SLI or Single 7xxx card

[imported_Shakespeare]

I've got two 6800 GT cards with out a home at the moment. I was thinking of building a SLI rig with them. However my plan to build a SFF SLI box for LAN party gaming has hit a snag.

Is it worth an extra $200 to build a SLI box, or should I sell the two 6800GTs and spend the extra $200 to get a single 7xxx series card?

Your recommendations are welcomed.

TIA, Check Six,
Shakespeare

 

[deadseasquirrel]

What monitor do you plan to use (and what resolution)? What games do you play? What are the rest of the specs of the planned build?

IMO, if you're looking for high-end, sell both of those cards and spend a little extra money to get either 1) a single x1900xt or 2) SLI 7900GTs (if either of those choices will fit in a SFF).

 

[imported_Shakespeare]

Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel
What monitor do you plan to use (and what resolution)? What games do you play? What are the rest of the specs of the planned build?

IMO, if you're looking for high-end, sell both of those cards and spend a little extra money to get either 1) a single x1900xt or 2) SLI 7900GTs (if either of those choices will fit in a SFF).

1) Dell 2405FPW
2) BF2, Neverwinter Nights (and the upcoming NW2), Falcon 4.0, IL-2, LOMAC, maybe UT...
3) AMD 939, 3500 or 3700 cpu, 2GB RAM (2x1024 sticks), 250 GB HD, DVD -/+ RW, 10/100/1000 LAN, min 5.1 audio

Going SLI with twin 7900GTs is not within my budget at the moment. My point is should I keep my two 6800GTs and SLI or sell them and go with a single Nvidia (7xxx series) or ATI (x19xx series) PCI-E card?

 

[akshayt]

a single 7900GT for anrd 260$ chances are you will get it lower at newegg
or a 1800xt starting at about 219$

both these are 256mb

 

[biostud]

single, it's probaly faster, it uses less power and produces far less heat which is quite important for a SFF build.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

wasn't the 7800 as fast as 2 6800gt sli. so the 7900gt should be easily faster ?

 

[akshayt]

7800gt maybe 10-40% faster at max from a 7600gt and a 7600gt is 0% and I even saw a benchmark where it was almost 50% faster than a 6800gs!

Bottomline, consider the X1800XT and 7900GT(problamatic though)

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: Shakespeare
Going SLI with twin 7900GTs is not within my budget at the moment. My point is should I keep my two 6800GTs and SLI or sell them and go with a single Nvidia (7xxx series) or ATI (x19xx series) PCI-E card?

Not sure of what your budget is, but you should be able to sell both of those GTs for around $350 total. If you shrink that CPU down from a 3700+ to a 3000+ (virtually no difference in gaming performance at the resolution your monitor will be at), you could save another $130 or so (check Chief Value for a $104 3000+ and the 3700+ goes for $235).

So, after selling those GTs and going with a 3000+, you've got $480 for a video card solution. That will get you a very good x1900xt(x) with money left over, or, if you act REALLY fast, SLI 7900GTs for $480.

The games you play now aren't real graphically intense (like Oblivion and FEAR), but NWN2 is a wildcard... no idea until September comes. Either way, that 24" monitor would definitely eat up some graphics power at 1920x1200 with AA/AF.

You really can't go wrong with either option. When I had the choice a few months ago, there were no 7900GTs that cheap ($300 if you could even find them), so I went with the XTX and have been happy. I was a 14-month SLI user with 6800GTs.

 

[imported_Shakespeare]

Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel
Not sure of what your budget is, but you should be able to sell both of those GTs for around $350 total. If you shrink that CPU down from a 3700+ to a 3000+ (virtually no difference in gaming performance at the resolution your monitor will be at), you could save another $130 or so (check Chief Value for a $104 3000+ and the 3700+ goes for $235)

I wanted to stay near $1000. I also want to go with a SFF system. The difference between a SLI capable and a single SFF is $200 in favor of the single. I've speced this out:

• Shuttle SN25P AMD Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64/Sempron NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra, VIA Envy24PT 8-CH Audio, 10/100/1000 LAN, Silent X 350W Power Supply, 12.2" x 7.8" x 7.2"
  - Front Panel Ports: USB 2, IEEE 1394, Card Reader 8 in 1
  - Back Panel Ports: PS/2 2, COM 1, USB 4, RJ45, IEEE 1394, S/PDIF In, S/PDIF Out, Audio Ports 5 jacks
  
  AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Processor
  
  Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
  
  Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
  
  eVGA 256-P2-N564 Geforce 7900GT KO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
  
  NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A

... at $1200 delivered.

Two used 6800GTs for $340?!? I hope I can get $175 for a used 6800GT. Thanks for the advice, any other recommendations?

Check Six,
Shakespeare

 

[dman918]

I'd be suprised if you got $175 for a used 6800GT. You can get new 7600GTs for $150 shipped AR nowadays. Who knows, though... 6800GTs are like $200 at newegg and whatnot, so maybe someone would want it...

Oh, and from what I have read, either go with a 3200+ or a 3700+.

 

[Munky]

A single 7800gtx (or stock 7900gt) offers equivalent performance to dual 6800gt's. An OC'd 7900gt will easily outperform two of the 6800gt's. Seems like an obvious choice to me.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: dman918
I'd be suprised if you got $175 for a used 6800GT. You can get new 7600GTs for $150 shipped AR nowadays. Who knows, though... 6800GTs are like $200 at newegg and whatnot, so maybe someone would want it...

Oh, and from what I have read, either go with a 3200+ or a 3700+.

$175 for an AGP 6800GT in great condition might happen ... no way for PCIe anymore.