8800GTSs - Need opinions

[purplerat]

I have just recenlty (20 mins ago) found myself in somewhat of a predicament. You see I currently have a BFG 8800GTS OC 640MB video card, but I'm always looking for the best upgrade path when it comes to video cards. My plan was to sell the current card, hopefully for around $250, and then either buy a G92 8800GT or 8800GTS 512MB. Whether the extra $100 is worth it or not isn't really important since my plan was to buy EVGA for the sole purpose of 'Stepping Up' when the 9000 series GTX comes out in February. However last week I sent my old 7900GT which my son uses to BFG for RMA expecting an 8600GTS, but got a 8800GTS OC 320MB instead. So now what I'm considering is using the two 8800GTSs in SLI (I'm all set up for SLI, having previously used 2 7900GTs). In doing some quick research I found in the THG VGA charts that the 320MB 8800GTS actually outperforms the 640MB in SLI and the two go back and forth in single card tests. So how would the 2 work together in SLI? I plan on testing that out tonight, but my real question is what would be the best solution?

1.) Use the two in SLI and buy a cheap video card for my son's PC (he's 6 so it doesn't really matter).

2.) Sell one (the 640 would probably sell for more) and go with my original plan.

3.) Sell one, buy a cheap replacement for my son and pocket the rest for a 9000 series

4.) Sell both and buy 1 cheap video card and a G92.

5.) Sell both (assume I got a total of $450) and buy a very cheap card along with 2 8800GT.

 

[ethel]

Option (1) won't work.

Out of the other options (4) is the best option in my opinion - you would get a better card than you have now, you'd pocket some money, and you may be able to step up later.

 

[neisonator]

i would go with opt 4 i would get the gts 512 it overclocks like crazy

 

[purplerat]

Is it a definite that SLI between the two wont work? I'm asking because I have them hooked up right now and off the bat it's not working and would rather waste any more time on it. I was under the impression that SLI between two of the same cards with different amounts of RAM would work. But if not or there is some other difference between the two preventing it then no biggy since it wasn't something I'd even considered until a couple hours ago.

 

[sailer]

Like Ethel said, the SLI idea won't work. If you had two cards made by different companies, but otherwise the same, they should work, but your cards aren't the same. I'd go with option 4 as well.

 

[bornking]

Option 4 without a doubt.
I sold my two eVGA 8800gts OC 320's for a BFG 8800GTS 512 OC and man am I happy!
Better frame rates than the SLI and 3dMark Score (06), and stability, and less power draw.

Option 4 with the G92 8800GTS.

 

[purplerat]

I could have sworn that SLI between cards where the amount of RAM was the only difference was supposed to work. Either way turn on the computer and not having SLI work immeadiatly reminded me why I was so eager to sell my 2 7900GTs last year in favor of a single 8800GTS. SLI can be such a pain. I'm going with the G92 GTS, the only real decission is whether or not my 6 year old deserves an 8800 of his own. The little bastard just got a Wii for Christmas, but I know he'll bitch if his computer games run slower then the 7900GT. I'd have to at least get him an 8600GTS which would probably mean only a net gain of around $50 in selling the other 8800.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Actually option 1 SHOULD work, it will still be a pain in the AR$-technica as usual, but you can actually run off speed and different size memory cards on nV now too. It does require a tweak in nTune or something (rusty, late at work going home , not going to bother looking for the tool, but it's out there, check up on it, you can run the same architecture (both are G80 GTS cards) with diff clocks and memory size.

Anywho DESPITE saying that, I still prefer option 4 which gives you the step up option, although if you can wait until Feb then selling both or one then and then moving up should give you a similar reward model and you don't have to buy from eVGA which can be a good and bad thing depending on scarcity of the GF9xxx cards at launch.

The other thing to consider is does you kid play enough to enjoy the GTS-320? Option 4 still leaves you buying something, and unless you buy an HD3850 or slightly worse the GF8800GT-256, then you're stepping him down from the GF7900GT you RMA'ed if you get the weak HD2600/GF8600 cards.

I'd say if you can get a GF8800GT-256/HD3850 and then a GF8800GTS-512 as well for the combined price of selling the two cards (or maybe with a $50 splash or something) then that's a sweet deal, otherwise you're kinda taking from your kid to get a mid term solution.

I'd consider the RMA his free upgrade into a 'capable' card and either give it or the GTS-640 to him, sell the other (either now or later) and then take that money to buy a GTS-512 or the GF9xxx when it comes out.

Anywhoo, hope that gives you something to think about.

PS, I don't understand the math behind option 5, if you sell the 2 old G80 based GTSs I don't think you'll be able to buy 2 GF8800GT-512 cards and then still have money left over for anything. But if you did, that's sweet too.

 

[purplerat]

I hadn't thought about possible ATI solutions, but I'll have to look into that. The problem with selling both an buying two more is that I'd be selling them on ebay and I don't think I'd get enough to buy a decent lower midrange card and have enough left over to justify getting rid of a perfectly good 8800. However when it comes to selling and upgrading I fully plany to spend more then I sell for so option five doable just a little more costly; (Sell 8800s for $450 total) - (buying two GTs + a cheaper card = $650) = cost me $200 for 8800GTs in SLI. However as I think about it, it's quite a hassel to have to sell and buy all that along with the SLI, I'm leaning towards my original plan. The only real question is whether the EVGA step up idea is worth it? It sounds good, but I've stuck with BFG for a while now and they've treated me pretty good.

 

[yipsl]

1.) Use the two in SLI and buy a cheap video card for my son's PC (he's 6 so it doesn't really matter).

I'd use both in SLI and see how it works for you. Scaling will most likely depend on what games you play. My son's 7 and he's only getting an 8600GT or 8600GTS in his
K9N6SGM-V system, because the power supply only has 22 amps. It will beat the 6100 IGP and he won't notice as he doesn't play anything more demanding than Fate.

That way, all you do is order the cheaper GPU from Newegg and wait for it to arrive. Then you set up your SLI system and let everyone know how well it scales and in what games.

edited to add: I don't do SLI but I'd thought they worked out situations where cards with different amounts of RAM did work. If that's not the case, then let your son have the 320 and go ahead and get an identical 640 card for yourself. That would work better than Ebay.

I'm sure two older G90 8800GTS 640's in SLI wouldn't be too far behind a couple of G92 8800GTS's.

ATI won't work in Crossfire on an SLI board. Why even put one ATI in an SLI system or one Nvidia in a Crossfire system? It's a waste of money, because if you want to do two cards in the future, you need to buy two and get rid of one.

Why not temporarily install one card and ask Nvidia for technical support?:

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=qy8TcoUi&p_lva=&p_li=&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_page=1&p_cv=1.60&p_pv=1.2&p_prods=2&p_cats=60&p_hidden_prods=&prod_lvl1=2&cat_lvl1=60&p_search_text=SLI&srch_btn_submit=%C2%A0%C2%A0%C2%A0Search%C2%A0%C2%A0%C2%A0&p_new_search=1&p_search_type=answers.search_nl