[SLI/Crossfire: The cold hard truth] -
SLI/Crossfire: The cold hard truth
Discuss SLI/Crossfire: The cold hard truth
Posted by: gaara
[size=4][b]SLI/Crossfire: What is it really doubling?[/b][/size]
The idea of adding a second PCI-E slot to a motherboard and adding a second card in order to distribute the load of image rendering between two (or now more) cards, a concept that one would be considered a brilliant idea from an uninformed point of view. But is it really all its cracked up to be? Afterall, paying such a premium for an SLI or Crossfire ready motherboard and paying double what you would normally spend on a single card for the second card should provide significantly better performance than spending much less on a single card configuration...or at least one would think
I'm not going to give a conclusion or summary of thoughts when all is said or done, I am simply presenting facts for you to form your own opinions from. I do not believe in bias when trying to educate, therefore I'm not going to give you my answer...although many of you already know my thoughts regarding this topic
In addition, I've included a poll that I encourage you to vote in so we can get some different perspectives and opinions of the community
[b]History of Multi-GPU Technologies[/b]
The earliest design and use of sharing graphics card resources came in the form of the feature connector, an internal connector used on early ISA and PCI, and in rare occurances, early AGP graphics cards. The concept of the feature connector was not to boost gaming performance, but rather to allow an alternative data passage between the GPU and other video in/out devices without clogging up the FSB or hogging CPU resources. Once the faster AGP bus variations were introduced, the feature connector died out
The first idea of using multicard solutions for the purposes of increasing gaming performance was created by 3DFX with their introduction of the Voodoo 2 GPU cards. The Voodoo 2 introduced the concept of SLI (then known as Scan-Line Interleave), which allowed two Voodoo 2 PCBs to be connected via a ribbon cable. Each GPU would be responsible for rendering alternating horizontal lines, which in theory should roughly double rendering performance
Shortly after the release of the Voodoo 2, 3DFX opted to construct a new GPU code-named rampage, which was planned to be several generations ahead of other current GPUs at the time of release. The project was never finished, as 3DFX filed for bankrupcy and was bought out by nvidia in 2000. Ironically, the developers working on the highly anticipated rampage card were shifted to work on nvidias FX or GeForce 5 series of cards, widely considered a flop compared to the Radeon 9*** strand of cards released at the same time
It is generally agreed on that 3DFX was driven out of business because they focused far too much on multi-GPU solutions, all of which became too complex and expensive to become practical options in the consumer market
Having the rights to all of 3DFX's trademarks and technologies, nvidia eventually reintroduced SLI as Scalable Link Interface in 2004, followed by ATI and Crossfire in 2005
Other notable early attempts at early multi-GPU rendering come from both ATI and SGI. At the time, SGI released a very powerful multi-GPU solution in 1993 known as the Onyx series. These systems were incredibly powerful for their time period, however prices for them ran at around $1 million therefore only wealthy businesses were able to use them. In 1999, ATI attempted to use two GPUs on one PCB in order to compete with the nvidia GeForce 256. Known as AFR (Alter Frame Rendering), the concept behind this technology was to render two frames at once and then output them alternatively. Flaws in this technology often caused AFR to jump out of sync creating jumpy framerates and therefore the project was scratched
The last attempt at multi-GPU technlogy came from a company formerly under SiS. In 2003, XGI attempted to build Volari series of cards, borrowing previous ideas from ATI and 3DFX. The concept looked good on paper, but the bandwidth was minimal and created a huge bottleneck in the system, unfortunetely due to the fact that AGI was simply trying to build something too complex. The result ended up as a $500 card that performed no better than the much cheaper 9600XT
As shown from previous attempts, multi-GPU concepts have not worked in the past. Is there any difference between these previous attempts and the current SLI/Crossfire configurations availible today?
[b]Understanding how SLI and Crossfire work[/b]
[u]SLI[/u]
nVidia's spin on SLI borrows concepts and ideas from a variety of previous multi-GPU technologies. Being that nvidia has a small branch consisting of the former 3DFX, it makes since that the new SLI would somewhat mimic the older version run on old Voodoo cards. Specifically, similar to the Voodoo, nVidia has a master and slave card, with the master being responsible for compiling and sending the signal through the VGA connection to your monitor
SLI has three distinct modes of rendering your output display, [b]SFR, AFR, and single GPU rendering[/b] (for games which do not support the former two). SFR (Split Frame Rendering) cuts the screen in half and dedicates half the screen to each GPU, whereas AFR, like the previous ATI AFR, is Alternate Frame Rendering which renders two frames at once and outputs them alternately. Since there are many games which do not support SLI and the use of two GPUs, Nvidia has made it backwards compatible. In order words, if a game does not support SLI, only one of the two GPUs can be used meaning it's not different than simply using one card in the first place. SLI generally renders most games using SFR, as demonstrated below
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/SMR_DLB.jpg[/IMG]
nVidia claims that SFR mode will boost a possible 80-90% performance increase over a single card
Unlike previously using a ribbon cable like the old 3DFX SLI, nvidia has used what is called an SLI bridge in order to link the two cards. Each GPU has a built in MIO unit which is responsible for the connection and sychronization of two cards
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/NV40_die_MIO.jpg[/IMG]
nVidias use of an SLI bridge requires the building of an MIO slot on each of their cards. This looks very similar to a PCI-E 1x slow however it is a bit smaller. It is true that PCI-E bandwidth would have been more than enough to connect the two cards together, however nvidia believes that to get the utmost bandwidth between the two cards the use of a bridge will greatly reduce latency. The bridge slot is also responsible for the Frame Lock Fuction, which prevents frames from falling out of sync during rendering
In order to use SLI you require a few things. First and foremost you require a motherboard with an nforce4-SLI or nforce5 chipset if you are using an Intel system. You also require two of the same cards that are either 6600GT or above. As of recently, you no longer need to have two cards of the same manufacturer however. You are also required to update to the lastest drivers in order to gain SLI support for newer games, otherwise you will be rendering in single GPU mode. You also require a PSU with two 6 pin PCI-E connections
One distinct disadvatage of SLI is the fact that both cards must be the same, running at the same specifications. This creates a problem for the enthusiast/overclocker/modder. For example, say you buy two 6800s and decide to SLI them. It just so happens that one of your 6800 cards is able to unlock and overclock to 6800Ultra speeds, yet your other one is not. What happens? Well, you'll have to flash your 6800 "Ultra" back to a vanilla 6800 and run it at whatever speeds your other 6800 is capable of running at
[u]Crossfire[/u]
Crossfire, like SLI, is just a revamped version of several older ideas with a few new twists thrown into the fray. Crossfire has five distinct ways of rendering the display, [b]Scissors mode, AFR, SuperTiling, Super AA mode, and single GPU rendering.[/b]
Scissors mode is similar to the SFR rendering mode, in which the screen is cut in half and each GPU is dedicated to one half on the screen. AFR, being an ATI idea which was borrowed by nvidia, is the same concept as all other versions of AFR, in which each GPU is responsible for one frame and they are rendered alternatively.
