Video Cards for Homebuilt SLI System

[samiam001]

Building my first system. Plan to use Socket 939 MB with SLI capability. Looking for best bang for the buck on video cards. After reading a zillion articles and reviews, I've chosen nVidia 7600GT. The MBs I'm looking at all support overclocking to various degrees, and OC'ing is something I want to learn how to do anyway.

Now, I can either buy two garden variety 7600GTs or pay extra for two overclocked 7600GTs, like XFX's "XXX" model. It may be a dumb question, but if I'm going to overclock them anyway, is there still an advantage to buying the overclocked versions? (The only advantage I can think of is that the storebought overclocked ones might already have been winnowed out from a larger pool of "stock" 7600GT boards and demonstrated their OC ability and stability during testing.)

Last question: If there IS an advantage to buying the OC'd version, is there any assurance that the two cards will be OC'd to the same degree? My concern is whether the system's SLI electronics will still consider them sufficiently identical to allow them to function as an SLI team.

Much appreciate any help you all can provide. (If these questions have already been answered elsewhere in the forum, please don't hesitate to refer me to the right topic strings.) // SPB

 

[angry_ducky]

Buy two of these

 

[linux_0]

Buy two of these

Wouldn't a single 7900GT cost less and work better????

 

[chuckshissle]

I'm with you, getting the 7900GT is much better.

 

[shadowduck]

Doing SLI with anything less than a 7900GT is stupid and wasteful. Yes 1 7900GT will be faster than 2 7600s in SLI and use less power/make less noise. A much better option indeed.

 

[Crashman]

Nah, SLI with little cards is fine for OpenGL, much better than the big cards. You see, there are exceptions to your generalization.

 

[asdasd123]

Aha but what if u get a 7900gt now and get another one later when prices drop? Although still would be worthless since new cards will appear not far from now.

 

[cory1234]

Here

7600gts in sli can be better than a 7900gt if you play at high resolutions and you can get them for almost the same price as one 7900gt.

 

[wun911]

I'm pretty sure that a single 7900GT would be better, especially if the game dont have suport for SLI.

BUT... a 7600 GT does not need the extra power from the PSU.... maybe this dude dont have a SLI ready PSU.

If the dude REALY wants the 7600GT (they come with silent pipe II now days) I say go for it.

 

[samiam001]

ALLCON: Much appreciate the discussion on 7600GT X2 vs a single 7900GT. However, does anyone know the answers to the two questions asked in the original posting?

I've become very leery of the "get one card now and a second one when the price drops" tactic. I was going to do exactly that with the 7800GT, which was very highly rated by PCWorld just a few months ago, but I've noticed that it has gotten much harder to find one today.

 

[Herr_Fritz]

The overclocked versions should be "better" chips, in regards to your first question. They have already shown that they can overclock to the manufacturers "stock" for the model of card. I'm guessing they choose a good OC speed for the model, and use all the chips that can pass muster. It is quite possible that they can be OCed higher, since they can achieve this higher "stock" clock.

The second answer is that they will be clocked the same and your mobo / windows will recognize them as identical.

But i'm with the other guys here, get at 7900. When it can't play what you want, how you want, buy another. And the 7900 will be cheaper by then.

SLI is definately for high resolutions, btw what do you plan to be running?