HD4870X2 or GTX280 SLI? Which is ACTUALLY better?

In performance of course. I can't seem to find any article comparing GTX280 SLI and the HD4870X2. I see some people say X2 pwnz the GTX280 SLI and some say GTX280 SLI owns the HD4870X2 by alot. So... Which is better?

You mean 4870X2 vs 2 GTX 280's? The 2 x 280's fo sho, but obviously way more expensive.

thats the thing, if 2 gtx 280s where the same price as one 4070x2, people would be dumbasses if they didnt buy the 280's. heres the simple fact, nvidia is better, always has been, but is way more expensive. and because of that, ati wins

[url=http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3354&p=1]BENCHMARKS HERE[/url]


According to these benchmarks, performance varies a lot, so I guess it depends of the game but probably if the GTX's are OCed they'll most definitely be better IMO.

I should say 2 gtx280s since i was reading somewhere that 4870x2 beat 1 gtx280 by a bit but you would still get great performance out of both solutions but if you have a certain budget the 4870x2 should be cheaper.

George, nvidia has not always been better.. last time I checked, ATI cards have better image quality anyway than nvidia's overpriced cards, crossfire has much better results than SLI (although both are overrated and generally not worth it), AND ATI's drivers are generally better, not to mention these 4800 series cards, kick the **** out of nvidia cards at anti-aliasing. These are facts, and I'm not an ATI fanboy... the last ATI card I've bought is a 9600 Pro.


Listen, Derby above put it the best. 4870x2 is the fastest single card solution out right now. Two GTX's in SLI slightly beat out a single 4870x2, but that could change.

2 280 gtx slower than 4870 x2 a little


....but 3 X 280 gtx faster than 2 4870 x2

Nvidia IS better, the only reason i wouldent buy one of their cards is because of the ridiculus price they put on them! do they honestly expect people to spend that much? ATI made extremely good cards this round, and the best part is that they are so much cheaper. you would be a fool, or very rich, not to go with ati.


but nvidia still makes a better card in MY opinion. Everyone says ati is back, and i think they are too, but lets wait and see for the next round of cards to come out.


sorry if i sounded like g33kinator, he was a dick face, but i do believe nvidia is better, just way overpriced right NOW, but i hope they will coem out with a killer card soon

Ever since nvidia put out the G80 chips, no doubt they've been on top performance-wise. It's taken ATI a while to catch up. Hopefully they're back because nvidia is being very greedy.

I try not to be fanboy of either,just how I am, not a fanboy when it comes to cars either. I went with nVidia GTX 260 because they offer a Step-Up programd and was able to get a better card for less than 50 bucks(sent in my old one) and this card has MUCH more power as far as when games like Crysis come out. Prices may seem high but they recently seem to fall fairly quickly,hell the GTX 280 dropped almost 100 bucks before the 4870x2 came out so unless nVidia knew exactly what ATi was going to be using it was not because of ATi's card.

The GTX 280 dropped in price because the 4870 killed the 260 GTX when it came out for only 300 bucks, and it was a better price/performance buy than the 280 GTX. So technically, it [i]was[/i] because of ATI. :p


I don't hate nvidia... they do technically have better quality cards. I mean I have an 8800GTS right now and a 7600GT before that lol... I'm just fed up with nvidia overpricing everything. It's about time somebody came out and kicked their ass.

words like killed or dominate a bit over exaggerate the difference between these cards. the difference in performance between the 260 and 4870 is like 2-4fps average, which is a smaller difference than between the 4870 and 280, though that is also a pretty small gap when u consider price difference.


ati has a solid price to performance edge but idk if you can call that dominating, if they keep this edge long enough and secure a majority of the market shares then i would say they are dominating but im not sure that will happen. nvidia seems to have droped their prices enough that people are still choosing to go that route.

Price-wise man, price-wise... not performance-wise. :p


Although that isn't a huge difference anymore since nvidia lowered the price of the 260 and 280. We really should wait til the next round of cards though to determine what's up.

Yea I honestly don't think the 4870x2 blew any of the the 260/280's aways. Plus,the 4870 is a dual GPU card so in my eyes comparing a dual GPU card to a single isn't fair but I do understand the 4870x2 is ATi's top of the line card and the 280 is nVidia's top of line GPU. For me Im happy with what I have,plays all the games very comfortably and should be able to handle any game any maker throws at me. I still have room to install 2 more EVGA GTX260's in my rig

i might get a 260 once they are made 55nm.. but probably not since my cards still play everything.