graphics card dilema !!

[wazi]

i have a HD 4670 which i quite happy with , the dilemma is there is hd3850 x2 for £55 i was thinking would there be any performance gain ??? and if i have 2 x HD 3850 X2 ( WHICH IN THEORY WOULD BE 4 GPU'S) for £110 would thye blow the sox of a hd4870 and more....

[TooNice]

and if i have 2 x HD 3850 X2 ( WHICH IN THEORY WOULD BE 4 GPU'S) for £110 would thye blow the sox of a hd4870 and more....

No really. For a start, I doubt it will be hassle free. Secondly, while there are instances (e.g. Oblivion) where the 3870x2 is faster than the 4870, there are also instances where the 4870 is two times faster than the 3870x2 (Bioshock, Quake Wars), so there will be no ('sox blowing'). And while games are scaling pretty well with 2 GPU these days, it's rarely linear, and only get more inefficient with additional GPUs.

The 3850x2 should be faster than the 4670, but whether it is the best bang for buck at £55, I am not so sure. Is that new? I'd rather go for a 4850, and I'd imagine that it may be found for about that price in the 2nd hand market.

[wazi]

so its a case of less is more !!

[Pob255]

It would be very good for folding, esp two of them.

Generally multiple gpu's don't tend to add much to total fps, what they often do is greatly increase minimum fps, well more than max or avarage.

Must admit it's tempting for £55 however I'd think I'd rather look at maybe a 2nd 4670 and crossfireing it with your current one (weaker cards tend to get a bigger performance gain from crossfire/sli, but double weeak performance is still not as good as a decent performance)
Or save up a little more and go for a 4850 or 4870

[nightkhaos]

Generally multiple gpu's don't tend to add much to total fps, what they often do is greatly increase minimum fps, well more than max or avarage.

Which is what you want for games, because it is the minimum FPS that you notice when the game is "choppy"...

[shbris]

*dilemma

[nightkhaos]

*dilemma

D! Final Answer!

[Zak33]

another 4670 for £55? Crossfire those?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would get an HD4830 for around £57:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...DP512MD3A.html

A pair of these in crossfire would be pretty fast too!!

[wazi]

another 4670 for £55? Crossfire those?

i might have to m8ty
( dumb question can i x-fire on sli mobo >>)

[Lee H]

dumb question can i x-fire on sli mobo

Not really as it was either crossfire or SLI depending on the chipset of the motherboard.

X58 changed this from Intel as you can use either multi-gpu solutions on the 1 chipset.

[Pob255]

Wazi, your specs list an Asus P5B deluxe, if that's still true then you've got a crossfire motherboard not an sli motherboard any way.

As Lee said, only the new intel motherboards offically support both sli & crossfire (all x58 and most but not all p55)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

i might have to m8ty
( dumb question can i x-fire on sli mobo >>)

Not a good decision IMHO!! An HD4830 has 640 stream processors and a 256bit memory access whereas an HD4670 has 320 stream processors and 128bit memory access.

I would replace the HD4670 with a single or even a pair of HD4830 cards as for around £57 an HD4830 will absolutely destroy an HD4670!

[Pob255]

But would it destroy 2 HD4670 in crossfire? that's the question as he already has one, he'd only need to buy a 2nd one
And he could pick one up for as little as £52.50

Ok given the choise a 4830 for £57 is worth it
Although 2 of them? I'd prefur a 4870 for £98
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...487A-YWFC.html
Or half way and a 4850 for £73
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...tech/4850.html

[Terbinator]

As Lee said, only the new intel motherboards offically support both sli & crossfire (all x58 and most but not all p55)

Not all X58's support SLi. But anyway, your probably best going for a 4850 or 4830 if thats your price area.

[wazi]

i have been really tempted to get a HD 4770 which i think is a devasting card which i think ati have made a mistake realeasing ! !!