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Sli Worth It?

S

stelleg151

Senior member
This is the question on my mind.. for the average enthusiast looking at a 6600GT and 939 with good upgradability, is the SLI version worth forking over the extra cash?
 
Originally posted by: stelleg151
This is the question on my mind.. for the average enthusiast looking at a 6600GT and 939 with good upgradability, is the SLI version worth forking over the extra cash?
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Why not? at least you'll be able to just slap in another card alter, and double your performance. I'd go for it if you can afford it.
 
Will you really get double the performance from 2 6600gt's because for $400 you can get 2 6600gt's that would outperform a 6800 ultra extreme
 
Originally posted by: bigal40
Will you really get double the performance from 2 6600gt's because for $400 you can get 2 6600gt's that would outperform a 6800 ultra extreme
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Who said two 6600's would outperform a 6800 ultra extreme, maybe an ultra but not the rare extreme.
 
well if you could get a 180% boost it would beat a 6800 ultra extreme?
if you have 2 you should get a 200% boost
 
no one buys a 6800 ultra or whatever for bang for buck in the first place, thats had way lower on the chain. its worth it to those who buy it, like anything else. you might as well ask yourself if spending hundreds of a computer mainly to play computer games is "worth it".
 
With the appearance of the X800 XL (performing at level with the 6800 GT) and an MSRP of $299, the SLI pie gets more complicated...

Good luck!
 
No

nF4 Ultra is more logical to me. Spend the cash on more ram, better graphics card, or just keep it in your pocket.
 
SLI can be very good.

1. Get 1 6800GT/6600GT or something right now and wait a couple months until prices fall then pop another card in for 90% more performance.

2. Just get 2x cards right now. It is kind of pointless to get 2x 6600GT's when a 6800GT is cheaper, faster, and provides room for another card for SLI.

-Kevin
 
I'd love to have 2 6800GT's in SLI - I can't always maintain my constant 60fps in newer games with just one. 😛

However, no matter what the performance increases are, I don't think I could ever justify spending $900 on two video cards, especially if they will likely be eclipsed or at least matched by the next generation/year's $400/$500 video card. For reference, I paid $2000 for my current car, so I don't exactly have money to burn (and $337 for my current 6800GT last summer was pushing it already). And as was pointed out, SLI seems almost pointless with 6600GT's or other "midrange" cards when you can get a higher-performing single card for about the same price or less.
 
You also have to ask yourself how many games are supported in SLI mode, if you want to play older nonsupported games you won't see any improvement (it will defaulty to single card mode) so you will get better performance from a single more powerful card. Who cares if benchmarking software is supported if the games you want to play aren't.
 
Originally posted by: doc jon
You also have to ask yourself how many games are supported in SLI mode, if you want to play older nonsupported games you won't see any improvement (it will defaulty to single card mode) so you will get better performance from a single more powerful card. Who cares if benchmarking software is supported if the games you want to play aren't.
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That's true, but I think in general "older games" won't need the performance increase of SLI and a single card would usually be fine anyway. (Although it's true that current support is not what it could be, or so I gather from reading the forums here.)
 
It's hard to recommend SLI, and this is coming from someone who owns two 6800GTs. The last card I had was a GeForce 3 so I don't have much of a comparison to base SLI on. In other words I cannot tell you how much (if at all) faster it is than some of the high end single card solutions. In retrospect, I am somewhat regretting my purchase and a part of me wishes I had gone with a nForce4 Ultra with a X850XTPE instead. The performance of SLIed GTs and even Ultras is not 70-80% greater in most games compared with this card, only Doom3 shows substantial gains, but apparantly that wasn't the greatest game in the world. In most other circumstances I have seen the 850 pulling in much closer numbers and this from a single card which will run much quieter and produce less heat. One of the only things I enjoy of my SLI system is so that I can say that I have two graphics cards powering my gaming experience, but honestly that isn't much.
 
