Another gtx 280?

[mrsemi]

I just got my i7 rig & replaced a power supply because I thought it had gone bad. I have the gtx 280 ssc and if I sli I'd like to match it.

Newegg has the vanilla gtx 280 at 249.99 with a $20 rebate which is actually cheaper than evga's b stock.

I believe the vanilla and ssc will work together at stock frequencies (anyone confirm?) and I'm wondering if it's worth holding off or do you folks thing the jump for sli won't really make much difference?

[AltecV1]

do you feel like the gtx 280 ssc is not suffisent anymore?

[RX-7]

you may be able to overclock the card to match the other but make sure you use the one that has the lower clock in the primary slot. It will down clock the other one to the clocks of the slower card

[mrsemi]

Originally Posted by AltecV1

do you feel like the gtx 280 ssc is not suffisent anymore?

Not for age of conan with eye candy.

[rampage]

i thought the same with my rig when i was changing mobo's im just going to hang out untill DX11

[AltecV1]

Originally Posted by mrsemi

Not for age of conan with eye candy.

then dont spend money on another gtx 280 multi gpu solution is a pain in the ass!,it is not worth it.

[pbmaster]

Originally Posted by mrsemi

Not for age of conan with eye candy.

How do you figure that? I was able to run that game nearly maxed on my current rig running DX 10 and it played fine...

[mrsemi]

Originally Posted by AltecV1

then dont spend money on another gtx 280 multi gpu solution is a pain in the ass!,it is not worth it.

I've never done sli or xfire, is there much more to it than connecting the two cards?

[mrsemi]

Originally Posted by pbmaster

How do you figure that? I was able to run that game nearly maxed on my current rig running DX 10 and it played fine...

Do you do battlekeep raids. I'm just getting back in the game, when I left it was pure terror on this card and at other times in pvp.

I hate losing to lag spikes and due to the pvp mechanics in that game you can't afford it as melee.

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by pbmaster

How do you figure that? I was able to run that game nearly maxed on my current rig running DX 10 and it played fine...

you also have a 19" screen, and he has a 24" screen - makes a world of difference.

[pbmaster]

I know that, but is the money really going to be worth the difference? Honestly if I were you I'd just wait until the new cards come out, if you can stand to turn down the graphics a bit. Not saying that to be sarcastic, I know how it is to spend a ton of money on your PC and not have it do exactly as you want.

[ShadowFold]

Originally Posted by AltecV1

then dont spend money on another gtx 280 multi gpu solution is a pain in the ass!,it is not worth it.

And you're basing this off of?... I've had quite a few multi-GPU setups, no SLI, but I'd imagine SLI would be just as good, if not better, than Crossfire.

[r9]

For me one GTX 280 would be enough. And multiple VGA is always cool . If you have the money why not. I would be waiting for DX 11. GTX 280 would be enough while waiting.

[AltecV1]

Originally Posted by ShadowFold

And you're basing this off of?... I've had quite a few multi-GPU setups, no SLI, but I'd imagine SLI would be just as good, if not better, than Crossfire.

stuttering,tearin,slowdowns,crashes and the ridiculas amount of noise,heat and power consumption are all the pleasent things that comes with multi gpu solutions NO THANKS!!! if you dont belive me Google it and you will be much smarter on thease subjectes

[ShadowFold]

Originally Posted by AltecV1

stuttering,tearin,slowdowns,crashes and the ridiculas amount of noise,heat and power consumption are all the pleasent things that comes with multi gpu solutions NO THANKS!!! if you dont belive me Google it and you will be much smarter on thease subjectes

I had none of those except the noise and heat thing, but that shouldn't bother anyone. I don't need to google anything, I've run plenty of multi-gpu setups.

[Cold Storm]

in my time playing with sli on 280's, they run below 50c even while running graphic heavy game, w/ everything set up all the way. the heat really isnt the problem with the 280's. but, i myself, really only use one card while playing anything. 280,285,& 295 are all card (imho)that dont need to go sli. the only reason i even did was because a friend had one at a great price. i say for right now i would wait for the new sets of cards to come out. save your money for the next bog thing

[CDdude55]

If ya got the money and cooling then sure why not.

Generally when you put a faster clocked card with one thats slower, the faster one will underclock itself to the slower ones speed.

Now, you can SLI the vanilla and SSC card, but as long as the cards are from the same family and architectures are identical then yes you can use different brands.

[largon]

Multi GPU = fail.

Stuttering. Doubled power consumption < double performance. Stuttering. Cost of ownership. Doubled loss of resale value. Stuttering. Increased noise. Stuttering. Stuttering.

[subhendu]

stick with ur card....sometimes sli will give bad results...

[mrsemi]

Well I ended up getting a 2nd card.

I will confirm a couple of things people mentioned. Getting these cards in was a huge pain, I had to remove a hard drive. I can't use my front usb connectors, the card didn't have enough room to cinch down with those connectors there.

The computer is louder and hotter though not enough to notice when gaming. Age of conan isn't showing any real improvement, the stutters are still there. Star wars galaxies seems to show faster load times but it could be in my head. Running dual instances of the game is where the two cards really help, swapping between games is lightning fast, alt tab and you're there.

Call of duty world at war came with the 2nd card, I ran it with one & two cards, couldn't really see a notable difference.

3dmark06 score only went up 3.5k, didn't do a futuremark test yet.

All in all it probably wasn't worth the investment, I know I was warned... Even still I don't think I'll need to worry about a new system for a very long time and I'm enjoying the minimal increase I see.

[phanbuey]

Wait... what? Dual instances of the game? Faster loading times...

An extra card in SLI should not do any of those things... you should be able to crank the eyecandy and have no loss in framerates in older games, and be able to run the graphically intense games much, much faster.

[CDdude55]

Agreed, Video cards have nothing to do with the loading times, if you want faster loading times, look into HDD's/SSD's.

Play some more games with em if you can and see if you can turn on all the goodies. I think those games you tried don't really use much multi GPU power. Also as mentioned try some older games and see how they do(theres a demo for Half-Life 2), if your getting bad frames, somethings wrong.

Also make sure SLI is enabled and your drivers are up to date and are freshly installed if you think your not getting its full potential.

[mrsemi]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

Wait... what? Dual instances of the game? Faster loading times...

An extra card in SLI should not do any of those things... you should be able to crank the eyecandy and have no loss in framerates in older games, and be able to run the graphically intense games much, much faster.

From this location to that location it seems to load quicker to zones. As far as dual instance, I mean

Account A, main account with 2 alts who are officers to obtain in game buffs
Account B, used to buff give entertainer buffs and group the officers to give myself officer stims.

I know for certain SLI has an effect with two instances of the same game going. The load times between point a and point b do seem faster as well.