A few SLi and Brand questions

[Fiztandantibus]

Hello Everyone,

I am trying to find a cheap second hand 8800GTS to go in SLi with my current eVGA 8800GTS 640MB (not the KO edition) and I have a few SLi beginner questions:

I have an Antec TruePower 750W bronze award PSU I believe it is enough to run 2 8800s isn't it?

Do I have to have the same model exactly to go in SLi with the one i have or could it be say a 9800GTX?

If it has to or it is better for it to be the same model does the brand who manufactured it carry a great importance. I know for example that eVGA is quite reliable as well as XFX but i saw a few from Point of View and BFG. Does anyone know whether or not any of these brands are reliable because some have quite a few deals on them.

Thank you for your help and time

 

[BroHamBone]

Hello Everyone,

I am trying to find a cheap second hand 8800GTS to go in SLi with my current eVGA 8800GTS 640MB (not the KO edition) and I have a few SLi beginner questions:

I have an Antec TruePower 750W bronze award PSU I believe it is enough to run 2 8800s isn't it?

Do I have to have the same model exactly to go in SLi with the one i have or could it be say a 9800GTX?

If it has to or it is better for it to be the same model does the brand who manufactured it carry a great importance. I know for example that eVGA is quite reliable as well as XFX but i saw a few from Point of View and BFG. Does anyone know whether or not any of these brands are reliable because some have quite a few deals on them.

Thank you for your help and time

That should be enough power to run 2 8800's.

As far as SLI'ing the cards, it has to be the same "model",brand does not matter. i.e. another 8800gts.

Now, if you SLI'd your 8800gts w/ a 9800GTX it would be a waste of money. The 9800GTX would downclock itself to run at the speed of an 8800GTS.

I have never had experiance w/ Point of View. BFG Technologies is a good company.

If you have any other questions post some more!

 

[Fiztandantibus]

Thank you for your help

Does the model refer to the architecture only or does it have to have the same memory (meaning I should be looking for another 8800GTS 640MB) or will the 512MB or the 320MB versions work as well?

 

[BroHamBone]

Thank you for your help

Does the model refer to the architecture only or does it have to have the same memory (meaning I should be looking for another 8800GTS 640MB) or will the 512MB or the 320MB versions work as well?

Um, as far as architecture, i believe w/ new series cards the architecture changes. Anyone further that answer?

-Well i would look for another 8800GTS 640MB. If you get the latter 2 then your current card will downclock to that speed.

 

[Fiztandantibus]

So it is all a question of achieving similar clock speeds so that one does not bottleneck the other. And this also means that when overclocking them they should be overclocked to the same ratings to make it effective

By architecture I guess I meant the model stock clock speeds I am not quite the best with the correct terminology I am still new to clocking and so forth, only just got a rig that is worth OCing.

Waow i just found a possible deal on an 9800 GX2 for only £26 or $40 which may be a better option yet!

 

[BroHamBone]

So it is all a question of achieving similar clock speeds so that one does not bottleneck the other. And this also means that when overclocking them they should be overclocked to the same ratings to make it effective

By architecture I guess I meant the model stock clock speeds I am not quite the best with the correct terminology I am still new to clocking and so forth, only just got a rig that is worth OCing.

Waow i just found a possible deal on an 9800 GX2 for only £26 or $40 which may be a better option yet!

That would be a better idea. How much money are you looking to spend though?

And what is your total system specs?

 

[Fiztandantibus]

Total rig is

My Rig:

CPU: Intel Core i7 860 @ 4.1GHz and 40C idle
Motherboard: Asus P7P55D-E PRO
PSU: Antec TruePower 750W Bronze rated Modular
Cooling: Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B Processor Cooler
Memory: G-Skill Ripjaw 2x2GB

Just built it and i am too thinking it would be a better bet to go with a single 9800GX2 if I can get it for that price. I am trying to save as much as I can because I focused most my money on the core components I needed to get so I still have a 7200.08 Barracuda Seagate for the OS HD and a 7200.10 500GB for games. But I notice my GFX card is in need of an upgrade so for that price I think it looks to be a decent upgrade for the time being.

Would you concur?

