So Many Cards - Makes My Head Hurt

[Maxx103]

Hello all,

I am in the middle of a new build and I am getting close to picking out a new video card. But I am so confused right now about what is what.

First and formost, I will be unable to run NVidia cards in SLI, unless it is the 9800 GX2, namely because the Mobo I have is a ASUS Maximus Formula. I was thinking of going with a 3870, then 3870 in Crossfire, then 3870 x2,

Then as I had my mind made up between 3870 x2 and 9800 GX2, along comes the 4850 and 4870 an the GTX 280 which added more to my lack of ability to decide.

I want to play the latest and greatest games and be able to watch hi-def movies using my internal BD drive.

Can someone explain to me what the basics are between the cards I mentioned. Is there that much of a performance gap or is it with in a 3 +/- FPS of each other?

[jedimindtriks]

gtx280 is the best but is twice the price of a 4870, the 4870 performes about 20-30% lower then the the 280.
since you have a intel based mobo, that supports 2 or more ati cards you should eitheer go for 2 x 4870, or 2 x 4850 cards :)

remember that for 1 gtx280, you can get 2 x 4870, and 2 of those puppies will kill the gtx280 in every game.

[xMrBunglex]

gtx280 is the best but is twice the price of a 4870, the 4870 performes about 20-30% lower then the the 280.
since you have a intel based mobo, that supports 2 or more ati cards you should eitheer go for 2 x 4870, or 2 x 4850 cards :)

remember that for 1 gtx280, you can get 2 x 4870, and 2 of those puppies will kill the gtx280 in every game.

+1

dual 4870's won't kill a GTX280 in every game, but CrossFire support is pretty good now and my cards just scream on every game i've tried so far. i haven't tried a game yet that doesn't scale well with CF.

of course, the 4870's just might be a lot faster than you think. you might even try one at first and see if you even want a second card yet.

[Maxx103]

Well I have always been partial to ATi products going back to the Radeon 9700 pro and 9800 pro. Are the 4870's out yet in full force or are they in limited release?

[icon57]

Well I have always been partial to ATi products going back to the Radeon 9700 pro and 9800 pro. Are the 4870's out yet in full force or are they in limited release?

lol...thats about the last time they made good cards, until now...4870 due out in july sometime, i would use those in your new build, good luck!

[cantankerous]

lol...thats about the last time they made good cards, until now...4870 due out in july sometime, i would use those in your new build, good luck!

hey, there was nothing wrong with the X1900XTX. Bested the 7900GTX 90% of the time and had better AF to boot.

[cantankerous]

+1

dual 4870's won't kill a GTX280 in every game, but CrossFire support is pretty good now and my cards just scream on every game i've tried so far. i haven't tried a game yet that doesn't scale well with CF.

of course, the 4870's just might be a lot faster than you think. you might even try one at first and see if you even want a second card yet.

This is exactly what I am wondering. I am already on an overclocked 8800 Ultra and am wondering if it is worth switching up to a 4870. With the 8800 Ultra already being quite faster, especially overclocked, I want to be sure that getting the 4870 will net me even faster results, and not just more of the same.