDA , Physx etc... and OpeGL 2.1 :P
and your power supply is enough

[Neural Net]

go with GTX 295 , has good stuff in it like NVIDIA CUDA , Physx etc... and OpeGL 2.1 :P
and your power supply is enough

All of which are arguably gimmicks anyway. It will be fast rendering graphics and great for folding. Not much else.

[EarthDog]

All of which are arguably gimmicks anyway. It will be fast rendering graphics and great for folding. Not much else.So that x2 of yours can only render graphics......oh crap, my bad, forgot about DX10.1 and the 3 games that use it. :santa:

[Neural Net]

So that x2 of yours can only render graphics......oh crap, my bad, forgot about DX10.1 and the 3 games that use it. :santa:

Yeh and 3 games use Nvidia PhysX on the GPU... Works on UT3, which nobody plays, works on Mirror's Edge which has been regarded as a huge flop. What's your point? :santa:

[EarthDog]

Same as yours. None. :beer:

But for everyone's viewing pleasure, here is a list of "those 3 games" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX), and the DX 10.1 games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_10_support) in all fairness. :)

[Neural Net]

Same as yours. None. :beer:

But for everyone's viewing pleasure, here is a list of "those 3 games" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX), and the DX 10.1 games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_10_support) in all fairness. :)

That list is a bit misleading, only a couple of games offer physx that require it to be done on the GPU. Every other game listed there uses "hardware physx" because it's using the physx engine on the cpu or the now defunct card and are so basic even a low end C2Ds can handle it. There's no doubt that Physx is a popular engine, but when it comes to GPU rendering it's a hell of a long way off from becoming mainstream, and that's not a certainty as the Core i7 is very powerful at physics calculations.

It's funny that Half Life 2 has more advanced physics than nearly every title mentioned and that doesn't need a GPU to do it, hell it doesn't even need a quad core CPU either. Then there's GTA IV... :p

I didn't even mention DX10.1 so your argument is moot on that part. :D I would never buy an ATI card just because it has DX10.1, same as I would never buy a Nvidia card for GPU physics. I did have 8800GTs in SLI, and the performance hit on the PhysX UT3 maps was so great that the fps was more than halved, all for stuff that could be easily done on a quad core CPU.

So... bleh :beer:

[EarthDog]

Well physX and CUDA is less of a gimmick than Havok, DX10.1 (for now), or ATI's 'cuda' which is all ATI cards have. My point is those in glass houses shouldnt heave stones. Im sorry Neural, for some reason I took your initial disparaging comment about the card to heart. Sorry about that. I will stop replying, this isnt going anywhere. Both are solid cards.

[Neural Net]

Well physX and CUDA is less of a gimmick than Havok, DX10.1 (for now), or ATI's 'cuda' which is all ATI cards have. My point is those in glass houses shouldnt heave stones. Im sorry Neural, for some reason I took your initial disparaging comment about the card to heart. Sorry about that. I will stop replying, this isnt going anywhere. Both are solid cards.

It wasn't about the card, it's just about Nvidia trying to set a standard, it would be bad for the industry as a whole IMO. The itself card is fantastic, no doubt about that. :)

[Badbonji]

Let's stop here before it goes too far, this is not a war, it is a thread offering advice to help him choose which card(s), which ended up in you two arguing :)

Go for one GTX295, it will be plenty for anything at 1920x1080/1200.
BUT: one warning; driver support is fairly poor, people are having lock ups in certain games including me, which probably won't be settled until the next set of WHQL's.

[Neural Net]

Let's stop here before it goes too far, this is not a war, it is a thread offering advice to help him choose which card(s), which ended up in you two arguing :)

Go for one GTX295, it will be plenty for anything at 1920x1080/1200.
BUT: one warning; driver support is fairly poor, people are having lock ups in certain games including me, which probably won't be settled until the next set of WHQL's.

Could it be a heat issue? What's the temperature like on this beast?!?

[EarthDog]

I think I stopped it already Badbonji... but thanks for the support. ;)

Anyhow, For all intents and purposes, there hasnt been great driver support for any gx2 type card on the nvidia side. Most people are ok in most games, some however just have issues. I find ATI's implementation a bit better in that regard. All I keep hearing from x2/gx2 owners a like are 'hopefully the driver will................'.

Single GPU cards FTW! ;)

[CompuTamer]

Wait... so what am i getting now? I'm confused...

[iLoki]

GTX 295 for sure. It will outperform the 4870x2 in just about everything (but GRID lol)

[Neural Net]

Wait... so what am i getting now? I'm confused...

The GTX 295 if you think it's worth the extra cash.

[zbo]

If you get that 295, let me know if to managed to fit it in your antec 900.

Edit: It will fit. My evga 260 is 10.5 inches, and that fits. The evga spec sheet says that the 295 is also 10.5 inches so there's no problems there.

[croswald]

gtx 295 fits perfect in the antec 900 case have both myself...

i would get the 295 i had a hd4870x2 and as of ccc9.1 still to many problems with drivers the gtx 295 is good

[Neural Net]

gtx 295 fits perfect in the antec 900 case have both myself...

i would get the 295 i had a hd4870x2 and as of ccc9.1 still to many problems with drivers the gtx 295 is good

Can't say I've had any problems since the cards release. Drivers have been solid.

[henzo]

you would probably need a 1KW PSU to run 2 4870x2's....

With my rig in the sig, I am gonna add my 4870x2 when it gets here tomorrow, and I will be able to run a single HD4870 card for tri-fire and I dont need a 1kw psu. For 2 x2's, you need an 850w psu and you should be good. Even oc'd it wont draw 850w along with an oc'd quad (depending if you have 60 hdd's and a bunch of burners in your case lol).