Help me with decision on new gfx card

[Duffman]

Ok, I want to get a high end gfx card to replace my 2900xt. I had dual 2900's in xfire and i think i am done with dual card solutions. Funny thing is that's what I said when i bought my 2900pro last year...

<--You can see my system specs.

Choice 1:
4870X2 in the upcoming triple-slot Palit flavor.
Advantages:
current king of the hill (disputed)
Great cooling solution
Great output selection
Disadvantages:
Price?
inherent Xfire issues
wait some more 'till it comes out


Choice 2:
GTX 260 216 (probably EVGA superclocked)
Advantages:
when overclocked, performs close to 280
Price
decent cooling
decent heat output/power usage numbers
Disadvantages:
Leaves possible dual card setup out of the question in case i change my mind

Choice 3:
Newly introduced Sapphire 4850x2
Advantages:
outperforms 4870x2 for less $
said price
Disadvantages:
Price
inherent Xfire issues
Cooler design/noise

So, i am asking for your points of view/opinions and to help fill in gaps in my breakdown of their advantages and disadvantages.

Thanks in advance for help!

 

[OzzmanFloyd120]

Personally I would go with a 4850x2, they seem to be the best priceerformance ratio right now.

 

[Asylum]

I would go with the GTX 260 216...It will handle anything you can throw at...No need for anything more!!

 

[DrunkenMafia]

If your wanting the card for gaming duffman then all of the above are overkill for gaming on your 22".

BUT

If you want the sheer power and benchin' scores then I would buy the 4870x2... that is my pick.

 

[Duffman]

yah, i know they are a bit of overkill for now. I have to turn the settings way down to play Far Cry 2. I want to upgrade and it's gonna be the last for quite a while.

 

[Binge]

I just came into possession of a 192 core GTX260~ It's freakin' sweet as a single gpu solution. When I put it up against a 1gb 4870 it did just as well overclock to overclock. Against the 4870x2 it had its strengths but all of them were in Crysis and had to do with nVidia's PhysX kicking in, but I also noticed the GTX260 would cheat to gain fps. In a number of situations sections of plant life would appear and disappear based on where I was facing and how much action was going on. I looked to change this but Crysis locked out the option to change 3D objects and forced it to "custom".

I would not go for the 4850x2 as I believe I've figured out what made the 4870x2 under-perform in a number of benchmarks. Funny thing was the stock clocks of the 4870x2 are totally wrong... or at least for my card it performs better if the memory clock is 55MHz less than the stock. Then for an overclock I increase it from 750/845 in a 1:1 ratio. Right now I have it at 777/867 and the difference is astounding.

My vote is not for that 3 slot 4870x2 but a regular one... everyone underestimates the stock cooler and you do NOT want that heat in your case. At my overclock temps are 65C under load & 41C idle. I positioned a fan to blow over the Vreg heatsink array and temps dropped 15C under load.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

I would say 4850 x2 sweet cards and kick some ass the 4870x2 is also a good card. Why not just get a 4870 for now?
EDIT:Binge did bring up a good point that i forgot about PhysX is one advantage that Nvidia has so a GTX 260 maybe a better choice.

 

[PaulieG]

Personally I would go with a 4850x2, they seem to be the best priceerformance ratio right now.

Actually, per w1z's review, it has one of the worst price/performance ratios. I'd say gtx260gtx. Super fast, stock cooler works well, and drivers are working well.

 

[bangmal]

Actually, per w1z's review, it has one of the worst price/performance ratios. I'd say gtx260gtx. Super fast, stock cooler works well, and drivers are working well.

the performance per dollar thing is meaningless, the values of performance levels do not distribute evenly, and you cant quantify the value of being able to play at higher IQ setting and AA levels. If you really insisit on performance per dolloar, clearly gtx260 is one of the worst cards to pick as well. And it is not remotely close to "super fast"

 

[ShogoXT]

Recommend waiting a bit.

 

[Binge]

the performance per dollar thing is meaningless, the values of performance levels do not distribute evenly, and you cant quantify the value of being able to play at higher IQ setting and AA levels. If you really insisit on performance per dolloar, clearly gtx260 is one of the worst cards to pick as well. And it is not remotely close to "super fast"

You are totally wrong. The GTX260 is a rock solid card. I would have a hard time picking between two systems if they looked identical and I playtested each. One with an OCed 4870 1gb and one with an OCed GTX260 216 shader core.

 

[Duffman]

waiting a bit pretty much not gonna happen. I've been waiting for a while already now and I have to turn the settings way down on Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3 to play them.

 

[ShadowFold]

HD 4850X2 for sure. I see you have a maximus, why not get two 4850's and save 100$?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131125

 

[Duffman]

As stated above, I don't want to mess with dual cards anymore.

 

[Duffman]

and now, Malware just posted the new Asus non-reference 4870X2!

 

[MKmods]

260 for me too. After all the 3870 X2 probs and driver issues I went back to Stable ol Nvidia.
(or wait till the new cards start showing up)

 

[DonInKansas]

Palit ftmfw.

 

[ShadowFold]

Yea I would get the palit triple slot 4870x2.. if you can afford that beast you should get it for sure

 

[ShogoXT]

The cheapest 4870x2 is $500, the cheapest 280 is about $100 less, and the cheapest 260 (216core) and 4870 1GB are over $100 below that. I dont think its a good time to go ultra high end. I recommend if you HAVE to choose now, pick either a 4870 1GB or GTX260 more cores version. They are same price, but 4870 1GB wins in high res as GTX260 wins low res.

 

[ShogoXT]

What kind of monitor do you have?

 

[Duffman]

22" Samsing. I know the x2 would be overkill but this is gonna be my last gfx card for a while

 

[Binge]

260 for me too. After all the 3870 X2 probs and driver issues I went back to Stable ol Nvidia.
(or wait till the new cards start showing up)

the GTX2xx series is really stable in just about everything, the only time my applications would stutter would be when the framebuffer ran out. They need more memory on that GTX260

 

[ShogoXT]

CPU bottlenecks still exist, even on your powerful processor. Also I feel the X2s only shine at ultra high res with a higher clocked CPU than what we have.

4870 1GB or GTX 260 (more core) would make you set me thinkz.

 

[ShogoXT]

Also when I upraded my 2900XT to a 4850, i noticed a immediate performance jump with just the one card. You would be easily happy without going overkill on the 2 recommendations I listed above.

EDIT: So yea brother, I had a 2900 too so I know how you feel, you will be wanting the 8xAA if you get a 4870. IT WORKS!

 

[Duffman]

doing a single 4870 is still sitting in the back of my mind...