Supertiling is a new idea to multicard rendering and is unique to Crossfire. In Supertiling, the screen is split into a checkerboard pattern with squares of 32x32, in which each GPU is responsible for half of the screen, added up by dedicating each GPU to every other tile, as shown below
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/stiling.gif[/IMG]
ATI has also introduced another unique featureset to the Crossfire design, that being Super AA mode. Unlike other multi-GPU configurations, Super AA mode is not meant to increase performance, but rather rendering quality itself, allowing up to 14x AA in games. Not only that, but when enabled, Super AA also doubles AF output, allowing a maximum of 32x AF display output. Each card takes a variety of pixels, the higher the AA setting, the more pixels each card handles, as shown below
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/superaa.gif[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/superaa2.gif[/IMG]
As with SLI, the single GPU rendering option is made availible in an enviroment where dual GPU Crossfire configurations are not supported
Crossfire is also connected differently than SLI, by use of an external DVI Y-Splitter to hook-up to each of the two video cards, with the cable being equipped with a multi-pin DMS-59 connector which connects to a PCB on the master card. Located on this PCB is the FPGA matrix which dictates which of the five rendering forms is used. In order to translate the incoming data so that the FPGA matrix can read it, ATI added a 165MHz TFP401A chip from Texas Instruments. The problem with this is that frequency is not fast enough to support rendering over 1600x1200 resolution sizes
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/comp_engine.gif[/IMG]
Crossfire requirements vary greatly from that of SLI. You require the use of the Radeon XPRESS 200 Crossfire edition chipset, and you will also need a Crossfire edition "master card". Crossfire, unlike SLI, can mix and match any x800 and higher video card with any other card, however both cards will only operate as fast as the slower operating card. You will also need a PSU with two 6pin PCI-E connections. Drivers are needed to be updated frequently for support in newer games
[b]Multi-card Solutions vs. Single card performance[/b]
In order to provide a fair and accurate comparison, we will be focusing on last generation GeForce 6 and Radeon X/10 cards in these configurations. Futuremark applications and other synthetic benchmarking applications will not be included since we are looking at real world performance of these configurations. Games included will be HL2, DoomIII, and BF2 as they have all been relatively patched and configured fairly well
Benchmark Information:
CrossFire system was tested in the following test system:
* AMD Athlon 64 4000+ CPU (2.4GHz, 1MB L2);
* ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 CrossFire Edition mainboard (ATI RD480 + SB450);
* OCZ PC-3200 Platinum EB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB, CL2.5-3-2-8);
* Maxtor MaXLine III 7B250S0 HDD (Serial ATA-150, NCQ, 16MB buffer);
* Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card;
* Cooler Master Real Power 450 PSU (RS-450-ACLY, 450W nominal power);
* Dell P1130/Dell P1110 monitors (21”, maximum resolution – 1800x1440x75Hz);
* Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2, DirectX 9.0c;
* ATI CATALYST 8.162.1-050811а-026057Е.
For NVIDIA graphics cards we assembled a different test system. Here it is:
* AMD Athlon 64 4000+ CPU (2.4GHz, 1MB L2);
* ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mainboard (NVIDIA nForce4 SLI);
* OCZ PC-3200 Platinum EL DDR SDRAM (2x1GB, CL2-3-2-5);
* Samsung SpinPoint SP1213C HDD (Serial ATA-150, 8MB buffer);
* Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card;
* Cooler Master Real Power 450 PSU (RS-450-ACLY, 450W nominal power);
* Dell P1130/Dell P1110 monitors (21”, maximum resolution – 1800x1440x75Hz);
* Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2, DirectX 9.0c;
* NVIDIA ForceWare 78.01.
