SLI / Upgrade Question

[Budee]

I have a nvidia 6800 series with 256 ram. Frame rates in TF2 are roughly 30fps when quiet to 10 fps when there is alot of action. Things start to stutter and I usually die at this point. This is at 1680 x 1050. I spent alot of money 3.5 years ago on the 6800 thinking that when I needed more horsepower I could just add a second card, at a much cheaper price. But I'm not sure about the rules for SLI. I found a very similar card on newegg for 99.99. I have a EVGA GF 6800GT 256-P2-N376-AX. The one at newegg is a EVGA 256-P2-N386-RX GeForce 6800GS. But outside of that I found the GT model at insane prices. Can I use the GS model? If not is there a solution for better performance under 200 bucks?

thanks!

 

[Syntax Error]

HD 3850 and 3870 (I've seen some deals for those under $200) would outperform the hypothetical 6800s in SLI.

The thing with SLI is that: to plan to buy a second card later to boost performance in a significant amount of time later is ill-advised. SLI is intended for people with enough dough to buy both cards at roughly the same period, otherwise, buying a second card won't yield better frames as opposed to newer cards that have come out since, such as the 8800GT, HD3850, and the HD3870.

 

[Budee]

Would either one of these cards stop things from lagging. I mean how much better are these cards than the 6800? And how do you guys keep track of these things? Is there a website that has a chart for various cards?

Thanks

 

[PCTC2]

We just have no life so we stick to these forums and new posts.

But the ATI 38X0 series and nVIDIA 8800 series will run circles around your 6800GT without breaking a sweat. They beat out my nVIDIA 7950GT easily and even my 7950GT can run circles around your 6800GT. But you can't SLI the 6800GT and GS together anyways so it wouldn't matter.

I would suggest a 3850 for budget reasons if you don't want to spend that much.

 

[Ika]

Before you buy anything, what processor do you have? If it's too weak, you might be CPU bound with newer graphics cards.

But at this point, there's really no point in buying a 6800-anything card, especially new - for $100 you can easily beat the performance of a 6800GT (which was an amazing card several generations ago).

 

[AVP]

TO OP's question - Yes there is!

Tomshardware

Purchase either a 3850, 3870 from ATI

or the slightly more expensive but better performing 8800gt from Nvidia

*edit props to Toslat, this is your best bet. 3870

 

[HeXploiT]

Originally posted by: Budee
I have a nvidia 6800 series with 256 ram. Frame rates in TF2 are roughly 30fps when quiet to 10 fps when there is alot of action. Things start to stutter and I usually die at this point. This is at 1680 x 1050. I spent alot of money 3.5 years ago on the 6800 thinking that when I needed more horsepower I could just add a second card, at a much cheaper price. But I'm not sure about the rules for SLI. I found a very similar card on newegg for 99.99. I have a EVGA GF 6800GT 256-P2-N376-AX. The one at newegg is a EVGA 256-P2-N386-RX GeForce 6800GS. But outside of that I found the GT model at insane prices. Can I use the GS model? If not is there a solution for better performance under 200 bucks?

thanks!

Separate cards aside I think a very cost efficient option would be to just pick up a used 6800gt on ebay or amazon. These cards are $60 now. Performance increase will average about 30%+. That's considerable for such a low cost option. Also the brands don't have to match. To be sure you'll want to stick as close to your current gpu as possible so if you have a GT then get another GT. There are a handful on ebay now.
Here's one for $40 bucks!

 

[lavaheadache]

Originally posted by: Perry404

Originally posted by: Budee
I have a nvidia 6800 series with 256 ram. Frame rates in TF2 are roughly 30fps when quiet to 10 fps when there is alot of action. Things start to stutter and I usually die at this point. This is at 1680 x 1050. I spent alot of money 3.5 years ago on the 6800 thinking that when I needed more horsepower I could just add a second card, at a much cheaper price. But I'm not sure about the rules for SLI. I found a very similar card on newegg for 99.99. I have a EVGA GF 6800GT 256-P2-N376-AX. The one at newegg is a EVGA 256-P2-N386-RX GeForce 6800GS. But outside of that I found the GT model at insane prices. Can I use the GS model? If not is there a solution for better performance under 200 bucks?

thanks!

Separate cards aside I think a very cost efficient option would be to just pick up a used 6800gt on ebay or amazon. These cards are $60 now. Performance increase will average about 30%+. That's considerable for such a low cost option. Also the brands don't have to match. To be sure you'll want to stick as close to your current gpu as possible so if you have a GT then get another GT. There are a handful on ebay now.
Here's one for $40 bucks!

dude that card is in Isreal and it looks to be an XT not a GT

 

[HeXploiT]

Originally posted by: lavaheadache

Originally posted by: Perry404

Originally posted by: Budee
I have a nvidia 6800 series with 256 ram. Frame rates in TF2 are roughly 30fps when quiet to 10 fps when there is alot of action. Things start to stutter and I usually die at this point. This is at 1680 x 1050. I spent alot of money 3.5 years ago on the 6800 thinking that when I needed more horsepower I could just add a second card, at a much cheaper price. But I'm not sure about the rules for SLI. I found a very similar card on newegg for 99.99. I have a EVGA GF 6800GT 256-P2-N376-AX. The one at newegg is a EVGA 256-P2-N386-RX GeForce 6800GS. But outside of that I found the GT model at insane prices. Can I use the GS model? If not is there a solution for better performance under 200 bucks?

thanks!

Separate cards aside I think a very cost efficient option would be to just pick up a used 6800gt on ebay or amazon. These cards are $60 now. Performance increase will average about 30%+. That's considerable for such a low cost option. Also the brands don't have to match. To be sure you'll want to stick as close to your current gpu as possible so if you have a GT then get another GT. There are a handful on ebay now.
Here's one for $40 bucks!

dude that card is in Isreal and it looks to be an XT not a GT

Oops. Anyway there are still lots of them on ebay.

 

[Budee]

Originally posted by: Aflac
Before you buy anything, what processor do you have? If it's too weak, you might be CPU bound with newer graphics cards.

But at this point, there's really no point in buying a 6800-anything card, especially new - for $100 you can easily beat the performance of a 6800GT (which was an amazing card several generations ago).

I have an athlon64 3800. Everything in my system is 3 year old tech. It was pretty fast when I bought it, but now it looks kinda pokey.

 

[RussianSensation]

Sell your card for about $40 or something and then get HD 2900Pro for $145 on Newegg. Overclocked, it'll be pretty fast for this price.