Is an Nvidia 285 GTX worth setting up in SLI?

[niggles]

So I bought the BFG GeForce GTX 285 (BFGEGTX2851024OCBE) and I'm trying to work out how worth while it is to run it in SLI. It seems difficult to get a good video card round up these days. I did find this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/ch...y/F.E.A.R.-2,1323.html
which has a couple x2 entries, but nothing for the GTX 285

Can anyone offer any insight on this as to whether it's worthwhile along with a backing set of benchmarks?

 

[thilanliyan]

Is the computer in your sig the one that would be getting the SLI? If it is I think you're better off upgrading the CPU, ram, and maybe the MOBO first.

Otherwise yes you'll definitely see benefit in most games with SLI unless you run at a very low resolution. I think 285 SLI would be best used at 2560x1600. I myself use a 4870 1GB at 1920x1200 and don't find myself yearning for more as most games these days are multiplatform so they have to run well on consoles as well which are not that fast compared to PCs these days.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I agree with the above if that system is what you're currently using (4400+ A8N SLI. Not only will the processor bottleneck your cards, but the PEG slots are only generation 1 PCI-E and only run in x8/x8 in SLI, so they will also bottleneck two GTX285s.

If you had two 8800GTS (512MB of 640MB), then they were also probably bottlenecked by the processor (but not so much by the PEG slots).

You'll need to upgrade the motherboard and processor to see true benefits (and in the process you'll need new RAM)

 

[niggles]

ack, sorry guys, that's an old rig, I've updated it

I'm running Q6600 MSI P6N Diamond, 2xBFG 640 meg with 4 gigs of RAM. I agree I will eventually upgrade my mobo and CPU, but is it necessary already? It's just I'll have to get new RAM as well and I was hoping to get away with another upgrade of the GPU first.

Thanks for the quick replies, hopefully you and whomever else comes by will see this. I'll be completely honest. I used to be on here all the time, but with so few games that have challenged my system specs and 5 year old child my time for gaming has been at a premium. This will likely be one of my last gasps at upgrading this box for quite some time so I want to make sure I do the right thing and lay out the least case for the most advancement... but I guess isn't that what it's all about?

Thanks again in advance.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

You should be able to get by with a Q6600 and a GTX 285 (or two). A second 285 would be a bit bottlenecked by a stock Q6600, but I think it wouldn't be a big problem and you should still notice a sizeable boost by adding a second card. Although you probably should have just gotten a GTX260 or 275 and SLI'd them as they would have been better fits for your processor. If your Q6600 is overclocked, though, then you are doing pretty well.

 

[MarcVenice]

What resolution? At 1920*1200 it starts getting worthwhile, below it's just overkill I know, coz I have 2 HD 4890's on a 1680*1050 screen (they are from work) and it's overkill for almost every game. Except Stalker: Clear Sky, which I'm replaying with all the eye-candy turned up and 2xAA. I still dip into the 25's at rare times though. So resolution is important. And you need to OC that Q6600 to 3,0GHz or higher.

 

[niggles]

I'm running it at 1680 x 1050.

Does anyone have any benchmarks on what 260s, 275s and 285s do in SLI?

Tried running Crysis Warhead and am having driver issues. Just loading up the original Crysis to see what it does with that.

 

[thilanliyan]

At that res 285 SLI is overkill. IF I were going to spend the money I'd rather it be on something else.

 

[CurseTheSky]

At 1680x1050, a single GTX 285 should be plenty. I haven't run into any issues with mine even at 1920x1200.

 

[niggles]

Thanks again everyone. One last probably dumb question... is it worth while throwing in one of the old BFG 8800 GTS 640 meg OCs? I've never tried multiple cards that aren't in an SLI config so I'm not sure if there is any benefit or if even cards from different generations would even play ok together. Is there any point? could say Physx be performed on the 8800 leaving the 285 simply for graphics?

 

[Tempered81]

XBit has some benches here:

http://xbitlabs.com/articles/v...-hd4890cf_9.html#sect1

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: niggles
Thanks again everyone. One last probably dumb question... is it worth while throwing in one of the old BFG 8800 GTS 640 meg OCs? I've never tried multiple cards that aren't in an SLI config so I'm not sure if there is any benefit or if even cards from different generations would even play ok together. Is there any point? could say Physx be performed on the 8800 leaving the 285 simply for graphics?

You can definately do this, but there isn't really any need at this point as the GTX 285 would be more than sufficient to run both graphics and PhysX for any of the current PhysX-enabled games.

If you do any CUDA distributed computing projects, than the extra 8800 would come in handy. I use my 3 GTX 260s for that far more than I do for SLI.

 

[niggles]

Once again, thanks for everyone's help, it is greatly appreciated.

I'm having crashing issues it seems and it's happening under 2 separate XP images, and one Vista64 image and under 2 different games. I'm thinking their may be an issue with the card itself. Anyway, I can work that out... You've all been wonderfully helpful.

 

[niggles]

Well that was short lived... This 285 GTX has to go back, it's flacky as hell... I've tried it under 3 different windows partitions and it crashes under all of them (1 Vanilla XP Home install, 1 Vanilla XP Pro install and one 64 bit Vista install). I shouldn't say it crashes, the games lock up. This is with all the latest drivers for the GPU and mother board. Hell, the Vanilla XP Pro install was done specifically to test the card. I was considering RMAing the damn thing, but I have 7 days to return it to the store so I'm thinking I'll just take it back to the store so I can avoid getting a Refurb from BFG.

 

[OCGuy]

Aboslutely. My clocks are > than stock 285s, and it is wonderful @ even 1920X1080.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: niggles
Well that was short lived... This 285 GTX has to go back, it's flacky as hell... I've tried it under 3 different windows partitions and it crashes under all of them (1 Vanilla XP Home install, 1 Vanilla XP Pro install and one 64 bit Vista install). I shouldn't say it crashes, the games lock up. This is with all the latest drivers for the GPU and mother board. Hell, the Vanilla XP Pro install was done specifically to test the card. I was considering RMAing the damn thing, but I have 7 days to return it to the store so I'm thinking I'll just take it back to the store so I can avoid getting a Refurb from BFG.

Definitely take it back. You're not the only one that has got a defective 285. Some others on this forum reported the same thing.

 

[niggles]

back to square one I guess. I'll do more homework on this forum. Hopefully I can find something more suited to my rig although I'm wondering whether or not it's even worthwhile upgrading from my two 8800 GTS cards.