8800GTX SLi v/s GTX280

[darkrider01]

Do any of the reviews actually pit a GTX280 against 2 x 8800GTX's in SLi? I understand that the GTX280 is the fastest single card out and that it is faster than 2 x 9800GTX's, but I'm trying to decide if it's right for me. I've looked at 10 sites so far, but I can't find this comparison.

I've told myself that I'm only gonna upgrade if it's faster than 2 x 8800GTX's in SLi at 1680x1050 or 1920x1200.

[Bman212121]

Do any of the reviews actually pit a GTX280 against 2 x 8800GTX's in SLi? I understand that the GTX280 is the fastest single card out and that it is faster than 2 x 9800GTX's, but I'm trying to decide if it's right for me. I've looked at 10 sites so far, but I can't find this comparison.

I've told myself that I'm only gonna upgrade if it's faster than 2 x 8800GTX's in SLi at 1680x1050 or 1920x1200.


There were a few that I've seen and no it's not really faster to go with 1 GTX 280 versus 2 x 8800GTX. I think I'm going to hold off and wait until the price drops a little. Then I might be able to go 2 x GTX 280 and remove all doubt. :D

I'll see if I can find it again.

Here are a couple from FiringSquad:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_gtx_280_260_performance/page13.asp

[nekrosoft13]

compared to two 8800GTX there is no point in switching to GTX 280.

price on GTX 280 is just insane, compared to 9800Gx2

[darkrider01]

There were a few that I've seen and no it's not really faster to go with 1 GTX 280 versus 2 x 8800GTX. I think I'm going to hold off and wait until the price drops a little. Then I might be able to go 2 x GTX 280 and remove all doubt. :D

I'll see if I can find it again.

Here are a couple from FiringSquad:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_gtx_280_260_performance/page13.asp

That's exactly what I was looking for. It looks to be almost as fast (and sometimes faster) than 2 x 8800GTX's in SLi at high res.

Looks like I'll be joining the "I paid too much for my video card" group again. When I bought my 8800GTX, I paid $600, so 650 isn't so bad.

Thanks Bman212121

[spajdr]

GTX 280 have better min.fps then 8800GTX SLI.

[Slappi]

compared to two 8800GTX there is no point in switching to GTX 280.

price on GTX 280 is just insane, compared to 9800Gx2


People who have 30 inch monitors would and should buy the GTX 280.

You think the 280 is marketed at anything less than 1900 resolution?

It totally destroys the 9800gtx2 in the higher resolutions with AA and all on one chip.

Of course it would be silly for most people to buy a $650 card when a $200 card can do the same thing in the lower resolutions. Same thing as being playable frame rates with all the eye candy.

[spajdr]

Also Age of Conan, average fps in Old Tarantia was 25-30 .. with GX2 ... with GTX 280 its around 35-40 fps, same with Conall Valley, people dont realize they barely seen in reviews min.fps and thats the problem, playing with GTX 280 is not about max. fps but about min.fps which are really better, and for max eyecandy on 30" its a must. Next thing is driver code for GT200 is completely different to G80 so there are still room for improvements.

[Bman212121]

That's exactly what I was looking for. It looks to be almost as fast (and sometimes faster) than 2 x 8800GTX's in SLi at high res.

Looks like I'll be joining the "I paid too much for my video card" group again. When I bought my 8800GTX, I paid $600, so 650 isn't so bad.

Thanks Bman212121

NP. :thumbsup:

[SH64]

GTX 280 have better min.fps then 8800GTX SLI.
+1 .. which is very important if you consider smooth gaming experiance.

[G-Man]

Yeah, you can buy two 9800 GTX for $450 which compares to GTX 280 at $650 :)

[xdaishanx]

Also Age of Conan, average fps in Old Tarantia was 25-30 .. with GX2 ... with GTX 280 its around 35-40 fps, same with Conall Valley, people dont realize they barely seen in reviews min.fps and thats the problem, playing with GTX 280 is not about max. fps but about min.fps which are really better, and for max eyecandy on 30" its a must. Next thing is driver code for GT200 is completely different to G80 so there are still room for improvements.

