9600GT SLI or 260GTX

[MattLock]

The threads title says it all.

I currently have a BFG 9600GT and want to upgrade. I could get another 9600GT to run in SLI for $80 or get a 260GTX for $180. I have looked at benchmarks but ultimatley is the extra $100 worth the fps increase ? I have never run a SLI system and understand it can be a hassle though. Then again if i did go with the 260 i could run the 9600 as a dedicated physics card.

Does anyone have a similiar experience or system ?

Any suggestions ?

 

[JrRacinFan]

Gtx260.

EDIT:

Oooh interesting ...

Do you currently have the necessary SLI motherboard to accomodate? Oh and GTX260 wouldn't need the dedicated 9600GT for Physx so I would sell your current card and put the funds towards the new card.

 

[newtekie1]

Go with the 260.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Also one other question; What resolution do you game at?

 

[zanzabar]

Also one other question; What resolution do you game at?

u dont need that question the g8x/9x are trash in comparison and 2 9600 is a joke

edited

 

[Kursah]

u dont need that question the g8x/9x are trash and 2 9600 is a joke

???

Last I checked the 9600GT's were the best scaling NV GPU's in SLI out of the g8x/g9x series of GPU's. Many gamers still use them, in fact my G/F's gaming on a 9600GT that is heavily OC'd without issues in modern games. I would still say go with a GTX260 depending on the situation, but the g8x's and g9x's are not crap imo. Resolution can play a big factor with budget, how long the op wants the product to last, if they plan to upgrade monitors later on, how often they upgrade and so on. Donating helpful posts is recommended on TPU.

 

[zithe]

Gtx260.

EDIT:

Oooh interesting ...

Do you currently have the necessary SLI motherboard to accomodate? Oh and GTX260 wouldn't need the dedicated 9600GT for Physx so I would sell your current card and put the funds towards the new card.

or make a dummy dongle and use the 9600 to fold!

 

[JrRacinFan]

u dont need that question the g8x/9x are trash and 2 9600 is a joke

And u don't need to troll either.

**sighs**


@Mattlock

I still say a GTX260 would work out well for you!

 

[LittleLizard]

go for the gtx 260, sell the other 9600gt and save for another 260 and sli that

 

[DaedalusHelios]

u dont need that question the g8x/9x are trash and 2 9600 is a joke

Looking at charts helps. Go on, don't be afraid. 9600gt SLI compares fine.

Tom's Hardware - Benchmark Totals

 

[MKmods]

I am in freakin love with my 9600GTs in SLI. If your mobo is SLI than its an easy answer for me.

The 260 is also a good choice, but to me since you already have 1 of the 9600s and they are so cheap right now (I paid $179 each for my ECS 9600GTs a while ago)

I run a 24" at 1920 X 1200 with everything at max.

One other tidbit, if your mobo uses the newer PCI X 2.0 than X8 is the same bandwidth as the older mobos with PCI X 1.0 at x16

 

[DaedalusHelios]

Just make sure your motherboard supports SLi first.

 

[Ketxxx]

My vote goes on the 260 216. Once its OCd its a VERY nice performer.

 

[MattLock]

Wow, what a response, thanks everyone.

I do currently have an EVGA 750i ftw Motherboard with PCI Ex 2.0 slots.

I have a Antec Truepower 850w psu.

I game on a 22" lcd at a resolution of 1680x1050.

Thanks again for the input !

 

[eidairaman1]

id only say the 9600SLI if your strapped for cash, otherwise the 260 will provide plenty of horsepower.

 

[ShadowFold]

9600GT SLi would be funner but a little slower than a 260. I would go with the 9600 SLi myself.

 

[MKmods]

well you have plenty of power, thats for sure.

Either way they will kick butt on a 20" (everything at max)

 

[wolf]

its a great decision to have to make... an SLi setup can prove very rewarding and ALOT of fun.

I have a 9600GT 1Gb in a second rig at the moment that I absolutely love, never had the chance to SLI them tho.

However i have also owned a GTX260 and they are an amazing card, $180 US is figgen cheap for that kind of horsepower, and she should last longer than 9600GT SLi, as it has a bigger framebuffer, 2x512 mb is still 512mb.

 

[PP Mguire]

Everybody is missing one big factor.

Your CPU is not fast enough for SLI. If you plan on overclocking your e8400 then id say sure go for the SLI but at that speed it will even bottleneck a single 260.

What does your wallet say it wants to do?

 

[eidairaman1]

I dont think it will bottleneck that bad as compared to a stock q6600.

 

[Rock God]

260 mate.

 

[zanzabar]

???

Last I checked the 9600GT's were the best scaling NV GPU's in SLI out of the g8x/g9x series of GPU's. Many gamers still use them, in fact my G/F's gaming on a 9600GT that is heavily OC'd without issues in modern games. I would still say go with a GTX260 depending on the situation, but the g8x's and g9x's are not crap imo. Resolution can play a big factor with budget, how long the op wants the product to last, if they plan to upgrade monitors later on, how often they upgrade and so on. Donating helpful posts is recommended on TPU.

sorry meant in comparison. and with the price of the 9600 at just under $100 and the 260 under $200 there isnt a point in anything lower on the NV line since there isnt linear price to performance scaling. then with sli u ether have to go p2 or 1366 or u get a junk chipset

Looking at charts helps. Go on, don't be afraid. 9600gt SLI compares fine.

Tom's Hardware - Benchmark Totals

toms is biased and has a tend to not install drivers correctly and use NV chipsets without configuring the bios letting a card like the 9600 change the pci-e few and oc itself without acknowledging it in the tests, and with q3 the gt200 didnt have good drivers

 

[PP Mguire]

I dont think it will bottleneck that bad as compared to a stock q6600.

My e8400 bottlenecked SLI 9800s at 3.9ghz. Im sure at 3.0 it will bottleneck real bad some 9600s.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

My e8400 bottlenecked SLI 9800s at 3.9ghz. Im sure at 3.0 it will bottleneck real bad some 9600s.

Its GPU and SLI scaling. Bottlenecking isn't the right term. I made the same mistake for a while until I realized I was wrong. All modern GPUs scale based on CPU's but not as much as 3dmark benchmarks want you to believe. The CPU will not make as much of a difference. I went from 3.6Ghz (OC)Q6600 to operating it at stock(2.4Ghz) both on 9600gt's SLI and I lost 2 frames per second. Not a big deal.

 

[Error 404]

If you can overclock those 9600 GTs to anywhere near their max speeds, then go with the SLI option. 9600 GTs scale really well in SLI, and I've heard they can even compete with a 9800 GX2.
9600 GTs can also typically OC a fair bit higher than G92 based GPUs, from what I've seen.