Okay, this is it!! Need some final help please!

[breathemetal]

After countless help threads ive finally decided what my new build is going to be...except for one detail...the gpu.

Here it is so far:

EVGA x58
i7 920 w/ 120 Black w/ Sflex 1200rpm
Corsair Dominator 1600 6b
WD SE 16 640gb x2
Pioneer 20x DVD
Lian Li PXC500
Ultra X3 800wt

And gpu...idk?

I was thinking the 4870 cuz its so cheap right now, but is it loosing its glory?
Is the x2 the best? or the 295?

I really dont want a ungodly loud card. But i want something that will last me a good year or more.

Ive never tried ATI, so im used to Nvidia, but idc about names really. Though, with the EVGA board id like to couple it with its own brand card too, heh. :rolleyes:

What about the 285? Is that better than the 4870?

[S_G]

GTX 295 is an overall "faster" card than the 4870X2, but the 4870X2 has much more stable framerates (looking at minimum frames), quite possibly because of the extra 128MB RAM on each GPU. 4870X2 takes the crown with more memory load (ie. 2560x1600, lots of AA).

The GTX 285 is indeed faster than the 4870, by quite a bit. Not the 4870x2, though. I'd go with the GTX 285, unless you see yourself playing at 1920x1200 with lots of AA, in which case grab two GTX 285 / GTX 280 or one 4870X2. I prefer NVIDIA, not a fan of their drivers as of late. If you do go ATI, look at XFX's cards. I'm sure you recognize them from their NVIDIA cards.

[breathemetal]

I game @ 1900x1200
But I never seem to force any AA
Id like to be able to use more than I am now though :p

[S_G]

Well, all depends on whether you want to play the latest and greatest games. If so, a 4870X2 might do it for ya. GTX280s are quickly falling in price, but two of those would be really nice. If you're lucky, you can probably snag them for a little more than what a 4870X2 costs.

[breathemetal]

Would 280 in SLI be faster than a single x2?
Im just not a fan of the dual solution cards like the x2.
If i was going to have 2 id rather just do it the "natural" way with sli

[Kondik]

GTX 295 is fine, but if you have spare $ do as I did get the 2x 285, the cards are not even crossing the 82 degrees mark on 712/1620/2600, the Cooling is dead silent.
I returned Two GTX 295, because the Quad SLI support was horrid took the 285 SLI and I'm glad I did that.

As for ATI , dunno, had 4870x2 but at that time they had awfull drivers so I changed it for GTX 280.

If you want one slot Solution grab the GTX 295 it's a fine card, but for gaming 32 ROP's instead of 28 and higher freq.

It's up to you, you won't do a wrong choice, there is just a great one and a better one.

2x 295 http://www.ninjutsu.tym.cz/nuevo/Photo070.jpg but as they got warmer they turned intro a jet. Althrough Crysis Warhead 1920*1200 4x FSAA 16xAF 50FPS ... yummy

[Humminn55]

Honestly, in the cards you've described as your choices, none are bad cards. Pretty much comes down to comfort level of $$ spent.....and I'd consider what games you play most. Some do better on ATI, some on nVidia.

[breathemetal]

Honestly Fallout 3 is one of my main games.

[S_G]

If Fallout 3 is what you want to play, maxed out at 2560x1600, in order of performance from worst to best: (although "worst" is not all that bad)

GTX 295
4870X2
2x GTX 280
2x GTX 285

I'm fairly sure about that order, but I could be wrong. The 295 falls behind the 4870x2 because of the lower amount of RAM, all three of the other listed cards have 1GB per GPU.

[breathemetal]

How is the 280 better than the 285?

[breathemetal]

^^^ bump

[CannonFodder]

"in order of performance from worst to best"

[breathemetal]

Ah okay