3x9800GTX+ sli comparison/vs/chart/performance...

[crash189]

Hey all.

I will be re-building/upgrading my 2nd rig in about 4-6 weeks.. been amassing various parts for the past 2 months.

Question regarding my graphic card setup... I will be using 3x9800GTX+ video cards in triple sli. From what I've read, I should expect 2.8 times the performance of ONE 9800. But what I'm asking is this: what single video card would my 3 compare to performance wise?

And for the record.. I'm NOT worried about noise, case space or power consumption(rent includes hydro AHAHAHA)... and if the rest of the specs of my rig would matter in the comparison.. I have this: 2.93ghz X6800 extreme cpu oc'd at 3.5ghz, 6GB of 1066mhz HyperX ram oc'd around 1155mhz I think, 1600watts of PSU juice and a Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 mobo. Vid cards are gonna stay at factory specs, not gonna oc them.

I've looked/searched around.. found many 2x setup comparisons.. but not many 3x or 4x.. and couldn't find any charts either.

More curious than anything... the whole project is more of a hobby than anything else.. the wife knits, I play with computers .

 

[Helltech]

Were did you hear you would get 2.8 times the performance? The last I checked with my 260s (which are more mature when it comes to SLI) the third card only added about 15 percent more performance. It was like 80 percent for the second card, and then 15-20 percent for the third card. Barely even doubling the performance of one card on average.

Even in the 400 series cards the performance increase isn't as great as that.

Here is a GTX 470 example; Crysis Warhead @ 1920x1200
1 Card = 41 FPS
2 Cards = 68 FPS
3 Cards = 84 FPS

 

[crash189]

Looking now for where I'd of read that.. but I did read it. Went like this.. 2 cards, doubles.. 3 cards, 2.8x. Read it in multiple areas/threads/posts/specs/etc.. regardless.. Just trying to get a "comparison" for the 3 9800s.. what would a single card be the sli setup's best match?

This'll be my first sli setup.. which is why I'm doing it, to learn and play around with the stuff a bit! Like I said.. the wife knits, I play with computers hehehe

Were did you hear you would get 2.8 times the performance? The last I checked with my 260s (which are more mature when it comes to SLI) the third card only added about 15 percent more performance. It was like 80 percent for the second card, and then 15-20 percent for the third card. Barely even doubling the performance of one card.

Even in newer cards the performance increase isn't as great as that.

Here is a GTX 470 example; Crysis Warhead @ 1920x1200
1 Card = 41 FPS
2 Cards = 68 FPS
3 Cards = 84 FPS

 

[Helltech]

Found this if it helps you.

 

[crash189]

Here's one link... http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-9800-gtx/description

Were did you hear you would get 2.8 times the performance? The last I checked with my 260s (which are more mature when it comes to SLI) the third card only added about 15 percent more performance. It was like 80 percent for the second card, and then 15-20 percent for the third card. Barely even doubling the performance of one card on average.

Even in the 400 series cards the performance increase isn't as great as that.

Here is a GTX 470 example; Crysis Warhead @ 1920x1200
1 Card = 41 FPS
2 Cards = 68 FPS
3 Cards = 84 FPS

 

[Helltech]

Thats just marketing. Even the 600 series (their newest series which is leaps and bounds ahead of the 9000 series) you don't get that kind of increase out of SLI, especially TRI-Sli. Trust me, coming from someone who has SLI, I can tell you I don't have double the performance, I wish though.

 

[crash189]

Ok.. so almost 60fps at the one lower res.. hmm.. and what's a comparable single card that would give out these numbers? I just want to know.. a friend of mine is just razing me as in using 3 cards is silly vs having one card.

Then again.. 6 sleeved PCIe connectors just looks awesome. 3 matched cards kissing each other looks awesome. And "free" hydro is awesome too. I recon that the 3 card will be sucking back over 400 watts by themselves...

When we get the new house.. I might not be using this rig as often as the other one.. unless I want to hear the wife sqawk.

Found this if it helps you.

http://assets.overclock.net.s3.amazonaws.com/0/03/034467b2_vbattach69375.gif

 

[crash189]

OUCH. Considering we're not even seeing 9800s in this chart.. and the "lowest"'s got an 8% of the reference score.. wowzers!

Either or.. I'll be happy with my project.. didn't pay much for the cards, and it'll keep me busy for a while. Maybe I'll get a "real" card later on this year..

I'd still like to get a reference comparison to a single card that has/would have the same specs as the 3 9800s...

Thats just marketing. Even the 600 series (their newest series which is leaps and bounds ahead of the 9000 series) you don't get that kind of increase out of SLI, especially TRI-Sli. Trust me, coming from someone who has SLI, I can tell you I don't have double the performance, I wish though.

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_680_SLI/images/perfrel.gif

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_SLI/images/perfrel.gif

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_580_SLI/images/perfrel.gif

 

[Helltech]

Those reviews I was showing weren't for the 9800s sake, it was to show you that SLI scaling =/= double performance for one more card.

Its hard to tell what would equate to performance of TRI 9800 GTX. The only review I found they didn't specify what settings they were running Crysis at.

If i had to guess with expertise, I'd say I'd rather have a single GTX 460, even maybe a 5830, 6790, 7770 anything around that range of performance.

 

[crash189]

Ok.. I'll take your word for it, you've got a bit more experience with the technology over me

I'd be content with that comparison.. unless someone's got a different opinion.. always open to conversation/debate!

I just find it almost insane to spend as much on a video card as one would spend on the whole computer.. well.. the mobo/ram/cpu combo... the new gtx680/690 are retailing for 500/1000 bucks! Nutty.

Those reviews I was showing weren't for the 9800s sake, it was to show you that SLI scaling =/= double performance for one more card.

Its hard to tell what would equate to performance of TRI 9800 GTX. The only review I found they didn't specify what settings they were running Crysis at.

If i had to guess with expertise, I'd say I'd rather have a single GTX 460, even maybe a 5830, 6790, 7770 anything around that range of performance.

 

[Helltech]

Yeah well with hardware the best of the best is always overly expensive (and unnecessary), 680 being the best single GPU card, and 690 being the best card out. Everything else is priced equally to its performance really.

You can get a 6850 which is a great mid-range card with good performance, better than Tri-SLI 9800 GTX i'd gander, for about 140 dollars.

 

[mouse24]

I would also recommend a 6850/6870, IIRC the 9800 performs close to the 5670, so if you can find a benchmark of those crossfired plus a review of the 9800 crossfire performance you can probably guesstimate the relative performance.

 

[goombaxiv]

Before I upgraded my GPU I was running 2 9800gtx+ in sli. I was running BF3 at medium setting at 1680 * 1050.

Now im using a 7850 OC and im running BF3 at ultra 2msaa 1080p.

Also im using a lot less electricity.