9800 GTX KO SLI vs Step up

[SoulessCorpse]

Which is the best way to go when it is time for my step up? (little under 3 months) Do i grab another 9800 GTX KO when the price goes down, or do i wait and step up to a better single card?

 

[ovaltineplease]

Step-up is always based on MSRP price, and seeing as I doubt Nvidia intends to release a new GPU in the next 3 months - now or later doesn't really matter.

Your options that would be actual upgrades are 9800 GX2, GTX280 - or as you said, SLI another 9800GTX

out of all those options, the second 9800GTX or the GTX280 are the best options for performance. I'd lean towards the 9800GTX SLI setup if I were you, its proven to be a good video array and you can get a second 9800GTX for as little as 200$ while the gtx280 or 9800GX2 stepup would likely cost more than that.

As far as KO vs non-KO; just get a non KO, drop it in your second video slot and overclock it to your KO speed with Evga precision; it should run fine.

The only downside of SLI-ing gpus is that there is some visible microstutter in the g92s; if you are willing to go higher on the cost scale then the gtx280 is apparently very very consistant in terms of gameplay performance - but it will cost you obviously.

I think the best perf/dollar you are gonna get would be the 9800GTX SLI myself. I'd suggest sticking with that and if you want to buy a new nvidia gpu wait until next spring when Nvidia releases its next architecture

Bear in mind, AMD does have good options in gpus now; but from the sound of it you do seem to have an SLI motherboard, so I guess that always has to be considered.

 

[SoulessCorpse]

So the 260 is not a real option, that would be an upgrade of $121. I am leaning more toward a none SLI option only because I have had some bad luck with SLI cards before (Mostly in Company of hero's) however if this is an isolated game, then that would be an option.

 

[ovaltineplease]

Its an option, its just it wouldn't be much of an upgrade for the amount of effort you'd have to put into shipping the card and waiting for it to come back

So thats why I suggested the other arrays.

If you don't want an SLI option then the gtx280 is the next significant upgrade. Or, you can wait for a 4870x2 (unless you dont' like crossfire either) - the 4870x2 is supposed to be very good though

 

[SoulessCorpse]

I had heard that the 512 of mem on the 9800 GTX's make using AA on them in SLI hard. Is this true? That is one of the reasons i was leaning to the 260 because of its memory capacity.