8800GTx2 or 8800 GTXXXXX?

[NinjaJedi]

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: NinjaJedi

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
ok, it's cool to attack the nvidia guy, but didn't the OP specifically ask about NVIDIA products? it's not like the OP said "I'm considering a 3870 or a 3850 512, which is better?". rollo is probably a pretty good person to talk to about differences between nvidia products.

My post was never meant as an attack. I apologize to all if it seemed that way. You are correct that the OP was asking about NV products and Rollo is probably one of the better people to answer those questions. The thing that gets me is the fact that no one said anything about Xfire being better than SLI or vice versa. Yet rollo wrote a long post arguing that issue. I do understand him wanting to give good info about NV based products but why did he have to start posting things about the pros and cons of SLI vs Xfire when no one was saying one was better than the other.

Actually they were, look at the post I was replying to.

krnmastersgt took the approach the GT SLi would not be the route to go because "That's the major reason I think that most people don't bother with SLI since Intel chipset boards can only run crossfire. "

I stated why that's not a good reason to avoid SLi boards. I gave facts about the tech being discussed, you discussed the poster.

I didn't know I had anything to do with GTXs or SLi, how are you "on topic" and me "off".

I guess you read into differently than I did. I took what he was saying as people can't run SLI cause they are buying Intel based M/B and SLI can not be run on Intel based boards. He never said Xfire if better at all. Those words were never used. If anything he was saying that Intel based M/B are more popular than NV based ones. Of course you will disagree even if it is true. I think it would be better for you to just answer the question at hand and help the OP instead of going off topic and trashing ATI anyway/chance you can. I like both companies (NV & ATI) and I can admit when one beats the other.


Something to report back to NV about:
IMO I think it is kind of stupid for NV not to license SLI to Intel. I understand that they want to sell NV based M/B and they might think that a license to Intel would kill the NV based M/B market. I doubt that would happen. If they only have SLI on NV systems they make more money by selling the NV based M/B. That is a plus for NV but they lose the chance for a sale of 1 extra (possibly 2 with tri-SLI) NV based GPU for those that purchase a Intel based M/B and a NV GPU. If they had SLI on Intel based M/B I bet a lot more people might be willing to try SLI. So they lose money on everyone who goes with a Intel based M/B yet they could make up that loss with the possible sale of an extra (or possible 2) NV based GPU.

Maybe there is more to it than that but that is my thoughts on it.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
That wasn't what I meant Rollo, I wasn't saying there's a reason to avoid SLI boards, I'm just stating that most people prefer the Intel chipset boards for better OCing on their cpus, and almost all modern Intel boards can only run CrossFire. And guys give Rollo a break, if there was any info he posted that was wrong tell him/us the correction, don't blatantly flame him just because he has a history here.

Fair enough. I'd still pick the SLi driver flexibility over a higher OC, but to each their own. To a RTS gamer the OC might be more important.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: apoppin

we can also point out an additional fact he left out about Crossfire - it's ability to use "mismatched" GPUs - together - while allowing a separate overclock on each one.

I actually forgot that one, I don't usually consider it a "positive". If you're a 3870 owner, you shouldn't slow down your 3870 with a 3850 IMO- you should spend the extra $50 and get another 3870.

You are correct though!

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: NinjaJedi

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: NinjaJedi

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
ok, it's cool to attack the nvidia guy, but didn't the OP specifically ask about NVIDIA products? it's not like the OP said "I'm considering a 3870 or a 3850 512, which is better?". rollo is probably a pretty good person to talk to about differences between nvidia products.

My post was never meant as an attack. I apologize to all if it seemed that way. You are correct that the OP was asking about NV products and Rollo is probably one of the better people to answer those questions. The thing that gets me is the fact that no one said anything about Xfire being better than SLI or vice versa. Yet rollo wrote a long post arguing that issue. I do understand him wanting to give good info about NV based products but why did he have to start posting things about the pros and cons of SLI vs Xfire when no one was saying one was better than the other.

Actually they were, look at the post I was replying to.

krnmastersgt took the approach the GT SLi would not be the route to go because "That's the major reason I think that most people don't bother with SLI since Intel chipset boards can only run crossfire. "

I stated why that's not a good reason to avoid SLi boards. I gave facts about the tech being discussed, you discussed the poster.

