Asus P6T Deluxe with 3-way SLI GTX 280's

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dorfma05

Member
Feb 7, 2006
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Hello all. I'm getting ready for the release of Skyrim and was looking to upgrade my machine. I currently am running an Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard with a GTX 280. I was looking at picking up (2) more GTX 280's and running 3-way SLI. I have a 1000W Corsair power supply so I assume it will be able to handle it.

Has anyone tried this configuration? I figure it would be a lot cheaper picking up (2) GTX 280's used than picking up a single GTX 580.

Cheers,
J
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
No. A single GTX 580 would be better. You can sell your GTX 280 and your 1kW PSU, buy a nice 500-600W PSU and the GTX 580 and save each month on your electric bill.
 
7earitup

7earitup

Senior member
Sep 22, 2004
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It really matters on how much you are buying the 2 extra GTX 280's for. If they are dirt cheap, go for it. If you are coming close to the price of a GTX 570 or 580. Sell them and upgrade to the next generation. Not to mention that the GTX 280 is a DX 10 card, no? BF3 works best with DX 11 hardware.
 
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OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
5,490
4
81
Old hardware is old. Consider a dual gpu setup of 6950s or 570s. More cost effective, a lot better performance, newer drivers, dx11, better performance per watt, better thermals.
 
GotNoRice

GotNoRice

Senior member
Aug 14, 2000
329
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It depends on what you can get the cards for. Triple GTX280 videocards should easily meet and likely exceed the performance of a single GTX580. I don't think anyone would suggest choosing to get 2 more 280s if the price was anywhere near that of a newer card, but you could easily be talking about quite a bargain for the performance if the 280s are cheap enough.

I had a similar choice 2 years ago when I was going to pick-up a 5870, but was able to get 2x 4870x2 instead for less than the single 5870 would have cost, with significantly more performance. Years later, despite being older tech, the cards are still coming through for me big time in games like BF3.

OVerLoRDI said:
a lot better performance, newer drivers, dx11
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It's doubtful a GTX580 would give more performance than 3x GTX280 unless SLI was broken in that particular game. Also, the GTX280 uses the newest Nvidia drivers, same as the 570 or 580. The GTX280 is a DirectX10 card but it will run DirectX11 games just fine in DirectX11 using Feature Level 10_0, and you won't be missing much.
 
nenforcer

nenforcer

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2008
1,775
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Have you ever run SLI before? There is a noticeable noise, power and temperature increase by going that route even though it may be slightly cheaper.

For Skyrim it may be worth giving it a shot and trying it now, skip any newer cards i.e. GTX 570/580, and wait for the next generation of cards which will be out 1Q 2012 from both nVidia and ATI (GTX 600 and Radeon HD 7000 series).

I tried SLI for the first time in 2008 with 2 X 9800GT which are still going strong today but I am looking to upgrade for BF3 and other DirectX 11 games.

For just Skyrim you can more than likely wait.
 
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4ghz

Member
Sep 11, 2010
165
1
81
Does a P6T Deluxe motherboard even support 3 dual slot cards? I thought 2 pci-e slots were right next to each other. Anyway I would just get a 2nd Gtx 280 for now if they are under $100. I don't think Skyrim will be a card buster.
 
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blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
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GotNoRice said:
It depends on what you can get the cards for. Triple GTX280 videocards should easily meet and likely exceed the performance of a single GTX580. I don't think anyone would suggest choosing to get 2 more 280s if the price was anywhere near that of a newer card, but you could easily be talking about quite a bargain for the performance if the 280s are cheap enough.

I had a similar choice 2 years ago when I was going to pick-up a 5870, but was able to get 2x 4870x2 instead for less than the single 5870 would have cost, with significantly more performance. Years later, despite being older tech, the cards are still coming through for me big time in games like BF3.



