dual 8800GTXs

[Toadster]

1.5GB of combined video RAM, gobs of power, gobs of heat...

what should I upgrade to?

 

[ShockwaveVT]

dual 280's

 

[TC91]

nothing worthwhile right now

EDIT: maybe throw one more in for triple SLI if you must upgrade

 

[Sylvanas]

4870X2 or perhaps 4870X2 CF...

 

[tuteja1986]

nothing :! 2x8800GTX is faster than a single GTX280. 2xGTX280 = are rippoff. You will have to wait till AMD and Nvidia release new GPU in August.

2x 4870X2 = $900. This would probably be yours upgrade path.

 

[TridenT]

Wait until fully established benchmarks for the 4870X2 come out. Then decide upon crossfire 4870X2's OR Tri-sli with nvidia's GTX 280. But yeah, it's totally up to you Depends if you want to spend, oh you know like 2000$. X_X

 

[Cookie Monster]

I wouldn't put too much faith in a 4 way GPU setup since scaling would be very poor compared to the price you pay.

But im curious. Why upgrade your 8800GTX SLi? its still considered to be fast.

 

[nitromullet]

If you really want to upgrade, but keep most of your existing system, GTX 260 SLI would be a pretty healthy upgrade over 8800GTX SLI. A single 260 generally gains between 30-50% over an 8800GTX, and I would image that SLI scaling between the 260 and the 8800GTX is pretty similar. You'd be looking at roughly a 30-50% gain across the board for an $800 drop in replacement that wouldn't require any more effort than swapping the cards and updating the driver.

Of course, you could go with an X38/48 motherboard and dual HD4870s for about $50 more. I gained a few MHz on my OC with switching from 780i to X38 without even trying very hard, so that might be worth considering also if you overclock. Not sure what your politics are (if any), but I also am looking forward to having a NVIDIA free rig when my HD 4870 gets here. NVIDIA makes great stuff, but they do everything they can to stifle competition... Their antics with SLI licensing quite frankly hurts gamers, costs us money unnecessarily, and has the side effect of hurting the PC overall as a gaming platform. (IMO)

The last option is to go with dual GTX 280's. Without a doubt a premier setup that offers tremendous performance, but that's a $1300 upgrade... All depends on the depth of your pockets.

I know a lot of people don't see the sense in upgrading dual 8800GTXes, but personally if I was you I'd want to get those things sold ASAP while they are still worth anything at all. Unless you have a plan for them in mind already...

edit: all of these options are still going to require gobs of power and produce a lot of heat... Sorry, somethings just don't change.