Here is why I have to upgrade to a 4870x2 (as opposed to GTX280)

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SpeedyVV

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Sep 14, 2007
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Well there is a post asking what is the point of upgrading?

I prefer thing in the affirmative ;-)

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=605&type=expert&pid=8

In there, one of my most played games is GRID. In this game because steering response is essential, any avg less than 50fps, and your car steering will fell slugish.

Race Driver: GRiD 2560x1600 - 4AA 8 AF

Sapphire HD 4870x2 2gb:
- Min: 54
- Max: 105
- Avg: 78

BFG GTX 280 OC 1gb:
- Min: 33
- Max: 53
- Avg: 43

So the 48070x2 is 81% faster at this awsome resolution and IQ.

This is why I need to upgrade to an 4870x2! Why do you?

PS: To be fair the NV GTX260 896mb SLI did quite well:
- Min: 53
- Max: 81
- Avg: 63

Hurray for choice!!!
 
Yeah, I plan to get one soon as well, hopefully in the next few weeks, the 4870x2 looks very appealing. I can't wait. And whats best that the launch price wasn't as expensive as the GTX 280.
 
SpeedyVV said:
Well there is a post asking what is the point of upgrading?

I prefer thing in the affirmative ;-)

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=605&type=expert&pid=8

In there, one of my most played games is GRID. In this game because steering response is essential, any avg less than 50fps, and your car steering will fell slugish.

Race Driver: GRiD 2560x1600 - 4AA 8 AF

Sapphire HD 4870x2 2gb:
- Min: 54
- Max: 105
- Avg: 78

BFG GTX 280 OC 1gb:
- Min: 33
- Max: 53
- Avg: 43

So the 48070x2 is 81% faster at this awsome resolution and IQ.

This is why I need to upgrade to an 4870x2! Why do you?

PS: To be fair the NV GTX260 896mb SLI did quite well:
- Min: 53
- Max: 81
- Avg: 63

Hurray for choice!!!
Click to expand...

Wow..it must be nice to drop +/- $400-$500 for an upgraded GPU just for one game..:D Wish I could toss money around like that..:p
 
Cowboy420 said:
Wow..it must be nice to drop +/- $400-$500 for an upgraded GPU just for one game..:D Wish I could toss money around like that..
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Nah, in case you have not figured it out, I am trying to find reasons to go and find those $500 and new balls to tell my wife what it is for.

I will need new ones cause my current ones will be ripped off for sure. :eek:
 
SpeedyVV said:
Nah, in case you have not figured it out, I am trying to find reasons to go and find those $500 and new balls to tell my wife what it is for.

I will need new ones cause my current ones will be ripped off for sure. :eek:
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What do you mean nah? Thats exactly what your original post is referring too.. You wanting to upgrade your GPU because of GRID..:) Maybe you should read it again..:p

But I can understand the wife part as well..I WAS married for 10 years..:eek: Its taken me a while to grow mine back.
 
Cowboy420 said:
Wow..it must be nice to drop +/- $400-$500 for an upgraded GPU just for one game..:D Wish I could toss money around like that..:p
Click to expand...
win the lottery? :p lol

nah kidding. i'd probably get one 4870x2 when they get sub $500, and another later on :)
 
None of these reviews really talk about enabling Vsync, and they never usually do. I know Vsync inhibits the performance of SLI since I've used SLI a few times in the past. I'm sure crossfire is the same. And it would make sense, telling your dual cards (or dual gpu's) to wait for a vertical refresh kind of defeats the purpose.

That's why I now prefer a single GPU solution, since I can't stand to game without Vsync enabled, I want the fastest GPU available and right now that is the GTX 280.
 
Nothing wrong with this thread. I think is makes a LOT of sense to buy the best card for your favorite game or games.

The 4800 is definitely a better choice for this game. I just had the demo and only at 1920x1200 but the game ran like a gem at maximum in game settings, 16AA, 16AF
 
It does reveiw rather well at 2560x1600 with high AA/AF. That is the main draw for me. I will still be waiting to see what the 55nm 280 brings (GT290?). Nvidia claims more then just a die shrink, plus the "big surprise" with the new driver bundle (which probably included the PhysX release today).
 
