Help! 2 x GTX295 Quad Sli or 5870 Crossfire

[Flanno]

I am about to inherite 2 gtx 295's from my brother (along with a gtx 285 and an i7 975) - oem models. He is leaving for Canada next week. Problem is I ordered a 5870 from OcUK a couple of days ago for a new build with an Asus Rampage Extreme II X58.

So the big question for me is 2 gtx 295's in quad sli any good. I always though quad sli scaled poorly and since the 5870 is very close to a GTX 295 performance wise and consumes less power, I was hoping maybe 2 x 5870's in Crossfire would scale better than quad sli and give better results in games.

Therefore as I now have a reasonable offer on the 295's so I was wondering would I be better off selling the 295's and buying a 2nd 5870 if I wanted to go Crossfire down the road. I'm also getting his 30" Dell LCD so I would make use of the cards I think.

Or should I return the 5870, get my money back, and save a tonne of money by keeping the GTX's which are free.

Purely on a performance basis is GTX295 Quad sli faster than 5870 Crossfire ?

 

[Flanno]

My thoughts exactly lads. Thanks.

Getting 600 euro for both cards.

 

[Flanno]

Ta for the advice.

Bits for my rig are still on the way.

So far have ordered

- Coolermaster HAF 922 plus extra 200mm red led fan from CM's shop, and a Noisblocker Multiframe 120mm S1 for the bottom intake on the case
- Corsair HX1000 PSU
- Asus Rampage Extreme II X58
- Saphire 5870
- Corsair H50 Cooler
- Sony Opticarc 24X DVDRW
- WD 2TB Caviar Green for storage
- Microsoft Sidewinder X8 Wireless gaming mouse
- Microsoft X6 keyboard
- Inheriting from bro, an i7 975 and 2 x WD Velociraptors 300GB

Still no decision on the memory. It's either 6GB Corsair GT 2000mhz CAS 8 or 6GB Gskill 1600mhz CAS 6 which is probably as fast and puts less strain on things. Friend is in same boat as me but I want to overclock.

For my screen, I am hoping to get away with using my Sony Bravia 32W4000 1080P LCD and Sony HT-SS1000 Receiver with the 5870's HDMI. Screen has virtually zero input lag compared to latest PC LCD's, no dead/stuck pixels and very even backlight, and amp does 5.1 LPCM over hdmi. Only problem I anticipate is such a low res/large pixels on a 32 inch screen. But reluctant to go for something like the latest Dell U2410 over some of the issues being reported on these forums.

Anyone know if you can run crossfire with 2x5870's and still use the hdmi port ? Think this used be a problem for people with nvidia card in sli and dvi/hdmi adaptors. Also wondering if trifire will work on an rampage ii extreme and a haf 922. Think there might not be enough pci slots.

 

[Flanno]

That 30" has terrible lag. Very sensitive to that. Alas. I'm also one of these people who sees phosphorous trails on the latest panasonic vierra V10 plasmas. That's the only reason why. That, and my amp works very well with the tv, as does the 360,PS3 and Wii

Thanks for the comments on the memory. 2000mhz doesnt seem worth it. And I will probably never hit that speed, at least not for a long time, whereas 1600mhz at CAS 6 timing should provide as good performance as 2000mhz at cas 8 and be easier to achieve.

One thing - out of curiosity, would this 2000mhz corsair gt cas 8 be able to do cas 6 or 7 at 1600mhz or is it a gamble ?

 

[Flanno]

My brother can well afford it. Must be his 4th system this year.