8800 GTS 320MB EOL conundrum

[Swarley]

nVidia recently declared that the 8800 GTS 320MB card will be discontinued. This sucks for me because I put one in the computer I built last February and I was hoping to buy a second one for SLI once they got cheaper (like ~$150). Perhaps others on this forum know more about setting up SLI than I do. Am I stuck either buying the second card now for $300 or having to switch to a new card model down the road when I want to upgrade (with or without SLI)? According to nVidia's SLI website you should have two cards with the same GPU, and if they have the same GPU but different memory (like the 320 and 640 GTS cards) than SLI will bring the larger one down to match the smaller one. What they don't mention is what happens with the other specs. In addition to discontinuing the 320MB GTS, nVidia will be enhancing the 640MB GTS cards with more pixel shaders and other specs. Will I be able to SLI my 320MB GTS with one of these "enhanced" 640s with different specs, and even a slightly faster clock speed?

 

[vois2]

Swarley wrote . . . nVidia recently declared that the 8800 GTS 320MB card will be discontinued. . . . Will I be able to SLI my 320MB GTS with one of these "enhanced" 640s with different specs, and even a slightly faster clock speed?

I wouldn't recommend purchasing the 8800 GTS in either its 320MB or 640MB form for the second card. Early benchmarks show the G92 8800 GT surpassing performance of either G80 8800 GTS variation soundly.

True, the 640MB version of 8800 GTS will be bumped up to 112 shaders, and that will be a mismatch with the current 96 shaders of your current 320MB card.

However, the G92 is the G80 chip with just some pipes turned off. The G92 8800 GT will have 112 shaders, and I suppose you could turn that down to 96 and also match the clock speed of the older card, by using Rivatuner.

It's a really interesting situation for your 320MB GTS owners who now desire SLI.

Note: Even with the 640MB getting a bump soon to 112 shaders, I think a GTS purchase at this point is "buying backwards". The G92 will be out by end of October.

 

[Swarley]

Well the question was never about whether the G92s will be faster than the G80s. The problem is what the heck am I going to do with my current 8800 GTS? The whole point of getting a mobo with dual 16x support was to take advantage of SLI. I guess nVidia wants you to buy both cards at the same time, who has the money for that? Also SLI doesn't support two cards with different GPUs. So even if I matched up the specs with a tuner, I still wouldn't be able to SLI a G92 card with my old GTS.

 

[vois2]

Well the question was never about whether the G92s will be faster than the G80s. The problem is what the heck am I going to do with my current 8800 GTS? The whole point of getting a mobo with dual 16x support was to take advantage of SLI. I guess nVidia wants you to buy both cards at the same time, who has the money for that? Also SLI doesn't support two cards with different GPUs. So even if I matched up the specs with a tuner, I still wouldn't be able to SLI a G92 card with my old GTS.

Right, notice I didn't recommend what to do with the old one, except the detail I gave about matching it up with a newer card. Me thinks you will see GTS paired with G92 GT after BIOS flashes and tuning. As for the 320MB GTS, just like every first generation product, it gets left behind in the dust and incompatable (or inefficient SLI) with future cards supposedly of the same newer generation. I suppose you spent the equivalent of at least (US dollars) $280 or more for the GTS, why not sell it outright to someone, and get the two GTs if SLI is really your thing. Of course, SLI won't really be necessary unless you plan on a crazy high resolution. If you are gaming at 1280 res. then SLI ends up being overkill.