3 x 4890 or 2x 4870X2?

[TehPwn]

Hi all, Im looking to build a new system soon and have a fairly high budget, I was just wondering which would give better performance, 3 x 4890's or 2x 4870X2's? Many thanks.

[perkam]

3x4890 >>>> 2x4870X2

The 4890s have scary CF scaling.

Perkam

[dum]

wait 2 months and get 5000 series, or the 4800 series cheaper

[TehPwn]

3x4890 >>>> 2x4870X2

The 4890s have scary CF scaling.

Perkam

Lol thanks, so you mean 3x 4890's would be better..right?

[TehPwn]

wait 2 months and get 5000 series, or the 4800 series cheaper

Wow @ 5000 series, is this true? Are they due for around October?

[Paxi]

I would get 3 4890 if you´re buying right now, but only because they are cheaper. Performance should be about the same, but 4870 quadfire has some noticeable microstuttering accoring to some users, but not everbody is affected by this.
Anyway i would wait for the new 5000 series or the gt300, get a single 4890 for now.

[dum]

Wow @ 5000 series, is this true? Are they due for around October?

I believe so, think they are dropping around windows 7 release, someone will correct me if I am wrong

[perkam]

Lol thanks, so you mean 3x 4890's would be better..right?Ofcourse :stick:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/3way-sli-crossfire/hawx.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/3way-sli-crossfire/grid.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/3way-sli-crossfire/fallout3.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/3way-sli-crossfire/scs.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/3way-sli-crossfire/farcry2.png

Find the "4890 CF3" in the charts above and prepared to be blown away :up:

Perkam

[shazza]

I'd stay away from two x 4870x2s. I've tried it in two different systems - not a noticeable enough gain to make it worthwhile. Everybody seems to like the 4890s. What res are you gaming/working at? If 1920x1200, I'd probably just go with one 4890 for now, and wait for the new cards to come out (just a thought).

[Kensek]

2 hd4890s in X-Fire beat my 2 HD4870X2s in X-Fire.

31,200 vs 30,300 in 3DMark06.

I did order 3 Asus HD4890's 4 weeks back, but one came almost DOA and is currently on its way back to me soon.

I want to see how much more a third card will scale from 2.

[texasreefer]

I tell you what, I am obviously an Ati guy and am running Quadfire with no microstuttering. As of now Triple crossfire is more stable an outperforms Quad-Fire. If I were you, and seeming as we have similar set-ups I would go for two 295s in Quad-SLI. I was looking at a good review of SLI vs Crossfire, and that's what I would do. If you really want to have a bad boy set up, I would wait for the 300 series to come out, w/ Direct X 11, and go triple SLI. With your board and processor you couldn't loose.

But, on second thought...just look at those numbers (Damn, good post Perkam). Who cares about the Green and Blue numbers, it's the Red and PUrple numbers that count. The main reason I choose Quad-Crossfire is because, in the red (1080p) numbers im good, the X2s have the memory that acts like torque for gaming, that's why in some games it outperforms SLI and Triple X-fire. I have an HtPC system and that's my resolution. In another point, Since I only run two cards I save alot of space bc of the water blocks, have no heat, and I have a 750w PSU (Pcpower Silencer). The big issues with running three cards go on and on....you got more power, which means a better PSU ( not just bigger), you got less space, good luck running an Audio Card (I need DTS for my reciever), and you got lots of heat, not to mention driver compatibilty issues.

THis is a great time for buying videocards, it's going to be crucial with what happens with DX 11.

[TehPwn]

Thanks for all the replies guys and Perkam for the charts (Y) How much more performance are the 5000 series, 300 series expected to deliver, would it be worth the wait? Or should I opt for GTX 295? Thanks

[Razrback16]

Personally, I'd recommend waiting for the 5000 series. It's literally like 8 weeks away. And even if you then decide to go 4000 series, the 5000 series release will push costs down considerably.

