to SLI or Not to SLI

[interpim]

OK... im not a must have new game gamer, but usually stick to my one game for a time, and really eye candy isn't that super important to me. I currently play Dark Age of Camelot (mmorpg) and will play Warhammer when it comes out in 2007. Is it worth the cash to buy 2 vid cards to SLI or should I just buy 1 really good card and have the option of adding another card in the future?

[ToXic_WaSTe]

I like to have one really good card, and recommend that. If you dont need all the eye candy then one card should be plenty. The good thing about only getting 1 card, is that you can buy the most expensive card right now and when needed you can add another card and boost the prformance, compared to buying 2 inferior cards right now. By the time you need the new card, it will have dropped in price too:-D

:wink:

I say go with 1 card but with the option of adding another later. 8)

[Scott]

If you have the money getting a 7950 is the best way to get the benifit of SLI in single card. Plus it is cheaper than most SLI card configurations to buy.

[ToXic_WaSTe]

If you have the money getting a 7950 is the best way to get the benifit of SLI in single card. Plus it is cheaper than most SLI card configurations to buy.

second that,

its like all things, you have to have a budget to get the proper recommendations. But with a 7950 GX2 you can go quad sli later, so its the best of my recommendation and scott's. 1 now and another later if it is needed.

Good thinking scott :)

[Bio-Hazard]

second that,

its like all things, you have to have a budget to get the proper recommendations. But with a 7950 GX2 you can go quad sli later, so its the best of my recommendation and scott's. 1 now and another later if it is needed.

Good thinking scott :)

Like he said, budget is the big question here, $600 for a graphics card is way out of the AVERAGE users reach at one time. There are a lot of folks that don't spend that on a complete rig................:mrgreen:

[XJnine]

What's going on with the rest of your system? Are you building something from scratch or do you already have an SLI capable motherboard? Is your CPU capable of powering high end SLI cards or would you be CPU bound with just one card and adding another would just be a waste of money?

I guess full system specs and your budget would be nice.

[Kougar]

Unless you can buy that second card for SLI at a good discount, or you want to play at massive resolutions with high detail + eyecandy settings at all costs, then I have to say I don't really agree with paying twice as much for a GPU solution. With SLI you can get anywhere from 125% to 150% again the performance, sometimes less and sometimes more... but never near that 200% best case scenario that you are paying for.

XJnine has a point though, you need to balance it out with your system. What're those specs, budget, and what cards were you looking at exactly?

[werty316]

I would stick with a highend $300 GPU unless you have a big budget. Getting a mid-highend SLi rig would be bottlenecked by any CPU anyhow and its also good if you have a high resolution capable monitor to take advantage of SLi.

[Bio-Hazard]

If you're planning on playing on a standard 19" LCD with 1280x1024 rez, SLi is pretty much a waste of money. I play on said screen and rez and my 7900GT does everything just fine........;)

[tomato]

Overall, I would say that SLI is for the hardcore gamer with money to burn. The cost-to-performance ratio just doesn't justify the added amount of money you would spend to get "better" performance... Depending on what sort of upgrade you are thinking about, I'd get a mid-to-higher end graphics card. Basically, get a card that will play the games you wish to play at your desired optimum settings ;)

[GIBSON]

I would stick with a highend $300 GPU unless you have a big budget. Getting a mid-highend SLi rig would be bottlenecked by any CPU anyhow and its also good if you have a high resolution capable monitor to take advantage of SLi.
Well, doesn't the cpu bottleneck fall away when you get a somewhat decent mid-end cpu. As far as I know most of today's systems aren't cpu bottlenecked concerning graphics (raw fps).

[Kougar]

Well, doesn't the cpu bottleneck fall away when you get a somewhat decent mid-end cpu. As far as I know most of today's systems aren't cpu bottlenecked concerning graphics (raw fps).

The problem is ya can't really over-generalize saying something like that. For any kind of GPU setup, if you play at 1024x768 then more games are CPU bottlenecked than not. At 1280x1024 it shifts towards a GPU bottleneck, but depending on what GPU config you may have.

Even so some games are extremely CPU dependant, and others are purely GPU dependant, so taht again affects my above statement. For example X3 Reunion is one game that needs a serious CPU at any resolution and at any graphics setup.

[GIBSON]

The problem is ya can't really over-generalize saying something like that. For any kind of GPU setup, if you play at 1024x768 then more games are CPU bottlenecked than not. At 1280x1024 it shifts towards a GPU bottleneck, but depending on what GPU config you may have.

Even so some games are extremely CPU dependant, and others are purely GPU dependant, so taht again affects my above statement. For example X3 Reunion is one game that needs a serious CPU at any resolution and at any graphics setup.
I can see your point, but you must admit there is a clear trend towards GPU bottlenecks, and this will not improve with conroe conquering the world.

[interpim]

Well, the budget as of now is around $1500 and I have to buy everything except for the case.

I was looking at getting the AMD 64x2 5000+ CPU and 2Gig of DDR2. Other than that, everything else is kind of up in the air.

[Scott]

Get a 7950. That will give you a great card running in SLI.

[Bio-Hazard]

Well, the budget as of now is around $1500 and I have to buy everything except for the case.

I was looking at getting the AMD 64x2 5000+ CPU and 2Gig of DDR2. Other than that, everything else is kind of up in the air.

$1500 should build you a pretty nice top of the line rig I would think............:mrgreen:

[tomato]

Yep, you should no problems building a kickass rig with that kind of budget ;)

[Kougar]

I can see your point, but you must admit there is a clear trend towards GPU bottlenecks, and this will not improve with conroe conquering the world.

