so whats the fastest card at present

rico3 · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:09

so whats the fastest card at present is it the...

GTX 295 1792MB GDDR3
or
Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 "Rampage GLH" 2048MB GDDR5...

im still running 2 ATI Radeon hd 2900 xt ddr 4 in crossfire and looking for upgrade now...

EdGey · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:14

GTX 295 1792MB GDDR3

LoadsaMoney · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:18

Id say both of those, as they are both around the same performance, but x2 wins out on price as its cheaper.

rico3 · 4 Mar 2009 at 00:28

so is it really worth getting 2 Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 "Rampage with the price over £850.00
is there much performance increase running x4 gpu over x2 gpu...
is crossfire x any better than crossfire..

Caracus2k · 4 Mar 2009 at 01:52

One 4870X2 should be enough for anyone...Just one of them will blow your old setup away. GTX 295 is fastest generally (but not by much and sometimes 2nd best at certain resolutions in certain games)... but not worth the extra money... save some money and buy one card as DX11 cards out later this year... depending on your monitor a 4870X2 might even be overkill...

Also TBH your other components would hold back a dual 4870X2 setup so really not worth it for you unles your gonna spend ££££££ on a new CPU, memory and mother board

fergie128 · 4 Mar 2009 at 01:59

If thats the triple slot X2 then dont touch it. Just get a standard one. The cooler on the triple slot version is awful.

Talrinys · 4 Mar 2009 at 08:10

295 but go for the x2, much better value

mattup · 4 Mar 2009 at 09:05

Dual GPU 295
Single GPU 285 F.T.W

Matt

gt_junkie · 4 Mar 2009 at 09:38

295 is the fastest but not by so much that it's worth it over the X2.

gt

tibbsey · 4 Mar 2009 at 10:12

Get a cheapy x2 then if you need extra cooling wait a month for the Arctic Cooling 4870x2 cooler.

kylew · 4 Mar 2009 at 13:29

mattup said:
Dual GPU 295
Single GPU 285 F.T.W

Matt

*coughs*

While the rest of us are interested in value, an X2's performance is indistinguishable from a 295 while being a quite a lot cheaper.

arc@css · 4 Mar 2009 at 13:36

jimmybates · 4 Mar 2009 at 13:43

Go for the 295 if you really want the best of the best. Ignoring prices, its the fastest card at present.

ro55o · 4 Mar 2009 at 13:50

295 is the fastest, but go with the X2, it isn't too much slower and costs a lot less. Only go for the one though, 2 of them would be a waste of money and your system would definitely hold them back.

kylew · 4 Mar 2009 at 13:57

ro55o said:
295 is the fastest, but go with the X2, it isn't too much slower and costs a lot less. Only go for the one though, 2 of them would be a waste of money and your system would definitely hold them back.

Dual dual-GPU cards is a bit of a false economy in my opinion because it costs a load from the outset plus, by the time games come out that require that power there will be cards out that are just as powerful for less than half the price you paid for the dual dual-GPU set up.

Linx · 4 Mar 2009 at 14:01

jimmybates said:
Go for the 295 if you really want the best of the best. Ignoring prices, its the fastest card at present.

+1

Final8y · 4 Mar 2009 at 14:06

kylew said:
Dual dual-GPU cards is a bit of a false economy in my opinion because it costs a load from the outset plus, by the time games come out that require that power there will be cards out that are just as powerful for less than half the price you paid for the dual dual-GPU set up.

That really does depend on the res you play at.
1920x1200 & above with full candy & trying keep above 60fps minimum even with today's games takes more than a single GPU at times.

People should be allowed to have their cake & eat it.

Alexrose1uk · 4 Mar 2009 at 14:12

Also depends on your opinion on playable. I'm completely 'playable' in all the games I play at 1920x1200(and now 1920x1080) with a single 4870 512MB.

Now my playable isn't a rock solid 60fps, it depends on the game.

Something like the 4870X2, GTX 295 and 4870 1GB will just increase your framerates further

mpj88 · 4 Mar 2009 at 14:13

TBH if you're only running 1680x1050 might aswell just get a single HD4870 1gb

Arcane · 4 Mar 2009 at 15:33

jimmybates said:
Go for the 295 if you really want the best of the best. Ignoring prices, its the fastest card at present.

+1

Personally I'd get the above purely because of the features accessible through the profiles, it gives you options to force rendering modes, use Physx etc, I just find the nvidia drivers more flexible, which I think is important with these multi-gpu setups.