Totally easy, as the 6600gt is the worst example of sli. High noise, heat and power consumption for a more expensive solution. At that price point, get your favorite single card solution, you won't be disapointed. If going sli, get 2 6800 ultra and at least get bragging rights.
Totally easy, as the 6600gt is the worst example of sli. High noise, heat and power consumption for a more expensive solution. At that price point, get your favorite single card solution, you won't be disapointed. If going sli, get 2 6800 ultra and at least get bragging rights.
RussianSensation
Elite Member
- Sep 5, 2003
- 19,458
- 765
- 126
Let's look at the benchmarks first:
Ahhh...Benchmarks!
T:AOD - 6600GT SLI is faster
Far Cry - Research - X800xL is faster
Far Cry - Pier - X800XL is faster
HL2 - X800XL is faster in all 3 demos
Doom 3 - 6600GT SLI is faster
Chronicles of Riddick - X800XL is faster
+ you can compare the #s for 2 6600GTs and 1 x800xl between these 2 reviews:
NVIDIA Multi-GPU SLI Technology: New Approach to Old Ideas
The Fastest Graphics Cards of 2004: Ultimate Testing of 27 GPUs. Part II: Performance Analysis
Also in that 2nd review "fastest cards" you can simply compare 6800Gt to x800xl given that 6800gt is faster than 2 6600GTs and is about 10-15% faster than x800xl.
You can see that x800xl is a better card than 2 6600GTs across the majority of games.
Finally => VGA Charts V: PCI Express Graphics Cards
UT2k4 => x800xl is faster
Call of Duty => X800xl is faster
Doom 3 => 6600GT SLI faster (but at higher rez, same)
Far Cry => 6600GT sli faster (higher rez, same)
Battlefield Vietnam = x800xl is faster
HL2 - x800xl is faster
I'd definately take x800xl because:
- sM3.0 is useless because SM2.0b can do everything SM3.0 can do => and HDR is useless on today's cards anyways...
- lower heat and power consumption and more bulletproof stability and better driver support for X800xl
- 6600gt sli will only be good in games that support sli, not every game supports or will support sli but x800xl will be fast and comparable to 6800gt in every game.
- cost of sli motherboard is more than a non-sli board so u are saving even more money by going with x800xl
- I like HL2 and counterstrike and x800xl is faster at those 2 by a large margin
Ahhh...Benchmarks!
T:AOD - 6600GT SLI is faster
Far Cry - Research - X800xL is faster
Far Cry - Pier - X800XL is faster
HL2 - X800XL is faster in all 3 demos
Doom 3 - 6600GT SLI is faster
Chronicles of Riddick - X800XL is faster
+ you can compare the #s for 2 6600GTs and 1 x800xl between these 2 reviews:
NVIDIA Multi-GPU SLI Technology: New Approach to Old Ideas
The Fastest Graphics Cards of 2004: Ultimate Testing of 27 GPUs. Part II: Performance Analysis
Also in that 2nd review "fastest cards" you can simply compare 6800Gt to x800xl given that 6800gt is faster than 2 6600GTs and is about 10-15% faster than x800xl.
You can see that x800xl is a better card than 2 6600GTs across the majority of games.
Finally => VGA Charts V: PCI Express Graphics Cards
UT2k4 => x800xl is faster
Call of Duty => X800xl is faster
Doom 3 => 6600GT SLI faster (but at higher rez, same)
Far Cry => 6600GT sli faster (higher rez, same)
Battlefield Vietnam = x800xl is faster
HL2 - x800xl is faster
I'd definately take x800xl because:
- sM3.0 is useless because SM2.0b can do everything SM3.0 can do => and HDR is useless on today's cards anyways...
- lower heat and power consumption and more bulletproof stability and better driver support for X800xl
- 6600gt sli will only be good in games that support sli, not every game supports or will support sli but x800xl will be fast and comparable to 6800gt in every game.
- cost of sli motherboard is more than a non-sli board so u are saving even more money by going with x800xl
- I like HL2 and counterstrike and x800xl is faster at those 2 by a large margin
Factoring into account the extra cost of the SLI motherboard, the X800XL option is really compelling, at least at current U.S. prices.
Ronnnn, have you ever even been in the same room with a SLI setup? You talk like you have a few sitting around (like me) yet I'm guessing you don't even have a PCIE motherboard? Am I right?
So what do you know about "heat, noise, and power"? My motherboard manual says the 6600GTs require a whole 350W! Whoa Nelly! I've only had a 430w True Power for about 3 years now- these modern video cards really suck the juice!
