Confused on what GFX to get

[Messiah]

Hi guys at the moment i have a 790i SLI motherboard, and im not sure what graphic card to get. I'm draw towards the ati 4870 x2 due to the power of it, but originally i was going to get a nvidia 280. I'm only going to use a single card, but I'm not sure if i will get the full benefit of the 4870 x2 since the board is an SLI one, i am a bit confused on how the ati one works does it have internal crossfire so that it doesn't matter what motherboard it's on? or will it not use the crossfire if i don't have a cf motherboard. I don't want to be sitting at home with a new pc and no graphic card so some help would be greatful.

Andy

[Twist]

If you're only going to use 1 card then don't worry about xfire or SLi - it doesn't matter to you and nvidia and ati cards will both work fine (the x2 thing is about how the card itself is constructed).

The 4870 seems to be flavour of the month, but I'm a bit out of date on how they compare to the 280.

[Overdriven]

4870 x2 if you don't mind blowing the cash. Card is nooiceee. I want three (Or.. The 9800 Nvid cards when Nvid actually get things working)

[kiliarien]

Hi Andy (you knob - had to get the insult in there),

I'd stick with the 280, not only is it tried and tested on the board, but you won't have to deal with SLI/Xfire issues with drivers that do exist - and if you ever did buy a second card you'll get full x16 bandwith you won't get with ATI cards in the same way. I've had 2 bad ATI cards that haven't worked with DAoC, I pray it won't be the same with WAR.

Knowing you mate, you'd rather have decent performance when you can play the whole time than having to tit about with modded drivers (possibly?) and get a squeeze more out of them.

And btw how are you and your fat ass bro?

Dave/Bira

[Patriarch<>Matriarch]

Well you got a high end mobo, that supports ddr3 and 3-way SLI or LSI at x16 2.0.

So going with ATI would be kinda of a waste really...since the only card they have better atm is the 4870x2, and that would do best on an intel x48 board really.


I would personally not go with the 280 GTX, but wait a month and go with the remade 260 GTX on a 45 NM platform. That card will be alot cheaper, and will OC alot! And that will make it very competative to its ( probably ) alot lower pricetag.


If you cannot wait, but want high end single gfx solution to play war at capped fps all the time etc, then the only choice is the 280 or the x2.

The x2 costs abit more but is alot more powerful then the 280, but if you can get a good deal on the 280 then it will be worth it. The X2 produces alot of heat so you will have to invest in cooling wich will make it even more costy.

[Messiah]

Thanks for the help but i decided to get the ati due to the power of it, and its abit cheaper as im going 1 single card for now then maybe in the future get 2 or 3 better nvidia cards. Ive got a 1100 watt supply so im fine on that and the pc already overclocked to 3.8 ghz from 2.8 ghz without doing anything prob get it up to 4.2 without any worries as the mobo really good.

Andy

[confused]

Well if you do concider to get multiple nvidia gpus in the future, the 45nm GTX is being released next month.
Personally I got the 4870x2 and definitely happy with my choice also

http://en.hardspell.com/doc/showcont.asp?news_id=3764