8800gtx vs. x1950xtx cf?

sablabra · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:16

Hi. I'm having the hardest time to decide: 8800gtx single vs. 2 x1950xtx in crossfire? What will perform best? The thing is I'm getting 2 x1950xtx crossfire quite a lot cheaper than one 8800gtx, so I just want to know what performs the best. Anyone had both perhaps, and can tell me what performs best?

fornowagain · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:19

sablabra said:
Hi. I'm having the hardest time to decide: 8800gtx single vs. 2 x1950xtx in crossfire? What will perform best? The thing is I'm getting 2 x1950xtx crossfire quite a lot cheaper than one 8800gtx, so I just want to know what performs the best. Anyone had both perhaps, and can tell me what performs best?

How much are these two x1950xtx?

Jimbo · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:21

Go for the 8800GTX, and then you have mental speed and DX10.

sablabra · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:22

fornowagain said:
How much are these two x1950xtx?

I'm paying £418 for both of them, but that is with a silverstone zeus 750w and shipping over night included. Might be able to push it down to £400

EDIT: I don't live in the UK though

fornowagain · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:40

sablabra said:
I'm paying £418 for both of them, but that is with a silverstone zeus 750w and shipping over night included. Might be able to push it down to £400

EDIT: I don't live in the UK though

Well your in the GTX price range....? Where are you?

sablabra · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:44

fornowagain said:
Well your in the GTX price range....? Where are you?

Norway

Yeah, I'm in the gtx price range. The gtx is around £420, but I'll probably need a new psu as well... Let's say another £100 for that, and I'm over £500

EDIT: Last option would be buying two x1950xtx, sell one of them and keep my current psu. One x1950xtx would cost me around £120 or so then.

fornowagain · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:46

sablabra said:
Norway

Yeah, I'm in the gtx price range. The gtx is around £420, but I'll probably need a new psu as well... Let's say another £100 for that, and I'm over £500

You'll need more power for 2x XTX so what's the choice, seems clear to me.

sablabra · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:48

fornowagain said:
You'll need more power for 2x XTX so what's the choice, seems clear to me.

Well it's not clear for me? Either £418 for x1950xtx cf including Silverstone Zeus 750w, or about £420 for 8800gtx, but I'll probably need a new psu as well(I want it stable as possible during overclocking)

fornowagain · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:51

sablabra said:
Well it's not clear for me? Either £418 for x1950xtx cf including Silverstone Zeus 750w, or about £420 for 8800gtx, but I'll probably need a new psu as well(I want it stable as possible during overclocking)

Ah, including, I took your £418 for "both of them" as "both of them" with. Anyway, what PSU do you have at the moment?

sablabra · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:54

fornowagain said:
Ah, including. What PSU do you have at the moment?

It's called Mist 500w. It has 2x20A 12V rails, and 400w both combined. It's a pretty good psu, but I'm not certain if it's up for the job of supplying power to an oced 8800gtx. Definitely not for x1950xtx cf, that's for sure

melbourne720 · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:56

All the hassle of crossfire, some games don't use it fully (in that you'll never get double a single card), that untidy external cabling, reduced expandability, no DX10 in a few months time, one more fan that could break, doesn't seem worth it to me.

If you can afford £400 plus on a graphics solution, you can probably afford £500 plus... IMHO.

Best of luck with whatever you decide...

fornowagain · 23 Nov 2006 at 16:58

sablabra said:
It's called Mist 500w. It has 2x20A 12V rails, and 400w both combined. It's a pretty good psu, but I'm not certain if it's up for the job of supplying power to an oced 8800gtx. Definitely not for x1950xtx cf, that's for sure

I'm running one on the same levels of power and its overclocked a lot, 660/2200. 400w@12v is plenty for a single GTX

sablabra · 23 Nov 2006 at 17:01

fornowagain said:
I'm running one on the same levels of power and its overclocked a lot, 660/2200. 400w@12v is plenty for a single GTX

Nice oc, is that with stock cooling? And 24/7 setting? What brand is it?

fornowagain · 23 Nov 2006 at 17:04

sablabra said:
Nice oc, is that with stock cooling? And 24/7 setting? What brand is it?

Stock yes, but good case air flow is a must. Played for a few days at those speeds, no need really, fast enough at stock. Its an XFX, but they're all the same.

easyrider · 23 Nov 2006 at 17:46

sablabra said:
Hi. I'm having the hardest time to decide: 8800gtx single vs. 2 x1950xtx in crossfire? What will perform best?

Just do the smart thing and get a 8800 GTX.

Xfire leaves you stuck in the quagmire with nowhere to go.

Both slots filled for similar performance to 8800GTX.

No DX 10 either.

Its a no brainer.

LoadsaMoney · 23 Nov 2006 at 17:52

Get the GTX, its pointless spending that much on 2x old gen cards when you can get 1x new gen one, and have the added **** effect.

Tute · 23 Nov 2006 at 19:54

Get the Crossfire, for that price it's a total steal, plus it's faster than the 8800GTX.

Who cares about "no upgrade path" when it's so powerful? If you don't get the X1950s for that price it will be an utter travesty.

I can't stress this enough. Do NOT get sucked in by the DirectX 10 and "next-gen" hype crap, the X1950s are by far the best option.

Coolasmoo · 23 Nov 2006 at 20:22

Coming from a crossfire platform myself,

Its great when it works, but most new game releases require a profile to be made in order to get the best out of Crossfire.

That profile often takes a month or two to make it into Catalyst drivers. (If at all)

While your waiting for that profile,

You either get worse performance than a single card.

Try and Force AFR through the control panel and hope it works.

And when the drivers eventually support the game, you have completed it, or given up.

Take Tomb Raider Legend as an example. Its only in the Cat 6.11's that Crossfire works fully now, how long has the game been out ?

Just something to think over and the reason why i switched to the 8800GTX. single card is always the safest bet, and your not tied to any motherboard Chipset brand either.

marscay · 23 Nov 2006 at 20:32

i can't really find one reason to push for the 1950 xfire over a single GTX.

gtx has less heat,noise,power consumption,better IQ,DX10 support and once clocked and drivers mature slightly i'd say it'll be much faster all around if it isn't already.

the 1950 and psu is at a nice price though so that's a consideration, tho i think my mate had a zeus and returned it coz it sounded like a leaf blower heh.

sablabra · 23 Nov 2006 at 20:59

Tute said:
Get the Crossfire, for that price it's a total steal, plus it's faster than the 8800GTX.

Who cares about "no upgrade path" when it's so powerful? If you don't get the X1950s for that price it will be an utter travesty.

I can't stress this enough. Do NOT get sucked in by the DirectX 10 and "next-gen" hype crap, the X1950s are by far the best option.

Here's my man!

I'm thinking the same path right now, x1950 crossfire being quicker than single 8800gtx.

Coolasmoo: Yeah, I see where you're going, but I think I could live with that. Looks as if all the games I'm playing now are supported. But I'm sure even one x1950xtx would be fast enough for me(but I can't admit to it

), as I could max out most games with my old 7800gtx 512mb easily.

marscay: The psu is marvelous, it's highly recommended over at xs.org. I don't know about noise level though, but efficiency is over 80%

. It's worth about £120 alone.