I had a 6600gt for about 2 weeks, it was a little loud, not very hot, and no problem with power consumption. I don't know about 2, but with good ventilation it should be the same story.
LOL at the triviality of those "noise, heat, power" stats:
Oh no! My 6800GT is 2db louder than one GT! No wonder I've gone deaf!
Oh no! My case is 6 degrees warmer too! Now we know where global warming started!
Oh no! My 535w psu has to come up with 367 whole watts! No wonder the street lights dim when I hit the power button!
Ronnn, do you always dwell on minutia, or is it just around me?
BTW- I'm guessing since you referred me to some other guy's experiences with SLI you've never seen it at all, like I thought. Yet here you are giving advice on it.
That's the difference between us- I actually use the stuff I talk about.
Many of us like our computers silent; two high RPM 60mm video card fans don't exactly help. And of course you can't replace SLI'd cards fans with silencers, due to the proximity of the cards. The extra heat they throw off means you'll need louder case fans, and your power supply fan will spin up since it produces more heat.
From the article:
Only you would consider that trivial.
Originally posted by: Rollo
LOL- this thread is flame bait.
Some noob shows up out of nowhere and says,"I say, helpful board rats, who is better: ATI or nVidia?" and sits back and watches us dance like puppets on his strings.
Don't think I'll play.
How is it flame bait? He didnt say which is better, he asked a logical question about a ATi single card, comparing it to SLI NV cards. Its a good question.
No be fair. Rollo has always considered noise to be trivial and many times has said it is not an important issue for him. There are some, like myself that can be quite anal about sound and must factor in the cost of keeping 2 cards, versus one silent. Must also consider the work of getting the extra heat out of the case. For myself, one 6800gt or x800xl with quality quiet cooling is much more reasonable. Personally I think sli is for the competitive bench marker and for the salesman at futureshop, who sells one 6600gt with an non sli mb to the poorly informed.
Originally posted by: ronnn
No be fair. Rollo has always considered noise to be trivial and many times has said it is not an important issue for him. There are some, like myself that can be quite anal about sound and must factor in the cost of keeping 2 cards, versus one silent. Must also consider the work of getting the extra heat out of the case. For myself, one 6800gt or x800xl with quality quiet cooling is much more reasonable. Personally I think sli is for the competitive bench marker and for the salesman at futureshop, who sells one 6600gt with an non sli mb to the poorly informed.
We all need to make choices in life ronnn. While you may value absolute silence in your pc most of all, some of us prefer smooth perfrormance at higher setting. I can barely hear my computer now, I can't at all when I'm playing a game. As far as heat goes, I have a TT Xaser3 with seven 80MM fans, so I don't worry too much about it. Any air in my case is on it's way out.
Out of curiosity, what kind of rig do you actually use these days?
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: ronnn
No be fair. Rollo has always considered noise to be trivial and many times has said it is not an important issue for him. There are some, like myself that can be quite anal about sound and must factor in the cost of keeping 2 cards, versus one silent. Must also consider the work of getting the extra heat out of the case. For myself, one 6800gt or x800xl with quality quiet cooling is much more reasonable. Personally I think sli is for the competitive bench marker and for the salesman at futureshop, who sells one 6600gt with an non sli mb to the poorly informed.
We all need to make choices in life ronnn. While you may value absolute silence in your pc most of all, some of us prefer smooth perfrormance at higher setting. I can barely hear my computer now, I can't at all when I'm playing a game. As far as heat goes, I have a TT Xaser3 with seven 80MM fans, so I don't worry too much about it. Any air in my case is on it's way out.
Out of curiosity, what kind of rig do you actually use these days?
Consider yourself in the minority, if you have seven 80mm fans and can "barely hear your case".
Most of us prefer smooth performance at higher settings, along with silence. 6600GT's choke at higher resolutions, and they also run louder and hotter - yet you still recommend them over one X800Xl. Nvidia bias at its finest.
Originally posted by: sellmen
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: ronnn
No be fair. Rollo has always considered noise to be trivial and many times has said it is not an important issue for him. There are some, like myself that can be quite anal about sound and must factor in the cost of keeping 2 cards, versus one silent. Must also consider the work of getting the extra heat out of the case. For myself, one 6800gt or x800xl with quality quiet cooling is much more reasonable. Personally I think sli is for the competitive bench marker and for the salesman at futureshop, who sells one 6600gt with an non sli mb to the poorly informed.
We all need to make choices in life ronnn. While you may value absolute silence in your pc most of all, some of us prefer smooth perfrormance at higher setting. I can barely hear my computer now, I can't at all when I'm playing a game. As far as heat goes, I have a TT Xaser3 with seven 80MM fans, so I don't worry too much about it. Any air in my case is on it's way out.
