4870x2 still does not match up to GTX 280Sli

About half in Denmark, and I figure it's cheaper in many other countries. But yeah, still a much better purchase...

 

Don't really care if the 4870x2 is better or worse than the GTX 280.
Fact of the matter is that a lot of developers are getting exclusive support from nVidia to tweak their games towards the GeForce cards, another fact of the matter is that with the new CUDA enabled driver, my rig which will be powered by a GTX 280 for graphics and 8800 GTX for physics will own any ATi solution that have no hardware physics support and in turn end up calculating all physics on the CPU cores.

I still have faith in NVidia, and the drivers for the GTX 2x0 line is still in it's child stages. They haven't gotten everything down just yet, and might have a surprise or two in order. They have yet to let me down the past 5 years of faithful fanboyism, and I doubt they will fail to deliver once again.

As for DX10.1... Well... The changes are awesome, but I doubt we will see it implemented in many games before next year when DX11 is due.

My two øre.

 

Up it's sleeve, maybe?? Though I'm not sure what this could be at the moment. Even with the imminent 55nm die-shrink, two of those beasts on one card doesn't look feasible to me. And even if it were possible, the 280s and 4870x2s of this world already make one helluva noise when running 3D apps, I think it's time NV/ATi focus more on efficient thermals/cooling than just adding a couple of FPS.

 

Ugh...fanboys uke2:

Fact is the 4870X2 is (a lot) faster than the GTX 280, even in nVidia biased games. Driver point is moot as well, the GT200 have been around for 2 months while the 4870X2 is fresh out of the starting blocks. PhysX is still a theoretical advantage (like DX10.1).

 

I'm really over people justifying nVidia cards by saying the have CUDA support.

Like anyone is actually buying a GTX 280 for the CUDA apps.

You're buying it so you can play Crysis. Stop convincing yourself otherwise.

 

Um... GT200 and R700 series both were released in June, so they've both been around for 2 months, just because a "new card" (2 cards squashed together) was released doesn't mean the architecture has changed, all it is, is two RV770 XT's squashed together and renamed to R700 (which, in my opinion makes no sense, since R700 is the name for the architecture), so they are both 2 months old

 

i sense massive failure in this thread... a lot of people keep talking about TWO SEPARATE 4870s in Crossfire when the topic is about the 4870X2 going against the GTX280.

@Aura89:

you need to understand is that while the ARCHITECTURE BUILD is the same, it doesn't mean that you can take an old driver meant for an older card and use it for a brand new card (despite the fact they're both using the same architecture). You need to understand that there are a lot of things other than the architecture that comes into play when making drivers. So the 4870X2 is still running on fresh drivers that have yet to be optimized, pretty much like most other GPUs that are released.

 

Um. Some ppl actually enjoy programming, you see... It's not like you only get CUDA applications, but you can also develop CUDA based applications and run them with the use of nvidia card. And as i said some ppl enjoy that.

 

As a developer I find CUDA an amazing piece of technology. It's like having a limitless amount of floating point power in comparison to what we've had to work with previously. When you look at the Q6600 for instance (One of the most popular Quad Cores) its only around 90Gflops of Floating Point performance. Compared to the GTX280 which is around 900Gflops.

The potential is really amazing. The ability to create very intensive applications without performance issues, pretty much having a super-computer in every customers hands. CUDA is limited in what you can process with it but there is a lot of intensive things that it can be used for and the best bit about it is, its not limited to QUADRO. It's a consumer feature.

One area where I can see this seriously blowing up is in rendering. Imagine how many companies are rendering on Opteron / Xeon servers that could be made redundant with just a few desktop systems with 3xGTX280's each with a CUDA designed rendering engine. It's really a lot more exciting then you make it out to be.

 

Oh, that's why all of the GTX 280 threads are asking for comparisons between the power of their new GTX 280 and their new Wolfdale Quad.

All I saying is that CUDA isn't the reason you're buying the GTX 280 if you're arguing performance in a thread like this.