ATI CATALYST:
* CATALYST A.I.: Standard
* Mipmap Detail Level: Quality
* Wait for vertical refresh: Always off
* Other settings: default
NVIDIA ForceWare 78.01:
* Image Settings: Quality
* Vertical sync: Off
* Trilinear optimization: On
* Anisotropic mip filter optimization: Off
* Anisotropic sample optimization: On
* Gamma correct antialiasing: On (only for GeForce 7)
* Transparency antialiasing: Off (only for GeForce 7)
* Other settings: default
[u]Battlefield 2[/u]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/bfield_pure.gif[/IMG]
At pure speed, at lower resolutions both SLI and Crossfire solutions actually perform worse than the same card running by itself. Once resolution is increased, multi-card solutions do pull ahead, with 6800Ultras in SLI pulling 33% ahead of a single Ultra at highest resolution, whereas the x850XT Crossfire pulls ahead about 22% over the single card
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/bfield_candy.gif[/IMG]
Adding AF and AA changes that though, with the multi-card options pulling ahead at every resolution. The sweet spot for SLI is 1280x1024 with about 25% performance increase, while Crossfire benefits from the 1600x1200 resolution gaining 34% over a single x850
[u]Half Life 2[/u]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/canals_pure.gif[/IMG]
Pure speed in Half Life 2 shows that multicard solutions are nearly identical to single card performance and don't stray more than 5-10% apart. We can see SLI gains somewhat of an advatage at the 1600x1200 resolution size, but that being said, the single card yet again outperforms SLI at the smaller resolution in pure speed as it did in BF2
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/canals_candy.gif[/IMG]
With AA and AF added, we start to see multi-card solutions take a siginificant advantage again, especially at higher resolutions. The single x850 outperforms the two in Crossfire at 1024x768 however. Peak differences in SLI are 33% and 21% in Crossfire
[i]Cont.[/i]
Posted by: gaara
[u]Doom 3[/u]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/hellhole_pure.gif[/IMG]
In Doom 3, we can see that multicard solutions perform faster than single cards in every enviroment. In Crossfire at 1600x1200, we gain a 53% advantage over the single x850, and SLI gains 34% over the single 6800Ultra
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/hellhole_candy.gif[/IMG]
The results are similar to purespeed with AA and AF enabled, with SLI/Crossfire performing faster than single cards in all enviroments. Crossfire edges out the single card 49% at smallest resolution and the 6800Ultras in SLI beat out the single Ultra by 31% at the same resolution
[u]Overall Performance +/-[/u]
Here's a look at 21 fairly popular games and how each multi-card solutions performs in them in comparison to the single card
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/samsonality/performance.jpg[/IMG]
[url=http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-crossfire_14.html]Source[/url]
[b]Other Factors to Consider[/b]
Remember that you will need to buy a PSU with two 6 pin PCI-E conenctions in order to use multicard solutions, which will generally cost more than "regular" power supplies. In addition, your system will consume more power and since you are running two GPUs, you will be producing more heat that's getting dumped into your system
You may also find yourself losing periphiral slots and possibly room to expand and add things like sound and network cards since two video cards will most likely overlap some of your PCI/PCI-E slots. You will also find yourself paying about $30-40 more for an SLI/Crossfire edition chipset
Also remember that you can always buy an SLI/Crossfire board and one card now, and then later down the road add a second card. This technology isn't really old enough to tell if this is a considerable good or bad idea yet
I hope that this has given you a fair amount of information regarding SLI and Crossfire technologies, and I hope that this will give you something to think about when you are deciding on what will power your graphics in your next PC
[i]If there is any details you would like to see included here that I have not listed, please let me know and I will do my best to include them[/i]
Posted by: 003
Why does the crossfire system have only 1gb of ram with loose timings and the nvidia system have 2gb of ram with tighter timings? j/k. good. sli and crossfire are a waste of money.
Posted by: gaara
[quote] Why does the crossfire system have only 1gb of ram with loose timings and the nvidia system have 2gb of ram with tighter timings?[/quote]Interesting, I didn't notice that until you pointed it out. I daresay it won't make much a difference except maybe in BF2 but even then it wouldn't be very much...I pretty much choose xbitlabs for source since they are fairly good about what they do, I don't know why they would make such a large variable though =/
Posted by: Flanker
Bookmarked.
Sticky :)
Posted by: RockyZ
I really like the Benchmarks you posted, leaning towards a 7800GT, might purchase a eVGA from New Egg and unlock the extra pipelines.
Posted by: Tyler1989
We the people want a sticky for this great thread.
Posted by: Flanker
That makes 2. Bring the Sticky votes on people!
Posted by: P.P. Mguire
I have to make one comment besides the fact i hate the SLI and Crossfire thing. The Voodoo5 5500 (I have it) is a deffinate increase in performance w/ its dual VSA 100 chips over any other card for its time. It outperformed my Voodoo4 by a huge amount and at the time i had it downclocked and running 2x AGP. Also, for correct benchmarks they should use the same hardware for each system. (Excluding the motherboards which should both be put out by DFI)
EDIT: make that 4.
Posted by: GuitarFreak1857
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Flanker [/i]
[B]That makes 2. Bring the Sticky votes on people! [/B][/QUOTE]
make that 3
Posted by: kahlos
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by GuitarFreak1857 [/i]
[B]make that 3 [/B][/QUOTE]
Make that 4. Very good info:D I totally agree with eveything except the Nivida system having more RAM. And that you didn't get a X1800XT to compare to the 7800GTX.
Posted by: MrZucchiniHead
wow you really put alot of work into this thread
Posted by: PZEROFGH
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by kahlos [/i]
[B]Make that 4. Very good info:D I totally agree with eveything except the Nivida system having more RAM. And that you didn't get a X1800XT to compare to the 7800GTX. [/B][/QUOTE]
make that 5 so people know what they are wasting their money on :)
Posted by: Powerslave
make that 6.
Posted by: gaara
[quote]And that you didn't get a X1800XT to compare to the 7800GTX.[/quote]I didn't write this to compare or to suggest whether crossfire or SLI is better, as that would turn into another silly company rivalry topic that accomplishes nothing. I wrote this to compare Crossfire and SLI performance to that of simply running a single card
I didn't compare the 7800GTX to the x1800XT for a number of reasons. I first don't believe that ATI has manufactured master cards for their newest generation of cards therefore crossfire using x1*** cards is impossible at this point. Furthermore, I wanted to use last generation cards because they have had plenty of time to be optimized with many driver patches, and also the fact that ATI has still yet to release the r580 core. Comparing current generation cards is not fair IMO as we are still in the current generation and both companies probably still have much to offer
[quote]Also, for correct benchmarks they should use the same hardware for each system. (Excluding the motherboards which should both be put out by DFI)[/quote]Like I say I'm not comparing the two companies so the variable of having different RAM amounts shouldn't be a big issue, however I will look for a better comparison from a reputable site. The chances of finding a review done on a DFI board is slim to none, Asus boards are almost always used in every review unless the review itself is specifically about a different motherboard. The motherboard shouldn't make a difference though
Posted by: kahlos
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by PZEROFGH [/i]
[B]make that 5 so people know what they are wasting their money on :) [/B][/QUOTE]
Lol PZEROFGH :D
As far as I know the X1xxx series don't need mastercards they just work with each other. I think they have the components that a crossfire mastercard has on it as the norm. I see what you mean with the comparing thing so i take back what a previously said. Sorry :o
Posted by: PZEROFGH
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by kahlos [/i]
[B]Lol PZEROFGH :D
As far as I know the X1xxx series don't need mastercards they just work with each other. I think they have the components that a crossfire mastercard has on it as the norm. I see what you mean with the comparing thing so i take back what a previously said. Sorry :o [/B][/QUOTE]
:D :amazed: :shocked: :confused: what? ?!?!
