4850 1GB Crossfire VS. GTX 280

S

Sic

Limp Gawd
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Jul 13, 2008
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The recent [H] Value Guide has really sparked my interest in a 4850 Crossfire build. Right now I'm trying to decide between 4850 Crossfire (512mb or 1gb) and a single GTX 280 55nm for current and future games for at least a year or so. I play at 1920x1200 and I want to squeeze the most AA and eye candy out my build as possible. Overclockability is also important. My questions are:

Will crossfire'd 1GB 4850s allow me to play at higher settings/AA values than crossfire'd 512mb 4850s? Worth the extra $100ish? Any recommendations on specific cards?

Would I be better off waiting for a GTX 280+ and going with the single card Nvidia solution?

Just looking for opinions, thanks! :)
 
if your worried about crysis, the single card is probably better, most other games 4850 xfire will domiante
 
Don't play crysis. Currently play Warhammer Online and will be playing Dead Space, Far Cry 2, Stalker Clear Sky, and Fallout 3 soon.
 
2x 1GB 4850s aren't worth the price premium. ~$400, might as well find a 4870x2 on sale and get that.

Better off with a 1 card NV, can find one for ~$320?-$360 if you look around. This is taking into account your resolution + the shittiness of crossfire scaling - performance is way off linearity esp if you compare different reviews of it.

But, I would recommend 2x 4850s 512s if you want "passive" heating to get through the Winter - I have to turn on the A/C on occasion here up in the Northwest :D
 
Depends on the price, if you can find 2 4850's for around 250-300 i think it is worth the premium...
 
i'd be suprised if anyony would need 2GB's of vram anytime soon, esspecially DDR5 like the 4870x2. i'd recommend you go with the gtx280 for now. from what i've read it overclocks great
 
Well it would be 2gb of DDR3 because its the 4850 not 4870.
 
I have two iceq4 512mb 4850s and like said before, they will kill a 280 in most games. All that performance for $350 is not a bad deal.
 
Greg86 said:
i'd be suprised if anyony would need 2GB's of vram anytime soon, esspecially DDR5 like the 4870x2. i'd recommend you go with the gtx280 for now. from what i've read it overclocks great
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You only get 1GB effective when running 2x1GB cards in Crossfire or the 2GB X2. There are a few games that are starting to take advantage of more than 512MB VRAM, especially at the very high resolutions and AA setting that you need to run to really tap into the potential of a dual-GPU solution. I'd say 2x1GB 4850 cards would outperform two 512MB cards, but only in situations where the game actually uses more than 512MB (for example: Oblivion with QTP3, Warhead @ Enthusiast, Stalker Clear Sky at highest settings, Grid at 25x16).
 
So the 1GB 4850's aren't worth the premium then, especially at lower resolutions?
 
madaba said:
So the 1GB 4850's aren't worth the premium then, especially at lower resolutions?
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depends on the price, if its only a little more then yes, worth it. If not they no two 4850 in crossfire is the best bang for the buck, can be had for 225 now and will easily beat a GTX280 in a lot of games.
 
Sic said:
I play at 1920x1200 and I want to squeeze the most AA and eye candy out my build as possible. Overclockability is also important.
Click to expand...

1920x1200 with as much AA as possible.

1GB or 512MB 4850s? Or neither and go with the GTX 280+ when it comes out?
 
madaba said:
Right now it's about $40 a card, so 80 for crossfire
Click to expand...

If your still under 300 it might be worth it but the 4850 has been seen for 110 (need to find out where) so you would have to weight it. max AA it would benefit from the more memory
 
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