(G80) 8800GTS 640 SLI or Different Route?

[airhendrix13]

I have 1 (G80) 8800GTS 640 right now and a 680i Mobo. I am upgrading to a 24" inch monitor which I know is going to effect my frame rates, but I would like to keep the same quality settings in my games. Basically I am trying to get the best bang for my buck. Should I go for another 8800GTS or should I go for something else?

Also, I heard you can SLI a 8800GTS (G80) with a 8800GTS (G92). I understand that the (G92) would be clocked down to match the (G80) but is this even possible in the first place?

Thanks!

 

[hooflung]

There is a 640 on newegg for ~ 150. I'd SLI the one you have with a new one.

 

[bryanW1995]

there's no way in hell you should spend $150 on a g80 8800gts 640 right now. you could buy a 4850 and get ~ 40-50% performance improvement over your gts for $170 ar right now. I'd instead recommend 4870 for ~ $315 shipped and sell the gts 640 for ~ $90-$100. the pci-e 1.1 lanes would be a limiting factor in crossfire on gtx 260/280, and anything less than those won't hold a candle to 4870 anyway.

edit, depending on the titles you play then you might go for 4850 instead. that would only be a $70-$80 cost after selling your old card and you'd probably still have good performance.

 

[yhlee]

i'm in a similar situation, if you go with the 4850, is it worthwhile to upgrade the motherboard too? (the 680i doesn't have pciE 2.0)

 

[bryanW1995]

don't waste any money upgrading the mobo. x16 1.1 is sufficient for a single 4850.

 

[airhendrix13]

What's your opinion on two 8800GT's? According to the Anandtech 4870 and 4850 review, 2 8800GT's beat 1 4870 by a considerable margin for most titles and can be had for around the price of 1 4870.

Would I have to have PCI-E 2.0 to recieve the full benifits of this SLI configuration or will having 2 x16 slots compensate for this?

Thanks again.

 

[TC91]

2 x 8800gts 640mb's will be pretty similar in performance to 2 x 8800gt (but more heat/power though). In your position i think 2 x 640mb gts' would be a good idea, however, i think you should try the single gts 640mb on your new monitor first to see if its too slow then think about adding another card / upgrading, whichever way you choose to go.

 

[Munky]

If you could get a used 640MB gts for about $100 I'd say go for it. But otherwise, you'd be getting a better deal by selling your card and getting a single 4850 or 4870. Also, you can't combine a g92 gts with a g80 gts in SLI, it won't work.

 

[airhendrix13]

So as of right now I'm going to see what happens with the pricing of the 4870. If I can get a good rebate or if that BB deal comes back then I'll jump onboard.

One more question though. I've been reading in the 4850 temperature thread that 4850, if cooled with the xml mod or a 3rd party HS, it can be OC'd to rival the 4870. Is this true? Would it be worth getting the 4850, an HS, and having a cooler card?

 

[Rhino2]

Originally posted by: airhendrix13
So as of right now I'm going to see what happens with the pricing of the 4870. If I can get a good rebate or if that BB deal comes back then I'll jump onboard.

One more question though. I've been reading in the 4850 temperature thread that 4850, if cooled with the xml mod or a 3rd party HS, it can be OC'd to rival the 4870. Is this true? Would it be worth getting the 4850, an HS, and having a cooler card?

It can be OCed to 4870 or near-4870 clock speeds, though it will still be far behind the 4870 in memory bandwidth due to the GDDR3 on the 4850 vs. the GDDR5 on the 4870.

 

[airhendrix13]

Okay, so if I'm running at 19 x 12 resolutions, the 4870 would be better than 2 GTS's or GT's?

Also, when is the 4870 being released?

 

[Rhino2]

I would recommend the 4870 over 2 GTSs or GTs.

And they are out now: Link

Get one quick before they are out of stock again

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
there's no way in hell you should spend $150 on a g80 8800gts 640 right now. you could buy a 4850 and get ~ 40-50% performance improvement over your gts for $170 ar right now. I'd instead recommend 4870 for ~ $315 shipped and sell the gts 640 for ~ $90-$100. the pci-e 1.1 lanes would be a limiting factor in crossfire on gtx 260/280, and anything less than those won't hold a candle to 4870 anyway.

edit, depending on the titles you play then you might go for 4850 instead. that would only be a $70-$80 cost after selling your old card and you'd probably still have good performance.

40-50% increase? Holy crap...Im in the same position as the OP and have been toying getting rid of the 640 for alot of reasons...they ARE flaky. But to get that much performance gain from a $200 card is unreal.

 

[airhendrix13]

How is the heat of the dual slot 4870 compared to the single slot 4850?

 

[Rhino2]

The heat of the 4850 is more an issue of bad choices for fan speed, less for any other reason, after simple CCC profile edit, my 4850 idles at 48C (without the new bios, waiting on one from visiontek) and goes to 60C at load, no modding other than a 2 minute edit to a CCC profile. (Setting fan speed to 60%)

The 4870 from what I heard suffers from the same problem, but turn the fan speed up a bit, and all is well, but I don't have one to confirm.

 

[airhendrix13]

Alright, I may pick up a 4870 soon then. Thanks for your help all!