Posted by: kahlos
You said that SLI and crossfire were a waste of money. Oh what a joker. Lol:p
Posted by: PZEROFGH
...:mad: :D :( :wtf: :laughing: :p :angry: :rolleyes: :amazed: :classic:
Posted by: Powerslave
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by kahlos [/i]
[B]You said that SLI and crossfire were a waste of money. Oh what a joker. Lol:p [/B][/QUOTE]
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
cough bad pun cough
Posted by: boomstick666
well btw......looks like ppl wont go for SLI and crossfire r cuz of financial issue. (of course)
so which means its their marketing issue, too.
so mb in the future (i wish), for the second card buyer intending to use it for SLI and crossfire purpose, they can give us some kind of discount, like 1/2off or even 25% off...
then the story would be different....
but as long as they r makin plenty of dough...its not gonna happen..
but hey, we can always work extra hours for an extra card!! <---(thats the american way!..?)
.
.
nvm...
Posted by: PZEROFGH
thats why people consider 2 6600GT's but actually one 6800GT does better.
Posted by: boomstick666
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by PZEROFGH [/i]
[B]thats why people consider 2 6600GT's but actually one 6800GT does better. [/B][/QUOTE]
ya so then ppl wants 2x 6800GT.
but only 50% performance increase, so y not we only pay 50% of it too..
well..i wish...
but hey, its xmas soon!
.
.
nvm
Posted by: MrZucchiniHead
yeah if your only gonna get 50% more performance you should only pay 50% of the cost. It should be that if you order 2 cards for sli or crossfire the second one should be 1/2 price. and yeah SLI and crossfire are kind of a waste of money now but when games really need 2 cards running it and it gives you double performance it will be worth it
Posted by: PZEROFGH
they should just use one 6800GT then a 6800GT SLI card which is only 150 dollars half the price of a 300 dollar 6800GT :D
Posted by: Nubius
lets just bomb an nvidia and ATI manufacturering building and tell them we will blow up one building every two weeks until they fully discontinue SLI, discontinue research for SLI and give us a **** powerful single card solution for a reasonable price instead of me having to sell my soul and first born child just to be able enjoy good graphics.
Posted by: gaara
Eh...I don't think this idea of using two cards will ever become an industry standard like some people are making it out to be...the whole rumour of UT2007 needing SLIed 7800GTXs is utter BS and this simply proves it, as I've been saying all along SLI only offers 30-40% average increase over a single card which is not a significant enough difference to create a cutoff point between a game needing SLI to run or not
I mean, you're paying more than double to use this technology if you factor in both a second card and the SLI chipset, and in some cases the single card actually works better...it just baffles me that people STILL buy into this crap
Posted by: HAVOC
What about this though.
You're dying to buy the new 7800GTX 512MB when it comes out which is $750 but you only have $650 USD. So you settle for (2) 7800GT's @ $319 each. With Shipping and handling you meet your $650 wallet. Run the two cards in SLI, now your (2) 7800GT's out perform a single 7800GTX 512MB less $100? And it's only like $100 more then running a single 7800GTX or X1800XT, and will out perform both single cards.
? Still no good ?
So what's wrong with that?
On a side note:
Awhile ago I was talking about GPU sockets on a motherboard and someone told me it will never get done. I won't mention who that someone was. I was talking about a stand alone graphics unit with it's own motherboard with GPU sockets, it's own ram, power supply cooling and a PPU. It looks very, very possible now... because
GPU sockets are coming....
[url]http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27083[/url]
[url]http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2574[/url]
Posted by: boomstick666
what about buy1 get 1 free?
.
.
.
nvm..
Posted by: Static_11
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by HAVOC2k5 [/i]
[B]What about this though.
You're dying to buy the new 7800GTX 512MB when it comes out which is $750 but you only have $650 USD. So you settle for (2) 7800GT's @ $319 each. With Shipping and handling you meet your $650 wallet. Run the two cards in SLI, now your (2) 7800GT's out perform a single 7800GTX 512MB less $100? And it's only like $100 more then running a single 7800GTX or X1800XT, and will out perform both single cards.
[/B][/QUOTE]
... no the 7800GTX 512 would walk all over 2 GT's
Posted by: GuitarFreak1857
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by boomstick666 [/i]
[B]well btw......looks like ppl wont go for SLI and crossfire r cuz of financial issue. (of course)
so which means its their marketing issue, too.
so mb in the future (i wish), for the second card buyer intending to use it for SLI and crossfire purpose, they can give us some kind of discount, like 1/2off or even 25% off...
then the story would be different....
[/B][/QUOTE]
that wouldnt work because i would buy two and get the one half off and sell it for full price on ebay MUAHAHAHAHA
Posted by: boomstick666
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by GuitarFreak1857 [/i]
[B]that wouldnt work because i would buy two and get the one half off and sell it for full price on ebay MUAHAHAHAHA [/B][/QUOTE]
well...mb they can make the 2nd card specifically made and used for SLI and crosfire only...
like theres no DVI-out whatsoever or something...
then u have to use it as SLI....and u can sell it but u only get what u paied for..which is half the price...
but u know what, why they make an another type of card just to lose money...
not gonna happen....
but hey, u can always wait 5 years to get good 1 cheap!
.
.
nvm...
Posted by: Flanker
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Static_11 [/i]
[B]... no the 7800GTX 512 would walk all over 2 GT's [/B][/QUOTE]
Um...no it wouldn't? :rolleyes:
Posted by: GuitarFreak1857
yeah i agree with flanker,
512MB 7800GTX: (2) 7800GT
512MB RAM 512MB RAM
24 Pipelines 40 Pipelines?
Posted by: P.P. Mguire
Ill take one GT thank you, screw SLI.
Posted by: Tyler1989
Can we get visuals that include the 7800 GTX 512 meg and the 78000 GTX 512 meg SLI?
Posted by: maroon1
[img]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b385/The_Equalizer/7800GTX-512MB-bg-01.jpg[/img]
[url]http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/285/7/[/url]
[url]http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/285/10/[/url]
[url]http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/285/11/[/url]
Posted by: Tyler1989
I was talking about performance charts....
Posted by: Flayum
I plan on buying a Gateway 21" FPD2185W (1680 x 1050 resolution) for my PC. Would SLI be applicable here or still a waste of money?
