Beavermatic
10-08-08, 10:28 AM
Just purchased a new BFG Geforce GTX280 (1gb, pcx2.0, etc etc), upgrading from a BFG Geforce 8800GTX...
plopped it in my new system (Q9550, 4GB RAM, ASUS STRIKER EXTREME BOARD (680i), 750GB seagate sata drive, 800w BFG power supply, win vista ultimate 64bit (fresh image).
Of course, like any good gamer would do, I loaded up crysis, and switched all settings to very high. I've never used AA (hate anything that affects the performance of my card), so I leave it disabled.
I have some sort of Gateway 22 inch flatscreen monitor, 4ms response time, 1680x1050 top res.
And no doubt, the card indeed slammed Crysis against the wall. Run's like a dream.
I then hopped on the net to compare specs of my newly purchased GTX280 to other cards, just to see the differences. I've been a long time Nvidia fan, began purchasing the top-end card back back to the Geforce 2 Ultra, have purchased every genreation of top-end card since then (skipping the 9800 series, mind you).
While comparing specs, I noticed this "4870x2" from ATI. I was fully aware of the 4870, and I knew that it failed to outthrone the GTX280, but this "x2" version snuck up on me, as I seldomly pay attention to ATI cards.
Sitting there reviewing, I suddenly realized that this "x2" card, for another $70, in some cases nearly double the perfomance of this GTX280.
I felt hoodwinked.
I then began looking for excuses on why my card was better, trying to fight that sudden depression that I purchased a sub-par card at the time for nearly the same price as the competitors.
It started to ease me after reading that the "x2" uses nearly double power consumption, has extreme heat temps, poor for overclocking, lackluster driver support, no multi-gpu support for older games (thus running at the speeds of a single 4870), and suffers from microstuttering and common dual PCB issues.
On top of it, I tried to come to grips that is was indeed a dual-gpu card, and thus one cannot really compare it to a single GPU card, as even nvidia has their own (gx2's). It sort of brought ease knowing that my card still had a faster single-gpu (compared to 1 of the 2 gpu's on the x2) which still slammed any current game.
Though, it was still enough to pain me.
I still wonder if I made the right decision in purchasing this GTX280, when for less than $100 more, I could have had something easily trumping it. My eager compulsive need to "keep up with the jones's" is torturing me. The gtx280 does keep the framerates hgiher than I'll need for time being, and competes decently against the "X2" for being a single gpu card, but the power of this 4870x2 is tempting.
So today, here I stand, only 48 hours after receiving my GTX280, with another $600 in my hand to burn, and am debating whether to purchase a 4870x2, or another GTX280 to SLI (but I noted that even the GTX280 SLI still fails to oust the 4870x2 in some cases, if even slightly).
Its been running through my mind to do neither of the above as well, and just to "wait it out", thinking surely sometime soon, nvidia will have a new card out the door to oust the 4870x2.
Today, I come here, in somewhat of a frenzy, to know.... what should I do? I dont really want to leave nvidia behind, but the tempting of the 4870x2 is just so overwhelming, I want it, or something that competes with it.
Help me. Please. My ears are wide open.
plopped it in my new system (Q9550, 4GB RAM, ASUS STRIKER EXTREME BOARD (680i), 750GB seagate sata drive, 800w BFG power supply, win vista ultimate 64bit (fresh image).
Of course, like any good gamer would do, I loaded up crysis, and switched all settings to very high. I've never used AA (hate anything that affects the performance of my card), so I leave it disabled.
I have some sort of Gateway 22 inch flatscreen monitor, 4ms response time, 1680x1050 top res.
And no doubt, the card indeed slammed Crysis against the wall. Run's like a dream.
I then hopped on the net to compare specs of my newly purchased GTX280 to other cards, just to see the differences. I've been a long time Nvidia fan, began purchasing the top-end card back back to the Geforce 2 Ultra, have purchased every genreation of top-end card since then (skipping the 9800 series, mind you).
While comparing specs, I noticed this "4870x2" from ATI. I was fully aware of the 4870, and I knew that it failed to outthrone the GTX280, but this "x2" version snuck up on me, as I seldomly pay attention to ATI cards.
Sitting there reviewing, I suddenly realized that this "x2" card, for another $70, in some cases nearly double the perfomance of this GTX280.
I felt hoodwinked.
I then began looking for excuses on why my card was better, trying to fight that sudden depression that I purchased a sub-par card at the time for nearly the same price as the competitors.
It started to ease me after reading that the "x2" uses nearly double power consumption, has extreme heat temps, poor for overclocking, lackluster driver support, no multi-gpu support for older games (thus running at the speeds of a single 4870), and suffers from microstuttering and common dual PCB issues.
On top of it, I tried to come to grips that is was indeed a dual-gpu card, and thus one cannot really compare it to a single GPU card, as even nvidia has their own (gx2's). It sort of brought ease knowing that my card still had a faster single-gpu (compared to 1 of the 2 gpu's on the x2) which still slammed any current game.
Though, it was still enough to pain me.
I still wonder if I made the right decision in purchasing this GTX280, when for less than $100 more, I could have had something easily trumping it. My eager compulsive need to "keep up with the jones's" is torturing me. The gtx280 does keep the framerates hgiher than I'll need for time being, and competes decently against the "X2" for being a single gpu card, but the power of this 4870x2 is tempting.
So today, here I stand, only 48 hours after receiving my GTX280, with another $600 in my hand to burn, and am debating whether to purchase a 4870x2, or another GTX280 to SLI (but I noted that even the GTX280 SLI still fails to oust the 4870x2 in some cases, if even slightly).
Its been running through my mind to do neither of the above as well, and just to "wait it out", thinking surely sometime soon, nvidia will have a new card out the door to oust the 4870x2.
Today, I come here, in somewhat of a frenzy, to know.... what should I do? I dont really want to leave nvidia behind, but the tempting of the 4870x2 is just so overwhelming, I want it, or something that competes with it.
Help me. Please. My ears are wide open.