Yes, there is definitely is a clear predisposition for GPU bottlenecks, and I wasn't trying to say there isn't. Just that people usually overclook the CPU and the extra FPS that can bring to the table, and sometimes in large amounts.

$1500 will definitely get you a complete, new top-end AMD or Intel computer... ;)

[interpim]

well... from some initial checks on newegg, I have come to find that with the options that i want/need, the 7950 is slightly out of my reach :/

[werty316]

Then go for a 7900GT or get a cheaper card for now like a 7600GT/7600GS or a 7300GS and wait for DX10.

[markkleb]

if you need a cheap card to hold you over till Vista/DX-10 get a X800.

I got 2 7600GS and they work fine for me (but 1 was free) If I needed a card and wanted to pay less than $130 I would get a X850.

[interpim]

I was actually thinking of a 7900GT... Im not actually going to buy anything until probably around November or December, so maybe the prices will drop a bit to open my budget up a bit.

[Vaerilis]

I'm planning to upgrade my rig this year and I was considering going SLI for a while. I'm going to get an Allendale CPU and either an i965 or an NF570 board as well as some new memory.
The NF570s support SLI, so I could get two cheap cards (two non-standard [500/1400] 7300GTs) for about 190$, or I could just get a 7600GST (a 7600GT with 60MHz lower core frequency) for 170$. I've decided to get the 7600GST, because SLI is not efficent enough to make up for the money spent on two cards, even though they best the 7600GST in several games and benchmarks.
My second dilemma was this: is it worth getting an SLI board just in case I might want to get a new card in the future to compliment the existing one? I've come to the conclusion that I will probably not buy a second DX9 card to make an SLI system and it would be silly to make plans based on the unknown DX10 cards. The bottom line is: I might get an SLI-capable mainboard, but I'm pretty sure that I will not have an SLI system in the next few years (unless I win a pair of appropriate video cards :) ).

[darkorb]

7600gst? is that a new card or did u make a typo, the only 2 cards that i know are the 7600gt and the 7600gs.

[Vaerilis]

7600gst? is that a new card or did u make a typo, the only 2 cards that i know are the 7600gt and the 7600gs.

It's an actual card: http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/inno3d_7600gst/index.shtml
Pretty much the best buy for me: almost a 7600GT (and a good overclocker, so there isn't much of a difference), but the price tag is significantly lower.

[GIBSON]

I'm planning to upgrade my rig this year and I was considering going SLI for a while. I'm going to get an Allendale CPU and either an i965 or an NF570 board as well as some new memory.
The NF570s support SLI, so I could get two cheap cards (two non-standard [500/1400] 7300GTs) for about 190$, or I could just get a 7600GST (a 7600GT with 60MHz lower core frequency) for 170$. I've decided to get the 7600GST, because SLI is not efficent enough to make up for the money spent on two cards, even though they best the 7600GST in several games and benchmarks.
My second dilemma was this: is it worth getting an SLI board just in case I might want to get a new card in the future to compliment the existing one? I've come to the conclusion that I will probably not buy a second DX9 card to make an SLI system and it would be silly to make plans based on the unknown DX10 cards. The bottom line is: I might get an SLI-capable mainboard, but I'm pretty sure that I will not have an SLI system in the next few years (unless I win a pair of appropriate video cards :) ).
I wouldn't get a sli board if i were you, specially if you're not planning to go sli in the next few years, by that time it would probably be better to get a new board altogether.

[Vaerilis]

I wouldn't get a sli board if i were you, specially if you're not planning to go sli in the next few years, by that time it would probably be better to get a new board altogether.

That's what I was thinking. I may get an NF570, but not because of its SLI capabilities. I wonder if those boards will perform as well as the 965 chipset ones... The 965s are nice, but most of them cost 140-160$ (there are exceptions, like the MSI P965, but they aren't cut out for overclocking).

[tomato]

It's an actual card: http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/inno3d_7600gst/index.shtml
Pretty much the best buy for me: almost a 7600GT (and a good overclocker, so there isn't much of a difference), but the price tag is significantly lower.

Wow, I had never heard of this card either... I've never seen it listed for sale anywhere :? But for the money and where it stands on the list, it seems like a decent buy ;)

[werty316]

The 7600GST is almost as fast as the 7600GT and with some OC'ing the 7600GST makes it faster and cheaper than the 7600GT.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=554&p=9

[markkleb]

My 7600 GS in SLI is a BIG jump over just 1 (almost double)

You say you wont go SLI over the next couple of years but things change, in a couple of mos. mabye ul need the SLI. Better to have it than not if its close in price.

My reasoning for the 7600GS was they would be easier to sell in the future because they were inexpensive to begin with. I could put them in a used system and sell them each. But if I had bought a expensive card it would be a lot harder to sell (all my friends are cheap)

[werty316]

But if I had bought a expensive card it would be a lot harder to sell (all my friends are cheap)
Nothing wrong with ebay ;)

[Kougar]

For clarification, there is a nForce 570 Ultra, and then a slightly more expensive nForce 570 SLI. :)

Ahh, I'd forgotten about the 7600GST! Dailytech caught it when it was announced and did a brief news blurb on it, but that was all I'd seen on that board. I don't see it anywhere though, except in Australia. : P HERE (http://shop.pc.net.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8978)

[DarkstaR]

well... for sure dont go with 2 med or low end cards because there is no big improvement. i wouldnt even do dual 7600's...