GTX 260 SLI or 4850 Crossfire

[eternal7331]

Hello All,

This is my first post on the forums here, and I just want to take a sec thanks to everyone who contributes to making this a great place to educate ones self on so many different aspects of PC Hardware.

Now; I am building a new rig, and was wondering if I could get some opinions.

Which is better?

Nvidia GTX 260

or

ATI HD 4850

Either way I will be getting two cards, the problem I am finding is that there aren't very many Crossfire compatible MB out on Newegg (Which is about the only place I shop), on the other hand there seems to be a ton of SLI compatible MB's. Is there a legitimate reason for this, is SLI better for some reason that I dont know about or are MB Manf just on Nvidia's band wagon?

Im actually building and buying all of my new PC parts tonight.

 

[uncfan_2563]

well a GTX 260 performs similar to a 4870 so obviously the GTX 260 is the better of the two. Now, if you're talking about value the story changes. What resolution do you plan to be running?

 

[xc0mmiex]

a couple of 260's would outperform the 4850's easily

 

[eternal7331]

Not sure what Rez I will be able to run on either of these cards. My monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 2253bw.

 

[eternal7331]

Do most SLI cards come with SLI Connector?

 

[xc0mmiex]

1680x1050 is your res... 4850's wouldn't struggle a bit

 

[uncfan_2563]

Do most SLI cards come with SLI Connector?

most of the mid-high end cards come with them. Low end ones don't most of the time

 

[eternal7331]

OK im about to pick out a PSU, what is Min Watts that I need to run this with aN AMD Phenom II X3 710 2.6GHz?

 

[tryceo]

i rather go with nvidia... they have way better drivers and their support is fantastic.. Plus they can OC pretty well

 

[uncfan_2563]

OK im about to pick out a PSU, what is Min Watts that I need to run this with aN AMD Phenom II X3 710 2.6GHz?

i doubt ur cpu is what will decide your power supply. You're going to need a fairly powerful PSU for ur gfx cards so worry about that first.

 

[Mousemonkey]

most of the mid-high end cards come with them. Low end ones don't most of the time

I think you'll find they are included with the mobo.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Do most SLI cards come with SLI Connector?

See above.

 

[uncfan_2563]

I think you'll find they are included with the mobo.

oh well i didn't know cuz i've been deprived of Crossfire/SLI. **i want a new mobo!

 

[Mousemonkey]

I'm beginning to feel your pain (or it's just the 'upgrade itch'). :lol:

 

[uncfan_2563]

I'm beginning to feel your pain (or it's just the 'upgrade itch'). :lol:

yeah that upgrade rash where you look at every component in ur pc and think, "Wow that could be a lot better".

 

[Mousemonkey]

yeah that upgrade rash where you look at every component in ur pc and think, "Wow that could be a lot better".

My problem (if you can call it that) is that my Sli gaming rig has had no problem running anything I've tred so far and with DX11 parts on the horizon I'm a bit loath to get anything that will be superceded in but a couple of short months, then their is the CPU choice or rather the lack of choice in the strangest way in that I still have yet to see a mobo that runs an AMD CPU whilst giving you the choice of an Sli or Xfire setup.

 

[uncfan_2563]

My problem (if you can call it that) is that my Sli gaming rig has had no problem running anything I've tred so far and with DX11 parts on the horizon I'm a bit loath to get anything that will be superceded in but a couple of short months, then their is the CPU choice or rather the lack of choice in the strangest way in that I still have yet to see a mobo that runs an AMD CPU whilst giving you the choice of an Sli or Xfire setup.

lol so nothing challenges your rig? haha lucky bas***d. My problem is with DX11 too. I could get a 4870 now or wait for DX11 and get a 5xxx series. the problem is the prices of cards at release is much higher. It's even possible that a lower performing 5xxx card could be more expensive than 4870's. So i'm stuck

 

[Mousemonkey]

[

lol so nothing challenges your rig? haha lucky bas***d. My problem is with DX11 too. I could get a 4870 now or wait for DX11 and get a 5xxx series. the problem is the prices of cards at release is much higher. It's even possible that a lower performing 5xxx card could be more expensive than 4870's. So i'm stuck

:lol: I wouldn't go that far but I can run everything I want to play at pretty much full eyecandy to damn near full, so yes my gaming life is good at the moment . What card are you running at present?

 

[uncfan_2563]

[
:lol: I wouldn't go that far but I can run everything I want to play at pretty much full eyecandy to damn near full, so yes my gaming life is good at the moment . What card are you running at present?

9400Gt.... yeah... i got it before i was interested in GPU's and like a month after i got it i was like, please break so i can return you..... I've overclocked it a lot tho so it kinda keeps up, also i play at 1280x1024 so it's not too bad

 

[Mousemonkey]

Hmm, 9400GT. Rock and hard place spring to mind, I'm not in envy of your position my friend.

 

[uncfan_2563]

Hmm, 9400GT. Rock and hard place spring to mind, I'm not in envy of your position my friend.

hmm yeah... i can play crysis at med @ 1024x768 tho... Monitor = 1280x1024