Frraksurred said:
It does reveiw rather well at 2560x1600 with high AA/AF. That is the main draw for me. I will still be waiting to see what the 55nm 280 brings (GT290?). Nvidia claims more then just a die shrink, plus the "big surprise" with the new driver bundle (which probably included the PhysX release today).
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Woah, hold on a sec? Where does nVidia claim this? Got a link or ref somewhere?

Just so there is no confusion, I am not doubting you, just would like to read up on it.
 
SpeedyVV said:
Woah, hold on a sec? Where does nVidia claim this? Got a link or ref somewhere?

Just so there is no confusion, I am not doubting you, just would like to read up on it.
Click to expand...

someone else in another forum probably said it, of course
 
I can definitely agree that GRID runs much better on my 4870's, single OR dual, than the GTX 280. Though keep in mind the 4870 runs out of VRAM at 1080p with > 4x AA. My setup could easily handle 8xAA if the 4870's were 1GB ea.
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
I can definitely agree that GRID runs much better on my 4870's, single OR dual, than the GTX 280. Though keep in mind the 4870 runs out of VRAM at 1080p with > 4x AA. My setup could easily handle 8xAA if the 4870's were 1GB ea.
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Sorry, but do you know this for a fact? ie do you also own a gtx280?
 
Just don't try to run GRID at 2560x1600 with 8xAA on the 4870X2.

Or actually, run it if you can (ie. you have a 30" panel) and then you'll understand why I don't want you to run it.
 
I'm waiting for the 4870x2 to be priced under 500 dollars. Crysis Warhead/Far Cry 2 aren't out until September so my Radeon 4850 will do me just fine until then.
 
lol_wut said:
Just don't try to run GRID at 2560x1600 with 8xAA on the 4870X2.

Or actually, run it if you can (ie. you have a 30" panel) and then you'll understand why I don't want you to run it.
Click to expand...

Uhmmm, why not?

The reason I ask is that I do indeed game at 2560x1600.

Also there seems to be ample extra fpss at 4AA left, so I would think that 8AA would be playable? Am I wrong?

If so can you please be more specific.
 
PRIME1 said:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_4870_X2/28.html
he HD 4870 X2 leads our testing with a 14% performance advantage over the NVIDIA GTX 280. However, this price will cost you. $549 is a huge amount of money which results in the worst performance per dollar ratio of all cards on the market today.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Better use your brain when reading those reviews
here is the trick techpowerup used:
They include the meaningless benches at 1024 x768 and 1280x1024 in calculating their " performance advantage ".
Why would they do that? who buying these cards play at 1024? because benching under these settings, the games are cpu-bound, which averages out the difference making the difference looks small

If you just take the 1680 & 1920 numbers, you will see well over 60% difference.
What a cheap pump by TPU, that site has lost its credibility.
 
grid runs very smooth on my 2 4870s in crossfire in 2560x1600 with max settings, and 2xaa

However the frame rate occasionally drops to about 3fps, I think its when theres loads of smoke about from wheel spinning or something along those lines, it's completely unplayable.

I dont know if the 4870x2 suffers with this problem?
 
SpeedyVV said:
Nah, in case you have not figured it out, I am trying to find reasons to go and find those $500 and new balls to tell my wife what it is for.

I will need new ones cause my current ones will be ripped off for sure. :eek:
Click to expand...

Get a stash of cash saved up and keep it well hidden. Buy from your favorite online retailer and have it mailed to your work. Wait until she is gone to install it. WIN!
 
I will absolutely buy a 4870x2, but I am trying to play this smart and wait for the non-reference designs to come out. Hopefully by then nVidia will also have its new 55nm refresh ready and I can make a good decision for my new computer build. I would love to have a brand new Nehalem rig built with Crossfire'd non-reference 4870x2's. That is what I am aiming for.
 
Why I need to? well its simple, To get the nvidia board a boot and bring back my X38 :)
 
mgulbran said:
Gaming at 1920x1200 on an 8800GT here. I am thinking about upgrading to a GTX 260 and putting my 8800GT to PhysX. I have a non-sli board and would need a whole new rig for the new X2.