Originally posted by: ohnnyj
It's hard to recommend SLI, and this is coming from someone who owns two 6800GTs. The last card I had was a GeForce 3 so I don't have much of a comparison to base SLI on. In other words I cannot tell you how much (if at all) faster it is than some of the high end single card solutions. In retrospect, I am somewhat regretting my purchase and a part of me wishes I had gone with a nForce4 Ultra with a X850XTPE instead. The performance of SLIed GTs and even Ultras is not 70-80% greater in most games compared with this card, only Doom3 shows substantial gains, but apparantly that wasn't the greatest game in the world. In most other circumstances I have seen the 850 pulling in much closer numbers and this from a single card which will run much quieter and produce less heat. One of the only things I enjoy of my SLI system is so that I can say that I have two graphics cards powering my gaming experience, but honestly that isn't much.
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Will you sell your 6800GT's to me at an extremely discounted price? 😀

😉
 
Ohnnyj,

What other games have you tried to run in SLI that the perfomance did not meet your expectations? What type of frame rates did you get?

Thanks!
 
Originally posted by: dklingen
Ohnnyj,

What other games have you tried to run in SLI that the perfomance did not meet your expectations? What type of frame rates did you get?

Thanks!
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Well in all truth I have not played many games in fact only two so far as I have not had my computer for very long: Half Life 2 and The Sims 2. Granted the latter of the two is not the most demanding game it is still very fun to play and has some great graphics for the type of game it is. These games may not actually be a fair comparison as one is heavily geared toward ATI while the other is not used in benchmarking comparisons so I have no foundation to base my conclusions on. As for HL2, it just seems as though something is amiss. I mean almost the entire line of ATI cards including the X800 seem to beat the 6800GT handily and it takes SLI just for nVidia to be competitive. This looks like a small rivalry going on behind the scenes with nVidia aligning with id for Doom3 whereas ATI and Valve collaborated in Half Life 2. Unfotunately for us nVidia folk, we may have got the short side of the stick as HL2 is the better game, or at least that seems to be the general consensus. That being said, I still enjoy the fps that my SLI system can put out but it seems that it has to try much harder in HL2 especially just to stay up with the big boys of ATI. Then again I am not sure if even the X850XTPE can do 1920x1200 2xAA 16xAF at 60-100fps most of the time, if it can then I really made a mistake. As for The Sims 2, I have nothing to base any comparisons on but I can tell you that it looks wonderful at the above stated resolution and it runs great as well. Maybe I am just spoiled and I don't truly know how fast SLI is as I have said before my last card was a GF3. Maybe I need to install a few more games and see how they play. But I would need something to compare it to, for instance what kind of performance people are getting out of a X850XTPE at these kind of settings. Overall, however, SLI has perhaps come too soon, as nVidia still hasn't released an updated driver since November and promised more profiles, but I have yet to see anything from them. It seems as though all us SLI users who shelled out a lot of money are being left out in the cold. Sorry for rambling, this is just how I feel about the whole issue.
 
to be honest, the only thing that can provide you with this answer is your wallet.

if you can afford it, then sure.

if you are watching your funds, then no (and i think you are in this area)

you dont need sli... it may be nice to have, but as most posts on this forum, you dont need it.. you dont need a fx-55 also, but if you can, why not.

goodluck.
 
Would someone please link me up with any reviews that demonstrate an SLI setup benching double the performance of a single card of the same flavor?

Thanks 😉
 
From today's Anandtech Video Card Price Guide:

You'll notice that we deliberately did not weigh SLI very high in this week's high end pick. With issues on nForce4 starting to surface, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense right now to throw all of your eggs into the SLI basket. Tumwater SLI support seems fine - but if you are an enthusiast willing to spend thousands of dollars on a high end workstation, you probably aren't running an Intel based system anyway. SLI is a nice, possible upgrade bonus if you already intend to purchase a 6600GT or a 6800GT, but we don't recommend investing in an SLI setup until some of the more mature motherboards and chipsets hit the retail market.
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You would be wise to heed those words of advice.....
 
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