That's my main game and I run at 2560x1600 with everything on high other than shadows off -

2560x1600 with 4xAA I get fairly solid 58-60 fps with 8800gtx OC BFG's in SLI - was getting about 30ish with just one maybe around 40 at times - so recently added a second and shot way up

I'm curious as to if the single 280gtx would be better overall or just the two 8800gtx sli'd would be best to stick with -

Can unload those both to a friend or Ebay close to what a single 280gtx would be -

I prefer single cards in the case and finally went with the 8800gtx sli for AoC at 2560 -

What to do now , definitely dont want to drop in framerates and the Firingsquad article specifically says 8800gtx sli beat the single 280gtx on most things - especially in that DX10 bench

"In our testing though a pair of GeForce 8800 GTX cards running in SLI was generally faster than one GeForce GTX 280."

[darkrider01]

That's my main game and I run at 2560x1600 with everything on high other than shadows off -

2560x1600 with 4xAA I get fairly solid 58-60 fps with 8800gtx OC BFG's in SLI - was getting about 30ish with just one maybe around 40 at times - so recently added a second and shot way up

I'm curious as to if the single 280gtx would be better overall or just the two 8800gtx sli'd would be best to stick with -

Can unload those both to a friend or Ebay close to what a single 280gtx would be -

I prefer single cards in the case and finally went with the 8800gtx sli for AoC at 2560 -

What to do now , definitely dont want to drop in framerates and the Firingsquad article specifically says 8800gtx sli beat the single 280gtx on most things - especially in that DX10 bench

"In our testing though a pair of GeForce 8800 GTX cards running in SLI was generally faster than one GeForce GTX 280."

It's been said plenty of times that the max FPS from 8800GTX's is higher, but in most cases I saw higher minimum FPS from a single GTX 280.

The minimum FPS stuff convinced me - my wife ordered me an Evga GTX 280 FTW today. BTW - MWave has the GTX 280 in stock :captnkill:

[xdaishanx]

It's been said plenty of times that the max FPS from 8800GTX's is higher, but in most cases I saw higher minimum FPS from a single GTX 280.

The minimum FPS stuff convinced me - my wife ordered me an Evga GTX 280 FTW today. BTW - MWave has the GTX 280 in stock :captnkill:

But the does the min really did that much for people using 8800gtx sli anyway ? Not disputing just curious - haven't really noticed any huge dips for me in AoC with that setup

Main reason I am considering is to avoid any sli issues in future and it's got to be less heat for one card in the case -

[darkrider01]

Well, in my situation, I don't want to deal with SLi again. The fact that you can't have SLi on and use dual monitors is enough for me to leave it alone. Also, SLi profiles were never easy to configure or implement either.

Minimum FPS makes a difference to me. With my single 8800GTX, I get as high as 50-60FPS in AOC (1680x1050 in a window, all settings maxed), but it sometimes dips into the teens.

[grimreefer]

anand benched a gtx280 against 8800gt sli, they were pretty even.
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334&p=11

[K007]

Also Age of Conan, average fps in Old Tarantia was 25-30 .. with GX2 ... with GTX 280 its around 35-40 fps, same with Conall Valley, people dont realize they barely seen in reviews min.fps and thats the problem, playing with GTX 280 is not about max. fps but about min.fps which are really better, and for max eyecandy on 30" its a must. Next thing is driver code for GT200 is completely different to G80 so there are still room for improvements.

spot on. Any review site that only show avg should be ignored imo...ignoring the cost of the GTX280, the min fps at high ress/aa is far better than anything out there thanks to its extra mem/power.

[xdaishanx]

spot on. Any review site that only show avg should be ignored imo...ignoring the cost of the GTX280, the min fps at high ress/aa is far better than anything out there thanks to its extra mem/power.

I'm not getting this huge dip in FPS min that some people must have

with my two 800gtx sli in AoC at 2560x1600 I watched this evening and haven't gone below 40 yet regardless of zone and spell effects - in fact it rarely goes below 55 and stays at 59-60

Only reason I'm still considering a switch is purely for heat as the 2 OC'd 8800gtx BFG certainly heat the case up

But I just dont see this framerate dip problem that people point to for an advantage for the 280

[GTVAPSAMTIK]

Ya I am doing great so far with my 2x EVGA GEFORCE 8800 ULTRA , I love those 2x768 memory on it. I cant run every game at max reso with max details. Ill save up for next GEN cards.