 

[BroHamBone]

Total rig is

My Rig:

CPU: Intel Core i7 860 @ 4.1GHz and 40C idle
Motherboard: Asus P7P55D-E PRO
PSU: Antec TruePower 750W Bronze rated Modular
Cooling: Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B Processor Cooler
Memory: G-Skill Ripjaw 2x2GB

Just built it and i am too thinking it would be a better bet to go with a single 9800GX2 if I can get it for that price. I am trying to save as much as I can because I focused most my money on the core components I needed to get so I still have a 7200.08 Barracuda Seagate for the OS HD and a 7200.10 500GB for games. But I notice my GFX card is in need of an upgrade so for that price I think it looks to be a decent upgrade for the time being.

Would you concur?

Hrm, would you be willing to spend the money on a GTX 260 or ATi equivilant?

 

[Fiztandantibus]

If its not over the £100 or 150$ yes because I cannot afford too much right now

 

[Fiztandantibus]

What is intrinsically better of the 260 or 275 GTX over the 9800GX2? The graphics and shader clock ratings as well as the memory memory are very comparable and the 9800GX2 seems better than the 260GTX on paper

 

[BroHamBone]

If its not over the £100 or 150$ yes because I cannot afford too much right now

4870's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161292&cm_re=4870-_-14-161-292-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102825&cm_re=4870-_-14-102-825-_-Product

gtx 260

http://www.amazon.com/GeForce-448-bi-1998MHz-Graphics-ZT-X26E3KG-FSP/dp/B001MW1LNU/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270551375&sr=8-7

 

[Fiztandantibus]

Nice cards, I'm in the UK unfortunately.

I think some Radeon are too big for the chassis I have since they are beyond 10.5"

 

[BroHamBone]

What is intrinsically better of the 260 or 275 GTX over the 9800GX2? The graphics and shader clock ratings as well as the memory memory are very comparable and the 9800GX2 seems better than the 260GTX on paper

Well, me personally would choose the 260 over the 9800gx2. And the 275 is of course slightly better than the 260. But if you were going to overclock, hit it up the 260. Im pretty sure there is a substantial price difference between the two.

 

[Fiztandantibus]

humm I do agree newer is better and that the 260 GTX is better at overclocking. But for the price I could get the 9800 GX2 which is currently your 40$ it just seems so much more of a saver for now. The cheapest 260 I can find in the UK is £155 which is 236$

 

[Fiztandantibus]

Ah as my luck would have it it appears the seller has admitted it needs repairing... so ok back to square 1 and considering a 260 GTX

 

[BroHamBone]

Ah as my luck would have it it appears the seller has admitted it needs repairing... so ok back to square 1 and considering a 260 GTX

Ouch. Well, save some money up. Are you biased against ATi? I have never owned and ATi card. I have played on a computer that used one though.

If you will be satisfied buy a 9800gx2 , by all means go for it. I was just keeping in mind "upgrade potential"

 

[Fiztandantibus]

I do agree upgrade potential is something worth investing in. I am not completely biased but i have had 2 ATi's burn out on me even when I didn't know what overclocking meant (and hence hadn't performed it) one of those graphics cards cost me nearly the failure of a project hand in.... but more importantly some of the better off ATi cards are greater than 10.5" depending on manufacturer and if its close to 11" it would be a really hard squeeze in with the HDD rack. I know for a fact that all nVidias are always 10.5" up to the latest and would all fit nicely.

I guess I also wanted to upgrade now since I am seeing my other components fly well together and wanted to upgrade asap within this hype. But I guess i can wait a month and get up to £200 or 300$ if I am very very good and try to go for something higher up.

 

[Fiztandantibus]

Thanks for your help I will just have to wait at this stage sigh....

 

[cromedome]

i think you should look around for a Radeon 5770 as it gives similar performance to thr GTX 260 and the 5770 only costs about $160.00

 

[Fiztandantibus]

Humm it does have a good price I do admit. Some people say its quite noisy but beyond that seems good. They sell the XFX HD 5770 XXX 875Mhz 1GB GDDR5 for only £10 more over the simple XFX HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 is it worth the difference or its basically the same just factory OCed for you so I'd be paying for what I can do myself at home?