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Help me please - really stuck!

Take a look at these benchmarks between the 4870x2 and the GTX295:

http://www.overclock.net/hardware-news/435548-fudzilla-new-gtx-295-vs-4870x2.html

Also: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14361379

With me personally on a 24" screen at 1920x1200 the GTX295 would be overkill. I could only really justfy the extra £££ if I had a larger screen and wanted to play at higher resolutions. The 4870x2 should cope with pretty much anything you can throw at it and if comes to it, just CF another one when prices are cheaper.

With that in mind, what screen and resolution do you use?
 
Go for the 4870x2 mate, the slight increase of power of the 295 over the 4870x2 are not worth the price hike. However, having an xfire motherboard I'd go for the two 4890s myself as for 250 quid you will have a pair of cards that will beat a 295
 
Mmmm, seriously so confused lol. You get a lot of ATI hate in the world it seems with people having issues, although the 4870x2 is nice as its 100 cheaper although the money is not really the main issue to be honest (not that I am rich but I have nothing else to spend the money on lol ) but like you and also speed seem to favour the 2 4890s. Wish I knew more about things lol.

Actually looking at it not sure if my mobo will support x-fire
EX58-UD5 Intel X58
Support for an Intel® Core™ i7 series processor in the LGA 1366 package
- QPI 4.8GT/s / 6.4GT/s
- Chipset North Bridge: Intel® X58 Express Chipset
- South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R
- Memory 6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory
- Dual/3 channel memory architecture
- Support for DDR3 2100+/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
- Audio Realtek ALC889A codec
- High Definition Audio
- 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
- Support for Dolby® Home Theater
- Support for S/PDIF In/Out
- Support for CD In
- LAN 2 x Realtek 8111D chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)
- Support for Teaming
- Expansion Slots 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16
- 1 x PCI Express x8 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1)
- 1 x PCI Express x4 slot
- 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
- 2 x PCI slots
- SLI Support with latest Gigabyte BIOS
Click to expand...
 
Mojo said:
Go for the 4870x2 mate, the slight increase of power of the 295 over the 4870x2 are not worth the price hike. However, having an xfire motherboard I'd go for the two 4890s myself as for 250 quid you will have a pair of cards that will beat a 295
Click to expand...

I actually disagree slightly, yes the GTX295 is faster and uses more energy so I wouldn't recommend one as my post above. 2x 4890s CF are better than a single 4870x2, but by getting a single 4870x2 now which would handle anything you can throw at it, you have the space to upgrade to another 4870x2 in the future, giving you two in crossfire. 4870x2s will come down in price and the second one will be cheaper.
 
Speed said:
I actually disagree slightly, yes the GTX295 is faster and uses more energy so I wouldn't recommend one as my post above. 2x 4890s CF are better than a single 4870x2, but by getting a single 4870x2 now which would handle anything you can throw at it, you have the space to upgrade to another 4870x2 in the future, giving you two in crossfire. 4870x2s will come down in price and the second one will be cheaper.
Click to expand...

Well, there is that. The 4870x2 is a beast of a card =)

As to the larger amount of problems with ATI cards in these forums than Nvidia cards, I can only account to the relative numbers of each. Due to recent prices, ATI have sold a lot more cards (on OCUK anyway, if reading these fculation currentlyorums is anything to go by) than Nvidia, possibly due to numbers of cards available too. I'm guessing the issue rate is about the same, but since ATI have more of the current generation cards in circulation, there will be more people with issues.
 
I am really getting confused now! Trying to find bench mark scores with x-fire 4890s, all I can seem to find is single 4890 bench marks which obviously compared to gtx295/4870x2/280 sli is going to be worse.

Anyone got a good site for benchmarking scores

Thanks
 
Haha, thanks Speed, I litterally just found that as you posted, guess I was searching for the wrong things..

All I can say is I am sold... It seems that the 2x 4890s come top on everything in xfire... And for the games it doesn't at lower res it seems to shine through at higher res... Going to order me 2 now.

Thanks a lot for your help :)
 
 
cHk4 said:
Ok so for one final question..... (Sorry Speed I'd buy you a beer if you lived near me!)

2x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-126-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939

2x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-103-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1403

2x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-102-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1403

2x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-195-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1403

Sorry but really don't want to mess up my order.

Thanks again
Click to expand...

If you really want 4890s in CF, I'd personally go for the XFXs. 2 year warranty on them where the Powercolors have a 1 year warranty and although the XFXs are ever so slightly slower, it's nothing you'd ever notice and you could even clock them yourself. The Sapphire is slightly slower than the XFX and more money, plus you don't get a free game with it, which if you don't play you could sell on.
 
Speed said:
If you really want 4890s in CF, I'd personally go for the XFXs. 2 year warranty on them where the Powercolors have a 1 year warranty and although the XFXs are ever so slightly slower, it's nothing you'd ever notice and you could even clock them yourself. The Sapphire is slightly slower than the XFX and more money, plus you don't get a free game with it, which if you don't play you could sell on.
Click to expand...

Ok mate, thanks a lot, will be going for 2x http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-126-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=939 then :) Yea the 2 year warranty is a great feature :)

Is clocking a graphics card hard? I have never done it in my life lol.

Thanks
 
I'ver personally not done it for any length of time but there are some experts on the forums, so I'm sure they will help. Most of the time you can just use a software app and slowly up the speeds until you get instability, BSODs, artifacts. Then dial it back and test again until it's rock solid stable in games and benchmarks.

I think some of the 4890s have a voltage tweak as well, if these XFXs support it then that will make for higher overclocks.
 
Nice mate thanks, like you said I should not need it though! I can't wait to build my new system and test it all out.

Seriously Speed (also everyone else) thanks for your time and help you have made me a happy boy!!!! Also £280 for 2 cards which seem to out perform a £350 - saving £70 can not be bad :)
 
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