Changing Video Cards, Poor Experience with 4870x2...

cokenbeer

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I've had nothing but problems with my 4870x2 since I bought it back in August. Constant lockups, BSOD, terrible drivers, overall a very unpleasant experience. It was entirely unplayable during my brief stint in WoW (terribly addictive game, quit after a few months) and I can't get more than a few hours at best and most of the times I get 10 minutes. Basically I ended up putting in a 4870 instead and haven't had any problems to date.

Now I find I'm missing some serious performance. Playing through fallout I was forced to turn down my setting which is not cool on a PC that was SUPPOSED to be top of the line.

Currently I'm on an Asus P5E3 Premium X48 with a Q9550 (OC to 3.4 GHz) and 4GB of DDR3 1600 ram.

I'm going to move those components along with my 4870 to an HTPC and frame the 4870x2 as a constant reminder of how I got wasted 600 bucks!

Now I'm getting an i7 920 and an X58 mobo which I haven't decided on yet.

What are the BEST graphics options? I'm up for dual card, single card, anything! Play TF2 regularly, also Fallout 3, Mass Effect, and many more games.

Obviously the 4870x2 isn't an option...

Thanks for the help!
 

cokenbeer

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Few other things....

PSU is Corsair HX1000

Using a 25.5 inch Samsung monitor and a Pioneer 5020 50inch plasma as my current displays. (1920x 1200 and 1920 x 1080 respectively)
 
Well sad that u has so many problems wit the X2...though heard they were very good...

But as of nw try these

EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $229.99
($199.99 after $30.00 Mail-In
Rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

If money aint a problem ...then go for tis
2 of them in SLI and later a 3rd for triple sli

or
this one

BFG Tech BFGEGTX2951792E GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $499.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143167
 
But if u want to have a single powerful card for nw and nt willing to spend $500
then go for the GTX280 or GTX285(if u feel the extra $30 is worth it)
U shuld get them for abt $320 to $350...
 

L1qu1d

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to you it might be a dumb upgrade, but benchmarks show it can match the QX9770, and is a good over clocker. There is less bottlenecking with the CPU as well.

Though its not something I would upgrade to, I would only go for a i7 965 if I was ever going to go through the hassle of taking apart my computer and then cashing in my mortgage.

But I mean he should get some respectable extra performance, and remember that this might not be just for gaming extras, the CPU is better all around.

It would be a much better trade off for myself to grab a whole system for the same price a QX9770 costs.
 
I`d go for the GTX260 or 1 Gb HD4870, the GTX280 is n`t worth the extra $100 for the performance boost it gives over these.
I`m curious as to why you`re putting so much power into a HTPC and then going for an i7 setup. I`d replace your existing card (as above) and build the HTPC from scratch, which would be far less expensive.
 

cokenbeer

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Going from a Q9550 to a i7 920 is probably the dumbest upgrade ever.
Why would you spend all that money for a tiny boost in gaming?

Absolutely... if I were paying for it I'd never do it. Luckily I don't pay for my PC's so money is not an issue (within reason)

Also, how would you propose that I do SLI on my X48 Mobo? I'm pretty burned by ATi right now and I want the BEST possible graphics solution. At the time it was the 4870x2, unfortunately it never worked out for me.

I'm going Nvidia this time because frankly while I've had the Ati my brother put together a PC at the same time with a 9800 GTX+ and has had ZERO driver issues and not a single PC crash, that's just awesome.

So now the question is what do I do... maybe like L1qu1d and tri-sli some sweet GTX285? Actually I might just go Quad SLI...

Tri-Sli has the unfortunate downfall of leaving me NO empty slot for my sound card.
 

Helloworld_98

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quad sli 285 is probably the most powerful you can get at the moment but otherwise the GTX 295 will still do pretty good in sli and will be cheaper, just not as good as the quad sli 285
 

L1qu1d

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There is no quad 285 Sli, get your facts straight. Strength in order

285 GTX tri > 295 GTX sli > 4870 X2 quad

It varies from game to game, but thats the general outcome.
 

cokenbeer

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What would YOU do? Are there any Mobos where I can Tri-SLI and still have a slot for my sound card?
 

L1qu1d

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The ones I had, my Asus Striker 2 had an extra slot above the first video card where the audio card goes.

I'm not sure about i7s, and nore would I suggest the striker 2 formula as a motherboard.
 

trkorecky

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cokenbeer, I sent you a PM. Sorry to hear about your difficulties with the card.

I'm interested in your most recent question - it seems as though most motherboard manufacturers don't care about expansion cards that don't fit in a PCI-E slot and have everything set up so you can't do much if you go all out on graphics cards.
 

cokenbeer

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Looks like my options for a Mobo with Tri SLI AND an extra slot are:

Asus Rampage II Extreme

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-EXTREME

Hmmmm somebody mentioned slot spacing on certain boards won't work for Tri SLI?
 

cokenbeer

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Price for upgrade with 3 x GTX 285 = $2,543.94 CAD

Price for upgrade with 2 x GTX 295 = $2,453.95 CAD

Less than $100 difference.

Mobo:

ASUS Rampage II Extreme

CPU:

i7 920

Ram:

G.SKILL F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600
 

L1qu1d

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Like I said, or I don't think I did in this thread, Quad anything means alot of driver depence compared to dual GPU and tri GPU setups. Most games use up to 3 (eg. Crysis) Though most of the time dual is as far as it goes:p
When I went quad sli in Crysis, it helped the avg but destroyed the mins. I would stick to 2 cards max...unless you have some killer resolution + AA, which I would push for 3 cards.
 

cokenbeer

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So with a 1920 x 1200 monitor and I'm in the market for a 30 inch monitor you think I'll be highly satisfied with the CTX285 SLI option?
 

L1qu1d

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You should be, I mean nothing is written in stone, but from what I've seen, yes:) More statisfied than any other dual GPU setup:)