Is SLI really worth it?!

[thespeakerbox]

I mean when you really think about it . you put two 7800gts in sli , ive heard its the equivalent to a 7900? The rule being that two cards equal the next step up. Is this sound? Because when you factor in the cost of the sli board and the second card, it makes more sense to buy a better card, doesnt it?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Excluding rare (really almost nonexistent) situations where two lesser cards are cheaper than a single better card (that would be similar in performance), SLI is really meant to be a super-high-end solution. I agree that SLI at the midrange (or lower) is pretty much pointless, I'd rather just buy the best (single) card I can afford (unless Newegg decides to sell 7800GT's for $150 tomorrow or something). However, what happens if you have a 24" or larger LCD and even the fastest $500 card isn't fast enough to play games at your native resolution? Well, you can always buy a second card to remedy that...

 

[Shortass]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Excluding rare (really almost nonexistent) situations where two lesser cards are cheaper than a single better card (that would be similar in performance), SLI is really meant to be a super-high-end solution. I agree that SLI at the midrange (or lower) is pretty much pointless, I'd rather just buy the best (single) card I can afford (unless Newegg decides to sell 7800GT's for $150 tomorrow or something). However, what happens if you have a 24" or larger LCD and even the fastest $500 card isn't fast enough to play games at your native resolution? Well, you can always buy a second card to remedy that...

Agreed entirely. The only good argument for SLI is to buy an SLI motherboard and whatever card at one point, and if you need a decent upgrade a year or so later instead of buying a new $450 card you can buy another $200 or whatnot to get a similar performance jump.

 

[Dainas]

I've used the same card for over 8 months now and can still play the latest games in 1600x1200 with everything maxxed and 4xAA when true HDR isnt involved. I'd say it was worth it. Both my cards costed me $900 altogether and the price scales perfectly to the performance parity I retained today against single 7900GTXs and X1900XTXs.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Shortass

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Excluding rare (really almost nonexistent) situations where two lesser cards are cheaper than a single better card (that would be similar in performance), SLI is really meant to be a super-high-end solution. I agree that SLI at the midrange (or lower) is pretty much pointless, I'd rather just buy the best (single) card I can afford (unless Newegg decides to sell 7800GT's for $150 tomorrow or something). However, what happens if you have a 24" or larger LCD and even the fastest $500 card isn't fast enough to play games at your native resolution? Well, you can always buy a second card to remedy that...

Agreed entirely. The only good argument for SLI is to buy an SLI motherboard and whatever card at one point, and if you need a decent upgrade a year or so later instead of buying a new $450 card you can buy another $200 or whatnot to get a similar performance jump.

Say you had a single PCIe 6800GT right now and an SLI motherboard, would you really buy another one for $200-250 when you could pick up a 7900GT or X1800XT 256MB for $300?

 

[hans007]

as a super high end solution it is obviously the only way to go.

though now with the double cards that have 2 gpu on one board, there is almost no point in getting an SLI motherboard.


almost no one upgrades with SLI, since you can always just buy a better card by then.


generally i figure, if you are the type of person happy with a midrange setup, you will just keep using a midrange setup (so if you had a say 5700 ultra back in the day, you would say upgrade to a single 7600 gt now).

and if you were high end you'd do the same , say 5900 ultra to 7900 gt. so really its only there to allow things like 2 vid cards, etc. i think honestly its just a lot of marketing etc. its preying on people's innate cheapness to want to easily upgrade, but really its probably just money thrown away unless you get the cards at the same time.

 

[Shortass]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Shortass

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Excluding rare (really almost nonexistent) situations where two lesser cards are cheaper than a single better card (that would be similar in performance), SLI is really meant to be a super-high-end solution. I agree that SLI at the midrange (or lower) is pretty much pointless, I'd rather just buy the best (single) card I can afford (unless Newegg decides to sell 7800GT's for $150 tomorrow or something). However, what happens if you have a 24" or larger LCD and even the fastest $500 card isn't fast enough to play games at your native resolution? Well, you can always buy a second card to remedy that...

Agreed entirely. The only good argument for SLI is to buy an SLI motherboard and whatever card at one point, and if you need a decent upgrade a year or so later instead of buying a new $450 card you can buy another $200 or whatnot to get a similar performance jump.

Say you had a single PCIe 6800GT right now and an SLI motherboard, would you really buy another one for $200-250 when you could pick up a 7900GT or X1800XT 256MB for $300?

No, but if one could acquire a good deal for a used 6800GT I could see someone doing such a thing.

I'm not even saying that's what I would do (I'm still pro-single card, makes more sense for now, especially since the scaling with SLI or Crossfire isn't exactly ideal in most cases). In some cases though it doesn't seem like a terrible idea, though, and it's always something to consider (espeically with improving technology).

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: thespeakerbox
I mean when you really think about it . you put two 7800gts in sli , ive heard its the equivalent to a 7900? The rule being that two cards equal the next step up. Is this sound? Because when you factor in the cost of the sli board and the second card, it makes more sense to buy a better card, doesnt it?

The 7900 isn't a step up.

5900 -> 6800 -> 7800 are steps.
7800 -> 7900 is not a real change, it's an incremental improvement.

