2 cheaper cards or 1 powerful

fallbayuk · 20 Aug 2008 at 12:06

For a new system hooked up to a 24" LCD, would i be better off going down the SLI route with 2 cheaper video cards or just 1 4870 x2? Or would just a normal 4870 suffice?

Nick1881 · 20 Aug 2008 at 12:14

What games will you be playing?

Leezy · 20 Aug 2008 at 12:17

1 card all the way.. waste of money otherwise imo.

eyetrip · 20 Aug 2008 at 12:20

4870 is not really good enough for 24". Its pretty good for a 22", but even then it can struggle at times (though not much)

Probably best bet is GTX 280.

f1racer · 20 Aug 2008 at 12:27

Buy the best/fastest single card you can afford.

fallbayuk · 20 Aug 2008 at 12:31

Not wanting to open a can of worms here, but would a GTX 280 perform better than the 4870 x2?

Games wise, i like my first person shooters and driving sims.

snowball1 · 20 Aug 2008 at 12:59

ffallic said:
4870 is not really good enough for 24". Its pretty good for a 22", but even then it can struggle at times (though not much)

Probably best bet is GTX 280.

My 4870 handles crysis on a 24" easily!

f1racer · 20 Aug 2008 at 13:01

snowball1 said:
My 4870 handles crysis on a 24" easily!

But how high are all the gfx options and what fps are you getting?

AWPC · 20 Aug 2008 at 13:01

fallbayuk said:
For a new system hooked up to a 24" LCD, would i be better off going down the SLI route with 2 cheaper video cards or just 1 4870 x2? Or would just a normal 4870 suffice?

4870 all the way.

The Asgard · 20 Aug 2008 at 13:33

ffallic said:
4870 is not really good enough for 24". Its pretty good for a 22", but even then it can struggle at times (though not much)

Probably best bet is GTX 280.

Mine works great at 1920x1200. Are you getting confused?

ACESHIGH · 20 Aug 2008 at 13:42

Yep 4870 is the right choice.

eyetrip · 20 Aug 2008 at 13:45

snowball1 said:
My 4870 handles crysis on a 24" easily!

What settings?

My 4870 handles Crysis on 22" with 4xAA all high. I know it is a good card, but I would want jsut a little more grunt on a 24" to have AA.

And if you are using AA and happy, then you must simply be happier with lower fps than I am. I like to try and keep my min above 30.

eyetrip · 20 Aug 2008 at 13:49

Oh, and I am not basing this just on Crysis by the way. Even Assassins Creed the FPS will drop to mid 20's at 1680x1050 and that is with the AA setting on just 2/3.

Thats with 4870 OCed to CCC limits.

4850 crossfire AC drops to mid 30's with AA set to 3/3.

I am not saying the card is not capable - I love the 4870. it just depends on the settings and fps a person likes to use.

kylew · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:10

ffallic said:
Oh, and I am not basing this just on Crysis by the way. Even Assassins Creed the FPS will drop to mid 20's at 1680x1050 and that is with the AA setting on just 2/3.

Thats with 4870 OCed to CCC limits.

4850 crossfire AC drops to mid 30's with AA set to 3/3.

I am not saying the card is not capable - I love the 4870. it just depends on the settings and fps a person likes to use.

Don't see how that's true, I got more than that at 1920 on my 2900XT and 3870X2. Sounds like something's broken on your end really. If 4850 crossfire can get in excess of 100FPS at 1920x1200 on games like Bioshock and, UT3, COD4 (I think) then you're not gonna be getting 20FPS in assassin's creed at 1680x1050.

SS-89 · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:12

Yh that doesn't sound right at all, the lowest I saw with in game AA at 3/3 at 1680 was 45...and that was with the 8.6 hotfix, haven't bothered with the game since.

eyetrip · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:55

Well, if thats the case then I have no idea what could be wrong with my system as I just replaced the motherboard and its obviously not the cards if I am getting so much lower than everybody else with both 4850's and 4870.

Have done numerous clean installs recently, so its not something in Windows.

The Q6600 is currently clocked at 3GHz, so it shouldn't be CPU holding it back- though not impossible I guess.

eyetrip · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:10

Actually, have been looking at benches/reviews and would say the 4870 is performing about how it should. the 4850's too.

Can only assume you guys are either living in fantasy land, or you werent really paying close attention to frame rates over anything more than a couple of seconds - which is what I am currently doing because I am trying to work out whether to keep the 4870 or 4850's.

If you guys are happy, thats cool, but I am just sharing my experience with these cards with the OP.

And Klew, I seriously doubt your 2900XT beat that for AC.....

AWPC · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:31

ffallic said:
Oh, and I am not basing this just on Crysis by the way. Even Assassins Creed the FPS will drop to mid 20's at 1680x1050 and that is with the AA setting on just 2/3.

Thats with 4870 OCed to CCC limits.

4850 crossfire AC drops to mid 30's with AA set to 3/3.

I am not saying the card is not capable - I love the 4870. it just depends on the settings and fps a person likes to use.

Regarding AC must be a problem on your system as I get 45FPS minimum with 4850 + 1920x1200 + 3/3 AA. My 4870 does a solid 60 FPS with 3/3 AA @ 1360x768. I am using the retail version of AC and have not patched it to remove the DX10.1 support (which gives a 20% FPS boost on 4850 + 4870).

Overslop · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:38

ffallic, stick with benchmarks from reviews and not what people say in the forums.

Every PC I have ever built seems to run lower than most people who post here, despite being constructed without problems.

People talk a lot of nonsense. I remember before the 4850 and 4870 coming, most people saying that the 8800GTX could run everything maxed at 1920x1200 except Crysis!

The truth is that even the 4870 struggles with many games maxed out at 1920x1200...

There is still no card that can run every single game maxed out at 1920x1200, including any crossfire setup.