Posted by: DoomUK
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Tyler1989 [/i]
[B]Can we get visuals that include the 7800 GTX 512 meg and the 78000 GTX 512 meg SLI? [/B][/QUOTE]
Quickest one I could find:-
[img]http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7800_gtx_512mb/images/slifear1024.gif[/img]
[img]http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7800_gtx_512mb/images/sliq41024.gif[/img]
[url]http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7800_gtx_512mb/page17.asp[/url]
------------------------------
To add a general comment to this thread (and in a seemingly contradictory manner to the general opinion here):-
It's worth bearing in mind that a multi-GPU configuration such as SLI and Crossfire [b]will[/b] be CPU-bound to a various extent, in particular when running alongside the aging single-core CPU architecture. Remember that.
Posted by: Sh0r_ty
nice thread gaara
btw i would just NOT get anything that performs as well as a 512mb 7800GTX cos i can play everything on my 6600GT and im happy. Sure a 7800GT would be nice but what is the differance in grfx between a 7800GT amd 512mb 7800GTX? cos i would rather save the money and get a next gen card when they come out :D
Posted by: Tyler1989
Hey gaara I know you said "I'll let you decide" but most people here know your position and Dell calls you a lier... I think these charts are alittle biased myself I'll let you decide that.
[url]http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/dimen/topics/en/dimen_xps600_sp_overview?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs[/url]
[IMG]http://img.dell.com/images/global/products/dimen/dimen_xps600_sp_dualchart.jpg[/IMG]
Posted by: Graham
This thread freakin' rocks!
Posted by: dubbs
Yea this thread is really informative..
I was going to buy another vid card at a later date, but now i dont know if I will. If i notice some drop in fps with new games then maybe i will. For now mine gets the job done, I dont know about these benchmarks my 7800GT gets somewhere in btw 150-220 fps at 1280x1024x32 in Half Life 2 with AA at 4, AF at 16, and image settings at High Quality.
Posted by: sgtmetal
great post you have done ur homework
Posted by: RockyZ
Half Life 2 isn't very demanding, I am able to play it with all the settings at the highest, and the resolution as high as my monitor can support (1280x1024), and still play it without any problems. Did I mention that my current card is a 6600GT(eVga version runs around 120 dollars) that is slightly overclocked. It doesn't take the most expensive cards to play HL2.
Posted by: cdkiller
ok i like the review i think it should stay. also crossfire sounds alot better than sli, and i mean that literally. u walk around teling people u got crossfire and they think whoa he has twice the fire power, but u walk around telling people u got sli and they think huh???sli???what gives???
ok i think that initially the X1800XT was overkill for the 7800 but then nvidia put in 512MB of memory on the GTX version to compensate and now the GTX version is a tad bit faster than the XT. however as usual, nvidia is better in terms of bang for the buck. a good investment is a 6800 and unlock the extra pipes.
Posted by: wolfeyes89
well corssfire is a waste of money of course if u get a 7800gtx it will still perform fantastic with all the settings turned up if ur rich and an ati fanboy get it if not then meh. Wow i havent heard that term in a while(ati fanboy).
Posted by: sarge52
Always wondered, is crossfire the same technology as SLI or are they 2 completely different creatures?
Posted by: The_Tobes99
just looking at the post with the charts from Dell, wtf?? a 7800 beaten by an x850 PE is that MEANT to happen or a marketing ploy from dell?
Posted by: Lynch Hung
This was really helpful. Nvidias Sli website almost had me fooled.
Posted by: Apokalipse
I think the 256MB 7800 GTX performs roughly the same as the X1800
but the 256MB 7800 GTX wasn't the best Nvidia could have done. they put it out deliberatelky for ATI to compete with, so they would pull out the better card (the 512MB 7800 GTX) rigfht after ATI's release
Posted by: The_Tobes99
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by apokalipse [/i]
[B]I think the 256MB 7800 GTX performs roughly the same as the X1800
but the 256MB 7800 GTX wasn't the best Nvidia could have done. they put it out deliberatelky for ATI to compete with, so they would pull out the better card (the 512MB 7800 GTX) rigfht after ATI's release [/B][/QUOTE]
man nVidia are geniuses, they have the experience from when they wiped out 3dfx
Posted by: dhw200
IMO SLI was just a stunt to hold the attention of the public until Nvidia could get their 7800 cards out the door. The bad part is it suceeded brilliantly, not with performance, but with sales. A lot of people got hooked with the whole "2 is better than 1" thing. I used to think this was just a fad. Sadly, i now believe that SLI and Crossfire are here to stay
Posted by: Unknown Envy
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by apokalipse [/i]
[B]I think the 256MB 7800 GTX performs roughly the same as the X1800
but the 256MB 7800 GTX wasn't the best Nvidia could have done. they put it out deliberatelky for ATI to compete with, so they would pull out the better card (the 512MB 7800 GTX) rigfht after ATI's release [/B][/QUOTE]
Agreed 100 %, Nvidia caught ati, Hook Line and Sinker..
Posted by: karpfish24
so u dont think itd be really worth it to sli?
i sorta wanna do it but dont want to spend for not big increase
Posted by: defzeppelin
My Computer is 6 years old and I am in the process of picking out parts for a new one. Wouldn't SLI or Crossfire be good for someone that doesn't plan on buying a new Computer again for a while? Wouldn't this dual-chip design help in keeping a computer up to date for a long while better than if it wasn't?
Posted by: Unknown Envy
Thats what I want to know..
Posted by: kahlos
Yeah i need the same info. I read many things about crossfire and SLI and there seems to be an equal amount saying good/bad. The things I seemed to have picked up are that crossfire/SLI makes the cards work at 95% of there potential due to the cards working together and that the PCI-E is limited to 8x. I think that crossfire/SLI will be good to get a motherboard that supports it now and see what happens to it in the future and get a second card to add more power to your system when you need it. I think the more powerful cards you get the limitations due to the PCI-E 8x are more doment soooooo if you get 2 cheapy cards it should be worth it quite a bit but if you get summin like 2 7800GTs then the cards would be limited quite a bit. So up to a certain point its worth it.
Hope I could help :D
Posted by: Unknown Envy
hmm im lost.......
