New GTS 640 SLI Question, worth it for $140.00???

[Lord Gornak]

I have the opportunity to pick up a second EVGA 8800 GTS 640 SSC card for $140 bucks. I will be using it half the time on a 22" monitor, and half the time on a 37" plasma. I also want to be able to prove to my father-in-law that these two cards in SLI will make his PS3 bow down in respect in COD4. Yes, my father in law is 66 and plays COD4. Whaddya think? FYI, only have a PCP&C 610 watt in this system, don't want to spend anymore on another power supply so I'm going to get an epower 450 5.25 drive bay power supply on top of my PCP&C 610.

 

[emp]

Your GTS SSC should be way way more than enough for what you want to show him. Anyway at $140 that's a pretty good deal, if you're SURE this is a good working card, I'd definitely jump on it.

 

[basketcase]

I think it would be worth it. Your performance should be significantly better at high resolutions, than with just one card. And if you get that extra PSU, power shouldn't be an issue. I think even with out it, you would probably be fine, assuming your PC isn't filled with all sorts of extras (multiple HDs, Optical drives, fans, etc...). But, better safe than sorry... right?

Your father in law is awesome, BTW...

For $140, it is worth it.

 

[Craxbax]

Yeah...but can he play! Old arthritic fingers and slow reaction times don't make for good FPS play! Don't tell us he is beating you on a regular basis. LOL


jk

 

[basketcase]

Playing is probably keeping his mind quick!

It is actually the new thing in old homes and reabilitation centers to use video games to keep people thinking. Specifically, I think the Wii is the one used, because of the physical movement.

But, yeah, hopefully he doesn't beat you a lot...

 

[Craxbax]

For the record...I am just kidding around! I have several friends that are in their 50s and 60s that have been playing FPS from back in the Delta Force days to the current COD4. They are very competitive!

 

[basketcase]

For the record...I am just kidding around! I have several friends that are in their 50s and 60s that have been playing FPS from back in the Delta Force days to the current COD4. They are very competitive!

Me too... I didn't mean to say he should be in a nursing home because he is 66.

It is just cool, because the generation gap for gamers is getting bigger and bigger. I have alway known that I would play video games forever, but I was always afraid that I would outgrow them. Well, I am 27 and I don't think that is going to happen... [:labbai:2]

 

[San Pedro]

Go for it, that's a pretty good price.

My gaming clan has a 60+ year old guy and he plays quite a few FPS games, COD 4 and ET mainly, and he's not bad at COD 4.

 

[Lord Gornak]

Sweet, thanks for the input! LOL, no, he isn't beating me on a regular basis. I usually let him get a few kills on me now and then because he gets frustrated when I pop him 7 or 8 times in a row.

The card I'm getting is from a close friend who is upgrading to a 9800GX2, I see it working pretty regularly and it's about 6 months newer than mine. It has 112 stream processors as opposed to the 96 on mine so I figure I'll keep mine in the primary X16 slot and it should work fine.

Basketcase, same here, I'm 30 and I always figured I would have left PC games behind a long time ago. My dad calls me with questions about his Ninteno DS, my wife plays whatever PopCap game she's interested in until the wee hours of the night, and I have to build yet another system so the twins can play counterstrike at the same time.

 

[Guest]

does a sli 8800 gts 640 96 stream processors work with a new 8800 gts 640 wth 112? i've been wondering... i also have the same dilemma... get another 8800 gts 640 for my 24 inch screen or just wait a year for the next REAL generation leap in graphics cards

 

[Lord Gornak]

From what I saw on the Nvidia SLI forums, the extra stream processors will disable themselves.

I'd say if you can find another 8800 640 for less than $180 bucks I would do it. I think that beats the hassle of selling your old card and then picking up two 8800 GTs or GTS 512s.

Just found this in Firing Squad's review:

"With its unique configuration of stream processors, we asked NVIDIA what would happen if you combined EVGA’s e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC with a conventional GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB card with 96 stream processors. According to NVIDIA “In the case of using 1 96 SP board with 1 112 SP board in SLI configuration, the 112 SP board will still run with 112 SPs enabled, but given most apps use an AFR mode for SLI scaling, the real world SLI performance you will see in most cases will be similar to the performance of 2 96 SP boards.”

So basically the EVGA card would run with all 112 stream processors enabled, but it would perform closely to a conventional GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB SLI setup."

 

[boonality]

Heck even if you don't utilize SLI that much, $140 is still a good price for a good card that will serve out it's life an another computer or assigned to a second monitor if you dont SLI them together. It's still a good buy either way. Specially if you are helping your buddy with some cash towards his upgrade. My buddies and I upgrade off each other quite frequently. Heck I traded an old ATI 9500 Pro for a couple lunches at taco bell one week cause I had no need to get cash for that card and my buddy only needed it for a quick $400 computer build. I say go for it!

 

[basketcase]

Mmmm.... Taco Bell. I know what I want for dinner today!

But, yeah, I would go for it.

 

[Lord Gornak]

Heck even if you don't utilize SLI that much, $140 is still a good price for a good card that will serve out it's life an another computer or assigned to a second monitor if you dont SLI them together. It's still a good buy either way. Specially if you are helping your buddy with some cash towards his upgrade. My buddies and I upgrade off each other quite frequently. Heck I traded an old ATI 9500 Pro for a couple lunches at taco bell one week cause I had no need to get cash for that card and my buddy only needed it for a quick $400 computer build. I say go for it!

I didn't think about the life of the card. Whenever I do end up going 9 series or whatever is after that, I can either SLI a second system with the "old" 8800s or split them up into two systems. Current I've got the 8800, my wife has a 7600, and kids a 6600 (Ti 4600 finally went out a few weeks ago).

Never had any decent spare graphics cards, but I do the same thing with my spare parts, usually for free or next to nothing. It's always amusing when a friend or acquaintance talks about needing a new cd burner or wireless router and they're amazed when you have a spare in your computer junk bin you can give them for free or a 6-pack.

 

[scooterlibby]

Man that is a stellar deal. The second one I got was $100 more than that and still worth it.

 

[englandr753]

I got a pretty good deal for a second EVGA 8800 GTX ANS3 video card for 329.00. I gave 649.99 for the 1st one.

The only problem I see (hopefully it will be different for you) is I got a 450 watt "juice box" and installed it and after setting everything up I got an error message statng that the Nvidia Control Panel detected that one of my cards was not getting adequate power. I called EVGA and they told me that those add on power boxes usually dont work too well.

If theres any way you can hold on to the card and take the money you would spend on the power box and save up for a better psu I think you will be much better off. I have to take my power box back tomorrow and get my 80.00 back to apply to the nearly 300.00 I know its going to cost me for a certified psu.

Dont those cards require 2 6pin connectors each? My board supports 3 video cards so I have to go overkill for a good psu for the 3rd card I will add later...

Just giving you some feedback as to what to expect to possibly happen.

Good luck.

 

[emp]

Here's a PC Power & Cooling (TOP quality) PSU that'll run basically any setup that you throw at it (60 amps on the 12V rail) for $150 + shipping. Sometime newegg surprises me with the kind of deals they have. (What the crossfire edition part means is that it's the red colored version of the Black Silencer 750, that's all)

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Crossfire Edition) EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, RoHS - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011