Hardware.Info managed to get three of the new NVidia GTX480’s in a 3-way SLI rig, and put it through it’s paces against athe Radeon 5970’s and 5870’s. While there are some impressive discoveries, such as the failure of a 1KW power supply to keep the rig operational, the 3-way SLI rig seems to win in all of the most extreme cases. However, that brings to mind the big question: Is it worth the extreme cost? (translated from the original Dutch site)
But there is another side of the coin three GeForce GTX 480 cards asking nearly 1000 watts of power at full load. That is to swallow: four hours per day you can play at the end of the year around 300 euros. In addition there is the purchase of the cards, although the recommended 480 euros, the GeForce GTX 480 for an average of 550 euros over the counter. Three times you come out on Euro 1650, and then that we are still waiting for expensive processor. Opposite are three Radeon HD 5870 may be about 1140 euros in total cost and a maximum of consumption of around 640 watts yield. Although ATI scores in absolute performance can not match Nvidia, Crossfire appears to have three cards scale better than SLI. With ATI cards provide two additional 151.8% extra performance, with nVidia 128.2%. In contrast, two cards in SLI just scales better. Four GPUs combine, in the form of two Radeon HD 5970’s, according to our tests show an unholy plan. Three 5870’s is almost always faster.
Clash of the Titans: 3-way SLI GTX 480 test | Hardware.Info Nederland. (English Translation via Google Translate)
