Running 8800gtx SLI--worth it to upgrade?

[Woofmeister]

I'm updating this old thread, but not in the way you might have expected. I went back and checked all my settings and found that when I reinstalled the drivers for my new GTX 275s, the default global setting in NVIDIA Control Panel had switched to "High Quality." Switching back to "Quality" gave me an additional 10-15 FPS in Far Cry 2 at 1920x1200 with all in-game settings maxed. A 20-30 FPS improvement in Stalker Clear Sky at 1920x1200 with all in-game settings maxed (where previously I was slowing down into the sub 10 FPS range on some sections) and an easy 30 FPS improvement in COD World at War. In fact, I'm running COD WaW at 1920x1200 with the "Best Quality" pre-defined profile in Nhancer and I'm still averaging 80 FPS (looks awesome too).

So it turns out that while I could still probably get even better performance by switching to Quad Core from Dual Core, the performance I have now is very, very good.

Ready for the punchline? As I mentioned above, because MicroCenter had great prices on the Core i7 920, I went out and bought one (got the last D0 stepping 920 in the store too). And since its a crime against humanity to leave a brand new processor sitting around, I picked up a new EVGA LGA 1366 X58 Motherboard and 6 GB of OCZ DDR3 RAM on sale at NewEgg. And since my Silverstone 750w PSU might (emphasis on "might") find itself being maxed out powering my new hardware, I also picked up a new Zalman 1000w PSU. I'm almost $800 in on something that I didn't really need, but at least I've finally made the jump to Quad Core and the 1366 socket.

I'm going to try to get everything installed this weekend. Stay tuned for benchmarks.

 

[betasub]

Nice new hardware you've bought there, Woof. I hope you got good prices on them. Looking forward to your build and benchmark update!

 

[Woofmeister]

And we're up and running with the new hardware. The difference in frame rates in some games is very minor. Stalker Clear Sky, my current fave (and a known sandbagger of Nvidia chips), still choppy with frame rates dropping into the teens on some levels.

On the other hand, for Far Cry 2 the average frame rate almost doubles to the high 70s with everything maxed. Peak frame rates in game exceed 100FPS :Q

An outstanding result and one with which I am very pleased.:thumbsup:

As more games begin to take advantage of multiple cores, I'm sure my upgrade decision will continue to pay dividends.

This has been a very interesting experiment and I hope everyone can learn from my experience. Like everything else, it really depends on what you're playing.

 

[happy medium]

Good to see your happy. Keep us posted, love to see some more benchies.