2 1gb 4850's or 4850x2

I just wanted to know which was better or if theirs even a big difference. Considering their pretty much the same card. They are the same price and i dont know which to pick so if one better for something or what not help would be great. BTW i game, if that plays into anything.

 

or would a 4870 be better.

Basically i want the best card besides the 4870x2 that will get the most fps in games that i can run at 1680x1050 res.

System specs

q6600 overclock 3.2ghz
4gb ram 1000mhz
gigabyte x48 ds4
750watt psu

 

so what do you guys think?

 

I was waiting to hear what some others with more experience might have to say. From my knowledge the 4850x2's will edge out the 4870 by a bit (~20ish %), but is clearly not worth the extra cost. If you're gaming on a higher resolution screen find a 1 gig 4870 rather than 4850x2. As far as a 1 card vs 2 card solution I'm not sure, but I'd assume having the two chips on the same card is better idea, simply for the fact that if it wasn't, they never would have bothered to release the X2's. You'll see X2's for the 4870's in peoples sig's more than you'll see 2 4870's.

 

thx for the info.......How does nvidia's GTX 280 or 260 compare?

 

The Charts

 

a hd4870 would beat the 260 and 2xhd2850 is better than the 280. but not 1xhd2870
hope that made sense lol

 

That last post has a lot of errors in it.

Depends which 260 you're looking out. The 4870 edges out the 260-192 version, but is a little weaker than the 260-216 version. 2x4850 is more powerful than a single 4870. 2x4850 gets destroyed by the 280.

 

One 4850 can manage 1680x1050 pretty much flawlessly. Crossfire setups like these are for higher resolutions like 1920x1200, or mainly 2560x1600.
Performance wise (rough average figures)
8800GTX: 0.85
HD4850: 1.00
HD4870: 1.25
GTX260: 1.25
HD4870 1GB: 1.30
GTX260-216: 1.40
GTX280: 1.50
HD4850 CF: 2.00
HD4850X2: 2.10
HD4870 CF: 2.50
HD4870X2: 2.65

 

Tom's Hardware benchmarks for 1680x1050 with AA (Sorry for the oversize, is there a shrink to fit feature on these forums?)

 

At 1680x1050 those tests are not accurate as they are all limited by the performance of the processor.

 

so then the graphics cards im looking at will b bottlenecked?

 

Yes, bottlenecked by the CPU.

 

thx for the help guys......i think im going to go with the 4850X2

 

In the US at least, that's a reasonable decision. It will certainly serve you well for a long time to come.

 

thx