To Dual HD3870 or not?

[keef247]

basically awhile back the best i could afford was a powercolor hd3870 pcs edition 2.4ghz/800mhz pci-e 2.0 card... i have a q6600 currently sitting @ 3.6ghz with 2gb pc8500 ballistix... i run a old dell 19" crt that runs 1600x1200@70hz...
my question is... what % gain would i get from getting another identical card. as mine is 2.4ghz not the 1.8ghz like the X2 is... so would i get more performance or will it be like SLi were its only 50% increase or something around that instead of double?
also this still works out cheaper than a single X2 and like I say my PCS edition is faster clockwise...
what do you guys reckon?

Oh and in the summer I might get a 24" widescreen or maybe a 22" for this machine and run either 1650x1050/1920x1080 depending on the size i go for... would i be able to run games on max settings at 1650x1050? obviously not crysis but i bet it'd be alot silkier and i could have the visual's bumped up even further?
ALSO forget the monitor I'm thinking of buying could i run crysis for example max settings on my 1600x1200 del crt? that'd be sweet.
seeing as it should be what £130-70 quid for another or less it'd be a bargain if performance gains are up to what I'm hoping for.

what you guys reckon.

[this_is_gav]

This guy reckons it's entirely dependant on the games you play and that reviews would suit you best. Crysis is hopeless with any multi-GPU set-up. You gain a bit, but overall, unless you're buying for multiple games and your wallet is bursting, just leave it.

Personally, if I did need(?) more general gaming performance, I'd sell the HD3870 and buy an X2 (slots saved, and the invisible to the OS design), but do you need to?

Just turn it down and wait until NV (in particular) and ATi pull their fingers out and actually make a new card rather than rehashing old tech.

PS, 'Operating systems & applications' is the wrong forum.

[keef247]

yeah it wasn't purely crysis based i just wondered out of curiousity seeing as its the best graphics straining game out. I'm aware of the highest setups not being able to run it at its biggest strain etc but I was just wondering out of the "this is what i have i could get this" boat to whats best.
An x2 is far more expensive or was at the time so I'm not sure.
seems to run everything pretty nice but was just wondering for what I could gain as their so cheap the cards (not the x2)

MOD move this please to which section you think suits it best?

[-iceblade^]

i would say it's a pretty decent option considering the prices of the cards are dropping so low... if you can wait for the new card generation of the cards, then go for it (they come out in june for ATi). do so.... either way, you should be seeing 50 to 80% frame increases if the drivers are working properly...