I didn't know I had anything to do with GTXs or SLi, how are you "on topic" and me "off".

I guess you read into differently than I did. I took what he was saying as people can't run SLI cause they are buying Intel based M/B and SLI can not be run on Intel based boards. He never said Xfire if better at all. Those words were never used. If anything he was saying that Intel based M/B are more popular than NV based ones. Of course you will disagree even if it is true. I think it would be better for you to just answer the question at hand and help the OP instead of going off topic and trashing ATI anyway/chance you can. I like both companies (NV & ATI) and I can admit when one beats the other.


Something to report back to NV about:
IMO I think it is kind of stupid for NV not to license SLI to Intel. I understand that they want to sell NV based M/B and they might think that a license to Intel would kill the NV based M/B market. I doubt that would happen. If they only have SLI on NV systems they make more money by selling the NV based M/B. That is a plus for NV but they lose the chance for a sale of 1 extra (possibly 2 with tri-SLI) NV based GPU for those that purchase a Intel based M/B and a NV GPU. If they had SLI on Intel based M/B I bet a lot more people might be willing to try SLI. So they lose money on everyone who goes with a Intel based M/B yet they could make up that loss with the possible sale of an extra (or possible 2) NV based GPU.

Maybe there is more to it than that but that is my thoughts on it.

imho, they would kill their own mobo sales if they licensed sli to intel. X38/48 is the dominanct high-end mobo right now. There would be no reason to buy a 680i/780i if you didn't need one for sli. The only reason ati did it is that their own intel-based mobos were so weak, and now of course amd is out of the intel-based mobo market entirely so that is unlikely to change.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: apoppin

we can also point out an additional fact he left out about Crossfire - it's ability to use "mismatched" GPUs - together - while allowing a separate overclock on each one.

I actually forgot that one, I don't usually consider it a "positive". If you're a 3870 owner, you shouldn't slow down your 3870 with a 3850 IMO- you should spend the extra $50 and get another 3870.

You are correct though!

it's being a positive depends on the OC achieved ... my own experiment with 2000xt/2900pro crossfire showed - that it can be an economical alternative to a higher priced solution.

you can also look at it another way, a 3850 owner with a nicely O/C'ing card can upgrade to a 3870 when it gets cheap .. as most AMD GPUs do before they are unavailable.

To be fair, O/C'iing is a crapshoot where you can only limit your chances of failure by doing your homework - not eliminate them completely.

 

[NinjaJedi]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: NinjaJedi

Originally posted by: nRollo

Originally posted by: NinjaJedi

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
ok, it's cool to attack the nvidia guy, but didn't the OP specifically ask about NVIDIA products? it's not like the OP said "I'm considering a 3870 or a 3850 512, which is better?". rollo is probably a pretty good person to talk to about differences between nvidia products.

My post was never meant as an attack. I apologize to all if it seemed that way. You are correct that the OP was asking about NV products and Rollo is probably one of the better people to answer those questions. The thing that gets me is the fact that no one said anything about Xfire being better than SLI or vice versa. Yet rollo wrote a long post arguing that issue. I do understand him wanting to give good info about NV based products but why did he have to start posting things about the pros and cons of SLI vs Xfire when no one was saying one was better than the other.

Actually they were, look at the post I was replying to.

krnmastersgt took the approach the GT SLi would not be the route to go because "That's the major reason I think that most people don't bother with SLI since Intel chipset boards can only run crossfire. "

I stated why that's not a good reason to avoid SLi boards. I gave facts about the tech being discussed, you discussed the poster.

I didn't know I had anything to do with GTXs or SLi, how are you "on topic" and me "off".

I guess you read into differently than I did. I took what he was saying as people can't run SLI cause they are buying Intel based M/B and SLI can not be run on Intel based boards. He never said Xfire if better at all. Those words were never used. If anything he was saying that Intel based M/B are more popular than NV based ones. Of course you will disagree even if it is true. I think it would be better for you to just answer the question at hand and help the OP instead of going off topic and trashing ATI anyway/chance you can. I like both companies (NV & ATI) and I can admit when one beats the other.


