1 GTX280 / 2 GTX260s / or 3 9800GTX+s???

[MarcVenice]

You'd be cheaper of getting a new mobo, selling your old one, and buying 2 HD4850's, for 150$ each. Then, if you wanted, you could buy a HD4870 X2, sell ONE HD4850, and run the HD4870 X2 and HD4850 in Crossfire. Scaling is pretty good up to three cards. Two gtx 280's in SLI might not even be faster then three of those cards, but will surely be almost twice as expensive, and might require a new PSU.

You could also wait for the HD4870, and see how it performs. Pretty likely it will be between the gtx260 and gtx280. If it's close to the gtx280 and sells for 350$, it will make the gtx280 drop in price.

 

[Cookie Monster]

GTX280 SLi will be faster than 3xHD4850. (It takes 2 HD4850s to perform around the single GTX280 i.e theoretically requires 4xHD4850s to perform around a GTX280 SLI level assuming 100% scaling). Id think 4xHD4850 wouldn't cut it either seeing as scaling past 3 is pretty damn non existent in almost all titles, and even then scaling 3 GPUs are borderline inconsistent.

 

[GameRGeeK]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
GTX280 SLi will be faster than 3xHD4850. (It takes 2 HD4850s to perform around the single GTX280 i.e theoretically requires 4xHD4850s to perform around a GTX280 SLI level assuming 100% scaling). Id think 4xHD4850 wouldn't cut it either seeing as scaling past 3 is pretty damn non existent in almost all titles, and even then scaling 3 GPUs are borderline inconsistent.

wow 2 GTX280s... I wish I had the cash for 2 but sadly my budget is $700.. yet i would not think my board though an SLI, would handle 2 GTX280s, but i would agree with you though right now the GTX is still overpriced and plus its not showing much promise as of current drivers and what the benchmarks show.

 

[Rebel44]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
You'd be cheaper of getting a new mobo, selling your old one, and buying 2 HD4850's, for 150$ each. Then, if you wanted, you could buy a HD4870 X2, sell ONE HD4850, and run the HD4870 X2 and HD4850 in Crossfire. Scaling is pretty good up to three cards. Two gtx 280's in SLI might not even be faster then three of those cards, but will surely be almost twice as expensive, and might require a new PSU.

You could also wait for the HD4870, and see how it performs. Pretty likely it will be between the gtx260 and gtx280. If it's close to the gtx280 and sells for 350$, it will make the gtx280 drop in price.

QFT

 

[BlueAcolyte]

I thought crossfire worked on any board with two slots? Correct me if I'm wrong, although I wouldn't want a 680i board either.

 

[GameRGeeK]

QFT?

 

[MarcVenice]

quoted for truth ... google is your friend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QFT

And I don't think CF works on non CF mobo's ...

 

[GameRGeeK]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice

And I don't think CF works on non CF mobo's ...

I think so too, I mean it defeats the SLI purpose if an SLI capable board could also to CF.
Could I have your opinion regarding this thread MarcVenics? What would be an ideal NVIDIA configuration, around $700?

 

[MarcVenice]

IMO, there is no ideal Nvidia solution. The only thing that comes to mind could be dual 9800gtx's. That should cost 400$ and still perform equal if not better then a GTX280. I mean, the 9800gx2 has been shown to outperform the gtx280 on several occasions. But then again, at higher resolutions ( 2560x1600 ) and MAYBE 1920*1200 too, the gtx280 pulls away significantly due to more memory bandwith ...

Is there no way to get rid of your mobo and get a crossfire capable one ? If not, then dual 9800gtx's is in no way going to dissapoint haha. One more option is to simply wait for the HD4870, if it performs near GTX280 levels and costs 'just' 350$ then it's a no-brainer, right?

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Just dont buy a GTX 280 until its price drops dramatically... 650$ for it is ridiculous... Any Sli setup of last generation cards owns it for much less

 

[GameRGeeK]

probably Dual GTX9800+s then I would think? Anyone have an idea about when the GTX260 is coming out? maybe Dual GTX260s would do the job. please bear in mind everyone I am in the position now to spend my $700 budget, so all this feedback I'm getting from all of you is really helping me think clearly and more realistically about what SLI cards to get, heck maybe ATI, but still if their is a chance for better performance from Nvidia, i would stick it out with SLI rather than CF. No offense, i love both Nvidia and ATI cards but this time around I am considering Nvidia.

 

[Blazer7]

I think that it's best to wait for the 4870 to drive prices down. The 9800GTX+ will also do the same for the std 9800GTX and 2 of those will beat a single 280. If you go for 2 260s you'll probably gonna need a new PSU.

nVidia Certified SLI Ready PSUs

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
680 can definitely do 3SLI. All you need is a 3SLI bridge sold seperately.

There's a place that sells these for HALF the price.

BFG Store

I'm posting this because I can be a cheap bastard and like hot deals (for those who have seen my Hot Deals posts), however in the interest of full disclosure, I do work for BFG. Soooo, if this is seen as "shilling" then I'll edit the link out of my post and you guys can pay 2x the price.

Zap (who works for BFG, but has an Antec PSU in his gaming rig and a Corsair PSU and ECS video card in his "main" rig )