7900gt sli

[paulypaul]

I have a system here that is on the cusp of being overtaken by some newer games out there.

4400x2 oc to 2.6
7900gt
2 gigs

I was thinking about grabing another 7900gt for sli come to fin out they have been discontinued. Question is for newer games out there and those upcoming would it be worth it for me to find another 7900gt or just start saving for the next big system?

 

[Heyyou27]

Just start saving for a new system; you should probably try to overclock that 7900GT as they're generally pretty good overclockers.

 

[Malaga93]

if the card is 150$ cheap, then go ahead and buy the card.

 

[paulypaul]

So another 7900gt would not be a good buy?

Im thinking about getting a 24in monitor (either dell or benq) will an SLI config help that more then an OC'ed card?

 

[Dahak]

You could just find another 7900GT.These cards are great in an SLI configuration.In fact you'd almost be better off getting another 7900GT if it's cheap enough.But cost is a factor in every decision to upgrade or build new.Goodluck.

Dahak

AMD X2 5600+ @ 2.8ghz(stock)
M2N32-SLI DELUXE MB
2 GIGS DDR2 800 RAM
THERMALTAKE 850WATT PSU
7950 GX2 560/1450
ACER 22IN. LCD
SMILIDON RAIDMAX GAMING CASE
80GIG/250gig SATA2 HD's
XP MCE
3DMARK05 14644

 

[sirheck]

If you can find a cheap 79gt go for it.

But IMO if its more than about 150$ just keep your single 79gt.
Wait and go for an 8800 or x2900 card.

 

[mboorman]

I had two 7900gt's in sli, volt modded to 650core 1700mem on my current rig before i upgraded temporarily to an 8800gts 320. The 8800gts killed the sli setup in every game i own and every benchmark, even at stock speeds, (except fear -5fps). In short, you would be better off saving for an 8800 or 2900 as your current rig will handle it depending on your power supply.

 

[SEALBoy]

I'd say sell your current card, save up a little, and get an 8800GTS 320MB.

 

[Techfan]

I've got 7800GTX 256 SLI and i tried recently Lost Planet Demo. At 1280x960 all eye candy enabled i get only 20fps. Your card in SLI configuration will be almost the same. I suggest you buy 8800GTS 320. If you want to play upcoming games with all eye cand enabled at 1280x1024 res forget about 7900gt SLI.

 

[cristip60]

I agree with the others get a 8800gts 320 i would recommend the Gainward bliss golden sample i had absolutly no issues with that brand and ive owned 2 video card from them.

 

[Kronos76]

Honestly, SLi is nice but in your case I don't know if it would be worth it.

It will really depend on the cost of the 7900 card, if you can get a great deal on the card, which I would doubt, than I would say go with the newer card and not a SLi setup.

Just to be clear I say this not so much because of some folks speculation on performance, only because I find that most people who think they are running SLi really don't have a clue, but because of cost and the added power draw.

This is just an assumption but if you have an older PSU, and perhaps even a second or third tier PSU, that does not have the power required to run SLi than you will find yourself in a situation where you need to buy not only the card but a new PSU as well...

Anyway, this is just my two cents, good luck

 

[Mousemonkey]

It should depend on how much another 7900GT is going to cost you, having tried an Asus 8800GT 320 I can tell you that in my rig (3800x2 939@2.5ghz) it chucks out similar 3d'06 scores to an OC'd 7900GT Sli setup when at standard clock speeds but still has more speed in hand should you wish to try some OCing, game wise is about the same with the OC'd 7900's being about on par with the standard clocked 8800GTS 320, so if you can pick up a 7900GT for next to nothing then go for it as there are still no DX10 games out there and by the time they arrive then the 8800's may well have been superseded.

 

[paulypaul]

All of you hit on things I really have been thinking about...

8800's are very nice cards indeed, but If I go with a mid range dx10 card now I risk the 7800/7900 thing. (8800, to 8900)

I have the corsair 520 watt PSU right now so that will be able to handle an SLI setup or a bump up to a dx10 card. Did my homework on that one, made by seasonic.

Bottom line the reason I am thinking upgrade is I have a pretty decent processor 4400x2 Oc'd to 2.6, 2 gigs ram and good GPU but Im going to be upgrading the monitor from 19 to 24 soon. Thats a huge hike in resolution right there.

I guess Ill ask it like this... SLI vs 8800 for the higher resolution gaming VS shut up and quit bit^#ing about it and wait for a new build. :lol:

 

[SEALBoy]

8800, even at the higher resolution. You'd be best off with the 640MB edition, but even the 320MB will outperform 7900GT's. Your processor and RAM are fine.

 

[Kronos76]

All of you hit on things I really have been thinking about...

8800's are very nice cards indeed, but If I go with a mid range dx10 card now I risk the 7800/7900 thing. (8800, to 8900)

I have the corsair 520 watt PSU right now so that will be able to handle an SLI setup or a bump up to a dx10 card. Did my homework on that one, made by seasonic.

Bottom line the reason I am thinking upgrade is I have a pretty decent processor 4400x2 Oc'd to 2.6, 2 gigs ram and good GPU but Im going to be upgrading the monitor from 19 to 24 soon. Thats a huge hike in resolution right there.

I guess Ill ask it like this... SLI vs 8800 for the higher resolution gaming VS shut up and quit bit^#ing about it and wait for a new build. :lol:

Actually I did some rough calculations here

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

and came up with a power requirement of less than 400W so you would be in good condition to run the SLi, bottom line, if you can save over 100.00 buying the 7900 and going SLi I would, if buying 8800 is within 100.00 of the same cost as buying a new 7900 then buy 8800. At the end of the day, I would say you need to see a cost savings of 100.00 by going SLi, if not, get the new card!

 

[jonisginger]

Sell your 7900gt on eBay ftw and buy an 8800GTS

 

[paulypaul]

Actually I did some rough calculations here

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

and came up with a power requirement of less than 400W so you would be in good condition to run the SLi, bottom line, if you can save over 100.00 buying the 7900 and going SLi I would, if buying 8800 is within 100.00 of the same cost as buying a new 7900 then buy 8800. At the end of the day, I would say you need to see a cost savings of 100.00 by going SLi, if not, get the new card![/quote]

thanks for the replies. And this is probably what I will do If I can even find a 7900gt out there. The major etailers (newegg ect.) have them pretty high and the lowest I have found so far is from mwave @ 159 refurbished. I dont trust ebay as much as I did before so Ill see what happens.

Thanks again for all the replies

 

[Kronos76]

Good luck, be sure and let us know what you do and how it works out. 8)