Posted by: kahlos
Pretty much get
Crossfire/SLI
1. If you are going to get 2 cheapish cards like X800GTO's Or 6600GTs.
2. But not for an ultimatly powerful system like 2 7800GTX's
3. If your not sure and wanna upgrade to more powerful graphics in the future
Thats pretty much it
Posted by: BennyV04988
How about getting 1 7800GT for now...then buy another in say...a year for half the price? think SLI will be more "perfected" by then w/ drivers? If it did then I'd do that exactly. 1 for now...2 later. Installment plan. I fear i'd hold off a second card and just buy a newer different one all the while thinking..."two GTX's are better than two GTs..but two G80s are "even more better" lol than two GTXs! haha uggg
Posted by: Kazama
You could get Quad-SLi which is 4 cards ..... It's jsut crazy and with SLi your paying so much just to get about 1 - 10 fps more .... its crazy!
Posted by: nitestick
any chance of getting some benchmarks of the Asus dual 7800 card?
edit: only because i think it would be a relevant comparison to add in performance of a dual gpu card vs. dual cards
Posted by: cvb724
ya that new dell with the sturdy plastic case has quad cards. no point. one card all the way!
Posted by: alexsabree
I cant buy crossfire..... ITS 2 expensive, im not going 2 pay double 4 something 2 increase by 30% performance... thanks a lot 4 letting me know before i get ripped off.
well i guess it would b a good investment if u were real rich
(like Donald Trump) :rolleyes: :eek: :confused:
Posted by: kdiddy
I was in the same boat as alot of the posters here, about the SLI/Crossfire issue. I am in the process of building my own gaming rig, and I have been doing alot of research. I've pretty much planned my whole build around one of these two technologies. After reading this thread it makes me want to take a few steps back and rethink my whole design. I have a set budget, which isnt really low, but if there aren't any real advantages to running dual cards, then the money can be sent else where, better processor, sound card, monitor, etc.... Thanks for the post, it has brought me back to the real world, at least when it comes to video cards....
Posted by: Trifid
Well done Kdiddy!! Probally the first new person here tor ead a sticky! (I am being serious.)
SLI is great if you have maxed out everything else, where they can gain more performance, but it is not worth it for the average person who has to work to get money.
Posted by: cvb724
especially since the 7800gt's and gtx's support dual screens already. one less reason to go for sli and cf.
Posted by: FghtinIrshNvrDi
One reason not to SLI the 7800 series is because they won't be making it anymore. It'll begin to become a rare commodity, and probably go up in price for a small while.
Ryan
Posted by: Kazama
SLi setup's don't gain much of a boost on FPS, but you cant put the AA & AF on crazy settings like 32 AA 12 AF .... lol :eek:
Posted by: zmatt
you failed to take account of the next gen ati and nvidia cards, the X1600 is a flop the X1800 is a solid performer and the X1900 runs circles around the 7800GTX
this article from extreme tech has updated benchmarking on both ATI"s and Nvidia"s cards
[url]http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1916966,00.asp[/url]
Posted by: alexsabree
I dont think that buying the same card twice is worth getting better graphics, there fine the way they are... the old fashoned way
And this may sound confusing but.... it seems that when they compare sli and one card. they put both on max settings. Maybe they can show the preformance increase with them on the same aa + af
You know how people like to critisize something they cant buy like the
For example:
XBOX 360
Posted by: bum
I can see you have some decent data to back up your arguement and everything, but my question lies more with chipsets. You're saying SLI and Crossfire aren't so hot with (i believe) nforce4 SLI chips and their ATI counterparts. What about nForce4 Sli x16 chips or motherboards with north and south bridge chipsets?
They probably aren't worth the money still but my question is do they work better? Also what about non Sli chipsets? Should I get nForce4 or nForce Ultra? is there enough of a difference to make it worth the money.
I already bought an 6800Xt card but I'm regreting it. If I had it to do again I would just get a budget card like one of those low profile series 7 cards.
Just know that I'm not attacking your arguement. I'm simply buying a computer soon and want to make a good decision
Posted by: cvb724
there is difference for sure. the tough problem is exactly what u asked. is it worth it? i would say yes IF u are deciding to get SLi for sure. still not worth it at all in my mind but many stand by it. there isnt much difference in price so i would say go for it :)
Posted by: bum
better question: what exactly does the Motherboard chipset do? I'm sure it regulates some of the SLI stuff, but having a solid understanding of that will allow me to make a good choice on which one.
and could someone post up what chipsets are good at what?
Posted by: cvb724
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131568[/url]
this is an amazing mobo for gaming today for nVidia SLi
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131004[/url]
and for ATI CF this is awesome.
go with either ASUS, MSI, DFI or Gigabyte. those r ur best bet. DFI and ASUS being the best of all. or for intel if u plan on getting the insane conroe soon, then go with ASUS or intel's own
this is an awesome board too:
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136165[/url]
anything else just ask
Posted by: bum
I'll make a new thread because this is really a different topic and I'm nice :D
Posted by: P-Zero
Hello everybody, new to the forums....and a fairly new computer enthusiast. Saw the SLi topic and had to chime in. First off, props to the autor, looks like you put in a lot of time researching this, awesome post.
And now to the matter at hand, is SLi/crossfire worth it? To me, yes it is worth it if you buy the right parts. When I was reading the specs on the mobo (a8npremium), I was kinda wondering why you would want an 16x sli board?? Isnt the whole point of running SLi to take FULL advantage of each cards 16x? So once again I wonder why they used such an inferior SLi getup.
Anyway, in my opinion the whole point of sli (other than placing high numbers on 3dmark), is being able to run any game at the absolute highest quality, without breaking the bank on a sweet video card. I recently put together an SLi rig -asus a8n32SLiDeluxe, opty165,2gb hyperx,2xevga6800's,X-Fi. With this getup I literally run ANY game at its max resolution, on the highest quality. My rational for getting SLi rather than "saving" money on a cheaper mobo and getting a better video card, first off my 2 6800's cost me a total of $199 (after mail in rebate), my mobo cost me 190 after shipping, total cost around $400. I dont think I could get a GOOD video card for what it cost me to get both of the video cards and the motherboard. And as for performance, what the graphs didnt show was what the absolute lowest FPS rate was and what was peak, and how much of the time did it spend below a "playable" framerate. So when youre reading that you think 'a single 6800 doesnt perform THAT much worse then it does in SLi' well I got news for you it does it performs A LOT worse, the lowest frame rate for a single card was WELL below half of what it did in SLi. Basically, that means the difference between a playable frame rate and a non playable frame rate. And all the games that were tested, in my opinion, wouldnt even really tax a higher end system. It was kinda funny actually when I was lookin at the numbers, especially for HL2 I actually chuckled, I get higher frame rates with my 6800's. My average frame rate is 121 (when you run the video stress test) on max settings. In css I rarely fall below 100 fps, and thats usually only on maps that are poorly made.