Out of curiosity, what kind of rig do you actually use these days?
Consider yourself in the minority, if you have seven 80mm fans and can "barely hear your case".
Most of us prefer smooth performance at higher settings, along with silence. 6600GT's choke at higher resolutions, and they also run louder and hotter - yet you still recommend them over one X800Xl. Nvidia bias at its finest.
Xasers are not that loud. A single tornado is probably more than twice as loud as a fully loaded xaser 3. 6600GTs in SLI and X800XLs are both fast performers. However, IMO an X800XL would be a better deal than 2 6600GTs simply because they perform relatively close, and an x800xl would be cheaper.
Do not decide you hate SLI because of the power, heat, and noise myths. SLI can be very appealing depending on what your performance needs and money restraints. If I had the money, and wanted the absolute fastest pc out there, I would definately use SLI.
A single tornado puts out 55 dB of noise, which is completely unacceptable. The fact that a Xaser is quieter than that really doesn't say much.
Seven 80mm case fans are not quiet by any means, unless you are talking about eight 5 volted Panaflos, which I doubt we are. The heat and noise aspect of SLI is hardly trivial.
Originally posted by: dguy6789
Originally posted by: sellmen
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: ronnn
No be fair. Rollo has always considered noise to be trivial and many times has said it is not an important issue for him. There are some, like myself that can be quite anal about sound and must factor in the cost of keeping 2 cards, versus one silent. Must also consider the work of getting the extra heat out of the case. For myself, one 6800gt or x800xl with quality quiet cooling is much more reasonable. Personally I think sli is for the competitive bench marker and for the salesman at futureshop, who sells one 6600gt with an non sli mb to the poorly informed.
We all need to make choices in life ronnn. While you may value absolute silence in your pc most of all, some of us prefer smooth perfrormance at higher setting. I can barely hear my computer now, I can't at all when I'm playing a game. As far as heat goes, I have a TT Xaser3 with seven 80MM fans, so I don't worry too much about it. Any air in my case is on it's way out.
Out of curiosity, what kind of rig do you actually use these days?
Consider yourself in the minority, if you have seven 80mm fans and can "barely hear your case".
Most of us prefer smooth performance at higher settings, along with silence. 6600GT's choke at higher resolutions, and they also run louder and hotter - yet you still recommend them over one X800Xl. Nvidia bias at its finest.
Xasers are not that loud. A single tornado is probably more than twice as loud as a fully loaded xaser 3. 6600GTs in SLI and X800XLs are both fast performers. However, IMO an X800XL would be a better deal than 2 6600GTs simply because they perform relatively close, and an x800xl would be cheaper.
Do not decide you hate SLI because of the power, heat, and noise myths. SLI can be very appealing depending on what your performance needs and money restraints. If I had the money, and wanted the absolute fastest pc out there, I would definately use SLI.
You are right about Xasers Dguy, I have all fans at max rpm and it's a low hum, not annoying at all. They are fine Tt "Ultra Silent" fans:
http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase/xaser3/v2000a.htm
I fear you're fighting a losing cause with some here though:
A couple dB of sound becomes a "ear splitting roar".
A couple meaningless degrees of heat becomes "I want to touch my case without oven mitts!"
A couple more watts consumed becomes "I'll need a second job to pay my electric!"
Winning half the benches by 5% and losing half by 5% becomes " A crushing victory for ATI!"
Using the DX9A/B feature set of 2002-2003 somehow becomes desirable because "The fact that it runs most features for most games is impressive!"
Etc ad infinitum
Gross exagerration, omission, and selective focus are what I've grown used to from this crowd. The tech they hype is the design of yesteryear, so all they have left is pointing out things that could be perceived as negative if they existed in greater magnitude (heat/power/noise) and meaningless framerate victories in games.
(of course when ATI finally figures the same features out, it will be the best thing since sliced bread :roll: )
You get used to it, and learn not to expect better.
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: dguy6789
Originally posted by: sellmen
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: ronnn
No be fair. Rollo has always considered noise to be trivial and many times has said it is not an important issue for him. There are some, like myself that can be quite anal about sound and must factor in the cost of keeping 2 cards, versus one silent. Must also consider the work of getting the extra heat out of the case. For myself, one 6800gt or x800xl with quality quiet cooling is much more reasonable. Personally I think sli is for the competitive bench marker and for the salesman at futureshop, who sells one 6600gt with an non sli mb to the poorly informed.
