CrossfireX 4870X2 vs GTX 280 Tri-SLI

Clash of The Titans:
Radeon HD 4870X2 CrossfireX
vs
GeForce GTX 280 Tri-SLI

The arrival of Intel X58 chipset marks a new era in multi-card gaming technology. The X58 chipset supports both Nvidia and ATI's multi-card platforms. Now gamers opting to build a high end gaming platform can choose ATI's Crossfire/CrossfireX or Nvidia's SLI/3-Way/Quad-SLI technologies.

In today's review, we are going to bench two Radeon HD4870X2 in CrossFireX against three GeForce GTX280 in 3-way SLI. The following review is an abstract of the original article. First, let's take a look at the specification chart of both graphics cards:

Product	GeForce GTX 280	Radeon HD4870X2
Core	GT200	2x RV770
Process	65nm	55nm
Transistor Count	1400million	2x 956million
Core Clock	602 Mhz	750 Mhz
Shader	1296 Mhz	750 Mhz
ROPS	32	2x 16
Stream Processors	240	2x 800
Memory Clock	1107 Mhz	900 Mhz
Memory Bus Width	512-bit	2x 256-bit
Memory Size/Type	1GB GDDR3	2x 1GB GDDR5
DirectX Support	DirectX 10	DirectX 10.1
PCI-E Interface	PCI-Express 2.0	PCI-Express 2.0

Test Platform

CPU: Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 965 @ 3.2Ghz
Mainboard: ASUS Rampage II Extreme X58/ICH10R
Memory: Corsair TR3X3G1333C9 3GB @ 1333Mhz 9-9-9-20 1T
Storage: WD VelociRaptor 300G 10krpm 16MB
Power: Corsair HX 1kW
Graphics:

• 2x PowerColor Radeon HD 4870X2 2048MB (750/3600)
• 3x Galaxy GeForce GTX 280 1024MB (600/1300/2200)

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1 + DirectX 10.1
Driver:

• GeForce Forceware 180.48 WHQL
• ATI Catalyst 8.11 WHQL

PCI Express 2.0 lanes configurations,

• 1-way: X16
• 2-way: X16+X16
• 3-way: X16+X8+X8
  

Radeon HD 4870X2 CrossFireX






GeForce GTX 280 3-way SLI


Part 1: Introduction & Test Platform
Part 2: 3DMark 06 & Vantage
Part 3: NFS12 & FarCry2
Part 4: Crysis Warhead & CoH
Part 5: LP, WiC & Bioshock
Part 6: Power Consumption & Summary