SLI or not

wallrunnerm15

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Nov 19, 2004
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is it better to get 1 realyl kickass card like the 6800ultra or get 2 6600gt in sli, also i would like to know if i get a x800 and an X800 AIW, can i still run in SLI
 

fierydemise

Platinum Member
Apr 16, 2005
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2 6600GTs in SLI is slower then an X800XL so it'll be alot slower then 6800 Ultra and you can't SLI ATI cards but AMR will get here soon and then you may be able to.
 

fstime

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2004
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The only thing thats gonna beat a single Ultra or x850XT is 2x 6800GTs or 2x 6800Ultras.

2x 6600gts is not so hot.

2x 6600gts will range from 300-400. The x800XL is faster for $300.
 

Soulkeeper

Diamond Member
Nov 23, 2001
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yeah just get a 6800/gt/ultra and wait till some other day to upgrade

that way you got a better option for upgrading later on
 

wallrunnerm15

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Nov 19, 2004
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thanks. i would like to hear some feed back on the x800xl or maybe even the x850 series. i know everyone loves the nvidia's now, but i really liked my ati 9550 until it died and i recently purchased an 9600xt to replace it and am satisfied. when i upgrade to pci-e i might want to stay with ATI.
 

Todd33

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2003
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I think you should get two 6800GTs in SLI for $850 and then we can all laugh at you in a few months when the next gen ATI 520 based cards (or Nvidia) come out for $400 and perfrom 50% faster, make less noise,use less power and support DX10.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
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Originally posted by: Todd33
I think you should get two 6800GTs in SLI for $850 and then we can all laugh at you in a few months when the next gen ATI 520 based cards (or Nvidia) come out for $400 and perfrom 50% faster, make less noise,use less power and support DX10.

Nice post.
Why would you laugh at someone for their choice of video cards? Do a lot of people laugh at you for the X800Pro, which everyone agreed was weak compared to a 6800GHT?

Anyway, 6600GTs are slower than a 6800U, 6800GTs would own anything except 6800Ultras.

I have serious doubts anyone is buying cards 50% faster than 6800GTs for $400. :roll:
 

BobDaMenkey

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2005
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nVidia cards are slightly slower at the moment, but they have many features that current ATi cards lack. It's really up to you as to which you want to go for. I love my 6800GT, but if I were going to be getting a new PCI-e card I'd probably get an X800, because I play alot of CS:S and nVidia cards are currently lagging behind in that game.

But either card is going to be more than fast enough for a good while. I love having all the eye candy on in my system :) It's something I've never had before.
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey
nVidia cards are slightly slower at the moment, but they have many features that current ATi cards lack. It's really up to you as to which you want to go for. I love my 6800GT, but if I were going to be getting a new PCI-e card I'd probably get an X800, because I play alot of CS:S and nVidia cards are currently lagging behind in that game.

But either card is going to be more than fast enough for a good while. I love having all the eye candy on in my system :) It's something I've never had before.

What cards are you talking about to say that nvidia is slower? At different price points and AGP vs PCI-e, the company that has the faster card varies.

The only feature I see mentioned about a dozen times daily is SM3.0 support for the nvidia cards... what other features are relavant to this thread? ATI has some features some nvidia cards don't have too.

 

RedDemon

Junior Member
May 18, 2005
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Here are some links to help you on your decision wallrunner

Xbit roundup

Bit tech SLI review

HardOCP SLI upgrade guide

NVidia Support HardOCP

that should give you alot of reading to do and give it a long hard thought on what your going to buy since it is your money

think about what games you play and look at some of the benchmarks of the games you most frequently play

some games play better on ATI and some play better on Nvidia

your choice of processor and memory type and speed will have some affect on your results also

nvidia and ati will show their next generation soon but we may not have them in our hands until late 3rd quarter

it would be nice to see them on newegg before quakcon so i can by an Dual Core AMD, a Shuttle SLI and the FX7800 Ultra
I am a Nvidia fan boy even though I must admit that ATI would probably be a better choice for my needs since i mainly play UT2k4

most people would say otherwise but do some reading and think it thru
I would wait if i where u for the next generation

and just in case i get torn up but Nvidia fanatics
the reason i would go with an ATI X850XT right now is because i have a DELL 2405 24" monitor and right now Nvidia's SLI doesnt work too well with high resolutions of 1920x1200 SLI is quirky and has to be bumped down in resolution to work properly

im sure it will be fixed soon but I also mainly play 2k4 and SLI doesnt enhance that game at all

sure i play all the other games like DOom3 and MOH:pA and painkiller but my needs lean towards 2k4 for now

im waiting it out till the next gen jsut my thoughts
 

ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: Todd33
I think you should get two 6800GTs in SLI for $850 and then we can all laugh at you in a few months when the next gen ATI 520 based cards (or Nvidia) come out for $400 and perfrom 50% faster, make less noise,use less power and support DX10.

Nice post.
Why would you laugh at someone for their choice of video cards? Do a lot of people laugh at you for the X800Pro, which everyone agreed was weak compared to a 6800GHT?

Anyway, 6600GTs are slower than a 6800U, 6800GTs would own anything except 6800Ultras.