Something to report back to NV about:
IMO I think it is kind of stupid for NV not to license SLI to Intel. I understand that they want to sell NV based M/B and they might think that a license to Intel would kill the NV based M/B market. I doubt that would happen. If they only have SLI on NV systems they make more money by selling the NV based M/B. That is a plus for NV but they lose the chance for a sale of 1 extra (possibly 2 with tri-SLI) NV based GPU for those that purchase a Intel based M/B and a NV GPU. If they had SLI on Intel based M/B I bet a lot more people might be willing to try SLI. So they lose money on everyone who goes with a Intel based M/B yet they could make up that loss with the possible sale of an extra (or possible 2) NV based GPU.

Maybe there is more to it than that but that is my thoughts on it.

imho, they would kill their own mobo sales if they licensed sli to intel. X38/48 is the dominanct high-end mobo right now. There would be no reason to buy a 680i/780i if you didn't need one for sli. The only reason ati did it is that their own intel-based mobos were so weak, and now of course amd is out of the intel-based mobo market entirely so that is unlikely to change.

I doubt it would kill it. It would probably shrink it but there are still plenty of NV fans out there that would be willing to buy a NV based M/B. If more people are buying Intel based M/B and if they had SLI more people might be willing to buy an extra NV GPU. ATI licensing to Intel did not kill the ATI/AMD based M/B it is just now they are for AMD CPUs.

IMO the majority of gamers and enthusiast are buying Intel based M/B and NV GPU. So NV is losing money on the M/B sale and not being able to sell the extra GPU/s. It is a lose lose situation for them. Not to mention the licensing deal with Intel would mean money for NV. At least I think that is how it would work. NV's dominance in the GPU market and Intel SLI might be a big blow to ATI/AMD.

 

[toslat]

Can we pls get back to helping the OP. Thanx

Here is an option I feel the OP shld consider
8800GTS + crysis for $285

Otherwise, I wld go with a single GT and wait for the next generation of cards.

 

[myocardia]

Why would anyone in this thread be recommending SLI? Didn't you people read the OP? He's gonna be using three monitors. If you don't know enough about videocards to know that SLI can only be used with a single monitor, you should only be reading these forums, so you can learn, instead of posting in them.

cdh123, are you wanting to use all three monitors while working/photo editing/whatever, then use only the larger screen @ 1366x768 for gaming? If so, all you need is an 8800GT for the large screen (although I'd personally jump on that deal in the post directly above this one), and any cheap card that's new enough to support widescreen for the two 22" monitors. Something like a 7600GS for the secondary monitors would be plenty, as long as you aren't wanting to use them for gaming.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Why would anyone in this thread be recommending SLI? Didn't you people read the OP? He's gonna be using three monitors. If you don't know enough about videocards to know that SLI can only be used with a single monitor, you should only be reading these forums, so you can learn, instead of posting in them.

cdh123, are you wanting to use all three monitors while working/photo editing/whatever, then use only the larger screen @ 1366x768 for gaming? If so, all you need is an 8800GT for the large screen (although I'd personally jump on that deal in the post directly above this one), and any cheap card that's new enough to support widescreen for the two 22" monitors. Something like a 7600GS for the secondary monitors would be plenty, as long as you aren't wanting to use them for gaming.

That is a point, but SLi can be enabled/disabled in the CP easily, so IMO multiple monitors isn't enough to disregard SLi altogether.

Not to mention many work around this by using a third card.

 

[MTDEW]

Personally, i think THIS ONE is the best "bang per buck" deal going right now. :thumbsup:

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
Personally, i think THIS ONE is the best "bang per buck" deal going right now. :thumbsup:

That's a 7900GTX cooler on there, isn't it.... I like it.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: nRollo
That is a point, but SLi can be enabled/disabled in the CP easily, so IMO multiple monitors isn't enough to disregard SLi altogether.

Does the nVidia control panel shut your system down, and swap the cables for you, so you can go from using two cards on three monitors, to using two cards on one monitor, on your system? I know it doesn't on mine.

