Is it really worth it? SLI or no SLI?

With a system like that buddy, You will be playing new games on high settings with pretty good fps easily for the next year, very well into 2012. Once you start noticing you CAN'T play them on high settings, that's when you buy another GTX 560 TI (which will be dirt cheap by then, probably around the $120 range) and SLI them. Your system will then easily do another year's worth of games on HIGH settings.

After that, when your GPU is two generations old, that's when you scrap them both and get a new card.

To show you what I mean,

I have Phenom II x4 955 (not as good as your cpu), 8 gb ram, 2 HDD's and a 9800 GT (released mid 2008) and I can run BF2 on all high settings except AA with around 35-40 fps. Very Very playable and very very good. Though in games made to be a pain in the ass on your system, this card starts to show its 3 year old age.

Not bad, never start with sli from the get go as it can prove to be a expensive mistake when an unexpected upgrade is required.

I may be able to provide you some insight as I already own a 560ti and I'm pushing it to it's limits. I am considering a second 560ti myself because I have read the performance gains are actually quite impressive. I play at 2560x1440 and get around 25-30fps in Crysis 2 all maxed out with:

Q6600 @ 3.0ghz
4gb DDR2 @ 800mhz
Nvidia 560ti

I want a consistent 40fps+

I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread because I am tempted to get another 560ti  

Yea but in 2 years there are gonna be pretty good graphic cards out there and i will probably be in the same situation as people that have gtx 260 now and think if its better to go sli or buy a single 560ti... And most people than decide to buy a 560ti since the gtx 260 is pretty old...

Buy one get one later that is what I call sli on the cheap. Sli when the second card is less than half the cost of the original and the combined performance of the two cards is greater than what would be considered as an upgrade in the single card department. If already pushing it's limits and want to contenue to get you money worth then go sli. 2 years I am not sure that fermi era cards are going to have long enough life span due to poor cooling ect. The only problem with the gtx 560 ti is the thermal pads and stock cooler but great mid plate.

keep in mind with the sli upgrade option you may be missing out on new features and technologies that come with new generations of video cards, such as a new version of directx. also keep in mind in addition to the cost of the psu and motherboard, the cost of the extra power required to run the card. also running cards in sli will usually get you more driver issues and some games dont even recognize sli and so basically you are stuck with the performance of a single old card. for these reasons i prefer to stick with single card solutions

I would HIGHLY recommend this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

It gives you the power of two gpu's on one PCB; freeing up space in your case, some say it's on par and possibly better than the gtx 580, it would stay a lot cooler than two cards side by side, and gives you the option to buy another card and SLI them to get the power of 4 gpu's in the future. However, this card requires a beefy power supply of 700w or more, if you POSITIVELY have your mind set to buy another one and SLI them; your going to need at least a 1000w PSU. DO NOT be cheap about the power supply you buy, modular and good quality are key to a stable and long lasting machine!

Hope this helps!

Sincerely,
-JuicyCrapachino

With U.S. parasites printing dollars rather than earning them, before too long people will finally realize this example of fiat currency is as bogus as any other, which is to say: it's worthless. It is no longer possible to realistically assert that prices will [continue to] fall; I rather expect some time this summer they're going to start climbing like crazy.

You cannot SLI that video card

  Sorry, misinformed! Forgot to check if it was SLI compatible, just assumed it was... Thank you for the correction Maverick! God I feel stupid right now  

Hi i have the same config. but the CPU is at stock speed without the GPU, what MB do you have ?

Good point.

Thats what i am thinking too...

Or just wait 10 years and buy the GTX 10,000 and install it in your virtual reality helmet so you can play games while your robot drives your space ship to work.

Yet again I have to disagree, getting a second card a year or two later might not be possible as I found out when I tried to get a 7900GT a few years back and by the time a second card becomes a 'must have' there will more likely be something else anyway thus ruling out the need for a second card of the last generation whilst in the meantime you could have all the firepower of a bigger more expensive card at less of the cost and also having the side benefit of still being able to game on a single card should something go wrong with either of them and an RMA has to happen.

Not every one lives in the UK or in the jungles of Borneo. I have had no problem finding cards years after they have mostly disappeared from normal retail. Then again I am not in Euro land where cards have to be smuggled in like contraband to avoid the vat  

And not everyone lives in Texas or other lands of abnormal retail habits and stock levels.

eBay, Amazon, newegg, and Goodwill  

Are you sure that card ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... ) can't be run in SLI? If you look at its circuit board, the SLI contacts are there...

IIRC EVGA have said that was a mistake on their part.

Not to change the topic for this thread or anything, but I've always had a question about the card I linked above. Let's say you play a game that does not support multiple graphics cards? Does the game recognize that there are 2 GPU's on one card and only use the power of one, or does it just recognize it as one complete card and take advantage of both GPU's? Also can the card be used on a motherboard that does not support SLI? Thanks in advance!

There won't be or shouldn't be any major compatibility issues unless you are playing vintage games. Any modern game though will run as normal but only using just one card that being the top card.