Why no reviews comparing 8800gtx sli to GTX 280 (or GTX 280 sli)?

R

RyanLucier

Gawd
Joined
Nov 23, 2006
Messages
667
Is it just me, or is this not the most important question that can be answered: How does a 8800gtx sli setup compare to a GTX 280 (or GTX 280 sli) setup?

I'd have to think anyone buying a GTX 280 would likely have a 8800gtx SLI setup - these are the hardcore first adopters who want the absolute fastest available when it hits. I know I fit right smack in the middle of this category. I had 6800 SLI, I went to 7800GTX SLI, 8800GTX SLI, passed over 9800GTX SLI because it offered almost no performance increases, and I'm now considering a GTX 280 with the intention of adding another for SLI in a little while.

Ironically, in the case of the 8800gtx, it's refresh the 9800gtx is actually slower at very high resolutions due to the fact that it has less memory bandwidth and less memory as well. Right now I keep comparing 9800GX2 results to the GTX 280, because thats the closest parallel I have, but at 2560x1600, 8800gtx SLI setups are considerably faster than 9800GX2 or 9800GTX SLI setups, because of the wider bandwidth (256 vs 384) and additional memory... Seems foolish that no sites have directly compared 8800gtx SLI to GTX 280 SLI.

As it stands right now, I'm waiting to see what ATI can come up with, because NVidia has dropped the ball with the GTX 280 from what I can see. When I went from 7800GTX SLI to a single 8800gtx, I noticed large performance increases. I highly doubt going from 8800gtx sli to a single GTX 280 would yield any improvements at all... So I'd need to get SLI GTX 280 to see any improvements. I expect each new architecture to be faster than 2 previous gen cards running in SLI, it just has to be that way when the price premiums these days are $700 for a single card...
 
[H] already did a review showing 8800 GTX SLI vs 9800 GTX SLI.

Use that review to compare against the latest GT 200 series review
 
yeah this seems like an obvious thing to do. im sure it will show up sooner or later.

and telling people to cross reference reviews is not helpful just annoying.
 
oh wait i just saw guru3d 3d. i know why. two 800 GTX in SLI would slaughter GTX 280. so i bet nvidia has forced reviewers NOT to bench them side by side. this is what i now belive until someone proves me wrong. (by showing proffesional benches)
 
Waiting is on guru3d for some proper tri-sli review on wednesday.
I agree that there should be a compare between 8800gtx*sli*tri-sli and gtx280*sli*tri-sli
Seems like no reviewer got more than 1 card from nvidia.
Glad guru3d got some samples from BFG :)
And for now...............waiting AGAIN :( 2 days left.
 
LawGiver said:
oh wait i just saw guru3d 3d. i know why. two 800 GTX in SLI would slaughter GTX 280. so i bet nvidia has forced reviewers NOT to bench them side by side. this is what i now belive until someone proves me wrong. (by showing proffesional benches)
Click to expand...

The 280GTX is more powerful than the 8800GTX... Thats obvious... But the only thing that really needs the power above what a 8800GTX can pull is really Crysis.....

And this card doesn't crush Crysis... It still out performs any previous top end card though, its obvious...

Now two 8800GTX vs 1 280GTX, you may have something.....

Still not all of us want to be stuck on Nforce boards....
 
LawGiver said:
yeah this seems like an obvious thing to do. im sure it will show up sooner or later.

and telling people to cross reference reviews is not helpful just annoying.
Click to expand...

What is annoying is having to spoonfeed people who can't do their own legwork and search the reviews already done here on this site. Not saying I'm perfect on this but Video Cards are one of the best reviewed products here @ [H] (imo anyway)

9800 GTX SLI > 8800 GTX SLI

So, keeping in mind that 9800 GTX SLI > 8800 GTX SLI and 9800 GTX SLI is ~5fps faster than GTX 280 (in Crysis anyway)...see where I'm going here?

GTX 280 does in one card what it took two 9800 GTX's to do previously and the GTX 280 will do what two 8800 GTX's could never do to begin with.

[H] puts a lot of time and effort into their reviews and such, but it's up to you the reader to actually read them.

/end spoonfeeding
 
Mtnduey... no offense, but don't give hostile comments ("spoonfeed people") unless you are certain you are right. The 8800gtx hands the 9800gtx it's ass on a silver platter at 2560x1600, especially w/ AA.

8800gtx sli *IS* faster than 9800gtx sli at high resolutions.

