is 2 8800gts in sli worth the extra $200 that 1 8800 gtx will cost. should make up for the smaller amount of pipes shouldnt it ?

If the game is coded properly to take advantage of SLI for maximum performance, yes SLI with two GTS' will be more powerful then a single GTX. However, there is no need to buy two of either, unless you plan on doing 2560x1600 resolutions with the settings on max in Oblivion along with all the texture upgrade packs.

Make sure you factor in the Power Supply requirements for even running 2 8800s, does what you're presently running have the power and connections to support the additional load?

If it doesn't then the price of a new P/S would have to be added to the SLI cost.

Food for thought.

Ok, reality check here folks. I'm running a 7900GT on a mildly OC'd(2.67ghz) Core 2 E6400. I'm having zero issues running any game currently out. Nor do I believe I'll have any issues running games like"Crysis" or "C&C3" or anything. Then again, I'm only running 2X AA and 4X AF, but come on folks, tell me you can see the difference between what I'm running and higher settings at resolutions lower than 1600 X 1200...

So in short, you could get a 8800GTS and it is going to be bleeding freaking edge for at least a year and most likely longer. You don't really need two or even a GTX. Save your money for an SSD, theres something worth spending $600 on!!!

I'd go for the single 8800GTX as there's no guarantee a game you buy will take advantage of SLI anyway.

To add to Jizumonkey's comment:

Two 8800 GTS cards right now would be something like $900.

One 8800 GTX is about $600. By the time you really need the power of two cards for anything, you'll be able to buy the second GTX for $900. So you'll have far more power for the same price (or less), while still enjoying your 8800 GTX *today*.

I think you will definitely have some troubles with crysis.

I've been doing some reading and you very well could be right. From what I've seen, the demos have been running at 1280x960 or 1024. I'm running @1440x900, which has a close pixel count, so at this point who knows. They've been testing the beta on p4's with 6800's and 512mb ram, with some of the effects turned down and getting ok frame rates. My system is by far better. I think I'm going to be ok. I can run "Oblivion" with everything on except the shadow effects and top out around 103fps. I'm thinking I've got enough power to play "Crysis". If not I'll get a 8800gts. But I'm in school and money is tight. So not upgrading unless it's needed, ya know?

yes, if you want to run crysis on high levels, the minimum is the 8800gts, maybe you could get away with an x1950xtx, but the 8800gtx beats crossfire xtx's, so really think about what you're saying when the xtx creams the 7900gtx and you're only running a 7900gt

Yes, I believe you'd have problems with Crysis, if for no other reason than your 7900 doesn't support DX10 (and I'm not sure if drivers will be able to implement that later?).

I don't know if it requires DX10 or if it just looks better with DX10.

Ya I'll think about that when the game comes out, until then I'm running quite fast in any game you want to throw at my system. And thats all that counts, buddy boy.

Yes but what is your minimum frame rate in the outdoor scenes?
You could experience quite low FPS in certain areas at the worse possible time and cause yourself big problems.

But I agree at this time one GTS (not two) would most likely do the job but also agree that one GTX would be the way to go for the near future and If that starts to struggle (which will be some time from now) the GTX might be cheap enough so you can get a second GTX and end up paying less than two GTS cards now anyway.

Look at the reviews on tomshardware.com for test results for both cards as single and in SLI.

Also look on guru3d.com for results with multiple card comparisons using a wide array of benchmarks like games and 3d Mark 05-06.

Also the next gen of 8000 series cards are due out soon so might be worth waiting a short time as the x1950xtx or 7900gtx handle any of todays games quite well and are relatively cheap, so that might be an option, might even save you some money in the long run resulting in a better card later.

But ultimately it is up to you. Good luck mate

P.S. The GTX is only better then the GTS if res is going higher then 1600 and SLI is only viable if using dual displays at high res. Also as [b]4ryan6 noted power supply is something to take into mind. A single GTX requires at least 450w PSU with dual 12v rails running at 18a each (400w and 12a per rail for the GTS) and for GTX x2 SLI requires min 750w and quad 12v rails, you will also need 6pin solex connectors per connection (2 for single & 4 for SLI). You also need to make sure the rest of your hardware can keep up as you don't want to hit bottlenecks. I recommend at least an Intel E6700(E6300 overclocked, reaches higher stable speeds with definate performance increase but only with 2MB L2 cache) CPU, DDR2 800 RAM (2 GB), Nvidia 590 SLI mainboard and Thermaltake 850w SLI PSU (550w for single card), or equivalent for each. Food for thought.

To my knowledge Crysis is developed with the PC Gamer as the target group (Unlike R6 Vegas or TES Oblivion). The company behind the game is driven by a simple goal - to make money.

Based on these facts i conclude the minimal requirements:

Windows Vista x64 Ultimate
Core 2 Quad 2,8 GHz or Athlon FX 76 or equivalent,
4 GB RAM,
117 GB hard disk space,
DirectX 10
GeForce 8800GTX or equivalent graphics card with PS 4.0 or better*

and the recommended system requirements:

Windows Vista x64 Ultimate
Core 2 Quad 3,6 GHz or Quad (2x) FX 76 or equivalent,
16 GB RAM,
329 GB hard disk space,
DirectX 10
GeForce 8900GTO SLI or equivalent graphics cards with PS 4.0 or better*

*Resolutions beyond 800x600 will not be supported due to hardware limitations.


Inside sources leaked that the esimated retail price of the game will be no less than 750.000 € (975.000$). Rumors have it that there will only be 11 retail copies for the international market with a total of 14 copies. The three limited editions, which are said to be identical to the retail edition, except for the signature (on both sides) of either Cevat, Avni and Faruk, are already sold.

umm okay

firstly 7900 does not and will not ever support DX10, no amount of drivers will ever be able to change that.

secondly it doesnt require DX10 it just supports it if your hardware/operating system does not support DX10 it will run in DX9 mode

just go with the 1 GTX if you can afford it, if you need more power than that you could always add another one in later. the benefits of SLI are nt that great

however i would wait until games like crysis are actually released (essp with R600 coming out) as you said yourself your having no problems at the moment so dont fix something that ain't broken wait until your having issues or really need to step up the details

last time i checked my pre order it wasnt estimated until the end of june so that has already postponed my next build until sometime around then.

I think you will definitely have some troubles with crysis.

Yeah, and SupCom