All these people selling GTX to go to 3870X2

straxusii · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:04

Wouldnt going GTX SLI be the better option (if your mb supports it of course)

Buckster · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:06

a lot more expensive though ??

sell GTX for say 190 - but a 3870x2 for 240-270 - net cost £70
get another GTX for £230 - net cost £230

ones three times the price of the other !

straxusii · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:24

Price is an issue for sure but given we know what to expect from Nvidia now in the next few months GTX sli has got to be tempting for people with an sli m/b

kylew · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:31

I think it's down to a few reasons, one of them being the latest intel chipsets being quite impressive, a lot of people have but bought P35/X38 motherboards but they don't supposrt SLI, and then ATi is looking a lot more impressive from when they released the 2900. I've just sold my 2900 to a friend to allow me to buy a 3870X2, and at first I wasn't too impressed, but I've been messing about with different driver builds, and now I'm getting 18280 in 3DMark 06, GPU at stock, Q6600 at 3870MHz

p). (Higher CPU clockspeed is upping my GPU 3D mark scores).

Buckster · 2 Mar 2008 at 18:33

I just like FSAA performance of my X2

I had a GTS before and it always felt like a race tuned 1.4 ... very fast in most circumstances, but fast due to being clever - so when you added FSAA it ground to a halt

the X2 feels like a V8 - a bit cumbersome at times - but don't have get the job done - especially with FSAA - just has the grunt to do it

jambus · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:08

Ontop of that, in quite a few circumstances, I'd bet money sli GTX's simply won't scale as well as a single 3870X2... I know it's not a game, but 3D mark is showing this, with a single X2 leading the board, in front of Tri sli'd GTX's :eek:

...

DavidB · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:12

Not to mention the massive long term cost of 2xGTX...thats a lot of electricity.

Darkwave · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:12

straxusii said:
Wouldnt going GTX SLI be the better option (if your mb supports it of course)

No because I'm sick of Nvidia drivers and Crossfire scales better than SLI.

On top of that I can't afford a new GTX flat-out, sold my GTX to afford the X2.

If I suddenly run into money I'll probably add a 3870XT to my 3870X2.

Ben M · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:38

sli boards are **** as a rule

and crossfire scales better to give better performance.

tutu · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:52

nVidia could sell more GPUs if it allowed SLI on AMD/Intel boards. But on the other hand, they would sell less motherboards.

Bit stupid if you ask me but thats business.

-iceblade^ · 2 Mar 2008 at 19:59

so like, i haveva p35 board... and if i can afford it would it be a good time to put in a GTX? considering i have a HD3870 already???

ACESHIGH · 2 Mar 2008 at 20:42

-iceblade^ said:
so like, i haveva p35 board... and if i can afford it would it be a good time to put in a GTX? considering i have a HD3870 already???

Seeing as your board only supports Crossfire, your best bet to increase performance is to get a 2nd HD3870 (or a HD3870X2 as this will be supported in Crossfire X). You could even get a HD3850 and Crossfire it with your existing card.

-iceblade^ · 2 Mar 2008 at 20:46

even on a x4 slot??? or does that not matter much???

HighlandeR · 2 Mar 2008 at 20:54

Also dont forget ATI got a multi gpu board on one slab of PCB board.... Nvidias 7950GX2/9800GX2 however....

And u can bet the 1st thing people are gonna do in the 9800GX2 reviews is take that brick case housing off and see underneath the hood

Really as impressive and wonderful the 8800GTX is Nvidia sometimes go Wally

ACESHIGH · 2 Mar 2008 at 21:01

-iceblade^ said:
even on a x4 slot??? or does that not matter much???

Oh, yeah, didnt think it was only 4x.

Some people have run Crossfire with a 4x PCIE and i believe it loses 15% performance or so, compared to running with two 16x lanes. This may be different with the 38xx series.

For a single card at high res the 3870X2 is your best bet though.

J.D · 3 Mar 2008 at 04:39

-iceblade^ said:
even on a x4 slot??? or does that not matter much???

ACESHIGH said:
Oh, yeah, didnt think it was only 4x.

Some people have run Crossfire with a 4x PCIE and i believe it loses 15% performance or so, compared to running with two 16x lanes. This may be different with the 38xx series.

For a single card at high res the 3870X2 is your best bet though.

What he said plus the fact that ATI don't get much of a penalty on a 4x speed lane. Well nothing compared to Nvidia anyhow. I'm thinking of getting the X2 myself and stick a single HD3870XT in the 4x slot as 3 cards seem to get the best performance. Saying that, your scores and game FPS will be very slightly under other people with two 16x PCI-E lanes but still worth it.

spicypixel · 3 Mar 2008 at 05:42

Taking the 9800GX2 apart is going to leave many people upset mainly cause custom air cooling is impossible, and water cooling difficult...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2730918&postcount=1

Mainly cause unlike the 3870X2 which has both GPU on a single PCB and thus can be cooled nicely... these have two GPU's on TWO PCB sandwiched together leaving little room for cooling between them, thus them coming stock underclocked and the 3870X2 coming overclocked over the 3870XT's...

chaparral · 3 Mar 2008 at 07:04

spicypixel said:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2730918&postcount=1

Nvidia most win first prize for making the worst looking GPU card to come out

That card would look crap with a waterblock fitted... :mad:

spicypixel said:
and water cooling difficult

But they had no problem making a waterblock for the old 7950GX2

spicypixel · 3 Mar 2008 at 08:38

Its true, but tbh it seems like a lot of effort to slide it in between them without knocking something. Just pointing out nvidias brute force approach to doing things. Sure it works but it isnt elegant like the 3870X2