New GRFX card advice:

[bloke]

Hey people,

I'm thinking of upgrading my graphics card(s) sometime after Christmas (as one of my GX2's is slowly dying now i'm stuck with 1 98GX2) and am deciding on a few options I would like some opinions on.

a) 2 Nvidia GTX275's (AKA GTX295) $600 for the 2

b) 1 GXT295 $750 (takes me back to the GX2 day's)

c) Or I swing the other way and go for an ATI card, but I cannot take advantage of Crossfire technology as i'm running a Nvidia chipset. so it would have to be a high end card to make it worth it IMO, probably the 5850 $400 as the 5870 is almost $600.

I'm pretty rapped up on a pair of GXT275's, if I do run 2 of them, I will virtually have a GTX295 BUT with OpenGL 3.0 opposed to older OpenGL 2.1 on the GTX295.

So this is a 'best bang for your buck' / future proof attempt of a question for opinion. thanks for any advice or comments

Rick.

 

[thefabe]

IMO going to the other side ATI will provide you with a more future proof card. DX11 plus you can run 3 monitors from the 1 card and it supports eyefinity. Either of the Nvidia choices are good ones, but your still only going to have DX 10.1 support. Which is great since their isn't much out their now that DX 11 can take advantage of yet. Fabe

 

[ThePizzaMan]

hm.... i'd try to get a 5870..... since it is as fast as the other options you listed.... if not........ a 5850 or the 275's

 

[bloke]

IMO going to the other side ATI will provide you with a more future proof card. DX11 plus you can run 3 monitors from the 1 card and it supports eyefinity. Either of the Nvidia choices are good ones, but your still only going to have DX 10.1 support. Which is great since their isn't much out their now that DX 11 can take advantage of yet. Fabe

Probably the other thing i should mention is i like to use 3Dvision. not sure if ATI utilise that at all.

What is eyefinity? yeh dx10.1 and 11 are like multi-gpu rendering, hardly anything actually uses it yet.

 

[thefabe]

Eyefinity AMD Eyefinity Multi-Display Technology In Action - HotHardware 3d vision as far as I know is exculsive to Nvidia.

 

[reghakr]

a) 2 Nvidia GTX275's (AKA GTX295) $600 for the 2

I spent $399.00 on a cheap e=machine with a X-Fi Extreme 7.1 channel surround and the 8500 has HDMI out.

Seems like it would be much better and less pricey buying a pre-built machine considering all the other components ( and I assume their high-end components,, you'd have a better machine in the long run.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

a) 2 Nvidia GTX275's (AKA GTX295) $600 for the 2

I spent $399.00 on a cheap e=machine with a X-Fi Extreme 7.1 channel surround and the 8500 has HDMI out.

Seems like it would be much better and less pricey buying a pre-built machine considering all the other components ( and I assume their high-end components,, you'd have a better machine in the long run.

this is relevant how?...... just curious... not to be rude but did you read the first post?
he already has all the components he is upgrading his gpu...... and actually if you want a good computer its cheaper to build it yourself....
@bloke, true.... not many use dx11 yet.... but most of the new games will be dx11

 

[reghakr]

I'm just referring to the ridiculous cost of the two Nvidia GTX275's (AKA GTX295.

that's all

 

[swarfega]

Just got me a 5850 yesterday and Im very pleased with it.

 

[bloke]

I'm just referring to the ridiculous cost of the two Nvidia GTX275's (AKA GTX295.

that's all

lol, just last year i got my 2 9800GX2's, they were the same price as the GTX295 @ $750ea! that was $1500 just on 2 cards alone..a year and half later, they are not even in production any more! how do you like that? lmao. but the GTX series for some reason i feel they will keep up longer than the 9,8,7 series cards.


swarfega

What is the ATI card like? will it stand games like farcry2 and fallout 3 maxed out settings? that is what i am aiming for, as i wont be able to run crossfire it will have to stand the latest games with high settings for me to be happy

thanks for your reply guys! its always helpful with a 2nd opinion. well off to work i go to make some dough! l8a

 

[ThePizzaMan]

here you can read them for yourself but as you can see..... a 5850 is only about 10 fps slower in farcry 2 then he 295 with the 5850 at 90 and the 295 at 100..... so yes one of these will max it... and.... the 5870 is faster than both
Radeon HD 5850: Knocking Down GTX 295 In CrossFire : Introduction - Review Tom's Hardware
now.... its to bad you can't just get the 5970....... its the fastest card in the world..... period

 

[skunksmash]

well........IMO

the fact you have an Nvidia chipset would push me to get a GTX285, & then in the new year i'd begin my hunt for another, SLI 285s are EXCELLENT, or i'd hold off a little while & see if i could get a ''Fermi'' card (then SLI later on) , though it may be quite a wait..

a single slot solution is certainly preferred over SLI or CFX, but its not always the best option if you have an existing card you can use.

if you buy right now into Nvidia you'll miss out on DX11 until the next time you upgrade your GPUs (which in most ppl's cases is not too often )

if you go the other way...ATI 5xxx, you assure yourself DX11, but your limited by your chipset, so as you've said its gotta be ''high end''

so..... how desperate are you to upgrade

 

