Which GTX 280 Should I Buy?

[AdamVGR]

I've saved up about enough to get a GTX 280 for my PC, I notice there are a lot of different models and my budget is somewhat limited. I'm wondering between these two:

 

EVGA GTX280 1GB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

 

dabs.com - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 280 1GB GDDR3 PCIE 2xDVI 602/2.2GHZ (GV-N28-1GH-B)

 

Clearly the second is much cheaper and I'd like to get it, but not if the first outperforms it really well, would appreciate any advice on this.

 

Thanks

[Dalo Harkin]

Right the fastest GPU on the planet at the moment is the 4870x2 its, two 4870 on one card - it blows the 280GTX out of the water!

BUT this does all depend on what size your monitor is - you are not going to notice a huge difference between the 260GTX and the 280GTX unless you go over 1680x1050.

I must strongly advise against the 280GTX as it severly overpriced, so you can either opt for the ATI 4870x2 or wait until Nvidia's next offering.

[AdamVGR]

Do you know if its compatible with the 680i SLI motherboard?

[Dalo Harkin]

you can still run them, just not in crossfire.

[AdamVGR]

I heard that the Nvidia chipset in the 680i will play with the ATI drivers and cause problems...do you know if this is true?

[Dalo Harkin]

I doubt it very much - it may well be an Nvidia chipset but if they did not make it compatible with ATI then I am sure that they would be in breach of some kind of guidelines.

If you truly want to go the 280GTX route (which I would not advise) then just choose the cheapest one as they are all reference design and the manufacturers just OC them a bit.

I would look at the resolution that you typically game at and what you will be mainly using the pc for and then choose a more suitable card.

 

come back and answer the questions above and I will post back for you