What they really NEED to test SLi and a single GPu is on a game like Oblivion, so far thats the only game that I have that actually taxes my system. I'd really like to see the results for that. I bet on a game like that is where you would notice the biggest difference between SLI and a single card GPU.
At any rate, SLi rocks, its worth the money (to me), not to mention when then DX10 cards come out Im going to buy 2 and be set for a number of years (I hope). DX10 is the only reason I didnt get 7800GTX's.
-P.
Posted by: bum
yes! finally a good answer.
is SLI worth it? not unless you go all the way. I take it you have an SLI x16 chip? Someone should edit this thread to give the message that cheap SLI is a total waste, but if you get a good SLI motherboard and stuff it can help with some games like oblivion. oh and for the record, not sure when this study was taken, but it was probly when HL2 and BF2 were the top games not oblivion, so thats why.
Posted by: Brtnboarder495
You mean he has an SLI x16 chipset on his motherboard.
SLI is only when you want to play games on really large resolutions (>1280x1024), with all settings on high, including AA and AF.
At least that's only when it's really worth it and it shines.
Posted by: P-Zero
NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 chipset. Heres the link for this mobo, [url]http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=744&modelmenu=1[/url]
I picked this board up for REALLY cheap, $170 for the board and $20 shipping, it normally goes for $230 or $240+ shipping.
-P.
Posted by: duayne.com
great thread... :)
Posted by: dave39
Going with crossfire is a cool idea if you have money to blow. But for most of us, that is not the case. Just stick to one higher end video card and you will be safe. No point in buying 2 of them and then having them be replaced by the next "BIG THING" in a few weeks.
Posted by: sailpog
errrk.... im CONfused....LOL
Posted by: Brtnboarder495
Going with CF or SLI is NOT cool to buy even if you have the money. WHY blow money on something that will perform identically to hardware that is HALF as much? A 7900GT/X1900GT will play any game on maxed settings on 1280x1024 or lower. If your looking at higher resolutions, consider the 7900GTX/X1900XT(X), SLI and CF is only needed on extremely high resolutions, such as 1600x1200 for example.
Posted by: R1C0CH3T
so i guess if i do get sli, it doesnt really matter because im stuck w/ my 1280x1100 res monitor......
Posted by: guitarman12
just wanted to say my dads sli rig ( amd x2 4200 , 2 7900 gt's SLI, 2 gigs ram ) shows big performance increases every game we have ( FEAR , bf2, Oblivion, source,bfme2, doom 3, quake 4....) not to mention it unlocks the 16x AA
and allows transparency AA and other cool bits at very playable rates.
and we are set for a while in terms of new games on maxed settings... until dx10 cards/games are released
not a waste
Posted by: jseber1982
i had 2x7900gtx's and sold them, bought 2 1900xts in crossfire... dont ask why cause i dont feel like talkin about it. I went from a 8800 in 3dmark06 to a 9600 approx. they also overclock way more. Doing voltage changes was also way easier.
Im not a fanboy for either side. Just putting my 2 cents in
oh boy i did it now, i started a flame by saying that my atis are faster than my nvidias lol
Posted by: jseber1982
oblivion plays way way better on the radeons than on the 7900's. on oblivion,, i have AA turned way up and it plays better than the 7900s did with no AA
Posted by: Demortix
i recently spent around 600$ total on my system to get it into a decent gaming computer. although in a year or so im thinking of totaly restarting with around 2000$. to get to the point. i have a Nvidia Geforce 7600 GT. would it be worth my time to just get a better card or use SLI? seems to me just get a better card, especaly considering alot can happen in a year.
Posted by: dave39
I just wanted to say that you can only expect so much from technology during certain time periods. I use a single X1900XT video card and that is more than enough to run any game out right now on high settings with no lag. Two of these or 2 nvidias is not necessary.. and buying a cheap video card in hopes of SLI or CROSSFIRE later is just a foolish idea. The cards get outdated and replaced constantly by bigger and better ones. You want some good advice.... buy one good video card and use it for years. Then when new game technology comes out you can advance to a new card once again... but again, buy something decent. Having 2 crossfired X1600's or 2 SLI'ed 6200's is not going to make you happy.. I promise. Just take the money that you would use to buy 2 junkers and put it all to one good card that you will have fun with. The SLI and Crossfire features are great for people who have nothing better to spend there money on and play on 24 inch monitors with settings cranked on everything. But for the average Joe with a computer that cost them less than $2000 inluding their 17, 19, or 20 inch monitor.. you will not be needing SLI or Crossfire.. just be sure to invest in a good video card right off the bat.
And as a side note... this is to all you guys with 2 $600 video cards in your systems:
"I STILL OWN YOU AND I KNOW YOU HATE IT" hahaha
~Peace~
Posted by: spartan1121
so does that mean an ATI card that is x800 but not crossfire can use crossfire if the other GPU is crossfire enabled? Im buying all that i can afford in a GPU right now, and if i wanna upgrade later it would be nice the have the option to use crossfire.
Posted by: slowpc
I'm curious if using a dual core processor would have made a difference in the sli performance. Obviously 2 graphics cards are more taxing than one but wouldn't it be twice as much? My point is if you have two lower end cards (less money) compared to one high end (more money) are we comparing what happens to the cpu? Does two low end sli video cards need more cpu processing power than one high end video card? If so, if you have more processing power does the performance of sli increase? In other words is sli's performance limited in anyway by the cpu?
Posted by: Amd gt player
i never thought of it that way all i know is that fear maxed online i get about 150 fps with my 7900gt oced and ofline i get about 90
Posted by: alecjahn
This sticky makes me sticky.
Posted by: Cothor
I am currently running 2 7900 GTX's in SLI and I can say firmly that it is not a waste of money. One thing to keep in mind is resolution and how big your monitor is as well. If you want to use a 24" monitor at high resolutions and have excellent performance on the newest games than SLI or the 7950 is manditory. Other factors to consider are-
Some games utilize certain hardware in different games. Some are CPU intensive while others are ram or video gpu speed. Some are all of the above. It never hurts to have the best all the way around but there are certainly differenceses.