So 2x6800's would be equivelant to 1x7800, and 2x7800 would be equivelant to 1x8800 (or whatever we see as the next release from nVidia, the G80)

 

[akugami]

For the average user, SLI is simply not worth it. Most times you're better off getting a single card. Now, there are situations where SLI is better, and one of them is if you got money growing out of your rear end. If you want a very high performance machine and are getting both cards at once to run a high resolution monitor at high end settings then yes, SLI would be good for you.

If you are thinking of upgrading in a few months to SLI by buying a single card now and getting the second card later then no. Usually by that time a new card will be right around the corner for similar prices to your current card that would provide equal or near equal performance. And if you consider that you can sell your old card to recoup some of the cost, it's pretty much a no.

 

[n7]

Not IMO.

No dual display capability, additional issues, & far less than 100% performance improvement = crap.

Yet even still, it's a better choice than Crossfire.

So either way, it's not ideal...well unless, you're nVidia...

 

[Ipno]

Yeah the dual display thing is the real downer for me.

 

[TheSlamma]

I don't think it is, by the next generation it only takes 1 card to beat last gen SLI.

I think people pay too much for vid cards now anyway, whats the point of a $500 for all these weak games that are out.

 

[SKoprowski]

Why is it that those who don't have SLI are the one's that are dissin' it? A pair of 7900GT's are faster than any single card out right now. If I had to choose between 2 7900GTs or one 7900GTX/X1900XT, I would get the 7900GT's for $50.00 more than one card. Look at games like FEAR- a SLI system will blow any single card away in shader intensive games like FEAR right now. If you have the money- buy a SLI system. You are always going to get the "its not worth it" comment from those who do not have a SLI system. Kind of like a bunch of Cavalier owners telling someone not to buy a BMW. I'm on my third SLI system and have had very little issues that would make me go back to one card.

 

[TheRyuu]

I'd get 2 7900GT's, then voltmod them to 1.4v and then OC to GTX speeds.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

The question of whether it is "worth it" or not is impossible to answer with certainty since, ultimately, the decision hinges on many other factors such as the user's monitor, power supply, motherboard, what games they play and the settings/resolutions they play them at, budget, etc. IMO, all of this must be taken into account before making a ruling.

I used SLI 6800GTs for over 13 months. Ran perfectly. And it wasn't until the 7800GTX came out (8 months later) that there was actually a single card that could match the GTs (in some benches). So it was nice to be able to skip a complete generation and still have a competitive system for these modern games.

Now, as big a fan of SLI as I am, with my current upgrade, I went with an XTX instead of 2 cards. To me, this time, SLI wasn't "worth" it. The 7900GTs were nowhere to be found when I was looking, and, at $300 each, it would have been $160 more than the XTX I bought. The GTs only have 256mb ram, and I really wanted 512. And, as some benchmarks have shown, in Oblivion's outdoor areas, the SLI GTs pretty much run equal with the XTX... and that happens to be the only game I'll be playing for the next few months.

So, I was able to sell off my old 68GTs and get an XTX for $99. New 79GTs would have been another $160. And, in my mind, it just wasn't worth the extra money for me. Had it only been $50 more, I probably would've done it.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: SKoprowski
Why is it that those who don't have SLI are the one's that are dissin' it? A pair of 7900GT's are faster than any single card out right now. If I had to choose between 2 7900GTs or one 7900GTX/X1900XT, I would get the 7900GT's for $50.00 more than one card. Look at games like FEAR- a SLI system will blow any single card away in shader intensive games like FEAR right now. If you have the money- buy a SLI system. You are always going to get the "its not worth it" comment from those who do not have a SLI system. Kind of like a bunch of Cavalier owners telling someone not to buy a BMW. I'm on my third SLI system and have had very little issues that would make me go back to one card.

I've owned 7800GTX SLI, X1800XT CrossFire, and 7900GTX SLI, and I still say it's not worth it for me. Sure, the 7900GTX SLI rig was nice, but it was also about $1100 worth of video cards. Now, I'm running a single $460 X1900XTX, and the most intensive thing I play is Oblivion, which it runs about as fast as the dual 7900GTX'es did, but it does it with HDR and AA.

In regards to price, an X1900XT can by purchased for $430 from newegg, and most 7900GT's are $300+, so your $50 price difference is a bit off.

IMO, a decent video card in your rig and money in the bank is the most future proof upgrade you can make. It has taken me a lot of video cards (a total of 9 in the past year) in different configurations and a decent chunk of money to figure this out, but I think I'm sticking with a single card for a while.

 

[Munky]

"Worth it" is not really an appropriate question for dual cards, because the short answer is "No". The real question is "Do you need it?" If you need to run all your games at 1600x1200 or higher resolution, then you may need dual high end cards where a single high end card will not provide smooth framerates (like in FEAR, Oblivion,...) But because for twice the cost you dont get twice the performance, it's rarely if ever "worth it" to get dual midrange cards instead of a single high end card, or to upgrade from one old card to two old cards instead of selling the old card and buying a new card.

 

[nib95]

I went from X1900 XTX to SLI 7900 GT and I couldnt be happier.
I'd say it was well worth the extra £40.

Also, in a few days I'm volt modding my 7900 GT's and adding 3rd party coolers, so hopefully with proper OC's they'll perform on par with or even better then 7900 GTX's.
You cant really beat that for value for money.

I've basically got two 7900 GTX's+ for £85 (cost inc 2 VF900's) more then a single X1900 XTX or 7900 GTX.
You simply cannot beat that kind of value nor performance.