quad sli 295's vs tri sli 280's

[Ninjawithagun]

Wafflehammer, your response is confusing. NO, one GPU is not disabled. Yes, quad-SLI scaling is not as good as either regular SLI or Crossfire. It is better than running two 4870X2s in Crossfire though (except for one game - FEAR). Not bad for a card that's been out for one month. Unlike you guys, I actually am running two GTX295s and they easily beat any other configuration today running any game at 1920x1200 resolutions with all settings maxed - PERIOD. I don't have to speculate, because I KNOW. I own the hardware and have witnessed first hand what they can do. Are either of you running two GTX295s in quad-SLI? NO. I am not trying to be mean, but I am so tired of folks posting responses based on no hard evidence or first hand experience. So, apologies if I vent a little

And talking about first hand experience, I had been running two GTX280s in SLI on my primary rig before replacing them with the GTX295s. I can definitely say for a fact that just one GTX295 beat the GTX280s SLI'ed in about 80% of the benchmarks that I ran at 1920x1200 resolutions (Far Cry 2, Crysis, and 3DMark Vantage). I was actually a bit shocked about the whole thing. Also, another point to make is that some folks aren't willing to fork out the extra dough to upgrade their power supply (again) - which is exactly what they may have to do when running three GTX280s versus two GTX295s. Remember, the GTX295 is running the new 55nm GTX260s which use less voltage and actually run cooler. The average temps I've seen the GTX295s running are around 70C under full load! That's just amazing. Point to be made: My GTX280s run around the mid to high 90s Celsius under full load.

Finally, running three GTX280s pretty much eliminates any possibility of using any other slots on your mobo. There are a few X58 mobos that have an extra PCI-E 1x slot above the first PCI-E X16 slot, but only a few (Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI). If you have an older PCI X-Fi card, you will be out of luck and will have to use the onboard audio instead - YUK! No thanks. I LOVE my 24-bit audio

 

[ricanflow]

Im not running quad-sli but i am running a single 295 and i know for a fact it can beat 280's and 285's in SLI...with the right clocks.

 

[zedman3d]

^ How do you KNOW that?
It has the same amount of SP's but mem/bus of a 260GTX.

Proof? Or are you just saying stuff because....

 

[PH3N0M]

Im not running quad-sli but i am running a single 295 and i know for a fact it can beat 280's and 285's in SLI...with the right clocks.

I'd have to see that to believe it considering the core and memory clock of the GTX 295 is slower than even the basic GTX 285. To say a single GTX 295 would outperform GTX 285's in TRI-SLI, or even SLI, would be quite a stretch.

 

[zedman3d]

I'd have to see that to believe it considering the core and memory clock of the GTX 295 is slower than even the basic GTX 285. To say a single GTX 295 would outperform GTX 285's in TRI-SLI, or even SLI, would be quite a stretch.

Beat you to it by about 20 seconds. tehe

 

[tastegw]

give it about 2 weeks, and we can compair results.

or you could ask vdubfreak to take out one of his 285's.

but, mine and ricanflow's rig would be best to judge it with since we have the same cpu. only difference is he is on xp and im on vista.

we can set our cpu @ the same speeds and he can clock his 295 up to the stock speeds of the 285's core/shader/memory clocks.

this would be a good way to compair between the two.

ill be ordering one of the 285's on friday, and the other will be here in about a week via evga stepup.

you up for it ricanflow?

 

[PH3N0M]

give it about 2 weeks, and we can compair results.

or you could ask vdubfreak to take out one of his 285's.

but, mine and ricanflow's rig would be best to judge it with since we have the same cpu. only difference is he is on xp and im on vista.

we can set our cpu @ the same speeds and he can clock his 295 up to the stock speeds of the 285's core/shader/memory clocks.

this would be a good way to compair between the two.

ill be ordering one of the 285's on friday, and the other will be here in about a week via evga stepup.

you up for it ricanflow?

No need. Take a look at this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrZwKHOyohg&fmt=18

 

[ricanflow]

^ How do you KNOW that?
It has the same amount of SP's but mem/bus of a 260GTX.

Proof? Or are you just saying stuff because....

Im well aware of those benchmarks.

With the right clocks, a GTX 295 can fly right past 280's or even 285's in tri-sli, its all about getting up there.

I'd have to see that to believe it considering the core and memory clock of the GTX 295 is slower than even the basic GTX 285. To say a single GTX 295 would outperform GTX 285's in TRI-SLI, or even SLI, would be quite a stretch.

No....not in tri-sli, GTX 280's in SLI.

I never said anything about tri-sli.

give it about 2 weeks, and we can compair results.

or you could ask vdubfreak to take out one of his 285's.

but, mine and ricanflow's rig would be best to judge it with since we have the same cpu. only difference is he is on xp and im on vista.

we can set our cpu @ the same speeds and he can clock his 295 up to the stock speeds of the 285's core/shader/memory clocks.

this would be a good way to compair between the two.

ill be ordering one of the 285's on friday, and the other will be here in about a week via evga stepup.

you up for it ricanflow?

Im not because im not on water...i wont be able to get my clocks high enough.

I could go way past 700core with evga voltage tuner, but temps would be out of hand.

 

[zedman3d]

I dont believe its true at all. Especially the 'flying' part.
The only way it would be possible would be if it was one sided in the fact that you upped the clocks of the 295GTX quite a bit and left the competing 285GTX SLI at stock....

Which is a very silly argument.
I want some proof. Im not one to argue when i know ive been proved wrong, it would be interesting to say the least if you were correct. Now go off and find some proof to back up what you believe to be a definite claim.

 

[tastegw]

here is good comparison

the first link is dual gtx 280/285's in vantage

the second link is 1x 295, this page also has 2x 295's
but for the topic at hand (1x 295 > 2x 280/285's)

dual 280/285's vantage score

single 295's vantage score

im using this because vantage is a better bench than 3dmark06 when it comes to compairing video cards imo.

all scores shown are for vantage default settings, everything else was anything goes...overclocks, watercooling, voltage tuning, ect,ect...

most of those guys know what they are doing so i think its an even playing field.