Compare 2x 8600GT (SLI) Vs 8800GTS

Yes the single 8800Gts 320 is faster, plus you don't have to deal with SLI compatibility problems.

Thanks, you're helping me keep my sanity!

I was thinking the 8800GTS had to be faster and give better framerates.

Plus, I plan on running Server 2003 which I know for certain has problems with SLI
(although that can possibly be fixed with hacked drivers... nah, I would rather steer
clear of all that if possible and still have a faster GFX setup)

Really depends on the situation for 'conclusive' but the vast majority of the situations favours a single GF8800GTS.

Here's 2 8600GTSs against a single GTS-320;
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8600_gts_preview/page17.asp

Here's two separate review with the GTS-320 OC and the GTS and GT in SLi;

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q3/radeon-hd-2400-2600/index.x?pg=6


http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q2/radeon-hd-2900xt/index.x?pg=11

Now 2 GTSs in SLi in a bunch of games against single X1950XTX (should give you rough estimate of just below GTs-320 usually) and HD2900XT (usually just above GTS-640);

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/2007/test_ati_radeon_hd_2900_xt_crossfire/9/#abschnitt_anno_1701

I haven't look for more comparos but they aren't really promising what little there is. Most reviewers don't bother SLi'ing the current mid-range because they are a little weak even when SLi'ed.

Should give you an idea of the limited potential of SLi'ing 2 GF8600GT cards.

Don't get a 320MB card go for the GTX

I hate it when people just come out of no where, ignore the original question and just say...no forget that get this instead...it just costs another $$$...but is worth it.

Well how do you know that the OP even has the budget to get a GTX. Maybe he doesnt...maybe thats why his options revolve around the 8800 320 or 2x8600 cards.



@ OP: The 8800 320 card would be better off compared with 2x8600 cards. So if they are your only options, take the single card route.

Do you know how much money he has? Do you know if he needs it? Did he even ask about it?

No, he didnt.

You dont know his situation, so saying "get a GTX" is pretty stupid.

Nevermind.

Thanks to TheGreatGrapeApe for even finding something to go off.

It seems two 8600GTS cards in SLI still get beat by the 8800GTS,
and it is the 8600GT I am on about, not the GTS, so I guess
its going to have to be the single 8800GTS.  

Indeed, I am on a tight budget of only £500.

Cheapest 8800GTS I can find is £175 at the moment, since the 8800
Ultra came out, the GTX and GTS have come down in price a bit, but
the GTX is out of the question, the cheapest one I can find is £318.

I only just realised last night how cheap the AMD 6000+ is now @
£106 (Aria, UK) this is £30 cheaper than the Intel E6600, which I
had my heart set on 100% until I looked through the TomsHardware
charts - there are 35 CPU tests (theres a Vista thing where every
CPU scores the same so I ditched that test) and out of the remaining
34 tests, the E6600 beats the 6000+ in 16/34 tests, the 6000+ beats
the E6600 in 18/34 tests AND its cheaper! Because I am going for AMD
I can get a cheaper MOBO that supports 6400/800Mhz RAM and also
get this 8800GTS card.

Believe me I would love to get a GTX but they are way too expensive
and dare I say it - overpriced since its the top card, its never "worth it"
getting the top card.

In 6 months or a year, believe me I will be grabbing a GTX as soon as
they come down to reasonable prices.

you can get really good performance when overclocking the 8800gts, so you might wanna do that.

Go with the GTS. Are you planning on over clocking? The e6600 will oc better than the 6000.

Aww someone beat me there..

Nah I wasn't gonna bother OC'ing. I know its feasible (even getting the 5600+
and OC'ing that to around about 6000+ speeds) but these components are so
much faster than what I have currently (ATI 9550, lol) I think I will just leave
everything at stock speeds.

Thanks for the help.

Even if you don't OC now, it's good to know that in the future you have that overhead room to give you an added boost. Same with the graphics side, with the GTS the difference between stock speeds and the usualy BFG/eVGA/XFX style OC is pretty significant in performance, so while now it's more than enough, it's good to know you have some future headroom as a possibility should either lag.

Don't forget G84 core is better than G80 core in play HDTV.

So I think 2X8600GT oc are batter then 8800  

Are you also aware that those features are pretty much unnecessary if he owns a DECENT CPU, the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ should be way more than enough to watch HDTV movies. Those features only matter to those with weak CPU on HTPCs.

Actually you can watch HDTV with basically anything... I've heard 1080i can run on a PII 400 with an 8MB RIVA 128...

U can try X2 5000+ it will gone to 80-95% when it was playing 1080p H264 without hardwareAcc.

Today I hav chage my leadtek 6600GT for leadtek 8600GT EXTREME,because....
I'm using the weak CPU(PD805)
but I thought it's purevideo HD driver have not supply my windows xp yet...so suck...!!

They’re getting off track,
I also have this Dilemma; A pair of 8600gt’s are 20% cheaper than an 8800gts (in Aust)
Is the 8800gts 20% better.

in china 2X8600gt=220$ but 8800gts almost cost 300$ >_<

I think a really easy way of looking at this comparison is the number of stream processors... the 8600s (combined) have 64 while the single 8800 is bringing 92. Unless there is an insane difference in clock speed favoring the 8600s, there's no way they will ever be able to compete with an 8800... and when you factor in the compatibility, stability and the overhead that come with using SLI, the answer is pretty obvious.

*edit* Oops. I forgot to even mention memory bandwidth... it's just no comparison.

It's beyond that, they don't even run on the same cores, it's impossible to compare them that easily on the amount of stream processors or bandwidth, The 8800GTS runs on the G80 core, the 8600GT runs on the shitty G84 core. This is pretty much comparing an FX-57 to a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz.

Another vote for the 8800GTS

elcold hit the nail on the head, a lot of games don't support SLI, so you'll see no advantage over a single 8600GT in some games, and the 8800GTS is just plain and simple a faster card.

It's pretty obvious that SLI 8600GT don't stand a snowball's chance in hell against an underclocked 8800GTS, but I'd like to see a 8800GTS on a quad SLI 8600GT OC configuration (Yeah.. might need someone to develop drivers and a mobo for that  ). the GTS probably would still win anyway...

For quad, the mobos exist but the drivers don't.

a Gigabyte nForce 4 one right? I think I saw it once...

Actually there's a few out there, including the workstation soluutions. The old Gigabyte Quad is actually the first, and likely would be the worst of the consumer options, as it has limited lanes (IIRC 4 x 4X), Gigabyte updated with a later model that had more lanes, and a few others have added 4 slot solutions since they got beefier chipsets.

Rememeber even the Xfire and SLi mobo issue is aessentially a driver one, and there' no reason quad Xfire/SLi shouldn't work on a Tyan workstation board with 4 socket and 4 PEG slots other than AMD and nV don't let it.

The X1950 XT is about the same price as the 8600 GTS - if not a few pounds less - and will walk all over it as far as performance and high resolutions go.

Might be worth considering.

Wow. That is not my experience.

I've seen a low-end dual-core Athlon X2 coupled with a low end Geforce choke on 1080i H.264 video. That's with a bit more overhead using an HD DVD player, but still...

A PII 400 might even have trouble playing a regular DVD, not to mention an HD DVD.