Need a suggestion on SLI

[blerb]

Okay, so on my first build, I am thinking on getting an 8800GTS, which is no doubt a great card. But some of my friends and I think it would be cool to have a SLI setup. Can anyone recommend a good graphics card, that when paired with another of its kind, would equal the 8800GTS, or be better? Seeing as the 8800GTS is $200-$270, I would like to keep a possible SLI setup in that price range too. Thanks for the help!

 

[ovaltineplease]

9600 GT x2 is as close as you will get.

 

[blerb]

That is a bit pricey, but I'll try it out I guess.

 

[ovaltineplease]

It will outperform a single 8800 GTS 512, and you might be able to find them for a decent price (125 a card) if you look around

I'm bored enough to check newegg, hold on

 

[ovaltineplease]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150304

XFX model is 139.99 on new egg, so 280$ for 2 of them I would suppose - there is no rebate so that is the price as listed.

Bear in mind there are new GPUs coming soon, so it might be worth waiting at least 2 weeks as there may be a price drop on 8000 series cards after the new generation is out.

THG does list 9600 GT SLI as a great bang for a buck array this month, check the articles->components->video section at the top of this page to find it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150306 - for 169.99 you can get this "Alpha Dog Edition" which comes with call of duty 4 (assuming you don't own the game yet, its a decent buy for one of your cards.)

 

[blerb]

Okay, will check out. Thanks!

 

[menetlaus]

Why go SLI on your first build?

I'll admit all my knowledge on SLI/crossfire is second hand, but I know their used to be major driver issues that prevented many games from using the second card. This may not be as big of an issue as it once was, but I personally hate fighting with driver setting and would take the simplicity of a single card solution over a multi-card setup anyday (and yes I realize that makes me a heretic on sites like this).

If you look at the June graphics card list, it has the 8800GTS for $210 and dual 9600GSO's for $260. The comment there says:
"and two 8800 GS cards in an SLI configuration will provide some impressive gains over a single 8800 GTS in specific titles and resolutions."
So if you know your going to be playing these specific games/resolutions then the extra money might be worth it.

Don't forget in going SLI you need a (generally) more expensive motherboard and power supply.

So to me the question boils down to for over $100 more, is the potential improvement in FPS (and bragging rights for using SLI) worth it to you?

BTW. I've got the 8800GTS, paired with an E2180 at 3GHz it tops 11500 3dmarks06.

 

[ovaltineplease]

I'm an SLI user myself and i'm quite happy with it and i've had no compatibility issues in quite some time. There are very few games which cannot utilize it.

I would not get 9600 GSO, but the 9600 GT is a good card for its price.

I use dual 8800 GT myself and its excellent; however unless you really like Crysis (which I actually do, lafff), a 9600 GT SLI setup is more than sufficient for most users I think

Nvidia 750I SLI chipset boards are generally pretty inexpensive; I got my EGA 750I SLI FTW for 199.99$ which is most certaintly more expensive than some boards, but it is great quality/performance and features for that price point.

SLI is no more or less simple than single card - truthfully its about as complicated as installing only 1 video card, except you pop on the SLI bridge and have to connect power to 2 video cards instead of 1. Its actually really not complex at all =)

Running an SLI system can be a great way to get exceptional performance value for your money. I recommended the 9600 GT SLI just because it does outperform it to a good degree for a marginal cost increase. The 8800 GTS 512mb card is an excellent single card solution by the accounts of many people, although i've never run it myself.

 

[Flakes]

i would not get sli with any cards apart from the top of the range 8800GTX, or new 98 series.

 

[ovaltineplease]

i would not get sli with any cards apart from the top of the range 8800GTX, or new 98 series.

Thats not an option for the OP - his video array can't cost more than 280 ish. I don't think you can even buy one 9800 GTX for 280 can you?

 

[Mousemonkey]

Why go SLI on your first build?

I'll admit all my knowledge on SLI/crossfire is second hand, but I know their used to be major driver issues that prevented many games from using the second card. This may not be as big of an issue as it once was, but I personally hate fighting with driver setting and would take the simplicity of a single card solution over a multi-card setup anyday (and yes I realize that makes me a heretic on sites like this).

If you look at the June graphics card list, it has the 8800GTS for $210 and dual 9600GSO's for $260. The comment there says:
"and two 8800 GS cards in an SLI configuration will provide some impressive gains over a single 8800 GTS in specific titles and resolutions."
So if you know your going to be playing these specific games/resolutions then the extra money might be worth it.

Don't forget in going SLI you need a (generally) more expensive motherboard and power supply.

So to me the question boils down to for over $100 more, is the potential improvement in FPS (and bragging rights for using SLI) worth it to you?

BTW. I've got the 8800GTS, paired with an E2180 at 3GHz it tops 11500 3dmarks06.

And my 8800GT SLI rig tops 17,000.

 

[ovaltineplease]

And my 8800GT SLI rig tops 17,000.

lol, quoted indeed. quoting synthetics is kinda silly, but quoting a synthetic with a 11k score is really silly

 

[scottie]

i have 9800gx2 quad sli and it was out performed by 2x8800gt i get lower fps now on cod 4 when everything is on low than i did with the 2 gt and i could run them on med-high

 

[dos1986]

I had 8800gtx in sli and found it pointless, only game that needed such a card was Crysis and Sli in that game is a joke, 5fps extra for €300

9600gt sli is a super little set up, two of them are faster than a high end 8800Ultra in nearly every game, 8800gs give terrific results as well..

