7900gs SLi

[Eric Tardes]

Hi to everyone ,

Is it worth to buy second 7900gs for 100 Euro-s? would it increase my performance?
I'm buying 20" LCD (1600x1050) and I would like to play games at native resolution, not everything has to be maxed out!
I know that 8800GT and 3870/50 are recomended, but its great deal on 7900gs,and I own one already,so I would like to get one of those. And I would have to sell the old one,and buy expensive card,so this option sounds better!

Thank you for the advice.

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome tot he forums mate

have u read the FAQ ? it will answer u :
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245454-15-crossfire-faqs

Do SLI or CrossFire always improve performance ?
Not Always , there are some games that dont take advantage of SLI or CrossFire , so you wont see a difference between 2 cards and 1 card in those games , but in games that take advantage of SLI or CrossFire , 2 cards will perform better than one.

Is it really necessary to use SLI or CrossFire ?
Well , it really depends mostly on the resolutions and games you play , resolutions like 1920x1200 and higher benefit more from SLI or CrossFire than resolutions like 1600x1200 or lower (I dont mean SLI or CrossFire wont be good for resolutions like 1600x1200 or lower , i am just saying that SLI or CrossFire shines in higher resolutions.)
Also as i said , it depends on what games (with what settings) you play , for example if you just want to play games at good settings (with not everything at maximum settings) then MultiGPU technology isn't needed , but if you want to play with every option at maximum settings, then SLI would help , but again i repeat , resolution is very important.
Caution: Due to some problems (like Drivers and etc) in some games, a single card (like X1900XT) may beat 2 1900XT in CrossFire mode! so dont always think that 2 cards will beat one card.

Should i get 2 midrange cards instead of one high-end card ?
No, again i will answer this with example. 2 8600GT or single 8800gts ? this on of the most common questions in forums. single 8800GTS (320 or 640) will beat 2 8600GT in games , because a single 8800GTS has more stream processors , more memory clock , more bandwidth. so again 1 single high-end card will beat 2 midrange cards.

so get a 8800GT instead if u can

 

[Eric Tardes]

Thanks for the quick reply.
I've seen the FAQ,but i was interested in what other people have to say.
8800gt is a bit out of my price range, it would cost me 200 euros,after I sell my 7900gs, so I like the idea os SLi-ing two 7900,for not a lot of money,and looking at the VGA charts,it doesnt trail much after 8800gt.

Maybe I should wait for 8800gs? It seems that GS is a key word for me!

 

[yadge]

Well, I game at that resolution, and I have an x1950pro, which is pretty similar performance wise compared to your card. The x1950 pro does reasonably well at that resolution, so you may not even need more performance.

I guess it depends on what games you play.

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I have an e6550 at 3.4ghz, soyour performance might be a little less....

 

[Maziar]

8800GS isnt out yet
can u afford HD 3850 ?

 

[Eric Tardes]

I've seen 3850 for 180 euros, and I know that it is a great card, but I would rather use Nvidia's card.All of my cards were Nvidias' starting with TNT Riva 16Mb . Im not a fanboy,but i'm accustom to Nvidia,and I would like to try SLi(altough it is a bit of a marketing trick, I would like to try all the technology my MBO offers).

Thanks Yadge. I will buy the monitor first,and then decide to go with SLi, or stick with 7900gs and wait for next generation of GPU(9000).

To Maziar: I'm not in a hurry so I would like to see how the 8800gs performs(when it comes out), and then decide between these 3-4 options.

Thank you all for the advice.

 

[Maziar]

No problem glad i could help

 

[jerseygamer]

One 3870 512 will out perform those 7900s SLI. The 7900GS is a hudge dog. In most cases a good 8600 will destroy it. If you want to run at a higher resolution then go single card GT or 3870 512. SLI is almost never optimised. Its not worth taking chances that a program supports it well. It adds alot of variables to the system as well.

Ask yourself:

-Does your MB support full 16x16 SLI? SLI is just not worth it unless its 16x16++
-Are you sure you have enough power left to run 2 7900s? Can your system move the extra heat?
-Are you sure your CPU is not going to bottleneck your SLI?
-Do you realise that 2 7900GS will only give you higher resolution in most cases. Vram often limits detail in most games. Most 7900GS are only 256mb. Its almost never worth SLI 7900GS cards. Its defonetly minimal performance gained with 256mb cards. Do you fall into this braket?

I fell into the same area of upgrade with an older system I now use for media. The 7900GS cards almost alway suck big donkey balls. They do not bench well. I went from 2 7900GS at 1600x1200 to one 8800GT 512 and I perform much better at the same resolution with much better detail in games. I also dropped the optimisation factor with SLI doing so. I have tried the 3870 512 in that rig as well. Performs identicle to the GT far as I can tell. This old system has an OCed X2 3800+ sitting at 2.6. Its not a super dog but its still a dog and its 939 so that means ddr400. All in all I would never recomend anyone SLI a 7 series card atm. Not with the options floating around in the 8 series and from ATI. Save your money and wait a few.