which graphics card? help

[pug106quiksilve]

right im not sure what graphics card to go for im looking at spending in the region of 300/350
was looking at the sapphire 2gb 4870 and the nvidia gtx 280 1gb
what card would you recommend?

[blueball]

Does your board support Crossfire or SLI?

If crossfire go 4870
if SLI go 280

That way you have a performance improvement path in the future

Other than that its a toss up in my book

[ajones]

I don't think I'd be speaking out of place if I was to say that many around here consider Crossfire and SLI a waste of time, advocating the approach of getting the best single card you can afford, unless you can afford 2 straight off the bat. I've bought an SLI board many moons ago with this idea of grabbing a second card to upgrade to, but when the time arose, a new single GPU card was available that was better than adding a second card.

Check out this forum post... looks purdy useful

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...-x-thread.html

[pug106quiksilve]

heres the spec of the motherboard asus p6t x58

Form Factor: ATX
CPU Socket: 1366
QPI Speed: 6.4 GT/s
FSB/HT Speed: N/A
Chipset: X58
Memory Type: DDR3
Memory Type (ECC): Non-ECC
Memory Type (R/U): Unbuffered
Memory Speed (Mhz): DDR3 - 1066
DDR3 - 1333
DDR3 - 1600(OC)

Memory Capacity: 12GB
On Board Graphics:
Graphics Interface: PCI-E 2.0 (x16)
SLI:
Hybrid SLI:
Hybrid Crossfire:
Crossfire:
Water Cooled:
Intel i7 Compatible:
HDCP:
Expansion Slots: 2 x PCI (32 bit)
3 x PCI-E 2.0 (x16)
1 x PCI-E x4

SATA: SATA II
RAID: SAS/SATA
SCSI:
MODT:
Back Panel: 2 x 10/100/1000 (LAN)
1 x eSATA 300
1 x Firewire (6pin)
1 x Line In
3 x Line Out
1 x Mic In
1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Combo
1 x SPDIF Out (Coaxial)
1 x SPDIF Out (Optical)
8 x USB 2.0/1.1

Internal I/O: 1 x 24pin (V)
4 x 3pin Fan (V)
1 x 8pin (V)
1 x CD-In
1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
1 x Firewire
1 x Floppy
1 x FP Audio Header
1 x IDE
6 x Memory Slots (DDR3)
2 x SAS
6 x SATA 300
1 x SPDIF-Out Header
1 x TPM Header
3 x USB2.0/1.1 Header

and heres the spec of the pc ive customised on 3xs scan ive added 12gb of ram although it says 6

Custom Coloured Cases: *No Custom Colour Required*
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Case
CPU: Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition 3.20GHz 8MB Cache s1366 (Nehelem)
CPU Coolers: Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme 120mm Heat Sink Fan
Overclocking: 3XS System Core-Logic Overclocking*10 - 20%*
Memory: 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 8-8-8-24, 2 selected
NVIDIA Graphics - Multi GPU SLI Options Available: *No NVIDIA VGA Card Required* (ATI Required)
ATI Graphics - Multi GPU Crossfire Options Available: *No ATI VGA Card Required* (NVIDIA Required)
Power Supply Unit: 1000W Corsair HX Series Modular (Dual Graphics Cards SLI Crossfire)
System Drives: 300 GB Western Digital WD3000GLFS VelociRaptor 10000 rpm 16MB Cache, 2 selected
Storage Hard drives: 1000 GB Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black 7200 rpm 32MB Cache
Solid State Drives: *Solid State Drive Not Required*
Floppy Drive Flash Card Readers & Writers: Heisei Black Floppy Disk & Internal Combo All in 1 Card Reader
DVD Writer: Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±R 12x DVD±DL DVD+RW x8 -RW x6
Blu Ray Reader Writer: LG GGW-H20L - Super Multi Blu-Ray Writer & Blu-Ray + HD-ROM Reader
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Sound Card 7.1Ch
Gaming Network Card: *Use On Board Network Port*
Internal External (USB) Wireless Adaptors: *Wireless Adaptor Not Required*
Case Cooling Fans: *After Market Fans Not Required - Use Fans Included with Case*
Lighting Effects: *Lighting Effects Not Required*
Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit
Software - Application: MS OFFICE 2007 - 25 Usage 60 Day TRIAL Basic SBE & Professional
Software - DVD Blu Ray Decoding: Cyberlink Power DVD V7
Software - Security: AVG Internet Security 8.0 1 User 1 Year
Software - Hottest PC Games: Call Of Duty 5 - World at War
TFT Monitor: *Monitor Not Required*
Gaming Keyboard : *Gaming Keyboard Not Required*
Gaming Mouse Option: *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
Gaming Mouse Mat: *Gaming Mouse Mat Not Required*
Speakers: *Speakers Not Required*
Extended Warranty: Standard 3XS System Warranty

[!TIMMY!]

Well that supports both SLI and Corssfire. Therfore I would go on Toms Hardware and look at the VGA charts for the resolution u will play at and compare the above 2 cards in the games that you will be playing. tbh both are very good.

[Webby]

First in reply to ajones what you say about going for a better single card over crossfire/sli was the correct advice right up until ATI priced the 4850 at a point where 2 of them slaughter the equivilent priced single cards, this holds true for the 4830 as well. Oh and thanks for the link to my what card thread

If you want blisteringly fast graphics and money is no option then the best single cards you can get are the 4870X2, 4850X2 and the GTX280 the 4870X2 is well in the lead here with the 4850X2 behind and the GTX280 a close third. If you read my thread (linked by ajones above, updated today) you will see that the 4870X2 can be found for £350, 4850X2 for £330 and the GTX280 for £315. The fun starts when you consider the 4850 crossfire option two 4850 512mb cards will cost you £230 (a £100 saving over the single card option) and will give you basically the same performance as the 4850X2.

If it was my money and I was looking to get top end graphics I would be getting those 2x 4850's and crossfiring them

[shaithis]

Seriously, if your buying a Core i7 965 Extreme Edition system with 12GB of RAM for gaming, you might as well throw three 4870x2 cards in just to keep the graphics solution as suitably over-the-top as the rest of the rig

[ajones]

Oh and thanks for the link to my what card thread

Your welcome. Excellent thread, especially since I'm about to use it myself!

Oh.. and nice one Shaithais! I like that logic

[pug106quiksilve]

reason for the 12gb of ram is im a military based liveing in germany so im intitled to tax free otherwise i wouldnt of made such a high spec comp
think im going to go for the 4870x2

[pug106quiksilve]

just looking at the 4870x2 looks like the most popular is the sapphire and the ati radeon version of this how ever the ati radeon version is abit more expensive is there much differance? between these two ?

[Pob255]

Ummm Ati make them, that's like asking what the difference between a nvidia geforce and a xfx
the difference is that a manufactor brand is a stock card bought from the manufactor and the branded one has been bought by the brand company and has been changed before sold on. (the change can be as simple as a logo and picture printed onto the cooler, all the way up to a whole new pcb layout)
ATM I'm not aware of any 4870x2 which vary from the stock card, the reason different brands stock cards go for different prices is down to profits, margins and volume costs.