[bloke]

well........IMO

the fact you have an Nvidia chipset would push me to get a GTX285, & then in the new year i'd begin my hunt for another, SLI 285s are EXCELLENT, or i'd hold off a little while & see if i could get a ''Fermi'' card (then SLI later on) , though it may be quite a wait..

a single slot solution is certainly preferred over SLI or CFX, but its not always the best option if you have an existing card you can use.

if you buy right now into Nvidia you'll miss out on DX11 until the next time you upgrade your GPUs (which in most ppl's cases is not too often )

if you go the other way...ATI 5xxx, you assure yourself DX11, but your limited by your chipset, so as you've said its gotta be ''high end''

so..... how desperate are you to upgrade

Well i been thinking about it and i think you are right, i will just have to wait for nvid to get there gpu's into gear for DX11.

the GTX285 is the best nvidia card, but the only thing that makes it the best is the memory interface is 512bit where as the 275/295 is 448bit, but the stupid thing is they still utilized the older openGL 2.1 but the 275 uses 3.0. talk about a backward forward upgrade in technology.

i just dont get why nvid takes so long to release DX11 cards, unless they are waiting for the right moment to release something that is capable of beating the HD5970 and also uses DX11.i dont know what happened to their so called upcoming release GT300 GPU's, obviously that went astray or something. but what bugs me even more is they release lower end cards (like the base model GT200 series cards) that are basically old 7 or 8 series cards with a new fancy name, what the heck is the point? cant they put that money into designing something truly worthy of advancing in development instead of going backwards?

but i do like the looks of the HD5970, its got some awesome technology, and a reasonable price tag for it too, $1200 might sound high, but when you consider the stuff in it, it is reasonable....if only at least the i7 chipsets are crossfire/sli compatible.

i did try cleaning out the cards today, i actually have 3 980GX2's, but one was a water cooling setup gone wrong but still worked before i bought 2 new ones through insurance. i will have to try testing the other one again. pulling them apart is a slow task on its own.

does anyone know what sort of thermal pads they use? its a white putty sort of stuff, when you touch it, it leaves a white oily film on your skin and it has like a woven mesh in it? i can reuse the old stuff but i was wondering what it was called and where i could buy it as i have never seen that sort of thermal transfer pad before.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

hm... its not the same as whats on a cpu?

 

[bloke]

hm... its not the same as whats on a cpu?

who's not the same?

oh the thermal pad? no they use thermal paste (i just use AS5) on the actual GPU but the RAM chips they have to use a form of pad as there is a gap between the chips and the giant heat sinc which was another stupid design flaw of that model. i have tried using those heat pads that are like jelly similar to what they use on ddr ram coolers but that stuff just doesn't work the same as the white crap.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

hm... idk then.... there must be someone that sells it

 

[mushroomboy]

For the answer to Nvidia's release dates.... Officially they don't have any US releases for any major DX games, and STALKER is the only huge game I know that's comming out with DX11 (Well it's out but not in the US yet, makes me ****in angry is what!) and they are probably going to delay it just so they can fully support the games and have decent testing done. As for them not having it out now? Well really they should have, but since there are only 2 DX11 games I'm not really too angry.

For the seccond note on the thermal pads? You can make them yourself, as all you need is thermal paste and gauze.... Yeah that's close enough to what they really are, it's just a thermal compound with gauze. Pretty ****in simple really, it's just there to transfer the heat and fill the gap and that does it just fine.

 

[bloke]

For the answer to Nvidia's release dates.... Officially they don't have any US releases for any major DX games, and STALKER is the only huge game I know that's comming out with DX11 (Well it's out but not in the US yet, makes me ****in angry is what!) and they are probably going to delay it just so they can fully support the games and have decent testing done. As for them not having it out now? Well really they should have, but since there are only 2 DX11 games I'm not really too angry.

For the seccond note on the thermal pads? You can make them yourself, as all you need is thermal paste and gauze.... Yeah that's close enough to what they really are, it's just a thermal compound with gauze. Pretty ****in simple really, it's just there to transfer the heat and fill the gap and that does it just fine.

Hey thnx 4 the input, with the thermal pads, it is strange stuff, you can mould it like blue-tac and break it and re-roll it in your hand to form what ever shape you like, it just leaves a white layer of crap on your hands.lol. but if you used thermal past with gauze it wouldnt be a putty type of pad, i am trying to figure out its name.

thats what i dont get with nvidia, they create descent products but they sure drag on doing it, so by the time you upgrade to the new ones ATI has already made something better. im seriously thinking i should hold back and build an i7 setup with a pair of ati cards. i have always been an nvidia fan cos of there little extra features (mainly 3D vision, its awsome in games like fallout3) but now cos of all the bull**** im reconsidering....thanks NVIDIA!

EDIT: i took a pic (excuse the overbright on my phone) of the thermal pad pulled apart, you can just make out the strands of the gauze crap inside of it.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

hm... maybe it will work.... and you would like the i7.... good and fast

 

[smarteyeball]

hm... maybe it will work.... and you would like the i7.... good and fast

Well knock me down with a feather...