8800GTS 640 SLI vs HD 3870 CrossFire

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scooterlibby

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Hey L1qu1d I think FrozenGPU may be right about this. Most of the stuff I recall reading indicated that CF scales better than SLI - which is technically a different metric than which configuration has more games optimized for it (in which case, you might be right).

p.s. I've never owned an ATI. Not that I wouldn't, but I think I'm fairly inoculated from any fanboyism accusations on their account.
 

L1qu1d

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I can leave it at that ok. I just don't trust Ati's crossfire because they went through too many problems and hassles, most known was that stupid dongle. I hated that when I had my atis!
 

FrozenGpu

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they don't use dongles anymore, the crossfire that was used on the older ati cards like the x1000 series used the dongles, since the newer generations crossfire actually does scale better, it's just that the ati gpu's are still weaker unit per unit then the nvidian based core's, if ati is able to produce a gpu that is actually stronger than the nvidian based counterpart, then everybody will be able to understand why cf scale's better.
 

FrozenGpu

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now u can just use a crossfire bridge like the sli bridge and it works pretty well, u just have to remember that in CCC u have to enable crossfire. If ati was more powerful i would have kept my hd 3870 cf set up, as powerful as it is, i liked my mobile platform that had only a e3110 and a g92 gpu...
 
Yep, me too.

SLI worked great back in the day for me. Boosted my 3DMark05 score from 5500 to 10000! That's pretty good scaling to me :D

Anyway, I think the main confusion here is that the SLI vs Crossfire argument is a complicated one. First, if you SLI superior cards they'll beat crossfire. Second, crossfire/SLI performance varies from game to game. In ATI optimized, Crossfire wins. In NVidia Optimized, SLI wins. In evil games, both fail miserably.
 

closed_deal

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I've had crossfire setup on my main rig since the X1900XTX's and although i've owned them (ATI) more than nVidia cards it's because ATI have been very good at bringing out cheap cards that aren't the best on their own but scale very well when working as a pair.

I'm not a fanboy i've own'd 6600GT's/GeForces back in the day, and have recently swapped from a AMD 6000+ to a Intel 8400. I'm tight with my money but make sure it goes a long way, as far as i see ATI/AMD Gfx cards are bang for buck in Crossfire better. Also i've never had any serious driver problems they were all mainly 'user being a pleb' problems.

I agree with EXT64, where optimized games tend to have a major difference in the outcome.
 


Sell your 8800 GTS 640 and buy an X38/48 and two 3870's in Crossfire. I own an 8800GTS 640, X38 and 3870. If I needed more power for my Samsung 40" 1080i, I would buy another 3870 and Crossfire them. Personally, I wouldn't think of going 790i when X38/48 is available. Isn't the latest ASUS Striker 790i MB like $459? I bought my ASUS Maximus SE for under $250.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/391/8

edit bold
 

L1qu1d

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There are other choices other than Asus Striker, like EVGA (315$ CAD). Personally I saw that crossfire does actually scale better, but if your making a purchase right now, I still think an Nvidia card would be better. As for in the future, we'll have to wait and see how the 4000 do. If I was in your position, I would stay with the 8800 GTS 640, or do a minor upgrade to an 8800 GS or 9600 GT (about 100-140 depending on where you buy it). While the 3870 is a good card it is more expensive than both the 8800 GS and 9600 GT and does do as well with AA on.

As for the 8800 GS, it's performance matches that of the 8800 GTS 320, but I've heard it to be very overclockable.

If your impatient, buy a minor upgrade (9600 GT or 8800 GS)

If you can wait, wait for the 4000s.

I kno that if the 4000s do as well as people say, I'm ready to switch over as soon as they release:)
 

L1qu1d

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lol:p

Yeah but unfortunately he doesn't ahve sli:(

I swear ppl think I'm crazy i upgrade ever 4 months lol, but I'm a frame rate fanatic,:p I barely even play the games I just love benchmarking!

I would really like to see the next gen Video cards I really don't want to be disaapointed because I really doubt the Single cards will be able to beat the 9800 GX2. they might come close.

I dunno just an opinion, I've been wrong before!
 

L1qu1d

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the 9600 GT can't do what the 8800 GT can. the 9600 GT sports the G94 GPU, which has half the amount of pixel/Vertex Pipelines (8800 GT (32) vs 9600 GT (16))

In benchmarks results, the 8800 GT stands at a comfortable pace of about 10-20 Frames with AA off and 5-10 Frames with AA off (THG 9600 GT Review results)

Although the 9600 GT runs cooler and when overclocked, there are rumours that it matches the Reg 8800 GT (Don't ask me). It draws less power aswell.

It is the budget card for now:p

Newegg is really overpriced:S

Here in Canada, the Galaxy 9600 GT is around 100 after 40$ MIR. The BFG is 140 after 30$ MIR :S.

I haven't seen an 8800 GS yet though!!!!!

 
I almost biought that EVGA 9600GT 256MB for $149. I'll wait for 3870's to come down and possible crossfire with this one. But, I don't game, my son does. I did buy the 8600GT for $49 after rebate. I build a lot of mid range gaming machines for my son's friends. And I have no more spare PCIE cards laying around right now.

I bet that Quad CrossfireX makes for a hairy machine

edit sp.
 

DoubleT

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I think I'm going to wait and see if the 4xxx is any good.. Maybe look at the 9800 GT to, even though some say that it's just a "rebadged" 8800 GT with higher clock speeds etc. but the 8800 GT prices are going to drop by then anyway, so..