I hope you new card really rocks it.
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how can you put your 8800gt to physx ?
 
vict0r said:
how can you put your 8800gt to physx ?
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You can't right now. As I understand it the PhysX drivers only work for Geforce GTX 260 and GTX 280 cards. Supposedly Geforce 8 and 9 series cards will have support in the future but not at present.
 
SpeedyVV said:
Uhmmm, why not?

The reason I ask is that I do indeed game at 2560x1600.

Also there seems to be ample extra fpss at 4AA left, so I would think that 8AA would be playable? Am I wrong?

If so can you please be more specific.
Click to expand...
4870X2 runs out of memory with 8xAA at 2560x1600. The game becomes a slideshow and you'll probably have to Ctrl+Alt+Del out of there. GRID with AA uses more memory than most other games out there probably due to how the engine is designed and how the driver handles the it.

So yeah... GRID @ 2560x1600 8xAA is probably what you would call "unplayable." 4xAA is perfectly fine because it doesn't run out of memory. I haven't seen any reviewers who showed GRID results at 8xAA. It's probably because they were told not to test 8xAA when they received the reviewer's guide from ATI ;)
 
heatlesssun said:
Nothing wrong with this thread. I think is makes a LOT of sense to buy the best card for your favorite game or games.

The 4800 is definitely a better choice for this game. I just had the demo and only at 1920x1200 but the game ran like a gem at maximum in game settings, 16AA, 16AF
Click to expand...

In that case I better get 2 4870x2s for Diablo II since I want it look awesome with my max resolution @ 800x600!
 
Dan_D said:
You can't right now. As I understand it the PhysX drivers only work for Geforce GTX 260 and GTX 280 cards. Supposedly Geforce 8 and 9 series cards will have support in the future but not at present.
Click to expand...

3dguru did an article using a 9600GT for PhysX recently.
I think they were using beta or pre-release drivers - so it is coming. Or it might already be released since they are playing up the release of the PowerPack. http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?news=MzQyNjAsLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdCwsLDE=

And Fudzilla is also playing with it using an 8800GT and an Ageia card and noticed that teh video card PhysX was putting a lot higher load on the CPU than the Ageia card did, but the 8800GT was able to do a lot more than the dedicated card was capable of. http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8859&Itemid=1

Still looking at a $100+ to add a 8800GT or 9600GT for PhysX. I wonder if it will work with a HD4870 X2???
 
lol_wut said:
4870X2 runs out of memory with 8xAA at 2560x1600. The game becomes a slideshow and you'll probably have to Ctrl+Alt+Del out of there. GRID with AA uses more memory than most other games out there probably due to how the engine is designed and how the driver handles the it.

So yeah... GRID @ 2560x1600 8xAA is probably what you would call "unplayable." 4xAA is perfectly fine because it doesn't run out of memory. I haven't seen any reviewers who showed GRID results at 8xAA. It's probably because they were told not to test 8xAA when they received the reviewer's guide from ATI ;)
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Thanks for the reply lol_wut.

Wow a 2 gig card running out of memory. WOW,

I do believe it though. I mean the game just look incredable @ 2560x1600 even with just 2AA.
 
actompkins said:
Get a stash of cash saved up and keep it well hidden. Buy from your favorite online retailer and have it mailed to your work. Wait until she is gone to install it. WIN!
Click to expand...

Thanks actompkins, not only can you come here for great pc advice, but it is also a great resource for marital advice. :D:D
 
Dan_D said:
You can't right now. As I understand it the PhysX drivers only work for Geforce GTX 260 and GTX 280 cards. Supposedly Geforce 8 and 9 series cards will have support in the future but not at present.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure they're good to now, dude - loads of people over at Guru3D loving it :)
 
SpeedyVV said:
Thanks for the reply lol_wut.

Wow a 2 gig card running out of memory. WOW,

I do believe it though. I mean the game just look incredable @ 2560x1600 even with just 2AA.
Click to expand...
It's actually 1 GB mirrored since it's not shared memory between the two GPUs.
 
I believe the 4870X2 did AA in the shaders...
I thought it could run Grid at 8xaa?
 
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