It's doubtful a GTX580 would give more performance than 3x GTX280 unless SLI was broken in that particular game. Also, the GTX280 uses the newest Nvidia drivers, same as the 570 or 580. The GTX280 is a DirectX10 card but it will run DirectX11 games just fine in DirectX11 using Feature Level 10_0, and you won't be missing much.
Click to expand...



First off, SLI scaling beyond 2 GPU's is horrible. Secondly, games require specific drivers for SLI to work properly so there are always caveats with newly released games (not to mention most new games are taking advantage of dx11)....Lastly, its not a DX11 card so my opinion is, do not do it UNLESS they are ridiculously dirt cheap.

Its not worth it.
 
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Arachnotronic

Arachnotronic

Lifer
Mar 10, 2006
11,715
2,012
126
3x ancient, power-guzzling, loud DX10 cards versus a slick, power efficient, and quiet top-end card with all the bells and whistles?

Decision should be fairly obvious :)
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
4ghz said:
Does a P6T Deluxe motherboard even support 3 dual slot cards? I thought 2 pci-e slots were right next to each other.
Click to expand...

Yes it supports 3x SLI. Yes, all 3 cards will be stacked on one-another with no slots in-between. Bottom slot is only x4 lanes.
 
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dorfma05

Member
Feb 7, 2006
55
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0
4ghz said:
I think you're referring to the P6T. P6T Deluxe looks like this. http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-131-346-05.jpg
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Yes this is the one I have (same heatsinks and everything). The later model has different heatsinks and other minor revisions.

I share the sentiments with everyone here. I think everyone has underestimated the costs differential though. A used GTX 280 can be had for around $100-$120? Verses a $500 single card. Even if I sell my single card for $100 minus ebay fees etc., I'm looking at an extra $300-$400 to go with the GTX 580 vs 2/3-way sli GTX 280's.

The big thing for me is, it would kill me to buy the GTX 580 now with the 680's due early-mid next year. The next big game for me is likely to be Bioshock Infinite which is going to be late 2012.

If anything the GTX 280's would be a stopgap solution.

Looking at the mobo, it looks like you can only get 2 dual slot cards in there due to the spacing. So I'm talking $100 to get SLI 280's vs $500 for a GTX 580. All I care about is Skyrim performance for now. I'm leaning towards the 2-way SLI GTX 280's and then maybe I'll just get the 680's next year.
 
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notty22

notty22

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2010
3,375
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I would not seek out 65nm gpu's at this point.
If you are considering buying used cards, buy 1 or 2 newer cards and sell the one gtx 280 you have or keep for back-up.
 
TakeNoPrisoners

TakeNoPrisoners

Platinum Member
Jun 3, 2011
2,599
1
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It doesn't look like the OP is fooling himself, he knows that he only gets DX 10 and it will be hot and power hungry. I would say he should go for it.

However I would try to wait a bit until Skyrim actually comes out, play it with what you have and plan on an upgrade if needed from there.

Tri-SLI has almost no issues with microstutter.
 
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dorfma05

Member
Feb 7, 2006
55
0
0
TakeNoPrisoners said:
It doesn't look like the OP is fooling himself, he knows that he only gets DX 10 and it will be hot and power hungry. I would say he should go for it.

However I would try to wait a bit until Skyrim actually comes out, play it with what you have and plan on an upgrade if needed from there.

Tri-SLI has almost no issues with microstutter.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, I don't expect it to be better than a GTX 580 performance-wise, heat-wise, or anything like that. I just have a hard time buying the top card so late in it's life cycle. I usually buy them right as they come out as I only play a few games that are pretty spread out as far as release dates (but when I do play I want top performance).

I haven't been able to find much about the system requirements for Skyrim. I would definitely like to play at max settings at 1080p if possible.

According to this article it is mostly a directx 9 game so I'm fine with no directx 11 support. If it is added later, I'll upgrade to the GTX 680 when it comes out.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/04/19/t...ectx-9-game-directx-11-support-a-possibility/
 
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