question about SLI configurations

[donjonson]

I am trying to figure out what the best video cards to buy for SLI. Does performance seem to platau at a certain card level. I dont want to go waste my money on two 7800GTX's if the performance gain would only be neglegable over say two 6800GT's or something. If it is worth the extra money I have it to spen but id rather not waste it if you know what I mean.

Thanks

 

[otispunkmeyer]

with SLI you'll quickly find that your CPU limited in alot of games.....but the easy solution to that is to simply turn the details up!

i probably wouldnt go for 6800GT's in SLI.

if you got the money 7800GT's in SLI are great, i have them and im astounded......7800GTX's are even better.....and 7800GTX 512's are biblical, but so too is their price. i think 7800GT's in SLI are a good alround. not as expensive as 2 GTX's and most of the time just as fast due to cpu limits, but then theyre much faster than a single GTX (not that a single GTX is slow or anything)

for less money you coulf get 2 6800GT's. 6800U's or 6800GS's in SLI, but IMO this is superfolous (sp?) 1 7800GTX will pretty much keep pace with 6800U's in SLI and be cheaper to buy, plus the 7800's were designed with 16x12+ resolutions in mind. (ie due to a design limitation the 6 series choked/took big performance hit after 16x12)


so your going to run into cpu limitations at some point, but if you have a high res display you can simply crank up the res and be happy, or you can run at maximum details with lots of AA and AF and still run smooth.

if you take alook around Anandtech.com's video page http://www.anandtech.com/video/ you'll be able to find reviews on such topics. also check www.xbitlabs.com, www.bit-tech.net, www.firingsquad.com etc for similar articles, and you'll get the info you want

for me id reccommend 7800gt's in SLI. not as expensive as 7800GTX's, and for the most part just as fast.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
with SLI you'll quickly find that your CPU limited in alot of games.....but the easy solution to that is to simply turn the details up!

i probably wouldnt go for 6800GT's in SLI.

if you got the money 7800GT's in SLI are great, i have them and im astounded......7800GTX's are even better.....and 7800GTX 512's are biblical, but so too is their price. i think 7800GT's in SLI are a good alround. not as expensive as 2 GTX's and most of the time just as fast due to cpu limits, but then theyre much faster than a single GTX (not that a single GTX is slow or anything)

for less money you coulf get 2 6800GT's. 6800U's or 6800GS's in SLI, but IMO this is superfolous (sp?) 1 7800GTX will pretty much keep pace with 6800U's in SLI and be cheaper to buy, plus the 7800's were designed with 16x12+ resolutions in mind. (ie due to a design limitation the 6 series choked/took big performance hit after 16x12)


so your going to run into cpu limitations at some point, but if you have a high res display you can simply crank up the res and be happy, or you can run at maximum details with lots of AA and AF and still run smooth.

if you take alook around Anandtech.com's video page http://www.anandtech.com/video/ you'll be able to find reviews on such topics. also check www.xbitlabs.com, www.bit-tech.net, www.firingsquad.com etc for similar articles, and you'll get the info you want

for me id reccommend 7800gt's in SLI. not as expensive as 7800GTX's, and for the most part just as fast.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[donjonson]

awsome thanks a lot

you said the the processor would become the bottleneck but What if I were to get say an athlon 64 X2 4800+

would that work well together with a 7800GT SLI?

 

[christopherzombie]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
for me id reccommend 7800gt's in SLI. not as expensive as 7800GTX's, and for the most part just as fast.

I agree. But it depends on your budget.

$200 - 2 x 6600 256MB - 1 6800GS is better
$300 - 2 x 6600GT 128MB - 1 7800GT is better
$400 - 2 x 6800GS 256MB - still better than one 7800GTX (in most cases over 12x10 rez)- but you lose upgradability to SLI
$500 - 2 x 6800GT 256MB - the GS overclocks much better
$580 - 2 x 6800GT 512MB - waste of money, but a 512MB frame buffer would rock!
$600 - 2 x 7800GT 256MB - best choice!
$900 - 2 x 7800GTX 256MB - save $300 and buy two GTs
$1300 - 2 x 7800GTX 512MB - ...can I barrow a few bucks, cuz you got money to burn

Standard 6600s wouldn't be worth it, since you can get one 6800GS for the same price. The same goes for dual 6600GTs and a single 7800GT. I would skip dual 6800GTs in favor of the 6800GS. The GS only has 12/5, but it makes up for it with higher clock speeds and lower power consumption. Two 7800GTX isn't worth $300+ over a pair of 7800GTs (some will disagree). Anyway you look at it,
price + peformance = 2 x 7800GT or 2 x 6800GS

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: donjonson
awsome thanks a lot

you said the the processor would become the bottleneck but What if I were to get say an athlon 64 X2 4800+

would that work well together with a 7800GT SLI?

doesnt matter

you'd still be CPU limited in alot of titles.

maybes not in games like FEAR and other recent games. but definately games like HL2 where physics is a big part of the game, you'll be cpu limited.

there isnt really anything you can do about this, even AMDs fastest , would still be a bottle neck in some games.

and since no games take advantage of dual core just yet either, but it is a wise choice to get a X2 instead of a normal A64. im hoping to pick up a X2 next year to complement my 7800gt's , but for now, my 3200 venice @ 2.5Ghz is a good partner

X2 4800+ and 7800GT's would be a killer rig. Jus make sure you go for 2Gigs of ram too

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: christopherzombie

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
for me id reccommend 7800gt's in SLI. not as expensive as 7800GTX's, and for the most part just as fast.

I agree. But it depends on your budget.

$200 - 2 x 6600 256MB - 1 6800GS is better
$300 - 2 x 6600GT 128MB - 1 7800GT is better
$400 - 2 x 6800GS 256MB - still better than one 7800GTX (in most cases over 12x10 rez)- but you lose upgradability to SLI
$600 - 2 x 7800GT 256MB - best choice!
$900 - 2 x 7800GTX 256MB - save $300 and buy two GTs
$1300 - 2 x 7800GTX 512MB - ...can I barrow a few bucks, cuz you got money to burn

Standard 6600s wouldn't be worth it, since you can get one 6800GS for the same price. The same goes for dual 6600GTs and a single 7800GT. I would skip dual 6800GTs in favor of the 6800GS. The GS only has 12/5, but it makes up for it with higher clock speeds and lower power consumption. Two 7800GTX isn't worth $300+ over a pair of 7800GTs (some will disagree). Anyway you look at it,
price + peformance = 2 x 7800GT or 2 x 6800GS

im not so sure 2x6800GS are better.....

certainly not above 16x12. i mean they have 12pipes clocked at 425Mhz. so thats 24pipes at 425mhz.

the stock 7800gtx weighs in at 430Mhz, and pretty much every vendor sells them with a good overclock. then you got the overheads that occur with SLI. so i reckon 1 7800gtx is still a better option than 2x6800GS's

http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q4/geforce-6800gs/index.x?pg=5

 

[christopherzombie]

Here is the 6800GS in SLi compared to one 7800GTX 512, and it's close, but the 7800GTX 512 comes out on top.

And it looks like from your link, that the single 7800GTX beats the 2 x 6800GS in a few benches and games. Not all games take full advantage of SLi. It would be stupid (I'm guilty of this sometimes) to buy a video card, or a pair of video cards based soley on a 3DMark score. But SLied 6800GSs dominate over the 7800GTX 256MB in Doom3, FEAR, BF2 and 3DMark05. HL2 and SS2 are another story. And one 7800GTX use a bit less juice than 2 x 6800GS.

...still looking for another compare.