the best between these vid cards

I'm trying to see the what will be better between two Nvidia 285M GTX's running in SLI and an ATI 5870M. Overall I'm looking at frame rates but visual quality is important too. The 5870M does direct x 11 where as the 285's don't. Also the 5870M is supposed to have GDDR5 which I thought would make a difference.
AFAIK("As far as I know" for those internet slang challenged) these cards aren't out so there is now way to compare between the two setups so I was just wanting to know what the fine people here thought. I'm sure the Dual 285's will probably give better frame rates(giving that the game allows for two video cards) than the single 5870M but I was wondering it will be that much of an increase to warrant going with the 285's and missing out on directx 11. Your thoughts guys.

 

The GTX285m is a pretty wimpy upgrade from the GTX280m. Clock speeds are slightly faster, and that's it.

The SLI setup will give better frame rates in most instances, unless the program really doesn't take to SLI (there are still a couple out there).

Personally, I'm a little scared by dual-GPUs, since performance varies from game to game, and the thought of one (or both!) going bad and having to replace them is frightening. There's twice as much stuff that can go bad than with a single GPU. Also, upgrading an SLI setup costs as much as a brand new mid-range gaming laptop, whereas upgrading a single-GPU laptop is much more feasible (although I assume you're looking at the Asus G73Jh, which I don't think is upgradeable, so I guess it's a moot point for now).

Plus, I like the looks of DX11.

I'd go with the 5870 myself, I know many others would go for the SLI setup.

Look at the rest of the laptops, though. Size, weight, keyboard, warranty, speakers, other specs, and just assume that the eye candy you'll get is going to be pretty much comparable with either GPU setup.

 

I'm also with you in the 5870 camp. But if the OP is that worried about a multiple GPU setup, he should wait for Cebit (March), because I'm sure someone will release a dual 5870 setup.

 

I think I like the 5870 better as well. I which the Clevo 900F would be refreshed with the 5870 as a video card. With a desktop version of an I7 chip like the 975 I think that would be pretty decent

 

Have you guys seen the results of a stable OCd HD5870m? Its vantage score is approaching 260m sli.... P8900 or so

I am getting the Asus G73JH asap xD, it has basically double my GPU score on 3d vantage when OCd, and it seems it doesnt even break over 60c temps or so.

 

The 5870m is basically a desktop 5770, and it owns the 260M SLI so yeah

 

5870 should be better than a single GTX285M... but the SLI GTX285M will have no competition from a single 5870... if a dual 5870 comes out , then NVDIA might be bye bye...

 

You also have to take into consideration that not many games take full advantage of SLI, and 2x video cards suck more power, battery life, and create more heat.

 

The 5870 mobility is also supposedly cooler and draws less power too than a GTX 285M single, much less dual GPUs..

 

Go for the 5870M!

Atm there are 2 good alternatives; the MSI GX740 and the Asus G73

Both seem like really good lappies (they're close to identical speccwise), however the MSI one only has 2 memoryslots and 1 HDD slots, where as the G73 has 4 memslots and 2 HDD slots.

However, the G73 has neither an expresscard slot or an eSATA port.. So if you want any of that, well the MSI is the way to go.

The cost is ABOUT the same as well, however the ASUS is just released, where as the MSI one ships out in mid-late march

/Eri