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5850 Vs 2x GTX 260 in SLI

id say geta 5850, remember the drivers their using foir the benchmarks are beta drivers, the 260 is at its limits pritty much so expect the drivers to get better overtime for the ati cards
 
There's probably not a lot in it but I'd go for a 5850 because they'll get stronger as the drivers develop, DX11, and single card solution wins.
 
a single 5850 on a proper release driver is faster than a 275 in most cases does that help you at all im not sure how 2x 206's compare to the 275 (is it 2 260 on one pcb cant remeber)
 
I'd say the 260s would perform better most of the time with the 5850 coming ahead in a few situations.

However, new>old, single>dual, 40nm>55nm, 1GB>896mb, list goes on.
 
thats
£240 pounds for Palit GeForce 260 SLI ( Cuda - PhysicX - microstuter - high power draw - DX10 - high heat - low maximum frames - future proof? - 896Mbs DDR3 )
£198 pounds for 5850 ( Low Power - DX11 - Good overclocker - No Micro Stutter -Temperature -Eyefinity - future proof - 1GB DDR5 )
£300 pounds for 5870 ( Low Power - DX11 - Faster speed - No Micro Stutter -Temperature -Eyefinity - future proof - 1GB DDR5 )

Its a tough call this LOL
 
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I really wouldn't bother upgrading to either the 5850 or 5870 from 260GTX SLI - bide your time, save your money til you really need DX11...

My mildly OC'd 260GTX SLI does very well against a single 5870 beating it in most cases and only losing to it in a very small number of titles where SLI doesn't work so well... very deffinatly not worth spending £200 let alone £300 for what is mostly broadly similiar performance.

@Ludomudo - I run 260GTX SLI - there is NO microstutter, temperatures are low and so are noise levels, power consumption might be a bit higher than the 5800 series but its still pretty decent <60watt idle for both cards and well under 300watt when fully loaded... not sure what you mean by low maximum frames... SLI puts out pretty decent maximum frames.

The VRAM can be an issue if your playing at very high res, but most people aren't using 30" displays... on my 2048x panel it flies... crysis with high settings, 1080p, 16xQ AA knocks out an avg. 50fps.
 
Im using GTX 260 SLI as well, but my problem is one of the cards is 55nm and another one 65 nm - was reading a lot about SLI`ing cards with different manufacturing process and found out people who got similar problems to mine. I have sometimes visual artifacts like blinking textures. The performance is very good, only few games has problems with SLI like NFS Shift. If you already have GTX 260 SLI its not worth changing. If its a new purchuase i would go for HD 5850 or wait a bit until new models come out and price drops its still expensive. Beside SLI setup is generating far more heat than single card and good airflow is essential. In future i would go for single card sollution always! because of energy saving, heat issue and possible problems with some games. STRONG SINGLE CARD=THE BEST SOLUTION
 
People always say a single card = best solution but it's not true.


If you have a 4870 for example, and are then faced with the decision of a 300 pounds 5870 or another 4870 in crossfire for 100 quid, you can get the second 4870, have competative performance to the 5870, granted you don't have DX11 or eyeinfinity and a higher power draw and slightly higher temperatures, but you're saving yourself 200 pounds.
People only poo poo the previous power draws and temperatures as soon as something new comes out with lower ones, yet previously when those cards came out they were the thing to have. The same thing will happen with 58XX series, 6XXX series will come out and people will poo poo the 5XXX series draw and temperature.

On top of that, if you haven't got money to throw around and have to wait for a card to come down to 150ish quid before you'll buy it. In the example I gave before, having one 4870 - lets say you bought it for 150 quid - and then buying a second one now for 100 quid, will in total have cost you 250 and you'll be able to continue playing your game on maximum settings, and won't need to upgrade until a single card which can beat your dual cards - likely the 5890, seeing as 4870x2 is on par with 5870 - is out and comes down to 150 quid. Now you will have upgraded from a crossfire setup matching 5870 performance - albeit without the new tech which is scarcely supported yet anyway - to a single card more powerful.

Now on the other hand you bought a 4870 at 150 quid which you still have. A 5850 might come down to 150 quid in 6 months, so between the card you have now and the 5850, you'll have spent 300 quid and still dont have the same frame rate as 2x 4870s (which would have saved you 50 quid) and it means you're going to have to upgrade sooner anyway, than if you had just bought a second 4870. Meaning more money, sooner.

And let's not forget that in the meanwhile, you're waiting for the next card to come down to 150 quid, you aren't able to play games at highest settings because you have a single card worth around 100 pounds. And waiting for the card 2 up from yours to come down to 150 pounds is going to put your current card below 100. Look at the cards currently below 100, why settle for that when you can save money, play at higher fps, higher settings at the cost of a little extra power draw, and a little higher temperature, which a year ago nobody batted an eyelid at.

Thats why 2 cards are better than one - don't fall into the temp/draw trap because theres always going to be cards with lower.
 
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There's a flaw in your maths.

New card for £300 less selling your old one for £100 = £200.

2nd hand card = additional £100 and so only £100 saved.;)

or new 2nd card = additional £150 and so only £50 saved ;)

But point taken about 2nd cards. That's why so many people picked up a 2nd cheap 8800gt to have 8800GT SLI which was very potent.
 
I went from a 4870 x2 to a 5870.You dont see microstutter until i got the new card the 5870 does seem more fluid.Getting the 5970 even though the performance with the x2 was the same was still a good decision and i much prefer the new card.Its quiet and uses less electric has dx11 and more future proofed.Ive got a gtx 8800 a gtx 260 and a 4870 x2 there's noway i would prefer to double any of those up instead of a single 5870.Hope that helps.
 
Greebo said:
There's a flaw in your maths.

New card for £300 less selling your old one for £100 = £200.

2nd hand card = additional £100 and so only £100 saved.;)

or new 2nd card = additional £150 and so only £50 saved ;)

But point taken about 2nd cards. That's why so many people picked up a 2nd cheap 8800gt to have 8800GT SLI which was very potent.
Click to expand...


In the idea that second hand cards go for 50 quid under shop value:

Okay let's say you buy a 5850 at 200, and it comes down to 150 quid. The 5870 has also come down 50 quid.

You flog your 5850 at 100 pounds, and are able to put up another 100 for a 5870 totalling 200 (second hand value) and costing you in reality 100.

You've practically bought this 5870 for a release worth of 300 pounds now.




On the other hand you buy a second hand 5850 at 100 pounds to crossfire with your current one.

You've now also spent 300 pounds in total but have better performance than the 5870.




Keeping with the idea that the cards go second hand 50 quid under what they are in the shop;

The 5870 comes down another 50 to 200 pounds, you're able to sell it for 150 pounds. A new card is out costing 300, you put 150 with the money you got for the 5870 and purchase the new card. Forgetting all previous money spent, you've bought this new card for 150 quid.


The 5850's you previously crossfired are likely to have similar performance as this new card much like the 4870s have with the 5870 - so no upgrade necessary.



You're now back at starting point. The crossfire 5850's have little value - 50 quid each. The new card you've bought will have greater value but you've already spent 150 quid extra to obtain it.


Assuming you sold both the 5850's as soon as you crossfired them, and the new card you just bought as soon as you bought it.

You sell the 5850s 50 quid each for a total of 100 pounds.

The new card for a total of 250 pounds - deduct what you bought it for - 150 pounds, and you have gained back 100 pounds.


Complete neutrality.

And the cycle starts over.


Buying new, 2 cards are better than one.

Buying second hand, it's pretty much level ground.
 
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