To Crossfire/SLI or not?

[k33l0r]

I'm looking to build my self a new PC sometime next year and I've been looking at gfx cards.

Is it better to get two (relatively) cheap 256MB cards in a SLI/Crossfire setup or just one 512MB one with the option of getting a second one in the future?

Also is there any performance difference between Nvidia's SLI and ATI's Crossfire?

And does anybody have any idea when affordable DX10 compliant cards will be available?

And finally, any suggestions on what card(s) to get?

Thanks a whole lot.

 

[Talon]

Well some people say SLI/Crossfire is a waste. I'd say what resolution do you plan on playing at? Also whats your budget?

If 16x12 or under you would be well served by a higher end single card.
If resolution above 16x12 I'd say why not SLI/Crossfire. It will help maintain high settings at higher resolution even if the performance doesn't scale perfectly for what you might expect out of 2 cards.
If you go for a single card ATIs solutions are a little more powerful for the $ usually. Last week I might have said get a single 1950xtx but this week I'd say go for the new 8800GTS which is fairly close in cost and beats in most benchs plus has dx10 for future proofing.

Ok SLI vs Crossfire:

Nvidia still has slightly better support and scaling in most games than ATI does.

Depending on your budget if you could find 2x 7900GTOs they are a good price/performance for the last gen cards. If you want ATI even tho Crossfire support isn't quite where SLI is then 2x 1900XTs would be good performance for little bit more cost.

I wanted to answer your questions best I could but my personal choice at the moment, especially since you are willing to at least pay enough for 2 cards. I assume you could afford one 8800GTS?

I would buy either a single GTS or if you can swing it go for the 8800GTX. This all assuming you need it now or in the next couple weeks.

My reasons being that even at low resolution (I game at 1280x1024) the GTX might seem overkill but I think it will level out once games like crysis hit next year. The GTS is a good card if you can't swing $650 and you can always add another GTS later on for an added boost. If you do game at high res I might really push for the 8800GTX tho.

I know at the end I'm leaving the decision up to you but those sound like sound options imo and its how I look at it based on what I've seen.

EDIT: forgot to answer a question. As to when "affordable" DX10 cards will be out? Well you gave no budget and everyone has a diff opinion of affordable. I would "guess" Nvidia will come out with other levels of DX10 cards either right before or about the time of the ATI DX10 release which is widely expected to be in Feb. 07. Hope that helps

 

[k33l0r]

Thanks, that helps a lot.

As to the time frame, I'm afraid this is more of a initial probe into the matter. I'll probably be doing the purchases during the second half of next year (yeas, I do know that that's a hell of a long time in computing terms...)

Based on this I think I'll get a single 512MB card (probably Nvidia) but still get a SLI motherboard just in case I want to upgrade to two. Hopefully a range of DX10 cards will be out by the time I get my system.

Anyways, we'll see what crops up... Perhaps I'll be able to go for AMD's up and coming 4x4 stuff...

Thanks, again.

 

[Talon]

No problem. That is a pretty good while in the future.

I expect ATI to have their stuff out by then and Nvidia will have had time to answer by that time and be on "refreshes" of the 8800s or even better. I'm glad this gave you some help. Please feel free to post again when you're closer to your build time so we can give you more up to date info at that time

Til then, have fun !

 

[k33l0r]

Cool,


Just one more thing. Do you think it's worth getting one small(ish) 10,000rpm hard drive to hold windows and a few large apps? Perhaps a 36-74 gig one and then a bigger 7200rpm one to hold data and everything else? Will this give a substantial gain in performance?

 

[PCAnalyst]

If you are like many of us... having a separate HDD for file storage is always a better choice than trying to battle the effects of an 80% full HDD from all the downloads on your system.

You will have a little performance boost with the 10,000 RPM'er... nothin to write home about.