Graphics Card advice

howardb

howardb

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Just need a bit of guidance on a new dual-graphics card setup - there are various makes out there -> Asus, Gigabyte, XfX, Leadtek, Sapphire, Point of View, MSi, to name a few.

These are further split into nVida and ATI.

Question - out of the following, which would be the better option, taking into account that there will be two that are SLI'd / Crossfire'd. I'm also looking at cost versus reliability/stability. There will not be any overclocking.

- ASUS EN9800GT EN9800GT/HTDP/1GMD3, with Hdmi, geforce 9800GT, SLi support, Pci-E 2.0 16x, 1024mb 256bit DDR3, support DirectX 10.0 + shader model 4.0 +FP32 HDR + 16x AA; max resolution 2560x1600, HDCP Compliant, RoPs: 16, 57.6Gb/sec memory transfer, 112 stream processors @ 1.5Ghz (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 600/1800mhz, 2x dvi (with dvi to d-sub), HDTV tvout

- Asus ENGTS250/HTDi/512MD3, with Hdmi, geforce GTS250, SLi support, Pci-E 2.0 16x, 512mb 256bit DDR3, support DirectX 10 + shader model 4.0 +FP32 HDR + 16x AA; max resolution 2560x1600, HDCP Compliant, RoPs: 16, 70.4Gb/sec memory transfer, 128 stream processors @ 1.84Ghz (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 740/2200mhz, 2x dvi (with dvi to d-sub converter + dvi to HDMi converter), HDTV tvout

- XFX geforce GTS250, Hdmi ready, 3-way SLi support, Pci-E 2.0 16x, support HybridPower, 512mb 256bit DDR3, support DirectX 10 + shader model 4.0 +FP32 HDR + 16x AA; max resolution 2560x1600, HDCP Compliant, RoPs: 16, 70.4Gb/sec memory transfer, 128 stream processors @ 1.84Ghz (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 738/2200mhz, 2x dvi (with dvi to d-sub + dvi to HDMi converter), HDTV+HDMi tvout

- Sapphire 11132-00-40R, HD4850 chipset, HDMi ready, support crossfire-X, built-in HDMi codec+7.1 audio, support DirectX 10.1, 1080p HDCP Compliant, pci-e 2.0 x16, 1Gb 256bit 4 channel DDR3, 800 stream processors (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 625/1986mhz, dual dvi (with 2x dvi to d-sub + 1x dvi to HDMi converter), HDTV+HDMi tv-out

- Asus EAH4850/HTDI/1G, HD4850 chipset, HDMi ready, support crossfire-X, built-in HDMi codec+7.1 audio, support DirectX 10.1, 1080p HDCP Compliant, pci-e 2.0 x16, 1024mb 256bit 4 channel DDR3, 800 stream processors (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 625/1986mhz, dual dvi (with 2x dvi to d-sub + 1x dvi to HDMi converter), HDTV+HDMi tv-out

- Gigabyte® NVIDIA® GeForce 9800GT, 1GB 256Bit GDDR3, PCI-E 2.0, Dual DVI, HDTV, DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1, SLI Ready, Vista Premium

- Gigabyte® NVIDIA® GeForce GTS250, 1GB 256Bit GDDR3, PCI-E 2.0, Dual DVI, HDMI, DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1, SLI Ready, Vista Premium

- Leadtek NVIDIA® GeForce GTS250, 1GB 256Bit GDDR3, PCI-E 2.0, Dual DVI, HDTV, DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1, SLI Ready, Vista Premium

- Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon HD4850, 1GB 256Bit GDDR3, PCI-E 2.0, Dual DVI & TV-Out, DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 2.1, Shader Model 4.1, Crossfire

My Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI motherboard apparently has NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU support (2x PCI-Express x16 slot, supports two PCI-Express interface Graphics cards with SLI mode) - can I then use the ATI cards with this (Crossfire), or only nVidia-based cards?

I bought an XfX 6200 card before and it was buggered straight out the new sealed box - sent it back, waited 2 weeks, tried the replacement - also didn't work. Now, as you can imagine, I'm not enthused by XfX after this episode - anyone else had issues with them?

I know that someone is going to comment about how old the board is and the bottlenecks that'll probably seem like I'm wasting my money, but I will be upgrading the board CPU and Ram soon, and would rather start with some decent graphics cards... my Gainward recently died and I have to replace it anyway.
 
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They're all the same (unless they're "OC versions" etc.), just with different stickers/packaging/coolers (and warranties/support).

The 4850 is the fastest out of the lot, and AFAIK, that Asus 4850 is well-priced and they have a good warranty and support.

