Dual video cards; who is it for?

[minmaster]

sorry for such noobish question, but dual video card solution benefits what type of user/gamer? is it for people with really high resolution monitors like 1920x1200? at what resolution typically do dual cards really hit the sweet spot?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

dual vid cards are only for people who have 1920x1200(IF and only IF there isn't a single video card that, within reasonable price, can't handle the games they want to play) resolution or 2560x1600. (24 in or 30in computer monitors) or maybe 1920x1080 (1080p)


for anything under that, 1680x1050, 1280x1024, 720p a single card will handle any game out there at max eye candy and playable resolution.
only an idiot will get dual video cards for these resolutions.

 

[minmaster]

i see but do majority of games support 1920x1200 resolution?

 

[lyssword]

Originally posted by: minmaster
i see but do majority of games support 1920x1200 resolution?

I think most of the games that are less than 10 years old do

 

[nitromullet]

1920x1200 and up is really the sweet spot for dual gpu setups. Although, once you get higher, the video RAM starts to play a role as well. Sometimes 512MB isn't enough...

for anything under that, 1680x1050, 1280x1024, 720p a single card will handle any game out there at max eye candy and playable resolution.
only an idiot will get dual video cards for these resolutions.

Depends on the single card, and depends on the dual cards... It used to be a situation where people generally only got dual really high end cards. Now, however, since a number of higher end cards simply consist of two mid-high end gpus on a single card, it has become more commonplace for people to opt for two mid/mid-high range cards instead of upgrading to a new card. For example, a dual 9800GTX+ or dual Radeon 4850 setup can be had for close to $300. This makes these dual card setups pretty feasible for most gamers, even those with monitors 1680x1080 or lower resolution. Not to mention that either setup will outperform any $300 single GPU card at 1680x1080.

 

[jonks]

My 8800gt sli costs far less than and equals the performance of a gtx280. SLI is available on so many cards that whether dual setup is for you depends on a ton of parameters.

I had an SLI mobo and an 8800gt w/22" 1680x1050 monitor. I could not max out a number of games with AA i.e. assassin's creed, lost planet, Crysis (still), CoD4. So I could spend $140 on another 8800gt, or $500 (at the time) for a gtx280. Easy choice that. Even with the price drop to around $400 it still didn't make sense for me.

Now I can max out every setting including AA on every game, and likely all the upcoming games (Far Cry 2, and Crysis:Warhead if they come thru on the promised optimizations).

 

[minmaster]

makes sense, although i'd never be the one to buy those top of the line $4-500 cards. why don't you move up to a 24" monitor since you now have the GPU to power it?