Quick question on video rendering!

[Saga]

Pretty basic I'd imagine, but I was curious if SLI would give any realistic benefit to 3D rendering due to two cards. Say someone had the budget for a 7800GTX, would they benefit more from one powerful card, or two less powerful cards?

Yes, I know, it's silly, and I would personally go with the 7800GTX, but I have someone who is specifically interested in a machine for graphic rendering and I need to know if a dual card setup for the same price would benefit more via SLI.

 

[lifeguard1999]

It depends on what you are talking about. Does "3D rendering" and "graphic rendering" in your post refer to ray tracing with 3D Studio Max or Maya? If so, then the answer is no. If it refers to OpenGL or DirectX as is used in games, then one powerful card is roughly the equal of two less powerful cards. Depending on the benchmark, sometimes it wins and sometimes it loses. Personally, I would go for one powerful card over two less powerful ones.