8800 GT SLI vs. 5870 - a significant improvement?

Welcome to the forums!

You are correct, a 5870 is roughly 25% faster than your current 8800GT SLI.
If the game is memory constrained (most all 8800GT's have only 512MB RAM) you should see higher performance boosts...

Someone on another site said they got much more than a 20% increase in this upgrade case. So thats why i ask here.
Anyone else done this specific upgrade?

I have no solid idea TBH, I suppose it would at least slightly depend on the rest of the hardware you are running.

Personally, I currently have two 8800 GTS's in SLI, and I've decided to wait until I can get some more solid information on the new nVidia card comming out this month.

I'm still building the rest of my system when I get my tax return this week though.

Just my $.02

Well, you can always get a 5970 if the 5870 won't do  

Anyway, 2x8800GT's should be good enough IMO for some time around. Just lower post processing and some filtering (AA being the most "expensive" filter).

Cheers!

Just keep in mind that the video card may not be your only limiting factor. The suggested specs reference a quad core CPU. Just an example that there could be other issues at play here.

My brother was running a older Core 2 Duo and upgraded to a Q9400 and seen an amazing difference in game play, while running on a single 8800 GT.

Just something to consider.

I was in a similar situation you are, I was able to play the game but just wasn't happy with what I was seeing. I have since ordered Core i5 and a HD 5870 to remove any doubt as to what was the cause. A room mate and two more monitors are in the future for the 5870 so we will see how everything goes then.

Good luck

A 5870 will crush sli 8800's at high resolution with AA enabled.

While were on the topic of 8800's, how much faster is an 8800GT 512 than an 8800 GTS 640MB? Im asking because my friend has an 8800 GTS 640 and it seems like its overheating alot, and im looking for a replacement? Since its an older gen, are the now mid range cards better than it? If so, what is the cheapest card that has better perf.

If it's overheating, try looking for an HSF replacement fast; might suffer thermal death for faulty soldering in the chip (yay, witch hunting again! lol).

If we're talking on "tech" for games alone, nope, the 8800GTS is very capable still.

Cheers!

Thanks! Does newegg sell the replacement HSFs? I wouldn't hesitate in replacing it since the warranty is gone  

Oh and tbh that card was amazing I bought it in 2006 and it's lasted me all the way till last September when i gave my old pc to my friend and got the one in my sig  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

The VF1000, while a little "old", it will be plenty to cool off that 8800GTS. There are others, though. If you find a cheaper one, post it and we'll let you know if it will work.

Cheers!

That one looks really nice, but would this work too?:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
they look small, but as long as they cool better than the stock it'd be alright

And thanks in advance man!

Well, the 8800GTS actually gives a lot of heat... A VF700 might be cutting it too close IMO. It draws like 20W more than a 7900GTX wich the VF700 was designed for in its time, so I wouldn't recomend it without someone giving a positive experience with it on a 8800GTS (or more; a X1900XTX, for example; heat wise, lol).

Cheers!

My CPU is a Q6600.

I figure upgrading the CPU without changing anything else is not cost effective, right?

Just a feeling or do you have any specific numbers ?

Incorrect. A 5870 will be much more than 25% faster than two 8800GTs (except maybe if you're counting benchmarks that include low resolution, low graphics, or CPU bottlenecked games).

8800GT/9800GT ~ 4830 < 9800GTX/GTS250 ~ 4850 < GTX260 ~ 4870

5870 = 2x 4870s

A 4850 is about 16% better than a 4830, and a 4870 is about 20-21% better than a 4850.

In graphically intensive games, I'd reckon a 5870 is about 40% better than two 8800GTs in SLi.

SLI Scaling issues aside...
GTX 280 ≤ 2x8800GT ≤ GTX 285

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334&p=11
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3501&p=2

GTX285 ≈ 20% slower than a 5870



Ergo, SLIed 8800GT's are roughly 25% slower than a single 5870 when not memory or scaling constrained.

@ trextech,
A stock Q6600 could very well be holding you back, both with your current GPUs and a newer one.
I would highly recommend slapping an aftermarket CPU cooler on it then overclocking to at least 3.2Ghz.
This will allow you to use most of your 8800GT's potential and, besides the cost of a reusable cooler, is a free upgrade.

These charts are usually fairly accurate and both have the 9800x2 as weaker than what you are saying;
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-graphic...
http://www.overclock.net/graphics-cards-general/502403-...

Every performance test I run on my PC indicates my recently purchased GTS 250 OC is a good 38% faster than my elder 8800GT (PNY XLR8) was.
I can imagine what an SLI config could run but you guys are talking bigger numbers.

I find Toms Hierarchy Chart to be a bit off and the other you post seems a bit suspect in places as well  
I guess it really depends on which games, resolutions and settings you take into account.
At the OPs 1920x1200 resolution, as compared to the more oft pushed but quite irreverent 2560x1600, it really is a quite close race between the GTX 280, 9800GX2 and 8800GT SLI (9800GX2 is to bridge between reviews as it performs about the same as 8800GT SLI).

Well, I guess I will let what few benchmarks I have been able to rediscover speak for them self.
Sorry for the small scope, it is not quite as easy as I had hoped to locate some of these older comparisons.
Remember, the 1920x1200 results are what is most important here...

8800GT vs 9800GX2

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx_9800gx2/6.h...
http://www.computerbase.de/news/hardware/grafikkarten/n...
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article/2008/03/17/xfx_ge...
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334&p=11

9800GX2 vs GTX 280

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334&p=11
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-280-review-te...
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/palit_9800gx2/6...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-gtx-280,1953...
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/nvidia_...
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_28... <= Overclocked GTX 280
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-r... <= Overclocked GTX 280

From there, the above chart from Techpowerup gives a quite good generalisation of performance to a 5850 or 5870.
If I am missing something, or you have any benchmarks you would like to add to the fray, just let me know!

upgrading from a 7800GTX sli to 5870 blew my knickers off

My sli setup doesn't hold me back and plus I can go above 16x aa, 32xq in Fallout3 is amazing.

Thanks for all the replies guys.
Was already planning to OC the CPU.

Still undecided about the card, its always a waiting game isnt it?  

Just wanna throw this out there. I still have 8800GT in SLI in my rig (Core i5, 4gb ram, intel 80gb SSD) and I play on 30" 2560x1600 and BF2BC plays VERY well. Like mostly locked at 60FPS with no filtering and all other settings HIGH.

That means it would destroy that 1920x1200 resolution....