SLI is it worth the money

[|D|-Char-ley_Killa]

ok i am thinking about doing SLI, but to do this i need a new mobo and a second vid card. :|: the cost of all this is about 500 bucks maybe more!

[reciprokal]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

my mobo supports SLI..... but i have never used that feature..


i don't think it worths the money to have dual vid cards, unless you put two top notch video cards(like 7800GT/GTX)

a single video card(7800gt/gtx/x850) should able to handle new games pretty well

[|D|-Char-ley_Killa]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

yeah im thinkin bout just saving for the mobo, becuase i have a 6800gt. then save after that for a 2 7800gtxs or a newer one by that time

[imported_Fig]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

ONE 6800 GT with 2 gigs ram and a good procesor (AMD 3500+ or better i think) will run BF2 on all high, with 4x AA and at 1280x 960 resolution, from all the bencmarking and reviews i have seen and read.

I dunno about SLi, it can run current games at insane frammates at huge resolutions (think 21 inch monitor at least), but my guess is there will be something better or SLi will be a lot cheaper when you actually need it to run modern video games fine, so I personnally wouldnt go buy it. thats just me.

hopefully you can get some people who have SLi, and some who don't to post in here to say how there comps stand up to bf2.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/review.php?directory=xfx_geforce_7800_gt_preview&page=3

that review says one 7800 can play bf2 at about 78 fps in 1280 by 960

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2466&p=1

and this site has a nice comprehensive review of lots of setups for bf2.

[|D|-Char-ley_Killa]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

i have 2 gigs of ram and a p4 3.2 and a 17 inch dell ultra sharp moniter so i dunno

[imported_Fig]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

I think a 6800GT would be fine with that for all high settings on 1280 960.

As you have a 3.2, im not sure, but i think taht might actually slow down a 7800, and im pretty sure it would slow down any SLi configuration.

the other important thing with sli is that you have to have a big power supply.

a single 6800GT will get by on 450 watts, but an sli system will need 500, and dual 7800s probly need 550 or more.

[ud!t]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

I seriously DO NOT reccomend getting SLI unless you are both are hardware nerd and you have too much money. You could get a decent card (like my 6800GT) or a 7800GTX if you want and they will run bf2 fine with high settings, then you will have saved lots of money to spend on a card which will actually do something good later on.

See, as soon as a better card than the 7800 comes out having SLI will look stupid. Not only that but the software has to support it to make any difference, and when a better card comes out believe me you would want one of them over two worse cards.

My computer (look at sig) runs bf2 on high no lag, not even with artillery and it's all smooth. I have never understood people who spend way way more just to get something slightly better, particularly when the price will go way down as soon as something better comes out.

And btw, hardly anyone has full top end rigs:

http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

how many people even have 7800's.. 0.36%. Not many is it?

[djstubbs]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

There's no purpose to SLI unless you're buying two 7800 GTX cards.

One 7800 GTX surpasses everything out there, besides maybe two 7800 GT's, but I haven't seen benchmarks.

[JAG_Scooly]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

i have amd 64 bit sli deluxe.3200 prosser, 2x 6800gt 256 graphics cards, 4 gigs 3200 ram 500watt power supply.and im loveing it it runs great.have no lag in bf2 and everything set on high .just need to upgade my internet connection tho it sucks.got dsl but soon to go to fiber 15 megs. spent a lot of money on my system just a little over $2100.im very happy with it.but its all on home much you are willing to spend.

[King Raa]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

Here's an idea you may not have considered.
SLI Board - One 6800gt - then in a year you get another cheap to boost power.

[|D|-Char-ley_Killa]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

yeah i was thinking that but it seems that 1 7800gtx is as good as 2 6800gt's

[abtomat74]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

SLI is an enormous waste of money. Especially the people saying TWO 7800's!
One 7800 most likely exceeds the capabilities of every processor out there, so what do you think happens when 2 are used?

Far Cry for example, is still CPU limited when tested with an FX-55!!! Read the tests yourself, they all say the same thing about Far Cry...as just one example.

Another glowing beacon of light nobody seems to catch onto: many games have fps caps on them. BF(100), Doom3(60), BF2(100), GTA:SA(60?), and many many more of your favorite games...so what is the point of having cards that offer 173fps if your game only allows 60-100? And why do you need more than 60-100 anyway?

By the time a game comes out that does sink your fps to the ground, then you go SLI...which is precisely what SLI was intended for...to get more life out of an aging system(1.5-2 years).

I do not think it was ever intended to be used with top of the line cards the day they come out. But they market them as such because of a man known as P.T. Barnum, who said: "a sucker is born every minute". A fool and his money will soon be parted.

Back to the point above. When said game arrives that your SINGLE 7800 can't handle, you bet there is a newer(CHEAPER) card available that blows the dust out of that last generation 7800(or whatever card), or more specifically, blows the dust out of TWO 7800's running SLI.

Remember, SLI is not doubling your power, it is only giving around 50% more than a single card. So it is 1.5 cards.

So, why not buy a single card, and with the money you save from NOT buying another can be applied to the newer card that comes out 6 months later? Now you can sell your still new and nasty 7800 for the 8800 and always be on top.

Lets face it, even with the seemingly unlimited bank account of the dual 7800 buying people, even they think twice about buying 2 more cards within a years time.
My method alleviates this problem by always giving you the best card with the same or less money spent in that timeframe.

Conclusion: unless you have an FX-55/FX-57/SuperP4, SLI is COMPLETELY wasted because your CPU can't keep up with it...besides being a waste of money even if you have those CPU's.
The majority of the TOP level cards now, somewhat exceed most CPU's that are used with them anyway.

SLI exists because the world is full of people who spend little or no time researching what it does do, and cannot do. In other words, the developers are banking on our stupidity.

[djstubbs]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

I got a kick out of what you said abtomat, because most of it is true.

But the fact of the matter is, that SLi IS only worth it if you have a huge monitor, plan on playing with max settings, and are using two 7800 GTX's.

If not one 7800 GTX tops everything else out there.

[Vw-Merv-CL]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

I have a 7800GTX SLI set up and one thing to be aware of is that dual monitors are not supported when SLI is enabled, wish i new this before going SLI! my framerate is anywhere from 40fps to 95fps (averages above 60) with everything on high, really depends on the map, but one of these cards smokes every other card, i wouldnt advise an SLI set up with these monsters unless you are gonna put an FX-57 processor with it, i think my pentium 4 3.6 is a bottleneck for them. i should really go AMD but its too late, i have to be happy with my setup now cause im off to australia new year and this is where my cash is now going

Pentium 4 3.6ghz
Gigabyte GA-8N SLI Royal
2gb DDRII 667 RAM
2 x Gigabyte 7800GTX
Audigy 2 ZS
74gb Raptor HDD
19" TFT (8ms)

[Wynterheart]

Re: SLI is it worth the money

sli is probably more geared to people who do 3d modeling and stuff like that i would think.