GTX 260 vs. 2x8800GT's

[bikeracer4487]

So, I have a dilemma. Currently in my system I'm running two 8800GT's in SLI, and they've been great, they've served me well...but it's time to upgrade. Thing is, I'm loving the price of GTX 260's now since I've been able to find them for ~$150. What I'd like to do is to sell one of the 8800GT's and keep the other as a PhysX card. With the GTX 260s, one is about the the same as two 8800 GT's as far as I can tell and since they're so cheap I can get a second one fairly easily...OR, I could save up a little more and get a 275 or even a 285 but I'm not sure if the performance boost justifies the extra money. Opinions and other suggestions are appreciated. One other thing to keep in mind is that my current mobo is a 780i so Crossfire isn't an option.

 

[Hammeh]

If you look at this chart 2 8800GT's actually outperform a single GTX260 but only by a tiny margin. Personally, since only a very small number of games support Physx, you would actually mainly loose performance by doing your suggested upgrade. I would either recommend you get a single GTX 275 or above and keep the 8800GT for Physx or buy 2 GTX 260's and SLI them which would give you a large boost in performance, more than upgrading 1 single card.

 

[bikeracer4487]

Yeah, I saw that, but for most of the newer games the GTX 260 does marginally outperform 2 8800GT's, plus if I went with a 260 it would probably be OC'd whereas the 8800GT's have reference clocks. but you're right, I would definitely need two 260's and based on the 2009 charts a 275 outperforms a 216SP GTX 260 by 10-15 FPS in pretty much every game.

 

[coozie7]

Frankly, spending $160+ on a tiny upgrade sounds like a waste of money.
If you really want to upgrade, go for two GTX260-one now, one later for SLI but be quick, at those prices they are not going to be around for too long!

 

[bikeracer4487]

Frankly, spending $160+ on a tiny upgrade sounds like a waste of money.
If you really want to upgrade, go for two GTX260-one now, one later for SLI but be quick, at those prices they are not going to be around for too long!

Yeah, like I said, if I went with the 260, I'd buy a 2nd one within a few weeks of the first 260 but going with the 260's does kind of limit me performance-wise...I think I'm starting to lean towards the 275...

Also, has anyone tested out PhysX? Is it even worth it to keep one of the 8800's for PhysX use? I have a Q6600 OC'd @ ~3.4GHz