Solved! Nvidia gtx 480 sli or ati 5870 xfire (mobile gpu)

[reaversedge]

Well i have 2 laptops choices to buy with almost the same price and specs but differs in video cards, one is with nvidia gtx 480 sli and the other one ati 5870 in crossfire. I have seen reviews that gtx 480 sli performs better but has high temps compared to ati, and they said the difference is marginal, i need help for opinions for the two cards and my general goal is to see who performs better.

Also i notice that some guys tend to say that 460 sli is better than 480 sli, is it true?

 

[Maziar]

GTX 480 performs better than 2 5870s but have more power consumption,and are more noisier.
And no,2 460's perform slower than 2 480s

 

[reaversedge]

Thanks for the quick reply Maziar, can you please forward a link for sager np7280 reviews? i hope they found a small remedy for the heating issues of their np7280 because it can also feature dual gtx 480

 

[reaversedge]

Thanks for the quick reply Maziar, can you please forward a link for sager np7280 reviews? i hope they found a small remedy for the heating issues of their np7280 because it can also feature dual gtx 480

 

[raza715]

I would say go with 5870 CF simply because of excellent power consumption on the other hand GTX480 eats too much power plus produces alot of heat as said by Maziar

 

[raza715]

bro check this out it will give you better idea about heating http://www.xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?p=45657

 

[Maziar]

Thanks for the quick reply Maziar, can you please forward a link for sager np7280 reviews? i hope they found a small remedy for the heating issues of their np7280 because it can also feature dual gtx 480

There you go
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/malibal-nine-x7200-geforce-gtx-480m-core-i7-980x,2773.html

 

[reaversedge]

In comparison by raw gaming performance what margin does 2 480 over 2 5870?

 

[Maziar]

2 480s are about 20% faster.If you need something with lower power consumption/heat and a little less performance,go with 2 GTX 460Ms(Clevo X7200 can be configured with them)

 

[reaversedge]

they also offered with 2 480/460 configuration, will it run much cooler compared to 2 480? and also what's the performace difference between the two. Marginal?

I opted for arctic silver compound for both gpu and cpu, also a notebook cooler, i can stand the power consumption, but im finding a way to at least reduce the heat if possible in safe levels and granted it is a laptop.

 

[Maziar]

GTX 460M performs pretty much like 5870M(a little slower)so its roughly 15-25%(depending on the game) slower than 2 480Ms but they run significantly cooler

 

[reaversedge]

Im just wondering if there's a way to reduce the heating of 2 480s, if there's no real way, i think i will just go to 2 5870 if there's no possibility to cool at least a bit of the 2 480s, i really max the performance due to the high resolutions i play so its either 2 480s or 5870 xfire.

 

[Maziar]

A laptop cooler may help in reducing temps with the cost of higher noise.2 5870Ms are better options in terms of performance/power consumption

 

[reaversedge]

noise is omitted because i usually play with earphone, power consumption is omitted because im out travelling and stay somewhere like a hotel. alienware m17x (5870cf) and sager np7280 (2 480s) are two of my choices.

Alienware m17x
Processor 920m
ram 8 gb
HD 1 Tb

Sager np7280 (xoticpc)
Processor 950m
ram 6gb
HD 500 gb

both at in reasonable prices. Now only tech support.

 

[Maziar]

If noise/power consumption are no issues,go with NP7280.It has a much better price/performance ratio than M17x.And XoticPC support is quite good.

 

[reaversedge]

i just took a quick check, now (by notebookcheck source) now 2 460s outperform the 5870cf? i thought 5870 is on par with 470 which is superior than 460...

 

[Maziar]

It depends.
In some games,SLI scales better than CF,so 2 460Ms outperform 2 5870Ms

 

[reaversedge]

right now im taking up new games like sniper, fallout new vegas and some new dx11 games, im not sure which video card has better support between the two, they said nvidia is a winner in general...

 

[Maziar]

Between SLI GTX 460 and 5870 CF,I would go with the first option because in some games,they beat 2 5870s;furthermore,they run cooler and quieter and as a result you'll have more battery life.

 

[reaversedge]

how about the performace difference of 2 460s and 2 480? i really like the raw performance of this 2 480s but theres that heat drawback, i also read some reviews that i should have a good psu so if the heat exceeds the limit the processor will slow down (sorry if im mistaken im still a noob in tech terms)

also will upgrading the processor (i7 950 is clevo's default to i7 980xm) will at least affect the fps of gaming or it helps a bit (excluding loading times)?