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2x 5870s vs 2x GTX 295s vs 3x GTX 285s

Discussion in 'Graphics Cards' started by balth_dire, 24 Sep 2009.

    24 Sep 2009 at 15:57
      #1
  1. balth_dire

    Hitman

    Joined: 10 Mar 2004

    Posts: 660

    OK.

    We know that crossfired 5870s displace SLI'd 285s. We also know that, for the most part, a single GTX 295 will outpace a single 5870.

    However, I've not yet seen any benchmarks (other than questionable pre-release ones) comparing two 5870s to a quad sli setup (2x 295s). Quad SLI configurations traditionally don't scale well, so would 2x 5870s be able to close the gap on and even overtake such a setup?

    To complicate matters further, vanilla 285s will soon be £200 a piece, so one could purchase 3x 285s for the same price as 2x 5870s (granted, ATI may drop their price fairly soon). Nevertheless, how would these two configurations compare?

    Any links to tests involving the any/all of the above?

    Theories also welcome!!;)
     
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    2. 24 Sep 2009 at 16:08
      #2
  2. tdream

    Hitman

    Joined: 16 Nov 2006

    Posts: 753

    Good question. 3 285s seem to dominate in Crysis. I think Nvidia will conquer that mountain first with the GT395x2. But for everything else crossfire 5870's will handle just fine. Then there's crossfire 5870x2 which will really lay the smackdown. 5870's show massive improvement in DX10 titles vs DX9. So DX11 coming soon, DX10 games will be at the sweet spot of mass acceptance, the 5870s will really shine.

    Having said that I do appreciate the raw power from Nvidia and will try to wait until GT300. :)
     
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    3. 24 Sep 2009 at 16:09
      #3
  3. StevenRaith

    Hitman

    Joined: 30 Apr 2009

    Posts: 688

    A few observations:
    [​IMG]

    CF'd 5870s would draw about 50W idle/desktop draw, and 220W gaming [Furmark is synthetic and little in the real world would draw that much resources so forget that]

    Quad SLI'd 295s would draw 140w at the desktop, and 400W gaming.

    TriSLI 285s would draw a whopping 180W idle - just for comparison, that's nearly as much as the CF'd 5870s under load - and a stonking 450W in use. If you were to try Furmark, they'd pull even more.

    Performance per watt, I think the 5870 genuinely might be better than either, depending on the SLI scaling.

    Not really an answer to your question - just an observation. Anyone got a quad SLI/triple SLI setup to run a few benchies against the reported 5870 CF results?
     
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    4. 24 Sep 2009 at 16:10
      #4
  4. tdream

    Hitman

    Joined: 16 Nov 2006

    Posts: 753

    I think he's covered with a 1600w psu ;)
     
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    5. 24 Sep 2009 at 16:14
      #5
  5. StevenRaith

    Hitman

    Joined: 30 Apr 2009

    Posts: 688

    Bloody hell, I didn't notice that :eek: :D
     
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    6. 24 Sep 2009 at 16:25
      #6
  6. balth_dire

    Hitman

    Joined: 10 Mar 2004

    Posts: 660



    :). It's actually a bit of an old groaner, terrific for its time and it has ploughed through 100s of hours of priming without a blink, but nowhere near as effecient as the latest generation (including your Enermax, td ;)).

    Anyway, some interesting comments so far...
     
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    7. 24 Sep 2009 at 17:53
      #7
  7. adwol48

    Hitman

    Joined: 25 Dec 2008

    Posts: 867

    Location: Norwich

    personally i'd like to see a tri crossfire 5870 setup and see how that does scaling wise and maybe move onto a 4x cf just to check if the 3x ways is still the sweet spot. personally i'm probably gonna keep my 4870x2 until after christmas. the might get a new beefier psu and try the 3x 5870 myself since my msi board can support 4 pci e x16 cards (course then it'll move to four 8x lanes)
     
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    8. 25 Sep 2009 at 08:13
      #8
  8. reygjabla

    Wise Guy

    Joined: 2 Mar 2009

    Posts: 1,653

    Location: London

    I'm glad I did'nt heed the advice "650 Watts is more than enough" when I speced my rig. Still, i'm more inclined to try 2 x 5870 or 5870x2 rather than buy 2 more 285's and do a tri sli.

    On second thought, noise and heat should also be included into consideration of what's the best set up should be and not just FPS.
     
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