I have serious doubts anyone is buying cards 50% faster than 6800GTs for $400. :roll:

lol...nice reply...i have to totally agree with Rollo, buying the X800pro was probably one of the worst decisions u could ever make considering the 6800GT trashed it in most benchmarks!!!
BUT..i suggest u wait for a few more months before u SLI ur machine, better u SLI 2 G70s than 2 6800GTs although it all depends whether u can wait or not!
if ur budget is around 300 and if ur goin AGP..6800GT is the way to go...if ur goin PCI-e then x800XL is the card u would want!
if u want a card for around 200 or less than 6600GT is THE card!! completely trashes any sub 200 cards...
 

uOpt

Golden Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Originally posted by: wallrunnerm15
thanks. i would like to hear some feed back on the x800xl or maybe even the x850 series. i know everyone loves the nvidia's now, but i really liked my ati 9550 until it died and i recently purchased an 9600xt to replace it and am satisfied. when i upgrade to pci-e i might want to stay with ATI.

I'm afraid I still don't see much progress in ATI's tendency to just ignore drivers issues. Fog tables in their Direct3D drivers still don't work, although they work in their OpenGL drivers as well as the Rave drivers for Mac. Hardware-accelerated DirectDraw appears to be broken, too (for 2D games, Armored Task Force users still run from a batch script that turns hardware acceleration off). On the support forum for "Combat Mission", the only one where I hang out regularly you see a lot of trouble coming up with ATI drivers, rarely with NVidia.

The Linux drivers are inferior, and I estimate that 20% or more of current Windoze users will at least try Linux in the next two year, so I wouldn't outright ignore this. FreeBSD drivers don't exist and I estimate 0.001% of users will try that soon. Haha, I slay me :D

Anyway, the abover drivers issues are not catastrophic, but NVidia is much more committed to have every aspect of drivers work, even if it is just for older, obscure games.

I would trade a little cost/performance ratio for better drivers anytime, and I don't see that ATI is actually better in price/performance to start from, so NVidia it is for me. In my opinion, ATI works flawlessly only for those people who mostly play current games and change their cards reasonably often. For somebody like me who likes obscure games and who keeps old cards in test computers it just isn't good enough.
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
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Originally posted by: Todd33
I think you should get two 6800GTs in SLI for $850 and then we can all laugh at you in a few months when the next gen ATI 520 based cards (or Nvidia) come out for $400 and perfrom 50% faster, make less noise,use less power and support DX10.

That was plain and simply, a d!ckhe@d statement Todd. Stop trolling. (Yes, that was a troll).

 

Cheesetogo

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2005
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Reading anandtech's review of the dual 6600gts, the benchmarks show that the 6600gt's beat a single ultra until aa and af is turned on.
 

deadseasquirrel

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2001
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Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
Reading anandtech's review of the dual 6600gts, the benchmarks show that the 6600gt's beat a single ultra until aa and af is turned on.

It depends on the resolution and detail level, but in some cases 6600GT SLi is faster than a single GT/Ultra even at 16x12 2x8x.

Rollo ran a bunch of benches with several games.

Originally posted by: RedDemon
I am a Nvidia fan boy even though I must admit that ATI would probably be a better choice for my needs since i mainly play UT2k4 and SLI doesnt enhance that game at all

Yes, it does. Quite well too.
 

Creig

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Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: Rollo
Nice post.
Why would you laugh at someone for their choice of video cards?

Really? I'll remind you of that the next time you're heckling my 9500NP (again). :roll:
 

ddogg

Golden Member
May 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Originally posted by: Todd33
I think you should get two 6800GTs in SLI for $850 and then we can all laugh at you in a few months when the next gen ATI 520 based cards (or Nvidia) come out for $400 and perfrom 50% faster, make less noise,use less power and support DX10.

That was plain and simply, a d!ckhe@d statement Todd. Stop trolling. (Yes, that was a troll).

:thumbsup:
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
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Originally posted by: Creig
Originally posted by: Rollo
Nice post.
Why would you laugh at someone for their choice of video cards?

Really? I'll remind you of that the next time you're heckling my 9500NP (again). :roll:



I have nothing against your 9500NP- I've just always been intrigued as to why a 9500NP user would care so much about Pure Video, SLI, etc when none of it really applies to you.

We've both posted unfriendly words to each other in the past, I am hoping we can move beyond that and leave the past behind us in the interest of making the board a less hostile place. :)
 

Ackmed

Diamond Member
Oct 1, 2003
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Dont be mad because I pointed out your hypocrisy. Dont want it pointed out? Dont do it..
 

6000SUX

Golden Member
May 8, 2005
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Unless you're rich, money really does matter. Why not get a 6800GT (because an Ultra is a waste of money, especially because a good 6800GT will overclock well) or an X800XL? Your game experience will be kickass. If you are rich and you want to have some fun, buy one (or two) of everything, experiment, and sell the ones you don't like-- or give them to the homeless. ;)
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
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Originally posted by: Ackmed
Dont be mad because I pointed out your hypocrisy. Dont want it pointed out? Dont do it..

You don't make me mad Ackmed.

I was only pointing out that calling my offer of burying the past with Creig and moving forward on a friendlier note "hypocrisy" is trolling because:

A. Unless you're God or some sort of mindreader, you have no idea the spirit my offer was made in. You don't know me, you don't know my thoughts, you simply injected a hateful little jab in because my own agenda (to promote the nV40 line till something better comes along) doesn't match your own.

B. "Hypocrisy" would imply I'm saying one thing and doing another. As I just "extended the olive branch" whether I'm a hypocrite remains to be seen. Feel free to call me a hypocrite if I bash Creig's 9500NP again in the future. Unless you can travel through time, you have no idea what will transpire between Creig and I.

So I reiterate, "Please take your pointless trolling elsewhere".