9800GX2 / GTX280 / GTX285 -- Choice help...

[SystemViper]

I have to agree, Go with the gtx280's they are the best cards out there for price and performance. Also look for the overclocked versions of hte cards, they are better binned gpu's and will give you better overclocks.

[random]

Originally Posted by SystemViper

I have to agree, Go with the gtx280's they are the best cards out there for price and performance. Also look for the overclocked versions of hte cards, they are better binned gpu's and will give you better overclocks.

Nice avatar

[SystemViper]

Originally Posted by randomflip

Nice avatar

Love gigabut

[BarbaricSoul]

you guys really think he should go for 280 over 285's? The evga 285 is only $15 more than the EVGA 280

[SystemViper]

Originally Posted by BarbaricSoul

you guys really think he should go for 280 over 285's? The evga 285 is only $15 more than the EVGA 280

I just paid a little over 250ea for 2 sweet EVGA gtx280ssc's, the deals are out there~

I also looked at the 285's and the only ones to get are the FTW's and 2 of them are over 800
so yea, i think so, but that is my humble opinion. Well my opinion.


I think if your gonna spend new gtx285 money, then just add some more and get the gtx295, why mess around.

[random]

Are these standard UK prices?

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=gtx280&x=0&y=0
http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=gtx285&x=0&y=0


The 285 is actually cheaper in UK ! lmao

[SystemViper]

Wow those UK prices....

but still look at the speks of this card.....



-->>> look here not there
GTX285 FTW

GeForce GTX 285 FTW
Part Number 01G-P3-1288-AR
Core Clock Speed 720MHz
Processing Cores 240
Memory Clock Speed 2772MHz
Memory Bandwidth 177.4GB/sec
Shader Clock Speed 1620MHz

[{JNT}Raptor]

GTX285....that way 2 months from now you won't be thinking....man...for $15 more I could have grabbed the 285........Hell the EVGA GTX285 was going for $314 yesterday with a promo code they were pushing......I know because they put out the code 2hrs after I ordered my XFX 285 with rush processing.......bastards.

[Israar]

Yo fellas

Thanks for all the contributions, and yea I'm still going to stick to the GTX 285's =)

Quick question though, why do I often see most people referencing the EVGA's? I will admit I've seen more of them being bought than any other, but I'm just curious, is there any major difference? As I was thinking of sticking to XFX because of having the XFX 790i Ultra board, as I heard the architecture was better between XFX gpu's and the motherboard than other cards?

I may be completely wrong and that information might be false advertisement, but who knows lol, as I was considering going for 2x XFX GTX285 XXX Edition

I know LittleLizard mentioned get the EVGA one because of the voltage mod software, but as of yet I'm not even sure I'll be using it, the volt mod that is

@randomflip: I'll not be going tri-SLi for a long time yet matey lol, so I think using the GTX280 as a means to go tri-SLi, I'll have to pass for that

Hehe, yea, the UK prices seem to be in my favour at present and I don't fancy getting a GTX295 at present XD -- Already going overkill with 2x GTX285s

Again, thanks for all the input guys, I really love and appreciate this -- What's the "FTW" you're meantioning for the GTX 285 card? Only abbreciation I know for FTW is for the win haha, but just curious what that card is

--Lee

[BarbaricSoul]

EVGA has the best customer support program of anyother company plus thier warranties are not voided by OC'ing

[{JNT}Raptor]

EVGA has a "stepup" option if within 90 days you wish to upgrade you can send the card and the difference to EVGA and upgrade to a higher card.

Hope it helps.

[Israar]

Originally Posted by {JNT}Raptor

EVGA has a "stepup" option if within 90 days you wish to upgrade you can send the card and the difference to EVGA and upgrade to a higher card.

Hope it helps.

Cheers guys

That's a handy feature really, although I seriously and highly doubt I'll be upgrading from a GTX285 when I get them hehe

I'm still thinking of sticking with 2x XFX GTX285s although I'm gonna do a little research on the EVGA ones and the XFX ones and see which of the two manufacturers I'll go with, although I think I'll probably go with XFX over EVGA with having an XFX motherboard, but I'll do some research eitherway, if it comes to it that there's no real difference, I may be tempted to go for the EVGA but then again, that depends on any difference and if there is any proper price difference too

Thanks again guys and it does help to know little things like that {JNT}Raptor, as it's so easy to miss out on things like that

--Lee

[qubit]

The 280/285 is really showing some serious performance gains with the latest drivers and the game gets to see the whole 1GB RAM, which helps to avoid stuttering from graphics loads with high res and high Q settings. The GX2 has got 2X512MB which shows up as 512MB of usable RAM. It's so last year.

I had a 9800 GX2 briefly which I bought cheap and I loved it, but then I sold it at a profit on eBay, which I loved even more.

[SPARC]

I was in a similiar situation a few weeks ago. I had a 4870 and couldn't decide between another 4870 or purchasing 2 GTX 285 cards. I ended up selling the 4870 and purchasing 2 eVGA vanilla GTX 285 cards and I absolutely love them! The overclock very well and along with a 940 BE or i7 920 they can run any game at 1900x1280++ resolutions without a hiccup.

[RevengE]

I say go with EVGA as well if you get a 285..they are getting better and better. I happen to like them even though Im AMD.

[_jM]

Originally Posted by Israar

Hehe, the reply alone was appreciated and I don't jump on folks backs for missing out parts of a thread, I've done it before when I've skim read and even when I've been concentrating lol! :O

So you'd say 2x GTX280s would out perform 2x GTX285s? I'm a bit stumped on that as to how really, is there anyway you could clarify it? I've never really looked into the G200 cards seriously yet so I'm still looking into things myself, although I'm pretty set on getting the 2x GTX285s

--Lee

no.. i ment that 2 280's would out perform a single 285 and still be cheaper.. ( i made that comment b4 i saw you were lookning at getting 2 285's

[Israar]

Originally Posted by _jM

no.. i ment that 2 280's would out perform a single 285 and still be cheaper.. ( i made that comment b4 i saw you were lookning at getting 2 285's

Ah, I get you fella

Thanks for clarifying for me though!

