Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel
Originally posted by: RobertR1
I'm playing FEAR on my x1800xt at 1920x1200 with everything on maximum and 2xAdaptive AA, 16xHQAF and the gameplay is just fine in Single player 27min, 43avg, 94high on the stress test.
I couldn't quite find benchmarks to match your chosen settings exactly, but the results from other websites don't seem to match your results, comparatively:
FiringSquad got an average of 28fps at 1600x1200. Granted, that was with 4xAA, but you tested at a higher resolution. And their minimums on the XT dropped to 20 at 1280x1024. That seems like a big difference from yours at 19x12.
Anandtech shows the XT averaged 33fps with 0xAA at a resolution very similar to yours, and only 21fps with 4xAA. Again, these results are very different from yours.
I don't really visit too many other hardware sites for benchmarks, so there might be some out there that got different results and are closer to what you get. I'm not trying to say you tested wrong or anything. All I can do is suggest video card solutions based on the benchmarks I have seen, and these are the ones I've seen. If you've done better with your XT, then, by all means, you have a good single-card solution. (Though a 43avg fps is debateable as being sufficient for some out there, and, like you said, those few would need to determine if the extra $$$ for another card is worth the performance.)
My point is that I think a blanket-statement that dual-gpu is unnecessary and "not recommendable to anyone" is an opinion that could easily be countered by someone who, in fact, sees it as necessary to get the frame rates they want, regardless of noise, power, heat, and price. And, again, price/performance is a ratio that is constantly moving with price fluctuations. When the 1800XT was released, you could buy 2x7800GTs for less and have more power. That's not the case anymore since the XT has come down in price.
Also when you goto upgrade, you're now taking the depreciation hit for 2 cards than just one which adds to your overall cost of ownership... Ultra high end single cards are quite powerful in their own right.
Very true. Let's take my situation as an example to play with the numbers. 12 months ago, I purchased 2x6800GTs for $650. Now, 12 months later, I want to sell them and go with the new G71-midrange... which may be priced at $400 each let's say. So, I sell my GTs for $360 total, and am out of pocket about $440 for SLI G71. A single-card owner can sell their single 6800GT for $180, and buy the high-end G71 for $599, out of pocket $420. I'm dropping the same $$ and getting better performance than any single card solution could provide. It just cost me more to get it all started 12 months ago. SLI (and likely crossfire for that matter) are expensive to get started, but once in it, the upgrade path is about the same as it is for single-card owners. Not to mention the great other perk-- I have been running great with 2x6800GTs for 12 months. A single-card 6800GT will have been struggling with games such as COD2 and FEAR, at higher resolutions and all on max.
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