Dual-GPU Graphics Card Review Roundup

• bit-tech: Palit's Revolution 700 (Radeon HD 4870 X2) graphics card‏:
  
  

  "All in all, the Palit Revolution 700 is a real let down. It's barely faster than a stock Radeon HD 4870 X2, consumes a great deal more power at idle, and really isn't worth the price premium, despite the improved cooling and quieter running. To be brutally honest, it's a poor attempt at a factory overclocked custom cooled card, and given the choice, we'd rather use a stock HD 4870 X2, if only for the sake of our electricity bill and a couple of DVI ports."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• NeoSeeker: BFG GTX 295 Review: Dual-GPU showdown:
  
  

  "The GTX 295 is the quintessential dual-GPU monster card: it puts out big numbers, but comes with a steep price tag (roughly $500 USD), and has the usual, almost unavoidable flaw that dual-GPU Nvidia products have: SLI does not automatically work for every game. This last hiccup is somewhat mitigated by the ability of the GTX 295 do devote one GPU solely to PhysX processing. However the big catch is that right now, there is not a huge amount of AAA titles that use PhysX. Whether this will change significantly in the future depends on who you listen to.
  
  Let's compare the GTX 295 to the HD 4870 X2. When it comes to performance, the GTX 295 takes the cake. The GTX 295 doesn't kill or maim the HD 4870 X2 in the benches; but it does win, more often than not. When it comes to price, and bang for buck, both of these video cards however, are fairly even."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• NeoSeeker: Sapphire HD 4850 X2 Review:
  
  

  "The only real battle in our tests was the GTX 280 versus the Sapphire HD 4850 X2. In this battle, the edge is earned by the HD 4850 X2 -- less expensive and faster, it's the champion here. Unless people are very averse to going with a dual-GPU card over a single GPU model, the HD 4850 X2 is the way to go if you are looking for awesome performance around $300. (How about other Nvidia cards? Well, a mildly overclocked GTX 260 (216 shader model) will put in similar numbers to a GTX 280, while a regular GTX 260 would be appreciably out of this battle of the heavy-weights).
  
  For those that like to overclock, the HD 4850 X2 is attractive, offering performance that can stetch within arm's reach of a stock-clocked HD 4870 X2. We felt that the fan was a little on the noisy side when full engaged, so this may preclude many from wanting to keep the HD 4850 X2 running at %110. However for enterprising enthusiasts who aren't afraid of a little GPU cooler swap, the HD 4850 X2 has your name on it. A water cooled HD 4850 x2 would be a thing of beauty. "

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TechSpot: Nvidia GeForce GTX 295 Dual GPU review‏:
  
  

  "Probably the biggest plus for Nvidia right now is that they seem to be offering better support for the major games released last year. Games such as Call of Duty 5, Dead Space, and Left 4 Dead, for example, all play better on Nvidia hardware and this is what helped to give the GeForce GTX 295 the edge over the Radeon HD 4870 X2.
  Still, current owners of the Radeon HD 4870 X2 can hardly hang their heads in shame as this graphics card has proven to be extremely powerful and competitive with only a few select games where it got trounced by this newly released GeForce."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TweakTown: NVIDIAs GeForce GTX 295 In Quad SLI‏:
  
  

  "Quad SLI was really less of a disaster than I thought it would be, considering just how early in the game it is. Vantage scores are simply jaw dropping; we don’t doubt for a second that come a few hours after the NDA lifting that the world records in 3DMark Vantage would have been broken.
  
  It also doesn’t come as a surprise that games that don’t take advantage of SLI (like PT Boats) don’t see a boost in performance. It’s a bit disappointing to see the source based Left 4 Dead get impacted negatively in a quad SLI configuration, but this game has been quite important for NVIDIA so we don’t doubt that they’re going to fix this issue."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• TweakTown: NVIDIAs GeForce GTX 295 Overclocked‏:
  
  

  "As we’ve already said, as if the GTX 295 wasn’t powerful enough already. When it comes to overclocking the card, it has some serious potential. It will be interesting to see what companies like Gainward, eVGA, BFG, ASUS and others who offer fairly decent overclocked cards will do with the GTX 295.
  
  It’s nice to see that come launch day there isn’t any dramas with overclocking the GTX 295 either. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that people will get it into their system and start overclocking the hell out of the card to have those 3DMark ranks climbing over at the Futuremark website."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• X-bit Labs: ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 vs. Nvidia GeForce GTX 280: Decisive Battle:
  
  

  "The fight between the two heavyweights – the Sapphire HD 4850 X2 and Leadtek WinFast GTX 280 – is over and it’s time to name the overall winner. Alas, the Leadtek left the ring without much glory. Having a comparable retail price, it is inferior to the Sapphire card in nearly each of our tests. The specifications of these cards coincide with those of the reference Radeon HD 4850 X2 and GeForce GTX 280, so we can acknowledge yet another defeat of Nvidia."

  
  Click here to read the full review.