We all need to make choices in life ronnn. While you may value absolute silence in your pc most of all, some of us prefer smooth perfrormance at higher setting. I can barely hear my computer now, I can't at all when I'm playing a game. As far as heat goes, I have a TT Xaser3 with seven 80MM fans, so I don't worry too much about it. Any air in my case is on it's way out.
Out of curiosity, what kind of rig do you actually use these days?
Consider yourself in the minority, if you have seven 80mm fans and can "barely hear your case".
Most of us prefer smooth performance at higher settings, along with silence. 6600GT's choke at higher resolutions, and they also run louder and hotter - yet you still recommend them over one X800Xl. Nvidia bias at its finest.
Xasers are not that loud. A single tornado is probably more than twice as loud as a fully loaded xaser 3. 6600GTs in SLI and X800XLs are both fast performers. However, IMO an X800XL would be a better deal than 2 6600GTs simply because they perform relatively close, and an x800xl would be cheaper.
Do not decide you hate SLI because of the power, heat, and noise myths. SLI can be very appealing depending on what your performance needs and money restraints. If I had the money, and wanted the absolute fastest pc out there, I would definately use SLI.
You are right about Xasers Dguy, I have all fans at max rpm and it's a low hum, not annoying at all. They are fine Tt "Ultra Silent" fans:
http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase/xaser3/v2000a.htm
I fear you're fighting a losing cause with some here though:
A couple dB of sound becomes a "ear splitting roar".
A couple meaningless degrees of heat becomes "I want to touch my case without oven mitts!"
A couple more watts consumed becomes "I'll need a second job to pay my electric!"
Winning half the benches by 5% and losing half by 5% becomes " A crushing victory for ATI!"
Using the DX9A/B feature set of 2002-2003 somehow becomes desirable because "The fact that it runs most features for most games is impressive!"
Etc ad infinitum
Gross exagerration, omission, and selective focus are what I've grown used to from this crowd. The tech they hype is the design of yesteryear, so all they have left is pointing out things that could be perceived as negative if they existed in greater magnitude (heat/power/noise) and meaningless framerate victories in games.
(of course when ATI finally figures the same features out, it will be the best thing since sliced bread :roll: )
You get used to it, and learn not to expect better.
LOL...your "ultra silent" fans run at 30dB. And you have seven of them...you have no idea what a quiet PC is.
You realize that dB is not a linear scale? It's logarithmic. An increase of 3 dB equals a doubling of acoustic power. So yes, a "couple of dB" is a big deal, though no one claims its a"ear splitting roar". More distortions from you, as usual.
"Winning half the benches by 5% and losing half by 5%" - Pure BS. Let me just repost part of RS's post:
You recommend a slower, louder, hotter card that requires a premium motherboard. "Selective focus", indeed.
Which are three items you engage in on a regular basis in your never ending "Nvidia or Nothing" campaign.
Most people (and benchmarks) agree that a single x800xl is generally faster, cooler, quieter and cheaper than a pair of SLI 6600GT. Add in the fact that two 128mb 6600GT's still equals only 128mb effective memory storage versus the 256mb available on the 800XL plus the additional cost of an SLI motherboard versus a non-SLI and the 6600GT SLI option really doesn't look so attractive anymore.
Unless you look at the gaming world solely through SM3.0 colored glasses.
mooncancook
Platinum Member
- May 28, 2003
- 2,874
- 50
- 91
I thought not all games support SLI. Then add the additional bugz, cost, heat and noise, and real estates... it's not worth it. That's why i sold my 6600GT and get a X800XL.
Exactly it is choices and a quiet computer is not for everyone. So 2 6600gts in sli gives smoother performance at higher settings than a 6800gt or x800xl?
EightySix Four
Diamond Member
- Jul 17, 2004
- 5,122
- 52
- 91
This argument in a theoretical bubble is irrelivant. No one has the exact same computers so all anyone can suggest is their best guess as to the best option for the one who asks the question.
EightySix Four
Diamond Member
- Jul 17, 2004
- 5,122
- 52
- 91
So your saying that a x800xl might be faster than dual 6600gt's on an A64 3400+, but slower on an FX55 or something? Certainly not the case. The best thing for ANYONE is spend the least amount of money for the amount of speed they want, even rollo can agree with that, and what this guy is looking at the Price VS Performance wise, the X800XL wins hands down.
I agree, but we are speaking in general terms, and most of us are enthusiasts, not experts and this is our hobby.
There is an old axiom "The fewer the moving parts, the better the machine". All things being equal, the simpler solution is always preferable. Fewer things to malfunction, wear out or require adjustment. In this case the simpler solution is also cheaper and faster.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 23K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter