gtx 285 and 295 sli questions

[adsmith82]

Looking for maximum performance and wondering if 3GPU 285 or 4GPU 295 would yield better results. Is 6GPU 295 possible?

Since I cannot find benchmarks on these setups, is it possible to estimate results for these configurations based on tech specs?

Also is it important to have all 3 PCIx slots running at x16 speed? Are there motherboards that will do this? Thoughts on DDR2 vs DDR3? Core2 vs i7?

Thanks for your input.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Is this a serious question or more of a, "I'm wondering" type thing? If it's a serious thought then there's a few factors to consider. Firstly the 2 GTX295s theoretically should perform bettter, and I'm pretty sure the real world tests would back this up since more GPUs of the same type vs less of the same = More gpus win. Secondly, Even if you were to run 4 or 6 GPU configurations, if the game doesn't scale well with more than 1, 6 and 2 might be giving you nearly the same in terms of framerate. Of course if you fold@home with 6 GPUs like these, nothing could match your PPD

Having all 3 PCI-E slots slots running at 16x isn't something that really matters, if 1 runs at 8x electrical it shouldn't make too much of a difference assuming the PCI bus can support all the bandwidth that this many GPUs would need. There are motherboards that do this, I believe a lot of the nForce 780i/790i support full 16x across all 3 lanes.

DDR2 = Core 2, DDR3 = i7, simple as that in the majority of scenarios. There are performance gains and losses with DDR3 but frankly most Core2 systems use DDR2 and only DDR2, while i7 systems can only run with DDR3 so the pros/cons don't really matter once you've chosen your chip.

Core2 is the sweet spot for most gamers, however if you're looking for an extreme gaming system that's upwards of $2k+ then i7 would be the way to go since SLI scaling is improved on the X58 boards for whatever reason.

 

[garritynet]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...-295-quad-sli-review/1

I present you with benches for a quad-gpu sli using the GTX 295.

 

[Tempered81]

core i7 965 @ ~4.5ghz w/ 3 gtx285 would do better in games... quad sli 295 would get you more 3dmarks

this review has quad crossfire, quad sli, and tri-sli gtx280's:
http://www.firingsquad.com/har..._performance/page9.asp

fair representation of each rig's performance:
http://www.firingsquad.com/har...ce/images/cod42560.gif