Nvidia Upgrade? or Sli?

[nicholasx2x]

So Currently I'm Running A Single 9800GTX+ thats been tweaked a little bit. I want to do an upgrade But should I Buy another 9800Gtx+ and SLi( I do have the Motherboard to support this) Or should I just Buy a Beefy 295?

I will not be dual screening either way( Just getting a 28" Monitor) so that is not a factor, But Price is. I mean I believe it would be cheaper to Just buy another 9800gtx+ but also I don't alot of knowledge with SLi. ( Do I need same brand, etc) I know it has to be the same card but what about brand?

 

[megamanx00]

As far as SLI goes it's best to get another card that is exactly the same, or at least as close as possible. You want them to have the same clocks and what not. Anyway a GTX295 would be faster, but you should consider the cost and the fact that it is still a DX10 card will soon be outdated once the 300 series is out. I say get another 9800GTX+ and go SLi for now so you can save money for your DX11 upgrade .

 

[nicholasx2x]

As far as SLI goes it's best to get another card that is exactly the same, or at least as close as possible. You want them to have the same clocks and what not. Anyway a GTX295 would be faster, but you should consider the cost and the fact that it is still a DX10 card will soon be outdated once the 300 series is out. I say get another 9800GTX+ and go SLi for now so you can save money for your DX11 upgrade .

Ty For the advice I think thats what Im going to do.
What is the release date on the 3xx series btw?

 

[daedalus685]

Brand does not matter. Any 9800GTX+ will do.

I'd say you shoudl stick with the 9800GTX+ as it woudl be FAR less cash.

A 295 is not a smll investment. A 5870, or 5850 provide much better value at the moment (and they won't win any value awards).

A 295 is 520USD, a 9800gtx+ will cost you 120.... That is not a small jump.

If you want 295 level performance right now, you are best served getting a hard to find 5800 series configuration... I woud just as soon wait though. It is not a great time to buy unless you have to. 9800gtx SLI will certainly play anything well until the new cards are all out and around. Then you can worry about paying 600USD for a gtx380 (or whatever).

 

[daedalus685]

Ty For the advice I think thats what Im going to do.
What is the release date on the 3xx series btw?

The 300 series won't be out until some times in Q1 2010. This starts towards the end of january, and extends until april. If you need that kind of performacne now you need ot go with ATI.

At any rate, SLI is your best option unelss you are playing beyond 1920*1200. You don't need to worry about clocks either, SLI will lower the highest of teh pair to match the slower. It is only an issue in that you are wasting money getting unmatched cards.

 

[OvrClkr]

Get a second GTX and SLI, you should have enough GPU power for most games at high resolutions. The 295 is not worth the cash at this point. Later on next year you can opt for a 5870 or Nvidia equivalent if needed.

As far as SLI'ing both cards, its very easy.. Just slap the second card on the bard and attach the bridge. Then go into bios and enable SLI or if you have a "paddle card" just flip it and you are set. If you are using a 3rd party GPU or program you might have to enable SLI there as well. Same goes for the Nvidia Control panel.

http://www.directron.com/whatissli.html