550Ti SLi is a really bad idea right now, games are consuming more than 1GB, and the 480 has 1536mb of Vram, and will be substantially smoother in games.
It is funny people bring up power consumption, when the 580 consumes the same power, it just throttles itself down.
550Ti SLi is not fast enough for todays games, look around, people are complaining of 560Ti SLi due to the Vram bottleneck.
@ steveroger, no need for personal attacks pal, we all have opinions, but i have facts.
If you have a problem with me, send me a PM and i will deal with you.
No one here has ever said that the 480 isn't good single GPU solution. In fact, many would agree with you that the single GPU is the most elagant configuration for rending games. I have and still hold that position based on my own personal experiences as well as what I have read and learned from others.
However, the question: "what is the most elegant GPU solution for PC gaming" isn't the topic of this thread started by pratmodi. I won't paraphrase what he wrote because it is fairly brief:
pratmodi :
i have gtx 550ti 1 Gb version. now i was getting a another gtx 550ti 1GB but its not in stock ,but another one
1.5 Version is available and its also cheaper by 10$.
i m confused if i will be able to SLI both (1GB and 1.5 Gb Cards) ?
Nvidia says -
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/sli/faq#c19
What is coolbits ? will i be able to SLI both (one 1GB and ohter 1.5GB) using CoolBits ?
You responded to him with:
I would not go SLI, get yourself a GTX 480 or a Radeon 7850.
What you wrote wasn't wrong in and of itself, but it just wasn't responsive to the concerns the pratmodi had in mind. Therefore, he responded to your post with additional FACTS so that he could get the thread back on track to the concerns he was actually dealing with:
pratmodi :
Dude , its not about the GPU , coz i was stuck in a situation when i bought GTX 550 ti for only 75 USD .
i just bought the deal coz my previous card burned out .so i had to take this sort of deal for only 75 USD.
then i thought that i made a mistake coz its not a good enthu. gpu , so i decided to go SLI
At this point, a reasonable person would have made an effort to answer pratmodi about the performance of 550 ti in SLI under the price restrictions that he had laid out. Or simply not get involved further. But you didn't do that. Instead you continued to persist about your personal opinions about single GPU's:
You brought a low end GPU..
As i said before, i would go for a better performing single GPU setup.
Please do not reference me as dude
Let's consider what you wrote here. You do acknowledge that he bought a low cost GPU, but then rudely say that you would have bought a better one. Well, that is just great for you, but does nothing to help pratmodi.
I decided to answer pratmodi question. I have been in similar circumstances where price is a concern--I bought an EVGA B stock 285 2 GB because it was the fastest card I could get for my budget of $100. I decided I wanted even better performance soon thereafter and could only find one 285 at the same price but it had 1 GB of VRAM. I researched the issue and found a solution with Nvidia's coolbits. Therefore, I did have some pretty responsive stuff to say to pratmodi.
Another forum member added probably was the most responsive and respectful comment of the thread. After verifying my coolbits solution he said:
Outlander_04 :
Whether you should SLI is another question . It would be worth searching for peoples experiences SLIing two 550's . You might just be throwing more money at a bad situation
I took a look at the 550 ti benchmarks though google and added that to the discussion. You then went back to your same old story.
I know you are mad because I pointed out that your advice was lousy. Now you have ruffled feathers and have moved on to prattle on about the 580 and it's function with it's power supply and the effacy of pc gaming with 1GB of VRAM. Oh, and you then pontificate the potential disaster of running 550 ti's in SLI due to "people complaining" about 560Ti in SLI due to the VRAM bottleneck. As you have framed these issues with your bombshell that "550Ti SLI is a really bad idea right now, games are consuming more than 1GB, and the 480 has 1536mb of Vram, and will be substantially smoother in games."
This made me giggle like a little girl dancing around the Maypole. Here we have a hodge podge of problems that apparently pratmodi will avoid by buying a single 480 instead of just getting a second 550Ti for SLI. First, I don't buy hook, line and sinker that performance of 1GB VRAM cards is all that bad. In fact, (not my use of the word FACTS) I think there are plenty of games out there and on the way that will play just peachy with 1GB VRAM. Second, 550Ti SLI isn't a perfect performing choice, but it can and will do the trick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbXTctPyv9A; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1EFqbJf4Bk.
Sure, it is a FACT that a single GPU is better than a muliple GPU solution. But it is also a FACT that SLI and Crossfire are reasonable and functional configurations. When deciding to go SLI/Crossfire price and performance often go hand and hand. Here, pratmodi tells us that he has one 550Ti already that he purchased due to his limited funds. Now he wants to upgrade for better performance and is asking if a 550Ti with a 1.5 VRAM is a workable solution. The factual answer--my answer (take special note here recon-uk) is yes coolbits lets you do this. THIS IS A FACT recon-uk not an opinion.
The price consideration here is what is the cost of adding the 550Ti 1.5GB? I don't know the price, but if it is less than a single GPU that gives comparable performance to 550Ti's in SLI then it is is a reasonalbe thing to do. However, this question is really up to pratmodi. I don't know exactly what his budget is. But I do know he can run 550Ti's in SLI with differing VRAM and get decent performance. Is it worth it? Perhaps.
All the rest of the crap that recon-uk goes on about is largely his opinion. His first sentence here, that "550T SLi is a really bad idea right now, games are consuming more than 1GB..." Just isn't a fact. This is an opinion. Just because he claims at the end of his post that "we all have opinions, but I have facts..." doesn't make it so.
And your invitation to go to PMs. No thanks. I have no interest in having some sort of private relationship
with you.
What I said was that you have no relevant point in this thread and that you can't stop jacking yourself off with the same old story. 
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