Not to mention many work around this by using a third card.

The OP never asked for any $300 Tri-SLI motherboard recommendations, nor does anyone need SLI'd 8800GT's or one 8800GTX, to game at 1366x768. At that res., you're pushing more than 20% fewer pixels than you would be @ only 1280x1024, making you CPU-bound, not GPU-bound (with an 8800GT).

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: nRollo
That is a point, but SLi can be enabled/disabled in the CP easily, so IMO multiple monitors isn't enough to disregard SLi altogether.

Does the nVidia control panel shut your system down, and swap the cables for you, so you can go from using two cards on three monitors, to using two cards on one monitor, on your system? I know it doesn't on mine.

keys: I wasn't aware that one had to disconnect monitor cables when they weren't in use, or reconnect them when one wanted to use them. I would have thought that when in SLI mode, only one output would be functional to one monitor. So tell us what you have to do to switch from a single monitor in SLI, to multiple monitors w/o SLI. It would be good to know. Cause I am planning on SLI, but would also like to run two monitors for everyday use when not gaming.

Not to mention many work around this by using a third card.

The OP never asked for any $300 Tri-SLI motherboard recommendations, nor does anyone need SLI'd 8800GT's or one 8800GTX, to game at 1366x768. At that res., you're pushing more than 20% fewer pixels than you would be @ only 1280x1024, making you CPU-bound, not GPU-bound (with an 8800GT).

keys: This is the part where I have to point you to a little game called Crysis.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
keys: This is the part where I have to point you to a little game called Crysis.

I've owned Crysis for almost 2 months now, what's your point? If an 8800GT can handle it at 1280x1024, why would it not be able to at a lower res.? And yes, I completely forgot about the fact that you'd only need the one output, since the data would actually be going from the card that had been running the 22 inchers over the SLI bus, so the cables wouldn't need to be unhooked. Good catch.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
keys: This is the part where I have to point you to a little game called Crysis.

I've owned Crysis for almost 2 months now, what's your point? If an 8800GT can handle it at 1280x1024, why would it not be able to at a lower res.? And yes, I completely forgot about the fact that you'd only need the one output, since the data would actually be going from the card that had been running the 22 inchers over the SLI bus, so the cables wouldn't need to be unhooked. Good catch.

Thanks, that is good to know. Much appreciated.

I mention Crysis because it is a brute. Even at 12x10 or 14x9, it still truly does take a toll on all current graphics cards. I mean, I am able to play Crysis at 14x9 with everything on high, except post processing and shadow processing set to medium, on my 8800GTS 640 and a stock E6420. I would like to have all my settings on high and maybe up my res one notch to 16x10. SLI's GT's should allow me to do that, or at the very least, stay at 14x9 and not have to set anything to medium. Since AA is an absolute no-no in Crysis, the higher the res you can get to reduce any jaggies, the better. Since upping the res takes less of a toll than applying AA.

Just thinking out loud and thinking about what my next purchase should be.

 

[lopri]

It's really annoying that nRollo consistently repeats "SLI can be disabled when it doesn't do sh*t". Obviously that's what NV is shoving up the folks'.. mind, but when 9800GX2 comes out I will think of any reviewer who says that's an advantage of 9800GX2 as an incompetent and incoherent idiot.

(But 9800GX2 itself does seem to be shaping up nicely. I just read about total 2GB of RAM and connectors for HD audio pass-through)

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: lopri
It's really annoying that nRollo consistently repeats "SLI can be disabled when it doesn't do sh*t". Obviously that's what NV is shoving up the folks'.. mind, but when 9800GX2 comes out I will think of any reviewer who says that's an advantage of 9800GX2 as an incompetent and incoherent idiot.

(But 9800GX2 itself does seem to be shaping up nicely. I just read about total 2GB of RAM and connectors for HD audio pass-through)

So this doesn't work for you?

This is from your motherboard's manual.

I would imagine this applies both to standard SLI and 3-way SLI.

What happens when you try this?