I would also advise you to rather go for a more expensive single card setup, because SLI/Crossfire is overrated and generally gives a ±30% increase in performance.
 
Yeah. Also what monitor will you be running?

Rather get 1 4870 1gig. It'll give you less hassles, suck less juice and consistent performance in games. It's just better. There oc versions available too.
 
Thanks for the replies gents... looks like I'm going the single card route then - less hassles.

My choices are now:

GV-R487D5-1GD - R3999 (R4559 incl)
Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon HD4870, 1GB 256Bit GDDR5, PCI-E 2.0, DVI, HDMI & DisplayPort, DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 2.1, Shader Model 4.1, Crossfire
Link

SC-X4870H1G - R3799 (R4331 incl)
XFX HD-487A-ZDF, HD4870 chipset, HDMi ready, support crossfire-X, built-in HDMi codec+7.1 audio, support DirectX 10.1, 1080p HDCP Compliant, pci-e 2.0 x16, 1Gb/1024mb 256bit 4 channel DDR5, 800 stream processors (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 750/3600mhz, dual dvi (with 2x dvi to d-sub + 1x dvi to HDMi converter), HDTV+HDMi tv-out
Link

SC-A4870H1G - R3699 (R4217 incl)
Asus EAH4870/HTDI/1G, HD4870 chipset, HDMi ready, support crossfire-X, built-in HDMi codec+7.1 audio, support DirectX 10.1, 1080p HDCP Compliant, pci-e 2.0 x16, 1Gb/1024mb 256bit 4 channel DDR5, 800 stream processors (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 750/3600mhz, dual dvi (with 1x dvi to d-sub + 1x dvi to HDMi converter), HDTV+HDMi tv-out
Link


Is there a massive performance difference between DDR3 memory (on the 4850 range) and DDR5 memory (on the 4870 range) on these cards
Is the R1000 difference in price worth it, considering all other specs are virtually the same...
 
howardb said:
Is there a massive performance difference between DDR3 memory (on the 4850 range) and DDR5 memory (on the 4870 range) on these cards
Is the R1000 difference in price worth it, considering all other specs are virtually the same...
Click to expand...

You decide,
http://www.behardware.com/art/imprimer/726/
http://translate.google.com/transla...radeon_hd_4870/6/#abschnitt_performancerating
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-4870,1964-18.html

If it was me I would get the 4850 and use the savings somewhere else, like towards an SSD :D But you are not me so get what you like ;)
 
howardb said:
Thanks for the replies gents... looks like I'm going the single card route then - less hassles.

My choices are now:

GV-R487D5-1GD - R3999 (R4559 incl)
Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon HD4870, 1GB 256Bit GDDR5, PCI-E 2.0, DVI, HDMI & DisplayPort, DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 2.1, Shader Model 4.1, Crossfire
Link

SC-X4870H1G - R3799 (R4331 incl)
XFX HD-487A-ZDF, HD4870 chipset, HDMi ready, support crossfire-X, built-in HDMi codec+7.1 audio, support DirectX 10.1, 1080p HDCP Compliant, pci-e 2.0 x16, 1Gb/1024mb 256bit 4 channel DDR5, 800 stream processors (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 750/3600mhz, dual dvi (with 2x dvi to d-sub + 1x dvi to HDMi converter), HDTV+HDMi tv-out
Link

SC-A4870H1G - R3699 (R4217 incl)
Asus EAH4870/HTDI/1G, HD4870 chipset, HDMi ready, support crossfire-X, built-in HDMi codec+7.1 audio, support DirectX 10.1, 1080p HDCP Compliant, pci-e 2.0 x16, 1Gb/1024mb 256bit 4 channel DDR5, 800 stream processors (pixel shader engine + vertex pipelines), core/memory: 750/3600mhz, dual dvi (with 1x dvi to d-sub + 1x dvi to HDMi converter), HDTV+HDMi tv-out
Link


Is there a massive performance difference between DDR3 memory (on the 4850 range) and DDR5 memory (on the 4870 range) on these cards
Is the R1000 difference in price worth it, considering all other specs are virtually the same...
Click to expand...

The 4870 also has a 125mhz speed boost over the 4850. That and the gdddr5 ram really make a big difference.

Out of those you listed i'd take the asus.
 
Thanks everyone, Asus it is - I was going to go with the Asus - just needed some confirmation...

Will grab one in the week and see how it goes... :)
 
howardb said:
Two Samsung 2333SW's...



My last two nVidia cards gave me ongoing hassles with the drivers, so I'd like to give ATi a try for a while. I checked a few on eBay, but the postage is a killer, particularly if from the US or UK...
Click to expand...

Well with two 23inch monitors it was definitely a good idea going for the 1gig version...
 
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