SLI vs Crossfire

[ProNooB]

Which setup gives the best quality for gameplay Nvidia SLI or Ati Crossfire ?

My first choice for my new gaming rig was an SLI setup but i have recently read that Crossfire offers that same performance but better quality.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

You want to do 8800 GTX SLI? Cos otherwise I'd go single 8800 GTX since SLI and crossfire both have issues. I've owned both so I have experienced the joys and pitfalls.

 

[ProNooB]

My budget won't stretch to 8800 GTX's at their current price, i was thinking more along the lines of 2x 8800 GTS's.
I see from your sig gersson that your using ATI crossfire, which setup has the least pitfalls?

 

[chizow]

Ya there's too many problems with SLI/CF right now for anyone to recommend one or the other with a clear conscience. I went with an 8800 this round though because it offers SLI/CF-like performance in a single card solution with the possibility to double up later on.

If you're dead set on running SLI/CF at some point and don't know if you want to go with 2x 8800s, you're better off waiting for the R600s as buying 2 X1900s to use in CF doesn't make much sense at this point. On the nVidia side there's tons of driver problems with SLI under both XP (lots of compatibility and performance issues) and Vista (no SLI support at all right now) and it also looks like there's a lot of questions in terms of platform support for CF and SLI. You've got the potential for AMD and Intel drawing party lines in terms of SLI/CF support, making it an ugly situation for the end-user.

If you bought today, a single 8800 GTS or GTX would be the best option without committing too much into SLI or CF.

 

[Agentbolt]

My budget won't stretch to 8800 GTX's at their current price, i was thinking more along the lines of 2x 8800 GTS's

Crossfire and SLI are really, really annoying to get working sometimes, man. Just get a single 8800GTX, which is the fastest solution out there right now, and then when a game comes out that really punishes it (which currently none do) THEN you can get a second 8800GTX and SLI them. You'll save yourself a bit of money, too. 2 8800GTs cost way more than a single GTX and the performance gain isn't all that impressive.

 

[ProNooB]

I can buy 2 8800 GTS for £390 the cheapest 8800 GTX is £360 at the moment.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: ProNooB
I can buy 2 8800 GTS for £390 the cheapest 8800 GTX is £360 at the moment.

I'm guessing those are 2x 320MB GTS? This would be a good option if SLI wasn't so broken atm. 2x 320MB are pretty close to a GTX in price, but depending on how SLI handles the frame buffer at higher resolutions, you might not see any actual improvement in performance at higher resolutions (it could very easily be worst). At lower resolutions, I'm not sure how much of a performance benefit you'd actually see running 2x 320MB GTS vs. 1x GTX.

 

[Wreckage]

A single 8800GTX will outperform anything in Crossfire. You should just get one 8800GTX.

 

[nZone]

I second that for the 8800GTX. If you're into SLI; 8800GTX gives you the option to do 3 GTXs SLI (in the future). I think MB with 680i chipset has 3 PCI-e for graphic cards.

 

[aka1nas]

The 320MB GTS's don't handle high resolutions with AA very well atm. Not much point in getting two of them as they won't scale all that well most likely. You're better off getting a single faster card.

 

[Captante]

Another vote for the single 8800GTX here ... SLI has too many issues at the moment (especially in Vista where it doesn't work at all) & Crossfire is slightly worse if anything & shouldn't really be considered unless you already have a Crossfire X1900/1950 card & only need to add a second.

 

[Vinnybcfc]

Originally posted by: ProNooB
I can buy 2 8800 GTS for £390 the cheapest 8800 GTX is £360 at the moment.

Never use SLI or Crossfire unless the highest single card cant give you the performance you need

Also what games are you looking at playing; for example Source runs well on most older cards - dont overkill

 

[Cooler]

If you want to spend that amount money I would at least wait to see what the ati x2900 has to offer before choosing any card(s).

 

[nitromullet]

Another vote for a single 8800GTX if you are buying a card very soon. 8-series SLI looks a bit sketchy at the moment, and neither 7-series SLI or X1950 CF can beat a single 8800GTX. The other option is to wait for the X2800XTX, but that will probably still be over a month.

 

[JBT]

Like the others said I would always go for a single high end card rather then two mid to high end.

 

[lopri]

Agree with everybody also. The only card worthy of SLI right now is 8800 GTX and even that'd take a very determined user at this point. (not to mention a thick wallet)

 

[n7]

Neither!

Single 8800 GTX now, or if you can wait another month & a half, then an X2900XTX should suit you nicely.

 

[ProNooB]

It's a hard choice

I've always liked ATI but alot of games these days seem to be optimized for Nvidia cards.

I'll wait till the 8800 GTX prices get below £300 which should be soon......Hopefully:laugh:

I'm still holding out for the new ABIT/GIGABYTE 650/680 SLI mobos to be reviewed and released this month so i can make a decision about which Nvidia SLI mobo to buy.

 

[ProNooB]

Just found THIS article about the new Nvidia 8600