 

[blerb]

Okay, I still have not decided whether to go SLI or 8800GTS. If i go SLI, Iwill have a dual 8800GS, or a dual 9600GSO, to stay low cost. 9600GT is still a possibility, but it is pretty pricey. I am not really sure which one would be better bet. I have been recommended to get the 750iSLI, but I have heard about a lot of driver issues known to come with the with the 700i series. Apparently, some don't even have 45nm support. Can anyone recommend a reliable SLI motherboard, that is preferably under $200, +or- $20

 

[Mousemonkey]

lol, quoted indeed. quoting synthetics is kinda silly, but quoting a synthetic with a 11k score is really silly

:lol: Sorry 'bout that but I felt strangely compelled.

@blerb, Does it have to be the 700 series chipset? because you should be able to get a pretty good 680i board for not a lot of cash and from all the reviews I've read the 700's do not appear to be that much faster, cooler running or power efficient, or I'm reading the wrong reviews. [:mousemonkey:4]

 

[menetlaus]

lol, quoted indeed. quoting synthetics is kinda silly, but quoting a synthetic with a 11k score is really silly

While I agree that synthetic benchmarks will not line up with the real world performance at a specific use (ie game, resolution, graphics settings), but they can give a rough idea on how different setups compare, and not knowing what the OP plans to do with his system (and knowing some fairly constricted $$$ requirements) a 3dmarks result in the 10-15k range is probably what he's going to end up with.

I'd also like to point out that it's my CPU that's really keeping this number down, but I'm happy with this one for now and will go quad or 45nm core once those prices drop some more.

But out of curiosity, are you saying 11K from a E2180 and 8800GTS is a silly low score, or silly compared to the top scores (~25k IIRC) and what many people on the forum here are using (~20k).

Mousemonkey: Quick price check
My system core: E2180 ($90) + 8800GTS ($200) + Mobo ($140) = $330 - what I paid in CAD over the last few months
Yours: E8400 ($200) + 8800GT (2 x $160) + Mobo (I'm assuming $200) = $720 - Approx. Today's prices in USD on Newegg.

3dMarks to price ratio:
You - 17000/720 = ~23.5 marks per dollar spent
Me - 11500/330 = ~34.5, so price per performance ratio on a synthetic benchmark I'm getting about 50% higher.

I could have put together a system that would top 20k marks, but as mine already gets 60+FPS in Bioshock at my monitor's max resolution with all the settings maxed, I didn't see the need to pay several times the price for less than double the real world performance (and IMHO anything over 40FPS is not needed anyways).

 

[Mousemonkey]

While I agree that synthetic benchmarks will not line up with the real world performance at a specific use (ie game, resolution, graphics settings), but they can give a rough idea on how different setups compare, and not knowing what the OP plans to do with his system (and knowing some fairly constricted $$$ requirements) a 3dmarks result in the 10-15k range is probably what he's going to end up with.

I'd also like to point out that it's my CPU that's really keeping this number down, but I'm happy with this one for now and will go quad or 45nm core once those prices drop some more.

But out of curiosity, are you saying 11K from a E2180 and 8800GTS is a silly low score, or silly compared to the top scores (~25k IIRC) and what many people on the forum here are using (~20k).

Mousemonkey: Quick price check
My system core: E2180 ($90) + 8800GTS ($200) + Mobo ($140) = $330 - what I paid in CAD over the last few months
Yours: E8400 ($200) + 8800GT (2 x $160) + Mobo (I'm assuming $200) = $720 - Approx. Today's prices in USD on Newegg.

3dMarks to price ratio:
You - 17000/720 = ~23.5 marks per dollar spent
Me - 11500/330 = ~34.5, so price per performance ratio on a synthetic benchmark I'm getting about 50% higher.

I could have put together a system that would top 20k marks, but as mine already gets 60+FPS in Bioshock at my monitor's max resolution with all the settings maxed, I didn't see the need to pay several times the price for less than double the real world performance (and IMHO anything over 40FPS is not needed anyways).

Now that you have made up some numbers to justify your rig I feel it's only right that I let you know you have assumed incorrectly, I didn't pay $720 US or CAD.

P.S I'm not American or Canadian.

 

[menetlaus]

Now that you have made up some numbers to justify your rig I feel it's only right that I let you know you have assumed incorrectly, I didn't pay $720 US or CAD.

P.S I'm not American or Canadian.

I never said you paid $720 (I admit having zero info on what you actually paid), what I said was to go to newegg and buy the CPU and GPU's in your configuration and the ~$200 board the OP is looking for would be $720. Since what you paid has no bearing on what the OP will pay, I went by the prices listed on a major parts vendor as a rough idea of what it would cost retail.

I then used the 3dmarks score you gave and showed even though you had an much higher number from a synthetic benchmark, it would cost more than twice as much to buy it in the first place.

To me a 50% synthetic performance increase is not worth a 120% price increase, as any real gaming FPS differences between the two are going to be much less than 50%.

I then pointed out that in a current and somewhat demanding game, I get very good framerates with what I'm using and am very happy with it.