What do you recommend?

[stokecity_m]

Looking to get a high end gaming system, based around the i7.

One area i'm not sure on is a good graphics card.

Is it better to have two cards in crossfire or maybe just one GTX 285.

Idealy would like to keep it under £350.

 

[gurusan]

gtx 285 is terrible bang/buck IMO.

At what resolution do you game>

 

[95thrifles]

Traditional thinking has always been to go for the single best card you can afford, as games didnt always scale well with SLI/xfire, though I think nowadays thats becoming more and more redundant and most games do scale well. the prices on the 4870x2's have dropped quite a bit of late and are a great deal atm

 

[Overslop]

You could get 2 4890s for under £350, which would be very, very nice!

 

[stokecity_m]

i currently game at 1680 x 1050 - but i hoping to increase this in a few months.

i also hope to run dual mointors soon.

 

[gurusan]

well 4890cf would be killer

 

[Fenris]

At 1680x1050 spending £350 of GFX would be a bit over the top. A single 4890 (for now) would play anything you want maxed.

Maybe when you get a 2nd monitor get another for CF.

 

[Sasahara]

Just remember if one of your CF cards fails in 2 years time, you may not be able to get an identical match from a RMA. (I know crossfire can work with different cards, but that's not really ideal)

 

[user1453]

IF crossfire failed in two years time he would likely not want a new 489- replacement as he could getter a newer better performing card than the crossfire setup

 

[Sasahara]

I very few makers would give out a card with that much improvement, more likely to get the nearest card that just a bit faster.

Example, if my 8800 GTX died now, and they didn't have any, I'd probably get a GTX 260 at best, certainly better, but also not as good as 2 8800 GTX in SLI.

BTW, I'm not saying don't do crossfire, just pointing out a possible issue that should be taken into consideration.

 

[gurusan]

finding a 4890 in 2 years is not going to be difficult. All the cards are basically the same so it doesn't matter if you mix brands one bit.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Exactly - as long as they have the same settings (ie core clock, memory clock) there will be no performance hit with mixed-brand crossfire. Even if you could only find a factory overclocked card 2 years down the line - it would just slow down to match the first card (probably cost very little too).

 

[AMG]

could always get GTX275, if you want Nvida for some reason, other wise HD4890 saying that I know its overkill is there going to be a X2 version ?

 

[Ninja Please!]

imho, if your going to get an i7 system then you might as well get a top notch card no matter which chipset you decide to get. I love my gtx285. I rip through games at max settings and get amazing frame rates. Of course people will suggest ati over nvidia because of price, but spending the money on an i7 for gaming is also over the top as well.