4870x2 2GB or GTX260 (216) Black Edition

G

GMâ„¢

Newcomer
Hi guys, I would appreciate a little advice.

I am upgrading from a e6700 @ 2.66GHz, 4GB DDR800 and XFX GTX260 (216) Black Edition to a new case with i7 920 @ 4GHz, 6GB RAM and ATI 4870X2.

Now I am selling on my current PC, but not the GTX260. What card would you say was a better performing card in general gaming scenario @ 1920x1080 resolution?

Also... I know its overkill, but is it possible to run both cards in the PC, even if the GTX260 is just for PhysX or the odd game for compatibilities sake?

Thanks in advance!
 
WRT performance there are few games which will run faster on the 260 (solely due to the way they're coded) nearly everything will run much faster on the 4870x2.

As for Physx, it may be possible but not recommended. It won't even work in Vista/7 so you'd be stuck with XP to even try it.
 
Thank you Shaidar.

I am interested in the 4870x2 primarily due to the higher graphics quality as I have some awful dithering artifacts with my GTX260 even if I set the card to HQ mode with no optimisations. HAWX, Fallout3 and Darkstar One all look like they run in a 16/24-bit colour mode! Naughty, naughty NVIDIA!

I might just sell the GTX260 and reinvest the funds into a few games.
 
Why dont you just buy another couple of GTX 260's for either SLI or Tri-SLI??

That combo would be cheaper AND faster ;)

And that way you get PhysX aswel :)

Also the 190.XX beta driver for Nvidia are leagues above the others in terms of IQ, you should try those :)
 
Thats a good point actually. An extra couple is probably overkill but an extra 1 should result in a setup a little faster than the X2 and it will be cheaper to boot.

Aren't all i7 mobo's SLI compatable anyway?
 
If you're going with 2 cards, just getting 2x4870 1 Gig cards would probably be cheaper.

Heck, it's possible to get 2x4890 1 gig cards for cheaper (if you find a good deal) than a 4870x2 I believe.

But I think he was only wanting one card. In which case the 4850x2 2gb card by Sapphire is a probably the best price/performance single card.

At about 220ish on average (vs. about 360-380ish average for 4870x2), it's still quite a bit faster than a GTX 260 (216) when crossfire works.

Regards,
SB
 
Just a helpful reminder for you to find out if your PSU can handle your new system.
 
Thanks so far gentlemen.

What I forgot to say is that I actually have both cards. GTX260 in my current rig and the rig arriving on Friday has a 4870x2 in it.
 
Technically you can use both in win 7, with the 4870x2 as the display and the GTX260 as a physX card...but I'll be damned if I can pull it off! :???:

Ask Willard, I think he's running a setup like that.
 
Silent_Buddha said:
If you're going with 2 cards, just getting 2x4870 1 Gig cards would probably be cheaper.

But I think he was only wanting one card. In which case the 4850x2 2gb card by Sapphire is a probably the best price/performance single card.

At about 220ish on average (vs. about 360-380ish average for 4870x2), it's still quite a bit faster than a GTX 260 (216) when crossfire works.

Regards,
SB
Click to expand...

You can get a GTX 260 core 216 now for about £115 at some places

Crossfire 4870 1gb would be a fair bit slower then SLI GTX 260 Core 216

4850x2 would be faster :

1. If the game has an Crossfire profile, if it doesn't its effectivly running a single 4850 = ouch!!

2. If he gets the 1Gb 4850x2 then in instances were a game is VRAM dependant, STALKER Clear Sky, Crysis...etc..etc then they we get murdered by a single GTX 260!!!
 
digitalwanderer said:
Technically you can use both in win 7, with the 4870x2 as the display and the GTX260 as a physX card...but I'll be damned if I can pull it off! :???:

Ask Willard, I think he's running a setup like that.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was hoping for. Who is Willard? BTW I visit Elite Bastards everyday, just before I come here! :)
 
Willardjuice, I'll ask him about it next time I see him. :)

Gotta warn you up front though, I've totally hosed my OS install at least three times trying to get it to work and it always ended in tears....but I was trying to do it a while back when win 7 was still newish, and now I'm just gunshy. :oops:
 
GMâ„¢ said:
I would appreciate that, Thanks Digi.
Click to expand...

PhysX for me works up to 181.72 in Windows 7 x64 (I have a R700 for games and a G92 for cuda/opencl work). Unfortunately any driver after 181.72 PhysX no longer appears in the control panel and thus does not function. Oddly enough cuda/opencl/directx/opengl on the G92 still work fine, so I don't know what the problem is (maybe I'm just an isolated case). But since I'm not PhysX's biggest fan (and own no PhysX games), I'm not bothered by it.
 
almighty said:
You can get a GTX 260 core 216 now for about £115 at some places

Crossfire 4870 1gb would be a fair bit slower then SLI GTX 260 Core 216

4850x2 would be faster :

1. If the game has an Crossfire profile, if it doesn't its effectivly running a single 4850 = ouch!!

2. If he gets the 1Gb 4850x2 then in instances were a game is VRAM dependant, STALKER Clear Sky, Crysis...etc..etc then they we get murdered by a single GTX 260!!!
Click to expand...

There is no such thing as a 1 Gb 4850x2. :) Only Sapphire makes a 4850x2 and they only make a 2 Gb model.

Regards,
SB
 
No, there was a 1GB model. Though either way you'd better get a fast variant of the 4890.
maybe the 1GB variant was retired, it doesn't make sense (GDDR3 is cheap enough, and the card only makes sense at high enough resolution - 1920x1200 or 2560x1600)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top