antipacker Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 hi guys i am thinking of going sli or xfire but not sure what cards to get.. i have been looking at the 9800gtx sli and hd4850 xfire what do you think and what motherboard is best for them ? thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 There is an issue that you need to look at regardless of an Xfire or SLi choice. Every generation seems to release a new hardware that is superior to the Crossfire or SLi'd cards. I have a friend with 2 X SLi (8800GTX Ultras) and I have a GTX 260 that outperforms them when I clock it up. It cost ~300.00. So unless you are running in very high resolutions >1920 X 1200 or playing a game that has a poor rendering engine (Crysis) then I would advise against Sli or Xfire. If you are hell bent on going with SLi or Xfire, then you may wish to check the power requirements of both and thermal envelope of both. ATi/AMD are very hot, far hotter than Nvidia. The 280 I am playing with at the moment runs 45C Idle and 68C Full Load with an 80% Fan cycle. Two of them together can start to generate some heat but the movement of the heat outside the case works extremely well in the 200 series Nvidia cards. They are the best OE (Original Entry) cooler I have ever used and this will be the first time I do not go with an aftermarket cooler since the X800 series cards. As well, the ATi drivers are not all that good. I don't understand why every release of new hardware brings so many new issues that need to be addressed. Nvidia has issues as well, but it seems far less of them. I had a 4870 for two weeks and was so frustrated with it, that I sold it and moved to a GTX 260 and my smiles are from ear to ear. On 3DMark Vantage: My single GTX 260 = P11635 4870 X 2 = ~P10338 8800GTX SLi = ~P10134 These were all running on Quad Core processors @ ~3.8Ghz Far better to run the newest generation each release than to buy for dual video and hold back each generation release. And generational releases happen pretty fast when both ATi and Nvidia are close in benches which, at this time, they are. We are the winners then as prices drop and performance increases. Just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antipacker Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 do you think there is much difference between a gtx280 and a gtx260 and 9800gx2 hd4870 hd4870 x2 ? i also have a asus striker which says cpu init is this fixable ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I would RMA the mainboard. The difference in price between the 260 and 280 makes the choice pretty clear. The 9800GX2 is an SLI and some games do not work very well with it. There are issues with it. I will wait for the next generation to make another purchase. This 260 can overclock to 750/1500/2300, runs cool and fast. It's more than enough for the gaming I do and my 24" 1920 X 1200 screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antipacker Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 just ordered a 4870x2 got a good deal for £280 i run all my games through the nvidia control panel with everything on max like 16x aa ai what motherboard would you recommend for this card with an E8400 with 2gb pc2-9200 reaper ram ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Reaper DRAM? Check what board at the DRAM companies site, not here... I don't know what that DRAM works well with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antipacker Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 sorry m8 here is a link to it http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=37680&source=googleps finally letting go of my dfi bloodiron and what a board its been but i have the itch to upgrade again lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Can't say. I support Corsair DRAM users only. I don't know what that DRAM uses for ICs. This IS a Corsair support site you know? Check your DRAM companies site and see what they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antipacker Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 ok sorry about that what motherboard would you recommend for the 4870x2 :laughing: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 ok sorry about that what motherboard would you recommend for the 4870x2 :laughing: I can't say. I found issues with the 4870 that I tried out and it was on an X38 Maximus --> Rampage motherboard. No issues with the 260 on the same board. 4870 drivers kept on dropping out of 3D, losing Aero, etc. So I tossed the card off and will not look at their stuff until they move to a new architecture. Hot as hell and twice as noisy as the 260 as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antipacker Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 I can't say. I found issues with the 4870 that I tried out and it was on an X38 Maximus --> Rampage motherboard. No issues with the 260 on the same board. 4870 drivers kept on dropping out of 3D, losing Aero, etc. So I tossed the card off and will not look at their stuff until they move to a new architecture. Hot as hell and twice as noisy as the 260 as well. ooops that was the board i was looking at Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antipacker Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 would my blood iron be ok even though its only a p35 ? is there much difference with pci express 2.0 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 AMD has clearly said that the 4870X2 needs 2.0. The same thing for the Geforce 260 & 280 they will work best with PCI-E 2.0 boards as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antipacker Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 i am going to go with one of these, i can get a used one for £30 http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1274/print/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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