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GTX 295 v 4870X2 which one should I go for?

OVC

OVC

OVC

Associate
Joined
21 May 2008
Posts
132
Location
Wales, UK
Hello,

Within the next 9 days I’m going to buy a new GFX card... I’ve been through them all over the last two decades and seen them come and fall. We all remember the mighty 3DFX which was sold to nvidia and I stayed a devoted nvidia ENU for many years until I changed over to ATI 7 years ago and never looked back. Although, I believe its time for a change of scenery and I’m looking to move back into the front seat of NVIDIA, but it’s so frustrating... buying a GFX card if like buying a pair of shoes it may look great, and looks awesome but when you finally try them out it’s a pile of s***?

So debating this with the misses, should I stay or should I go is the question...? My budget is £480.00 for just the GFX card alone, some of you might be saying I’m crazy, and yeah you’re probably right... but I like good graphics and I have the power under the hood so why not use it. So I’m asking a favour here people, which one should I go for, the results on the tests of these cards are quite close and the long straw of it; they are both within the price range of my budget I have set aside for the GFX card.

1. Should I buy a GTX 295
2. Should I buy a 4870 X2
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Please cast your votes and let me know which one you think I should go for, I think the results would be quite conclusive to be honest. Your help would be most gratefully appreciated and thank you for participating.
 
Weeeelllll that's debateable to be honest... NV drivers tend to be fewer and mroe polished, but ATI drivers are still good and developer support is fierce and very efficient imo. I've had no issues yet with my 4870 at all, though it's not an X2. For raw speed the 295 wins, for price/performance goodness the X2 4870 is king. :)
 
The Nvidia GTX 295 is around £100 more expensive than the ATI Radeon 4870 X2. Have a look at this review here by Guru3D and this one here by Bit-Tech to see if you think it is worth spending that extra £100 for the Nvidia GTX 295 over the ATI Radeon 4870 X2.

Regarding the drivers. I personally wouldn't say Nvidia does better drivers than ATI or vice versa. For the majority of people, drivers from either company will work how they should. You will get a few people that have problems with set drivers but on the whole, I would say the majority of people don't have any problems at all.
 
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The 295 is the faster card in most games but whether it is worth the extra outlay is down to personal circumstance. Personally I don't think it is.
 
Fire Wizard said:
The Nvidia GTX 295 is around £100 more expensive than the ATI Radeon 4870 X2. Have a look at this review here by Guru3D and this one here by Bit-Tech to see if you think it is worth spending that extra £100 for the Nvidia GTX 295 over the ATI Radeon 4870 X2.

Regarding the drivers. I personally wouldn't say Nvidia does better drivers than ATI or vice versa. For the majority of people, drivers from either company will work how they should. You will get a few people that have problems with set drivers but on the whole, I would say the majority of people don't have any problems at all.
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What a good post. :)

Get sick of seeing ATi drivers are crap compared to Nvidia's posts, as both are the same, both have problems.
 
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The 4870X2 drivers are fine, I and many others here have enjoyed the oomph it has given us. Never had a problem driver wise with my X2 to be honest, been perfect. Don't notice any microstutter (does it even exist anymore, I did notice it with launch drivers but not anymore), Crysis runs dandy and it's not turning my room into a furnace as some people like to let you believe.
 
Having had a 4870X2, and now on a GTX260, I don't see the point in buying a £300+ graphics card unless you're desperate to play Crysis maxed out. Nothing else needs the power really.
 
reflux said:
Having had a 4870X2, and now on a GTX260, I don't see the point in buying a £300+ graphics card unless you're desperate to play Crysis maxed out. Nothing else needs the power really.
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What about people with very high resolution displays? I myself have a Dell 3008 and I suspect a single 260 would not give a terribly good showing for itself at the native resolution of the panel.
 
they are both good cards...there seems to be problems with some ATI setups on certain systems...nvidia seem more compatible from what i hear....i would go for the gtx295 personally
 
rafster said:
The 4870X2 drivers are fine, I and many others here have enjoyed the oomph it has given us. Never had a problem driver wise with my X2 to be honest, been perfect. Don't notice any microstutter (does it even exist anymore, I did notice it with launch drivers but not anymore), Crysis runs dandy and it's not turning my room into a furnace as some people like to let you believe.
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+1
 
LoadsaMoney said:
What a good post. :)

Get sick of seeing ATi drivers are crap compared to Nvidia's posts, as both are the same, both have problems.
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In terms of their performance, love of blowing up etc, I'd agree.
But in terms of "feel" of the driver front end, and this is probably just a personal taste thing, CCC makes me flesh creep.

I've also had more post-driver change insanity from ATI's....but only a little more, and a lot of it was with the 48nn launch drivers.

And I award "most intersting bug" to ATI too.....my 9800pro went mental when drawing trees.....racing games....train sims......shooters.....god games....the lot....a couple of hours and the trees always went psychadelic, slowly, progressively, until the screen was a total mess. NOTHING else went that way, only trees. Amused me something rotten, except when half way through a welsh forest rally.
 
balchy said:
i have had an 4870x2 for 6months but im now selling it to get a gtx 295, tried ati and didnt like it, back to nvidia
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Yes, I went from a Radeon X800XT to a Geforce 4MX and thought it was rubbish. As such, I'm never buying Nvidia again.

The question any buy should ask him/herself is whether the extra performance is worth the premium. If it is, then get it. If it's not, then don't.

I've never had a problem with either Nvidia or ATi drivers, but then I rarely fiddle with them after initial setup.
 
Yer my experiences with my 4870X2 has been less than satisfactory to be honest.

Just to be controversial I would actually recommend you stay away from dual GPU solutions (like SLI, CF or the 4870X2 and GTX295). Of course this is subjective but going from a single-GPU solution (a massively overclocked 8800GTX on water) to my current 4870X2 saw FPS increase but the actual smoothness of games was choppier due to micro-stutter. I game on a 24" @ 1920x1200 btw.

I recently built a WC rig for my best friend consisting of a E8400 @ 4.4Ghz and a 1GB 4870 and upon seeing Fallout 3 and Oblivion on his rig I was incredibly jealous. Admittedly he games at 1680x1050 however his games are just silky!!!! I am totally regretting having purchased the 4870X2. You could buy a GTX285 and get similiar perf in most titles. Plus, some of the drivers form ATI have totally borked my system over the last 6 months (namely 9.1 and 9.3). It's just not what you expect from a £300 graphics card.

Just my two pennies worth!
 
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