8800 GT SLI vs. 5770

Mar 23, 2004
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I'm looking to upgrade from my single 8800GT. My monitor is 1650x1050. The options I'm looking at are to pick up another used 8800GT and go SLI or to sell my 8800 GT and get a 5770. Both options should be about the same net cost with the used 8800 GT possibly being a bit cheaper and not having to deal with trying to sell mine. Looking at benchmarks it seems the dual 8800GT will still be a good bit faster at my max resolution. Does anyone have any reason why I should go with the single GPU over the SLI solution?
 

Skurge

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2009
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Scaling issues, and the 5770 would use less power and produce less heat.
 

blanketyblank

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2007
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That and they would be slower when the VRAM isn't enough. I don't recall seeing 1 GB 8800GTs so I assume you have 512 MB models. You probably won't encounter the limitation often at 1680 x 1050, but I can think of a few instances where you might.
 

Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
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I would go 8800GT SLI... it should be much faster.

Have you seen DX11 images lately? They look the same as DX10... which looks the same as DX9...

'Future proofing' is pointless here. A second 8800GT would provide better performance for a longer time than a 5770 and you wouldn't be able to xfire the 5770's assuming your current board is SLI.
 

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
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DirectX11 is the obvious reason to go with a 5770 but I would recommend you get another 8800GT for SLI if your motherboard supports it. This is what I am currently running and it was very cost effective even 1 1/2 years ago when I purchased them.

Both ATI and nVidia should have a new series of cards out before end of the year which is when I plan to purchase.

There are currently no DX11 games I would want to play. Is Battlefield:BC 2 even DX11?
 

Attic

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2010
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The tricky thing with going SLI later rather than initially is that once you decide to pair another card with your older existing card, it's likey some cool shit is out.

The 5770 qualifies as cool shit IMO, and would be my reccomended card if the prices of your two options are close.

5770 is going to be a lot faster in newer titles than 8800GT, not sure how it'd pair up vs 8800GT SLI (8800GT is ~70% of GTS250 which the 5770 crushes), but you going to have to rely on really good scaling (Read: Unlikely) in all the games to have comparable performance.

5770 has twice the VRAM, will make a difference in some games now and in the future. DX11 features qualifies as cool shit and I think as a gamer you're going to want to have the option of using DX11 when you are buying new games that take advantage of it.
 
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Patrick Wolf

Platinum Member
Jan 5, 2005
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Does anyone have any reason why I should go with the single GPU over the SLI solution?

As others have said, performance of SLI will depend on scaling. A single 5770 should be plenty for your resolution.

I went from a 9800 GX2 to a 5770. It's actually considered a downgrade in performance (that is, when scaling is good), but I definitely prefer the 5770 because of less heat, noise, and not worrying about SLI issues.
 

AzN

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Nov 26, 2001
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8800gt SLI > 5770 but in limited vram situations the 5770 could overtake it.

8800gt SLI is slightly faster than GTX280. 5770 is slower than GTX260 for the most part.
 

Pohemi

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2004
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You should go with 5770 SLI

5770 (ATI) is not capable of SLI, and very few boards are capable of both SLI *and* Crossfire...

I'm currently using (2) 8800GT cards in SLI on an EVGA 780i mobo. I've also been considering switching them out for a newer, single card solution. I'm thinking I might wait for the next gen cards though since my current setup has given me no problems (23in 1080p display), I just figured I can likely get the same or similar performance from a newer gen card, with less power consumption and heat.
 

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
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I'd go for the 5770 now as it uses less heat, less power, and will produce less noise. On top of that if your 8800 SLI scales properly, it will only be a few FPS slower but offer more features (DX10.1/DX11/Eyefinity (don't try this on a single 5770) and if you factor in OCing (which I've read the 5770 does well) it just might edge out the 8800 SLI.

And, if you can sell your 8800 for a few, you can XFire two 5770s and your performance just passed a 5850.
 

TC91

Golden Member
Jul 9, 2007
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Get another 8800GT as it would be much faster than a single 5770 or jump to something better than the 5770 as a 5770 won't give you too much of a gain over a single 8800GT for the price.
 

Alex@Nosound

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Apr 23, 2010
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Get another 8800GT as it would be much faster than a single 5770 or jump to something better than the 5770 as a 5770 won't give you too much of a gain over a single 8800GT for the price.

Agreed

8800GT SLI can usually keep up with a GTX280.
 
Mar 23, 2004
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I won an auction for an identical 8800GT on ebay for under $60. For that price it was a no brainer. I will probably upgrade my whole system within a year and a half so I figure this should get me by until then.
 

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
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I think that was the best decision under the circumstances. You don't have to change (uninstall / install) drivers this go around and can save that for the next system upgrade. I still don't have Win7 and will wait to do that all at the same time.
 

exar333

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2004
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If you can get an second 8800GT for <$80, it's the best way to go. If you get a killer deal on a 5770, and are able to sell your 8800GT for an OK amount, then that isn't a bad option either.

IMHO the 5770 is overpriced; I would wait until the 5850 is closer to $200 and then upgrade.
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
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I won an auction for an identical 8800GT on ebay for under $60. For that price it was a no brainer. I will probably upgrade my whole system within a year and a half so I figure this should get me by until then.

That was an awesome deal. Grats. The 8800GT in SLi will be substantially faster than a HD5770. You shouldn't care about DX11 with a HD5770 as it's too slow to utilize it anyway. All in all, for the money spent, it was the best decision.
 

killster1

Banned
Mar 15, 2007
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if the 8800gts had lifetime warranty id go with them, but recently like 2000 people on the forums had their defective 8800gt die hehe, so good luck, and have fun with your setup sli will sure look more impressive but will waste electricity ;/
 

Patrick Wolf

Platinum Member
Jan 5, 2005
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Hm, I think I remember reading about SLI being incompatible when you pair a G80 with a G92. Original 8800 GT's are G80, newer one's are G92. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
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Hm, I think I remember reading about SLI being incompatibility when you pair a G80 with a G92. Original 8800 GT's are G80, newer one's are G92. Correct me if I'm wrong.

There are no "original" 8800GT (so G80 models). The G80 had 8800: GTS320, GTS640, GTX and ULTRA. And that's it. Then nVidia tweaked the core a bit, went down to 65nm and created the G92 - hence the 8800GT and 8800GTS 512MB were born. And then the renaming and further manufacture process shrinking started (9800GT, 9800GTX, 9800GTX+, GTS250 and the OEM-only GTS240)
 

Patrick Wolf

Platinum Member
Jan 5, 2005
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There are no "original" 8800GT (so G80 models). The G80 had 8800: GTS320, GTS640, GTX and ULTRA. And that's it. Then nVidia tweaked the core a bit, went down to 65nm and created the G92 - hence the 8800GT and 8800GTS 512MB were born. And then the renaming and further manufacture process shrinking started (9800GT, 9800GTX, 9800GTX+, GTS250 and the OEM-only GTS240)

Ahh, thanks. Must've been thinking of the GTS's then.