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Is it worth going SLI with 8800GTX?

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I'm currently thinking of going SLI. At the moment, I have one 8800gtx and I'm thinking of going with two. But I am concerned about a few things and would like some opinions. My first concern is will I encounter a bottleneck when going sli with such powerful cards. My hardware is listed in system specs.
I am currently running the card with 4x AA, 16x AF, and in games such as F.E.A.R., BF2142,
COD2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I have no problems at all. I get high framerates in all games that I play.
I'm currently playing at 1680 x 1050 resolution. But i am wondering with upcoming releases such as Crysis and Bioshock , will I start to run into issues with performance.
Most benchmarks that I can find showing performance of 2 8800gtx's in sli, they are usually tested at 1920 x 1200 res or higher and with quad core processors.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
 

pt

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no, unless it's for benches or a big ass monitor
i would wait to see how one 88gtx performs in crysis before get another
 

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Well, it's hard to say. There was that one instance of a single 8800 GTS breaking the Aquamark world record, beating GTX's in SLI by miles. That was with a 5 GHz Core 2, though. Just stating for fact, your CPU will be bottlenecking if you get SLI. It's up to you, really. There will be a difference for sure, just not sure if it will be worth the price.
 

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May not be worth the price now, but when stronger performing cpu's are released and cost of 8800's go down, it may be worth it later.

Remember, this is coming from "nothing but a budget junkie".
 

nflesher87

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-Get another if you like to show off your PC and benchmark scores
-Otherwise don't
---unless you have watercooling you're most likely going to have heat problems with two of them in the case
---wait until those games come out and if you feel there's enough of a performance increase then I guess do it (that way you don't waste your money now plus the card will be a least a little cheaper by the time SLI will make a difference with GTXs)
 
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use the money and go to the "dark side" instead bro, get a decent mb and a quad 6600!!!

that board you have now is nice but the ol amds just can't get up there with those conroes atm...
 

nflesher87

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use the money and go to the "dark side" instead bro, get a decent mb and a quad 6600!!!

that board you have now is nice but the ol amds just can't get up there with those conroes atm...

I definitely agree with mafia...don't waste the money on an extra GTX you don't need
get a 680i LT mobo and Q6600!!!
 
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Well, it's hard to say. There was that one instance of a single 8800 GTS breaking the Aquamark world record, beating GTX's in SLI by miles. That was with a 5 GHz Core 2, though. Just stating for fact, your CPU will be bottlenecking if you get SLI. It's up to you, really. There will be a difference for sure, just not sure if it will be worth the price.

aquamark is an old, outdated benchmark which responds to cpu speed much more than gpu power, in my old opteron rig i got 100,000 with my x1800, and only 105,000 with an 8800gts, yet the gts is WAY faster in games.
However i really cannot hardly see any difference (a couple of fps max) from my 2.8ghz opty (with ddr1@495cl3) to my 3.4ghz c2d (with ddr2@950cl4), point being that (in my opinion) his 3ghz x2 will not prove a bottleneck at all (except in 3dmark and aquamark)

id also like to take this opportunity to vote the words bottleneck, bottlenecked, and bottlenecking as the most overused, annoying tech words out there (yes even more so than next gen, and anything mis-spelt to begin with x)
 

nflesher87

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aquamark is an old, outdated benchmark which responds to cpu speed much more than gpu power, in my old opteron rig i got 100,000 with my x1800, and only 105,000 with an 8800gts, yet the gts is WAY faster in games.
However i really cannot hardly see any difference (a couple of fps max) from my 2.8ghz opty (with ddr1@495cl3) to my 3.4ghz c2d (with ddr2@950cl4), point being that (in my opinion) his 3ghz x2 will not prove a bottleneck at all (except in 3dmark and aquamark)

id also like to take this opportunity to vote the words bottleneck, bottlenecked, and bottlenecking as the most overused, annoying tech words out there (yes even more so than next gen, and anything mis-spelt to begin with x)

all valid points but we determined he doesn't need SLI, it won't give him a dang in performance increase since the single GTX is so powerful but the Q6600 would be a huge upgrade technology-wise...he'd be future proofing with quad-core and getting I'm sure better performance
 
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the main point i was making, is that the rose tinted, greener grassed world of core 2 is a bit underwhelming if youve come from a decent speed amd (which he already has) i actually consider going to intel a bit of a mistake, sure, benchmarks tell me its a lot faster than my old rig, games (which are a lot more gpu dependant than cpu dependant) tell a different story

and judging by the fact that quad cores dont overclock very well (and the trouble games developers are having getting 2 cores working, let alone 4), i cant see it being a worthwhile upgrade
 

hat

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I honestly think you would see a bigger performance increace by getting an E6850 for $266 on July 22 and of course a decent mobo.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142 Here's the mobo
Intel price cut chart
 

nflesher87

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you guys are probably right, either no upgrade at all or the e6850 (which will be much more useful with high fsb and not overkill with 4 cores) but I'd have to disagree on that mobo hat I believe those got bad reviews with regards to overclocking but don't quote me, I'd just go the extra mile for 680i since we know he has the money available if he was willing to get another GTX
 
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i would agree and say dont go sli and go intel with a good mobo and cpu.... i will be borowing my bro's 8800gtx in a few days, so i will be doing some 8800gtx sli benchmarks.
 
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At 1600x1050 SLI 8800GTX would be a massive waste.

I would imagine every game you have should run pretty much maxed out now so I don't see any point of upgrading at the moment.


The following review shows the difference between a top end X2 (6000+) and a high end C2D in real world games with a a8800GTX SLI setup.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI2MiwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

In some cases despite the maxed out resolution its quite a surprise what differences there are between the two processors.
 
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thats an fx62 in that test

we are going to pit AMD’s high end Socket AM2 Athlon 64 FX-62 (2.8GHz) against Intel’s Core 2 Duo X6800 (2.93GHz)
 

hat

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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128018
Oh here's a DS3 then.

No SLI, but he wouldn't need it with an 8800GTX and a 6850. Not a snowball's chance in hell.

I hear the 680i sucks, so I went with a 650i...

Here's a thinker. The heat generated by two 8800GTX would probably cause a nuclear fission reaction. :rockout:
 

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nah, you should just buy one of us an 8800gtx instead.
 
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either buy 1 8800GTX or just a 1 2900XT, no reason to go with 2....
 

hat

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hat

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Or, you could just get 2 6000+. Quad core is useless today. Tomorrow, who knows...
 
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