SLI or Not??

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AEvangel

Junior Member
May 11, 2005
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Now that I know I'm going with a PCIe MB I was wondering whether or not I should worry about SLI.

I was looking at the ASUS K8N Deluxe SLI, but a friend told me to wait for the Premium?

Any suggestions or insights would be apperciated.
 
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fierydemise

Platinum Member
Apr 16, 2005
2,056
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81
since AMR is just around the corner I'd wait to see how that performs before commiting to SLI
 
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Rike

Platinum Member
Oct 14, 2004
2,614
2
81
SLI is for hardcore gamers with money to burn. If that's not you then, the answer is "NOT."

AMD>Intel (for now)
 
mooncancook

mooncancook

Platinum Member
May 28, 2003
2,874
50
91
not worth it even if i have the budget because of the heat and noise the extra card generated, the real estate taken (4 slots at least), and the fact that a single top of the line card can handle any game you throw at it. Make less sense if you are on a tight budget, save the money towards a next gen card or some great games.
 
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Woody419

Senior member
Sep 22, 2001
770
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If you have a 20" monitor and want to run games at the 1600x1200, SLI will give a moderate boost to framerates, If you are not a rabid gamer there is no need to waste your money.

Besides I think SLI is a kludge. Reminds me of the Slot A processors. Good for about 1 year, then nobody wants them. Spending over $600 for a pair of cards will look real stupid around Christmas when the new single cards will be faster and cheaper.
 
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SynthDude2001

Lifer
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
2
71
Originally posted by: mooncancook
not worth it even if i have the budget because of the heat and noise the extra card generated, the real estate taken (4 slots at least), and the fact that a single top of the line card can handle any game you throw at it. Make less sense if you are on a tight budget, save the money towards a next gen card or some great games.
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It makes sense if you basically need the absolute best at any particular time and have a high resolution monitor (and are willing to part with ridiculous amounts of cash, of course). Also, it would only take 4 slots with 6800U's....6800GT's are almost always one slot (each), as far as I know. Although yes, at this point with the next-gen stuff around the corner, it would make more sense not to invest in such a setup.

Edit: I can (and do) choke my single 6800GT very easily in newer games with higher settings at my monitor's native resolution of 1680x1050, which is why I eagerly await the next-gen stuff. While I personally wouldn't spend $1k on video cards, some people would, and as I've pointed out, it provides definite advantages to those who need it (high resolution gaming, basically).
 
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w00t

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2004
5,545
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SLI will never be mainstream you will never need to cards to run a game with 100fps plus super expensive.
 
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SynthDude2001

Lifer
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
2
71
Originally posted by: AEvangel
Not to sound really stupid, but what is AMR??
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It's ATI's version of SLi, basically. Stands for "ATI Multi Rendering" or something like that.

Edit: What's your budget for a video card anyway? And what monitor will you be using? I wouldn't recommend SLI (or AMR) except in very specific (and extreme, one could say) cases.
 
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t3h l337 n3wb

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2005
2,698
0
76
Stick with a good single card solution now, and just upgrade in the future. Why spend like $600 on a pair of video cards when they can just be outperformed by like a $400 card in the future?
 
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AEvangel

Junior Member
May 11, 2005
13
0
0
[qEdit: What's your budget for a video card anyway? And what monitor will you be using? I wouldn't recommend SLI (or AMR) except in very specific (and extreme, one could say) cases.[/quote]

My main monitor will be a Dell 2005FPW 20.1" Widescreen and I have a 19" Samsung CRT for digital photo editing. The budget isn't that big of an issue, but I really don't want to buy something that I will never really use. I'm not a hardcore gamer more of a casual game player. I mainly want something that will play the games and do some casual digital movie and photo editing.
 
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imported_DocHolliday

Senior member
Nov 19, 2004
899
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Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Stick with a good single card solution now, and just upgrade in the future. Why spend like $600 on a pair of video cards when they can just be outperformed by like a $400 card in the future?
Click to expand...

because it'd take about 9 months after the release of that 400 dollar card before it was actually 400 dollars
 
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w00t

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2004
5,545
0
0
stick with one card its better dont do this crap like get one 6800gt and get another one later cause by the time u get enough money there is a card out that is better than ur 2 cards combined.
 
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t3h l337 n3wb

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2005
2,698
0
76
My main monitor will be a Dell 2005FPW 20.1" Widescreen and I have a 19" Samsung CRT for digital photo editing. The budget isn't that big of an issue, but I really don't want to buy something that I will never really use. I'm not a hardcore gamer more of a casual game player. I mainly want something that will play the games and do some casual digital movie and photo editing.
Click to expand...

If you're only a casual gamer, then you definately don't need SLI.
 
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SynthDude2001

Lifer
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
2
71
Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
My main monitor will be a Dell 2005FPW 20.1" Widescreen and I have a 19" Samsung CRT for digital photo editing. The budget isn't that big of an issue, but I really don't want to buy something that I will never really use. I'm not a hardcore gamer more of a casual game player. I mainly want something that will play the games and do some casual digital movie and photo editing.
Click to expand...

If you're only a casual gamer, then you definately don't need SLI.
Click to expand...

I agree. Just pick up a 6600GT or something similar and call it a day. :)
 
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ValuedCustomer

Senior member
May 5, 2004
759
0
0
My boss received his Alienware box in the mail a couple weeks ago that's equipped w/ 2 256mb 6800 U's.. and he won't shut up about it. He's running it through a 22" CRT and says it's the greatest thing since the light bulb. Keep in mind the guy makes lots of $$. -

back in the real world most don't and/or won't spend $1k on GPUs.. stick w/ a single high-end card and I'd bet you'll never miss the 2nd. Besides, are there really that many games optimized to take full advantage of SLI? - I don't know, I'm askin'


 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,726
45
91
Originally posted by: ValuedCustomer
My boss received his Alienware box in the mail a couple weeks ago that's equipped w/ 2 256mb 6800 U's.. and he won't shut up about it. He's running it through a 22" CRT and says it's the greatest thing since the light bulb. Keep in mind the guy makes lots of $$. -

back in the real world most don't and/or won't spend $1k on GPUs.. stick w/ a single high-end card and I'd bet you'll never miss the 2nd. Besides, are there really that many games optimized to take full advantage of SLI? - I don't know, I'm askin'
Click to expand...

i would assume that any game that lets you turn on all the eye candy and your monitor can handle high resolutions, like 1600x1200x32.
 
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ValuedCustomer

Senior member
May 5, 2004
759
0
0
Hmm, 'not sure if your assumption is correct.. it seems like I remember something about Voodoo having a similar configuration a few years back that tried to use 2 GPUs but it sorta fizzeled out cuz of the lack of interest in optimization from game makers/coders. - I know all of nil about codeing but the SLI config sure seems similar physically to the Voodoo attempt; is there a difference I'm not aware of?

 
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