Video card updating

[Squirtis]

So currently, I have an eVGA 8800 GTS 640MB, I've had this card well over 6 months now. Lately I've been looking around and seeing they're only about 150 bux on newegg. I have the capability to SLI it with my MB and PSU. I'm wondering if you guys think an SLI would be a better upgrade or just getting a whole new card, maybe the new Nvidias with 1 Gig of memory. I guess what I'm asking is what your guys' experience is with SLI and if it's worth it or not.

[Skeeg]

i love my gtx280... crisis on high and fully playable... no lag that ive seen yet

[Thresh25]

I'm sort of in the same spot as you, though I've got the 8600 series so not quite as good as yours. Getting a video card with 1 gig of memory is sort of a waste though. As of now no games really use more than 512, and probably won't for awhile. Your card is still a pretty badass card but what I've been told is that in SLI the 9600s perform better. Me personally, I think I'm going to get a 9800 and when they drop in price more eventually do SLI with that. Depending on your budget you could look into a 9800 gx2 which is two gpus on 1 card. or the gtx280 which is expensive but pretty much the best card out right now.

[hickfarm]

i would recommend a 4850 for what they are going for now. Over SLI. Maybe a 4870 if you are willing to fork out the cash.

[Thresh25]

SLI performs considerably better in quite a few games than a single 4850. A single 9800 GTX actually performs better than the 4850. If your board is nvidia based, (which it is) I'd go with an nvidia card so if you ever want to try SLI you didn't waste money.

[vernong1992]

Don't consider those, 8800GTS 640mb in SLi is about the performance of an 8800 Ultra..

plus thats a dated card anyways, you'd be better off with a HD 4850 or 9800GTX+ but the HD 4850 is the more powerful (except in Folding, 9800GTX+ or any nVidia card does really great in folding)

[Thresh25]

According to that guy that does the tigerdirect reviews, and a few other sources I've found, the 9800gtx+ gets more FPS than the 4850. And when in SLI it does better than the 4850 in crossfire.

[hickfarm]

4850's are cheaper though.

[Squirtis]

right, but you guys have to realize to SLI an 8800 would be 150 bux, why would i buy a new 4850? I would think a SLI 8800 GTS would blow away a single 4850. Perhaps I am mistaken. I guess if the 4850 was 1 gig of mem then it would be worth it and you wouldn't have to worry about keep two cards at a cool temp. I've just heard SLI can be a super pain in the *** and you don't really get as much performance as one would think. I don't understand how two SLIed 8800s would be out performed by a single 9800gtx, is it just the way games fetch memory? and they're not designed for the SLI?

But i don't know, in the long run i see Nvidia coming out ahead once again. ATi was only really good around the first radeon GPUs and then Nvidia slowly took the market and performance back. I think Nvidia will take over again with their next gen cards.

how do the new GTX cards with a gig of ram compare to the 4850s or the 9800?

[Thresh25]

Not by much, you might save 20 bucks depending on the models. Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N873-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

200 bucks, free shipping. the 4850s run about 185 at cheapest unless there's a rebate.