 

[cdh123]

Hi guys!, Wow, I am very impressed with the great response I got from this question. I won?t be getting my new system ?til I get my taxes back anyway (couple of months yet), and it looks like the new 9800GX2 will be out by then, so I?ll probably end up going with that. One of my main concerns about this issue was whether or not I?d just be wasting money getting SLI with my monitor configuration because I?d only ever be playing on a 1360 x 768. I feel I have become much more informed thanks to all of your posts?I really appreciate all the help! I must say that I have never had a problem with any of the nVidia cards that I have ever owned; in fact I have always been very impressed with their performance. I was planning on buying an Evga nVidia card with the 780i motherboard for the SLI. I had looked at all of the mobos on Newegg and really liked the new Intel boards I must say. I was all set to get one of those before I figured out that I had to get an actual SLI board to use SLI.

I am thinking now with the 9800GX2 coming out that I probably would have more than enough juice to drive any game on my screen and SLI would probably not give me too much of performance boost over that?.. and probably wouldn?t cost anymore than the 2 GT?s would have anyway? So I?ve been thinking that maybe I ought to go with one of the newest Intel boards and the 9800GX2? Or should I go with an SLI board? What do you guys think?

 

[lopri]

My personal rule:

Display should be at least equal to or better than video card (e.g. buying a $500 video card to power a $200 monitor -> not a balanced setup)
Speakers should be be at least equal to or better than sound card (e.g. buying a $100 sound card to power a $50 speaker set -> not a balanced setup)

 

[cdh123]

I got my main monitor about 2 years ago for like $800 or $900. It is a 27" HDTV. Its still seems to work great. I'd love to get a new monitor but I'd have to spend way more than I was planning to get one of comprable size and still get the cool graphics card.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Not to mention many work around this by using a third card.

The OP never asked for any $300 Tri-SLI motherboard recommendations, nor does anyone need SLI'd 8800GT's or one 8800GTX, to game at 1366x768. At that res., you're pushing more than 20% fewer pixels than you would be @ only 1280x1024, making you CPU-bound, not GPU-bound (with an 8800GT).

I would never recommend 3 way SLi to this person given their monitors. I meant that some people use a cheap third card for multi monitor SLi configs.

3 way Sli is only for people with high resolution monitors and a fair amount of money.

At the OPs gaming resolution of 13X7, he really doesn't even need SLi, let alone 3 way.

 

[NinjaJedi]

Originally posted by: cdh123
I had looked at all of the mobos on Newegg and really liked the new Intel boards I must say. I was all set to get one of those before I figured out that I had to get an actual SLI board to use SLI.

If the new 9800GX2 is like the 3870x2 you will not need an SLI M/B to run it and use the SLI feature of 1 card. You would only need the SLI M/B if you planned on running 2 of them in a quad SLI. I am not sure if it will be that way but I would hope it would be.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: NinjaJedi

Originally posted by: cdh123
I had looked at all of the mobos on Newegg and really liked the new Intel boards I must say. I was all set to get one of those before I figured out that I had to get an actual SLI board to use SLI.

If the new 9800GX2 is like the 3870x2 you will not need an SLI M/B to run it and use the SLI feature of 1 card. You would only need the SLI M/B if you planned on running 2 of them in a quad SLI. I am not sure if it will be that way but I would hope it would be.

You are correct- that explains it.

 

[Piuc2020]

What I'm not sure is if the OS has to address the VRAM of all cards in SLI or only one (after all only one framebuffer is really used), otherwise a 2GB 9800GX2 would be scary on a 32bit OS, you are only left with 2GB of addressing space for RAM and other hardware functions.

I have 4GB of RAM and a 512MB card and I can only use 3.3GB of my RAM in both XP and Vista, it would suck for these new cards to make my other 2GB pointless unless I switch to a 64-bit system (which I have no interest in doing).

 

[coxmaster]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Well why wouldn't it? For one the 9800GX2 is based on dual 128 shaders G92 (a.k.a. 8800GTS) and it will likely be overclocked, it will DEFINITELY beat 8800GTs in SLI, whether it beats 8800GTS (G92) in sli is debatable but the HD 3870 X2 has proven that a single-slot dual GPU solution CAN indeed be less troublesome (and equally performing) than a dual slot GPU solution.

What about the G92 8800GT?

People always seem to forget about those.