Besides the point, isn't ATI going to develop CUDA support anyways? :bang:

 

Of course not Egregious. No one here is buying a GTX280 for CUDA alone but its another reason to buy one over an ATi card. CUDA has already provided the Badaboom transcoder software and PhysX (Which used to cost like £120 at retail for the PPU). We also have the Folding @ Home Client (as does ATi) which I'm sure has swayed some hard-core WU folders

Is it the only reason to get one, no its not. But it certainly sweetens the deal for those who are on the fence. And CUDA doesn't look like its going away any-time soon. If anything it's just taking off and ATi cards can run CUDA apps with modifications so it's not complete loss for the ATi card users. Just not supported out of the box.

I'm excited about CUDA and I know a lot of other people who are as-well, so don't make such sweeping statements as "Like anyone is actually buying a GTX 280 for the CUDA apps." because it's simply not true and will clear up confusion with what you "really" mean in the future.

 

No one is buying GTX 280s for the CUDA apps, don't be delusional. Maybe YOU did, but you and the two other people are really irrelevant when it comes to the scheme of things. We're painting with a wide brush here, and if that's offensive to you, well, apologies, but the fact of the matter is that the number of people who buy one of the cards for CUDA support is so miniscule that it's pointless to even talk about it. Go ask any random number of people exactly what CUDA even is, on forums or otherwise, and you'll get no response.

 

I don't agree with your point of view at all.

Also you contradict yourself. You say this:

"No one is buying GTX 280s for the CUDA apps, don't be delusional. Maybe YOU did"

How can No one be buying them and then say I did? Am I not someone. And yes there are people buying them just for CUDA (No one on this forum obviously, this is a website for Gamers, not Programmers, Developers or Scientific Study types). Your own posts don't make sense but apparently you feel confident enough to judge what others say (Incorrectly I might add).

EDIT:// I just wanted to edit my post to include this link to a guy who is using lots of 8800's for his folding at home. CUDA is the only reason he bought and set it all up 4 GPU's per Motherboard to fold 24.7

http://www.overclock.net/overclock-net-folding-home-team/370859-nitteo-s-f-h-gpu2-farm.html

51 GPU's

 

Well Your still pretty much comparing 2 4870's to 1 GTX 280. Of course the 4870's will be faster. But when Nvidia comes out with the GTX 280x2 which I think they will, then you can compare the 4870x2 to Nvidia's upcoming New Card. Also GTX 280 is around $400 while the 4870x2 is around $550-600. Which ATI has ****ty driver support and no CUDA for a little increase in performance that you wont even notice unless you play at 1900x and higher.

 

Rather then comparing them to 280, i would like to see a 260 sli vs 4870x2 =)

 

Price Updates in Canada:

4870X2 = 605$ CAN
GTX280 = 400$ CAN

the ideal price for the GTX 280 would be 350$. but pricewise, the GTX280 is a winner for canadians who are seeking for good deals

 

i've always said this and i really dont care,FANBOYS are annoying,why ppl still talk about comparing the 4870x2 against gtx280 sli it one card vs one card i dont care if amd or nvidia put a million gpu on a board from it fit it one pci/e slot its one card,some act of as if they are getting paid to be a spokesperson,come on now being a nvidia fan yes or no u can't deny the 4800 series are great cards and if it wasn't for thm u would still be paying 650-700usd for ur gtx280 so stop crying to see the 4870x2 @ 550usd.
anytime i'm upgrading is the best for my money i'm buying i dont care if its AMD/ATI,INTEL or NVIDIA.most of u guys should do the same its ur money and you are ur best friend not a company that doesn't know u

 

This is the Nvidia section of this forum. What do you expect?

 

But the 4870x2 (550$) is being directly compared to the GTX 280 SLI (850$-900$). All I'm saying is that if the 4870x2 is close to the GTX 280 in SLI then saying "Well the nVidia offers CUDA" isn't enough to justify the extra 300$-350$. That's just a fanboys way of saying they're too proud to buy ATI.

I've played on nVidia cards since the GeForce2 MX and with the new ATI cards it just didn't make sense to buy nVidia. CUDA and Physx included.:bang: