Should I add another 6600GT and go SLI or upgrade?

[scottvin]

I am building a new AMD X2 system and I have a Chaintech 6600GT PCI-E card just sitting there.

Should I buy another one of these cards and create an SLI configuration?

or

Should I purchase a single, better card (6800 or 7800) and go SLI later?

 

[SPARTAN VI]

Originally posted by: scottvin
I am building a new AMD X2 system and I have a Chaintech 6600GT PCI-E card just sitting there.

Should I buy another one of these cards and create an SLI configuration?

or

Should I purchase a single, better card (6800 or 7800) and go SLI later?

You could probably sell your 6600GT for $100 or so and put that toward a 7800GT. You'd still be taking around $250 from your own pocket, but it's worth it.

 

[lifeguard1999]

Well, you could get a 6600GT for around $130~$150, but in general it is better to buy a single, more powerful card than to go SLI. From AT's recent 6800GS article:

"We also generally do not recommend SLI as an upgrade option. The main benefit of multi-GPU technology these days is to increase the maximum performance beyond the fastest single card on the market. ATI and NVIDIA have kept upgrade cycles fairly consistent over the past few years. It makes sense to spend money on a card that will bring increased performance and more features to a system when a new generation of GPU comes out rather than augmenting an aging card with another of the same type."

 

[scottvin]

I think I know what to do.... 7800 I guess, I always seem to cheap out and then I am behind the curve again!

 

[Slitherythesnake]

Go with the 7800 GT (about $350 if you look around), it'll provide a huge performance increase than 2 6600 GTs. 2 6600 GTs are at best a tad faster than one 6800 GT and usually on par/slightly slower than the 6800 GT.