Posted by: homer141
so what do you lot reckon on the 7950GX2 running 2 GPU's on one card :D
how about putting it in 'QUAD SLI' tht must be a beauty ??
Posted by: BennyV04988
woah...this thread is still going lol....I'd say the tables have turned a bit now with more graphic intense games and higher resolution. SLI went from "silly" to almost a must for some settings. CPU limitation....Here we come!
Posted by: hbbk131
I would like to say first that was one heck of an opener and a very well organized and put together post. Props to you sir.
Now I show my ignorance . I was under the impression that SLI and Xfire were more intended for multiple monitor setups, which would help distribute the work load in a better way...am I wrong?
-HBBK131
Posted by: TriEclipse
100th post. Nice.
Posted by: lancec2c30
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by hbbk131 [/i]
[B]I would like to say first that was one heck of an opener and a very well organized and put together post. Props to you sir.
Now I show my ignorance . I was under the impression that SLI and Xfire were more intended for multiple monitor setups, which would help distribute the work load in a better way...am I wrong?
-HBBK131 [/B][/QUOTE]
Well no it doens't really do much for multiple monitors. It does even the work load though. But you arent going to see a 100% increase in performance.
Posted by: hbbk131
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by lancec2c30 [/i]
[B]Well no it doens't really do much for multiple monitors. It does even the work load though. But you arent going to see a 100% increase in performance. [/B][/QUOTE]
Ah, thank you for clearing that up.
-HBBK131 :D
Posted by: mizner07
you have put alot of work into this thread it is greatly appricated.
Posted by: AMD6415
ok so i am thinkin about upgrading my computer here real soon and I was thinking about gettin crossfire and having 2 x1900GTs would it be worth it to make the upgrade? I am been reading on here and at 1st everyone was against SLI/xfire now it sounds like it isnt such a bad think. I am also planing on a new monitor a 20 in with 1600x12sumthin i think it was, so with xfire i would see a bigger increase if I had Xfire rather than just one card? I took it that on lower resolutions it dosn't really make a diff but on high res is where i really shines?
Posted by: vernong1992
This is a topic that truly earned a sticky! SLi and Crossfire sucks unless you have 2 monitors for each video card. I mean who would pay an extra like $200 for another video card for less performance?
Posted by: vernong1992
ok so i decided not to SLi the video card i'm planning to get, but my question should i volt mod it? and how do i do it?
Posted by: nitestick
not by hi-jacking a thread my good friend. post your own thread about it in the overclocking section. and you may want to mention the video card.
Posted by: Lord AnthraX
I might be going 7950GT 512MB SLI.
We'll see.
Posted by: gaara
This document will be revised within the next several days to reflect several changes with the technologies over the past year. These revisions are as follows:
Re-evaluation of new game engines, including:
-Source Engine - Half Life 2: Episode 1
-Jupiter Extended Engine - F.E.A.R
-Modified Gamebryo Engine - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Future additions as they become availible:
-Source Engine Version 2 - Half life 2: Episode 3(?)
-CryEngine2 - Crysis
-Unreal v3.0 - Unreal Tournament 2007
Considerations of updated tech design:
-Comparison of x1900XTX/7900GTX
-Update to reflect current hardware, specifically chipset revision
-Software/Driver Updates
-Consideration of newly emerging tech including dual PCB design, dual GPU design, and "quad" SLI and beyond
-Comparison of r600/G80 when availible
-Updated power consumption requirements
Price vs. Performance Comparison:
-Entry Level GPUs
-Middle Ground GPUs
-Industry Leading GPUs
Summary of revisions make to SLI/Crossfire tech over time
FAQ including several unanswered questions within this topic
Introduction to, and later, explanation of, emerging gaming technologies including:
-New Rendering Paths (IE DX10, Shader Model 4)
-Simultaneous Multithreaded Processes
-64 Bit Applications(?)
-Dedicated Physics Processing Applications
Explanation of current rendering technologies:
-Monitor Resolution
-DirectX 9.0c + OpenGL 2.0
-AA + AF
-HDR
Please inform me of any other revisions you need over THIS revision, and I will try to include them. The older document will be archived and replaced by any revisions
Posted by: Lord AnthraX
Something about Power Consumption would be cool Gaara.
Looking forward to the next revision.
Posted by: Mister_Meow
any word on these updates? A lot changes in a year... :)
Posted by: vaderpro
Another thing to consider, if it hasn't been mentioned already. If you plan on adding a second card to your existing card at a later date, your card may no longer be available if you wait too long. Therefore, that option is kapoot. (currently 6800gs are no longer made)
Posted by: alecjahn
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by vaderpro [/i]
[B]Another thing to consider, (if it hasn't been mentioned already) is your single card may get outdated by the time you are ready to upgrade, therefore that option is kapoot. (currently 6800gs are no longer made) [/B][/QUOTE]
I'm not sure if I understand correctly, but are you talking about upgrading your configuration by adding another duplicate card, but it might be too late to add another card because they stopped making your first one? This would be a problem with casual, slow upgraders like myself.
Posted by: vaderpro
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by alecjahn [/i]
[B]I'm not sure if I understand correctly, but are you talking about upgrading your configuration by adding another duplicate card, but it might be too late to add another card because they stopped making your first one? This would be a problem with casual, slow upgraders like myself. [/B][/QUOTE]
Yes, thats what I mean...sorry for the bad english...re-worded above.
Posted by: AMD 3200+ 64
i wish i woulda new this before i went and got 2 7600gs :( i dont even have my 2nd card hooked up anymore becuse in sli its Crappyer then just 1 card :(
Posted by: BennyV04988
7900GT's were pretty much the fastest thing ever to be scrapped or changed. It was no more than 3 months, and I couldn't find another GT on newegg, because it was all these GS's.
Posted by: nitestick
i may well be about to be a hypocrite. it looks like i'll be joining the SLI club with 2x7900GS cards. i'm getting the second card for ~$50au though :D.
Posted by: Snake-Eyes
I'd like to see a more up-to-date version, if possible. I'm looking at my new build either having SLI'd 8800GTS' or a single GTX, and i'm thinking the range of performance will be a bit different compared to over-a-year-old stats.