[TehPwn]

Personally, I'd recommend waiting for the 5000 series. It's literally like 8 weeks away. And even if you then decide to go 4000 series, the 5000 series release will push costs down considerably.

Thanks I will likely do this :) But how much of a performance gain would you expect to see between the 4000 series and 5000 series off hand?

[texasreefer]

There is one other way of looking at it... the gpu technology is moving more quickly that the economy/consumer is. One of the best cards to this day is the 8800 Ultra, especially in Sli. When the 9800s came out a lot of people sold their 8800s and were dissapointed. The gtx 280 was the real break through, and now even that isn't enough for some enthusiasts. 4890s are pretty damn cheap (bang for buck) and they are supposed to beat two 280s, and 3 x forg-etaboutit.

If you wait for the 5000 series or the 300s, you are going to pay out the ying-yang and when you look at most of the top benchmarks, they are going to all be on I7 boards, and roughly 25-30% higher. Just wait... Six months after those cards come out, some other big thing or technology will break through.

[TehPwn]

There is one other way of looking at it... the gpu technology is moving more quickly that the economy/consumer is. One of the best cards to this day is the 8800 Ultra, especially in Sli. When the 9800s came out a lot of people sold their 8800s and were dissapointed. The gtx 280 was the real break through, and now even that isn't enough for some enthusiasts. 4890s are pretty damn cheap (bang for buck) and they are supposed to beat two 280s, and 3 x forg-etaboutit.

If you wait for the 5000 series or the 300s, you are going to pay out the ying-yang and when you look at most of the top benchmarks, they are going to all be on I7 boards, and roughly 25-30% higher. Just wait... Six months after those cards come out, some other big thing or technology will break through.

Yeah thats true lol, and I actually plan on a whole new i7 system i7 920 @ 4.0GHz, 12GB DDR3 etc, btw nice overclock there, you have a thread about it? Thanks, Alex.

[texasreefer]

Not at the moment, but there is a great article out on the new 6GB kits out there titled "Triple-Channel DDR3: 6GB Kit Roundup." I purchased my mushkin 1600 DDR3 triple channel kit because these results, it's the best bang for the buck. It overclocks to 1900+ at 1.65V. Ballistix is still king, but very expensive. I also have a D0 stepping cpu called SLBEJ, as opposed to a C0 stepper SLBCH. Since my RAM is running at 1683 with stock timings, I'm guessing the SLBEJ is resposible for the extra 0.2Ghz. You shouldn't run more than 6GB on a gaming system.

With an Asus Rampage II extreme your almost guaranteed 4.2Ghz, the only flaw I see is the layout of the Expansion SLots. I personally like the Asus P6T.. layout, but a buddy of mine has one and his overclock on a SLBCH I7 920 is 3.8Ghz. The highest overclocks that I have seen have been on Xenon chips, I have no experience with these cpus. Good Luck

[TehPwn]

Not at the moment, but there is a great article out on the new 6GB kits out there titled "Triple-Channel DDR3: 6GB Kit Roundup." I purchased my mushkin 1600 DDR3 triple channel kit because these results, it's the best bang for the buck. It overclocks to 1900+ at 1.65V. Ballistix is still king, but very expensive. I also have a D0 stepping cpu called SLBEJ, as opposed to a C0 stepper SLBCH. Since my RAM is running at 1683 with stock timings, I'm guessing the SLBEJ is resposible for the extra 0.2Ghz. You shouldn't run more than 6GB on a gaming system.

With an Asus Rampage II extreme your almost guaranteed 4.2Ghz, the only flaw I see is the layout of the Expansion SLots. I personally like the Asus P6T.. layout, but a buddy of mine has one and his overclock on a SLBCH I7 920 is 3.8Ghz. The highest overclocks that I have seen have been on Xenon chips, I have no experience with these cpus. Good Luck

Ace, thanks :up: Btw arnet Intel supposed to be releasing 6 core CPU's at the end of this year or Q1 2010? I just heard and thought I could hold out for them maybe, not sure if thats true though.

[texasreefer]

6 cores...krasszy