- 1920x1200
- GTX 295 (2 card 1 slot version) is on it's last legs
- runs stupidly hot
- looking to replace it soon
- want something that will be equal in performance
- or just better
- above all else, cooler
Hello ajones32,
here are a few charts you may find interesting, a bunch of games all running at 1920x1200, all data from a TechSpot
review . . . first up your older nVidia GeForce GTX 295 vs the Radeon HD 5850 . . . probably not a very fair comparison but still totally relevant to you!
Never even heard of the GTX 295 but it certainly performs like a monster!
. . . I shudder to think how much you paid for that!
. . . with all the FPS averaged out it outperforms the HD 5850 by approx 33% . . . I think Crysis Warhead, Far-Cry 2 and World in Conflict look like the only games that really test either card? . . . Crysis Warhead seems to be the game where your GTX 295 really delivers with a *huge* 61% performance advantage that helps keep the game nearer the magic 60FPS . . .
Quite like the idea of Crossfire.
It seems CrossFire technology has been slowly moving in the right direction and it's meant to be a lot more user-friendly now? . . . I've never personally used a Multi-GPU set-up before so I guess it's just a matter of time before I have to get my hands dirty!
. . . anyway we looked at the HD 5850 above costing about £225 so the nearest CrossFire set-up would be a pair of Radeon HD 5770's (£125/£250) . . .
Well if the data is accurate then those are some nice results!
. . . averaged out the pair of HD 5770's offer a decent 27% performance advantage for it's £25 premium . . . it's faster in every game apart from Warhammer 40000 (I can't do the math for negative %!) and both set-ups still have a hard time with Crysis Warhead lol!
. . . There may be extra expense for running two cards as one would need a good CrossFire motherboard, rugged PSU and a nice cool case but I don't think any of these requirements would be a problem for most OcUK gamers/benchers!
. . . I'm not sure what the temps are like but the power consumption is not to bad!
- 161w-316w Radeon HD 5850
- 176w-396w Radeon HD 5770 *Crossfire" +9.3% Idle/+25.3% Load
- 212w-472w Geforce GTX 295
I guess if one is considering spending £225 on a HD 5850 then Crossfired HD 5770's for £25 extra will certainly get a few people thinking? . . . Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 56% faster? . . . . Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 60% faster? . . . what is going on here? . . . can those Crossfired figures be true?
. . . Let's see how the pair of HD 5770's fare against the older Geforce GTX 295 . . . .
Not bad? . . . while the veteran Geforce GTX 295 had no real trouble keeping the HD 5850 in its place the little pair of HD 5770 rascals give it a bit more of a challenge!
. . . Averaged out the older Geforce still holds an 5% performance advantage but loses pole position in four games, Call Of Duty, H.A.W.X, Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV . . . that definitely is a lot of performance for the money, what do you think?
I should get this wrapped up really and I didn't even get time to look into modern nVidia cards and see how they stacked up? . . . one should definitely consider all the options but sadly my eyeballs are drooping out my head right now lol . . . I hope you (and anyone else) find this post helpful in some way and thanks for reading!
P.S:
If you decide that either a single HD 5850 or a pair of HD 5770's is still not enough rendering power then your crazy!
. . . but if you want to be crazy and still not lose the plot completely I suppose from seeing how good CrossFire performance has become then the next step up the Radeon ladder would probably be a pair of these! . . . I expect these will be completely OTT for most but then again after seeing what people are like in this forum maybe not lol!
Radeon HD 5830 *CrossFire* £327.99
