9800GX2 SLi & 4870

[BahBah]

Hey,

Whilst I know the 4870 is a great card the only thing holding me back is the ATi drivers - and not because some people have problems with them, but because ATi historically release crap linux drivers and I use linux often.

I have gone over a lot of reviews and benchmarks etc. and the 9800GX2 seems to do very very well when compared to the 4870, and now that it is reasonably cheap I was wondering if there was a reason not to buy one over the 4870 ?

I only really play wow, cod4, tf2, dods, grid and I "think" (and open to correction) they all support sli quite well - possibly with the exception of Grid.

I have considered the GTX280 which is too expensive for me. The Weekly deal 280 is good but don't like the only 1 year warranty. The 260 also is an option, but from the benchmarks I've read the 9800GX2 performs better.

So, is the 9800GX2 really a lower card to the 4870 ?

Oh, and lastly, my motherboard has only one PCIe slot so thus isn't an SLi board. Am I right in saying the 9800GX2 will still work no prob because it's bridged internally and only uses one slot ?

Gaming at 1920x1200

Thank you

 

[otemu]

Well 9800GX2 which is a powerful card really shines with high resolution 1920+ and a large monitor, it overclocks well, however the card uses a lot of power, runs quite hot and don't even bother running it in single card mode. If your happy with that then the 9800GX2 is the way to go if what you say about the drivers on linux being true.

When it comes to benches with the games you said above, the majority is won by the 9800GX2.

Sorry I just read about your motherboard, which changes everything, if your board cant run sli then the 9800GX2 becomes quite a useless card and performs at maybe a 8800gt level, I am not sure if this sli mode is enabled on a 1 slot board I am sure one of the more knowledgable members will comment on that.

The 9800GX2 is probably a lower card overall then the 4870 when you take everything into consideration power, heat, compatability etc however doesn't mean its not a good card.

If drivers arent a issue then I believe the 4870 edges the 9800GX2 specially in a one PCIe slot configuration.

 

[dante6491]

I am pretty sure that it doesn't matter that the motherboard only has 1 Pci-e slot as the GX2 SLI stuff is all on board. I remember the fuss when the 7950GX2 was out and that didn't suffer because of it.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Sorry I just read about your motherboard, which changes everything, if your board cant run sli then the 9800GX2 becomes quite a useless card and performs at maybe a 8800gt level, I am not sure if this sli mode is enabled on a 1 slot board I am sure one of the more knowledgable members will comment on that.

What? The 9800GX2 is a single slot (although dual board) solution - you don't need an SLI capable board to run it. In fact, you can even run it in a Crossfire board with no performance impact.

 

[reflux]

The 9800GX2 is currently the high-end bargain IMO. Running mine fine in a Gigabyte X38-DS4.

 

[Elric]

At that Res, I'd say either the 4870 or the GX2 are good options.

 

[555BUK]

In most games the GX2 will be faster, but it will use more power, create more heat and noise, and it does cost a little more.

I would personally go with the 4870 or 260GTX at that price range. Single GPU cards tend to be less troublesome and 1920x1200 should be fine on both for a year or two.