8800 GTS 512MB SLI VS 3870 Crossfire

[bandieramonte]

Hello everyone;

I'm about to make my video cards purchase, I there is a one final barrier standing on between my purchase of the 8800 GTS SLI. My concern is as follows:
See, we all know that a single 8800 GTS 512MB kicks a single ATI 3870's ass really badly. BUT, all that I have researched about crossfire, has made me conclude that Crossfire is more efficient than SLI. Why do I say this? Because the average gain on Crossfire is usually like at least 60% gain. With SLI, we almost all the time see gains of an average of 30%.

So, see, we got a battle here. While a single 3870 is outperformed by a single 8800 GTS 512MB, it could maybe be the case that 3870 Crossfire beats 8800 GTS 512 MB because of the crossfire's superior scaling performance. BUT, it could also be the case that 8800 GTS 512MB are still victorious even if SLI scales less.

If any of you have benchmark results comparing these both configurations, PLEASE post it here.

Thanks.

[DMB2000uk]

Are you really asking the difference between the performance of a £260 (~€360) Xfire setup against a £418 (~€578) SLI setup?

Surely the Xfire wins outright for being £155 (€218) cheaper while still giving very similar performance? Hell you could go with triple xfire (when the drivers come out) and still have spent less money compared to the GTS sli.

Just remember that 6 months down the line this is going to be outdated hardware and you'll start feeling the urge to upgrade...

Dan

[bandieramonte]

Is it possible to have 3 3870's in crossfire?? If so, what hardware do I need? Do I need maybe a special mobo which supports 3 3870's? And also, It may require a huge PSU.
And when are the drivers coming out? If I have 3 3870's and still the drivers haven't been released, then my rig is only going to play with 2 3870's right? (Meaning that the 3rd 3870 will be inactive)

Thanks.

[Apoptosis]

The pair of GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB cards in SLI would be by far the most powerful of the bunch. It's the latest core with the latest updates, so when it comes to NVIDIA it is the latest and greatest. SLI drivers work better than CrossFire, so if money is not an object then SLI all the way. NVIDIA has more games optimized for them and has SLI supported in more games - that's enough to make the call for me. The only downside to SLI is the chipsets... I'd rather run an Intel P35 or X38 chipset over the nForce 780i SLI. Also remember the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB can't do triple-SLI if you wanted to do that down the road...

So the question really is... Would you rather do an nForce 780i SLI motherboard with GeForce cards in SLI or an Intel P35/X38 board with Radeon cards in CrossFire? Or you could really just run one card... I played through Crysis and Call of Duty 4 with a single GeForce 8800 GT 512MB at 1920x1200... good enough for me and my 24" monitor.

To your question of drivers we are a good 2 months away from CrossFireX drivers from what I have last heard. The Radeon HD 3870 X2 that we showed the first pictures of in the world will be shown at CES. Legit Reviews will be at CES to bring you daily coverage, so give up a week and a half and we can give you an honest time line. Eventually you will be able to run 3 or 4 Radeon HD 3850 or Radeon HD 3870 graphics cards together in CrossFire, or what they call CrossFire X since four card can now be run linked together (which i have only seen work in 3dmark06 personally).

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The only downside to SLI is the chipsets... I'd rather run an Intel P35 or X38 chipset over the nForce 780i SLI.

What's wrong with Nvidia chipsets?

[DMB2000uk]

They're hot and consume a lot more power compared to intel chipsets.

Dan

[bandieramonte]

SO this is the BIG question now:

which performs better : 8800 GTS 512MB SLI OR 3x 3870 Crossfire (three)?

These both configurations cost almost the same (in newegg).
Please this is urgent, I'm about to make my purchase in 5 hours, and I have a HARD HARD time choosing my video cards.

[DMB2000uk]

Well seen as though the XFireX drivers won't be out for a good while, currently the SLI wins.

Are you happy to go with the nvidia motherboard getup?

Dan

[bandieramonte]

Well, since the only bad things of Nvidia motherboards are their hotness and their high power consumption, I wont worry because I'm going to purchase an SLI certified 1000watts PSU and my rig will have 3 fans, two 250mm fans and one 120mm fan which I thing is enough to ventilate this motherboard.

So, I would be happy with the nvidia motherboard.

BUT, the big question is whether if 3 3870's would beat two 8800 GTS 512MB. Isn't there any way to know this even if CrossfireX drivers haven't been released? There must be a way to know this.

[DMB2000uk]

Just go with the 8800GTS SLI.

Crossfire/SLI doesn't work in everything still, so where it doesn't, surely it is better to fall back to roughly half of the speed you are used to rather than a third.

Purely speculation, but I guess the 3 card XfireX would be close to the SLI performance anyway.

Dan