Speaking of spoonfeeding:
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ4OSw0LCxoY29uc3VtZXI=
8800gtx sli 2560x1600, 4x AA, 16x AF: avg 62.1fps
9800gtx sli 2560x1600 2x AA, 16x AF: avg 42.4fps

notice the 8800gtx is running at 4x AA...These results are repeated all over the internet, with the 9800gtx ONLY beating the 8800gtx at that resolution in extremely shader biased games. Which means crysis, and only crysis... and even then they're neck and neck, and I'd wager to bet at 2560x1600 the 8800gtx sli takes the lead. The 8800gtx sli owns the 9800gtx sli for 99% of the games out there at 2560x1600.
 
RyanLucier said:
Mtnduey... no offense, but don't give hostile comments ("spoonfeed people") unless you are certain you are right. The 8800gtx hands the 9800gtx it's ass on a silver platter at 2560x1600, especially w/ AA.

8800gtx sli *IS* faster than 9800gtx sli at high resolutions.

Speaking of spoonfeeding:
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ4OSw0LCxoY29uc3VtZXI=
8800gtx sli 2560x1600, 4x AA, 16x AF: avg 62.1fps
9800gtx sli 2560x1600 2x AA, 16x AF: avg 42.4fps

notice the 8800gtx is running at 4x AA...These results are repeated all over the internet, with the 9800gtx ONLY beating the 8800gtx at that resolution in extremely shader biased games. Which means crysis, and only crysis... and even then they're neck and neck, and I'd wager to bet at 2560x1600 the 8800gtx sli takes the lead. The 8800gtx sli owns the 9800gtx sli for 99% of the games out there at 2560x1600.
Click to expand...


thx. notice I did not respond to him. it was obvious he is not too bright. but yeah, its not like fall 2006 when the a SINGLE 8800 GTX was owning 7900 GTX SLI. right now, at best from what i have seen, the 280 will be on par with the SLI 8800 GTX. but my guess is the 8800 GTX SLI will perform better than the 280 in most cases. hope im wrong though.

i think the 8800 GTX should win the award for Greatest Video Card in history (yea i know whole 10 year history lol). with the 9700 Pro a close second.
 
whats there to be upset about? You actually looked! Woot! Someone reading a review rather than asking someone else to look for them.

I play at 1920x1200 so anything past that I personally don't care about. If someone else does thats great and more power to them. At 1920x1200 in CoD4 you see a difference in speed of 0.1 fps avg, I think I'll go slash my wrists in the rapture that is 0.1 fps boost.

Mind you that boost was only seen in CoD 4 and no other game tested. So is 1 of 3 games tested enough to make me get all wet and gushy over 8800 GTX SLI? Not really. But then again nor is the $650 retail tag on the GTX 280.

I think nVidia has lost their freaking mind betwen that and the UMAP bs. Way to piss off the folks who sell your cards and the ones who buy em at the same time /salute

I can't believe I'm cheering AMD on the 4000 series right now.
 
Also if like me you're still running a 8800GTX getting another for £200 right now is a very cheap option to get close to the speed of the GTX280 which I assume it is since Nvidia put the 9800GTX SLI in line with it adn the 9800GTX isn't a great deal faster than the 8800GTX.

I will personally go with a 280 I think, future upgrade possibility is hard to ignore with a large screen.
 
Isn't Zotac selling 8800GTX's for like 220 shipped (maybe even less now)? Meaning you could get Tri-SLI for the same price, or cheaper than a GTX 280?

Also, one reason why its not the same to read an older review with the 8800GTX SLI and to compare it to any new card that comes out are the differences in the drivers used.

The last time [H] tested 8800GTX SLI it was using the 169.44 drivers...and it was being compared to 9800GX2 Quad-SLI using 174.53 drivers. Even though the differences may be small, you never know when they might release some magic drivers that increase SLI capability.
 
The Zotac GTXs are at $250 right now, still quite the bargain.

Downside?

I have 2 Zotacs in SLi right now, and they certainly put out some heat.

If you remove the stock cooler you void the lifetime warranty.
 
I know what you mean by heat...my GTX's raise the temperature of the room so much I have to have a big fan aimed directly at me in order to tolerate the heat, and my cards are at stock clocks!!!
 
Tri SLI has it's moments but IMO they are rare. I won't be keeping mine too much longer. Some games run slower. 3dmark benched slower too. And besides, I don't game higher than 1920*1080 so it really has no place in my machine. It does look good though lol.

But GTXs in SLI is another story and almost every game I play was better in SLI than without. I love my SLI setup a whole lot but man, the 280 sure does make my finger twitch lol. I'll more than likely go the route of the 280 but in SLI only. I'll wait for more user reviews in SLI and then I'll make a decision.

For now, my SLI setup is on par or better than a 280 IMO.
 
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