Still got some reading to do, but to be honest, I may go for the EVGA over XFX, I'm like 50/50 so far as from the looks of it they both look from what I've skim read the same in specs, but I've heard alot about overclocks from EVGA just not so much on the XFX ones, so I'm humming and arring hehe

I'll do some indepth reading tonight and I'll see if I can make my mind up on either the EVGA or the XFX, then I'll get back to you all and set my mind hehe =)

Again, thank you all for taking the time to post and provide me with your inputs thus far, you're all very much appreciated by me and once I've got the system up and running 100% so everything I want in it, all components and peripherals, aswell as overclocks done, those who've contributed even in the slightest will have a thank you post in dedication for the help I've received for not being able to making up my mind

--Lee

[wolf]

what you may want is This

2 in sli would be quite possibly amazing, and last a looong time.

[Israar]

Originally Posted by wolf

what you may want is This

2 in sli would be quite possibly amazing, and last a looong time.

That actually looks pretty neat, although I think I'll stick to the GTX285s

The little addon thing, whatever it is, that display thing looks snazzy and OC at the touch of a button sounds good, but I don't fancy my brothers getting sight of it, those two little turd monster have a habit of "touching" things I tell them specifically not to, even knowing they will get a crack in the jaw when I find out they touch my stuff!

--Lee

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Israar

That actually looks pretty neat, although I think I'll stick to the GTX285s

The little addon thing, whatever it is, that display thing looks snazzy and OC at the touch of a button sounds good, but I don't fancy my brothers getting sight of it, those two little turd monster have a habit of "touching" things I tell them specifically not to, even knowing they will get a crack in the jaw when I find out they touch my stuff!

--Lee

yeah you dont want them just ramping up the voltage etc while your not watching.

mainly i just love the card, double framebuffer, 10 phase power, military grade components, its pretty sweet.

however you will find a stock gtx285 would probably still do better most of the time, there arent many games were 1gb cards are framebuffer limited.

[Israar]

Originally Posted by wolf

yeah you dont want them just ramping up the voltage etc while your not watching.

mainly i just love the card, double framebuffer, 10 phase power, military grade components, its pretty sweet.

however you will find a stock gtx285 would probably still do better most of the time, there arent many games were 1gb cards are framebuffer limited.

Damn right I don't lol, don't want to spend money so they can watch my rig smoke lmao!

What's framebuffer, phase power and military grade components? I'm guessing military grade is really high end precise stuff, but not 100% on that no idea about the others though :O

What's the limitation for framebuffer too, what's the disadvantages of having it?

--Lee

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Israar

Damn right I don't lol, don't want to spend money so they can watch my rig smoke lmao!

What's framebuffer, phase power and military grade components? I'm guessing military grade is really high end precise stuff, but not 100% on that no idea about the others though :O

What's the limitation for framebuffer too, what's the disadvantages of having it?

--Lee

framebuffer is simply the video memory on your card, run out of it in an in-game situation and links start to get saturated, and the gpu bogs down.

so more video memory means the card lasts longer as games tend to use more and more memory for bigger crisper textures .

military grade components means they're very high quality, and can withstand higher temperatures than normal components.

power phases are cool, more is better is they key (also quality) but yeah this card has more than ive heard of before, which means a very smooth precise flow of voltage to the GPU, basically, the more phases you have, the less head each phase has to work, which also adds to longevity.

basically this card is tip-tip manufacturing quality, with double memory and the v mods to boot. the durability of the card should be huge.

[Israar]

Originally Posted by wolf

framebuffer is simply the video memory on your card, run out of it in an in-game situation and links start to get saturated, and the gpu bogs down.

so more video memory means the card lasts longer as games tend to use more and more memory for bigger crisper textures .

military grade components means they're very high quality, and can withstand higher temperatures than normal components.

power phases are cool, more is better is they key (also quality) but yeah this card has more than ive heard of before, which means a very smooth precise flow of voltage to the GPU, basically, the more phases you have, the less head each phase has to work, which also adds to longevity.

basically this card is tip-tip manufacturing quality, with double memory and the v mods to boot. the durability of the card should be huge.

From the sounds of it, the card itself sounds solid

Thanks for the information on the framebuffer and what not, it's something I've never heard of in my life and doubt I'd have come accross it if it wasn't for you linking the card and adding that bit of information in about it ^^

I appreciate all the information you give me, adds to the little I have in comparison to yours hehe

Cheers again fella

--Lee

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Israar

From the sounds of it, the card itself sounds solid

Thanks for the information on the framebuffer and what not, it's something I've never heard of in my life and doubt I'd have come accross it if it wasn't for you linking the card and adding that bit of information in about it ^^

I appreciate all the information you give me, adds to the little I have in comparison to yours hehe

Cheers again fella

--Lee

anytime man you know were good for it

also back to frame buffer, things like AA use it up too, the more AA you run (more samples, ie 8XAA is 8 sample) the more memory it will use.

[Israar]

Originally Posted by wolf

anytime man you know were good for it

also back to frame buffer, things like AA use it up too, the more AA you run (more samples, ie 8XAA is 8 sample) the more memory it will use.

Definitely



I didn't know that, I'm a sucker for AA and AF as if I can use it I'll whack it up hehe, I'm a bit of a graphic whore

--Lee