Two SLi or not Two SLi, that is the Question ;)

[Serrinon]

OK, so I've been doing some thinking about this SLi business, and it seems to me that unless Nividia and ATI are going to start making cards in pairs, there is no advantage to SLi from a financial standpoint.

Lets pretned you have a true SLi MOBO that plays both cards at PCIe X16, well you paid a bunch of cash up front for that SLi MOBO, then I'm guessing people are picking up 1 card to start an a second one later once it is cheaper and they need it.

But the thing is if you didn't get an SLi mobo, you could have put that money you saved it in the bank, and in a couple months combined it with the money you were going to spend on the 2nd video card, and buy a new video card that is as nice as the two old ones combined.

What helped end this debate for me was looking at the charts and then finding the costs of two 6800's and an SLi MOBO, VS one 7800 and a non SLi MOBO and then looking at these performance charts:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/02/vga_charts_viii/page11.html

The rig used by Toms was the only True SLi MOBO out there right now:
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939

Man if instead of paying $229 you pay $129 for a non SLi MOBO you can go from a 6800 GS to a 7800 GT and still have $20 in your pocket.

Geforce 6800GS XFX $205
eVGA Geforce 7800GT $285

So unless you are running like two 7800's, I can't see the reason for someone to get an Sli MOBO. But help me undersand.

 

[Lonyo]

I'd say it's not worth it unless maybe you have a 1900x1080 LCD or something.
I currently have an SLI mobo and I'm playying to sidegrade to a better overclocking non-SLI mobo, because I realise now I don't need SLI (7800GT on 1280x1024 LCD), and when the time comes that a single 7800GT isn't enough I will have probably already upgraded to a new single high end card.
IMO SLI is only worth it if you are going to get 2 cards almost at the start of buying everything, waiting to go SLI is silly.

 

[0roo0roo]

well the point of sli is to get more performance, not save money. its performance u can't get any other way..well cept waiting for newer faster video cards of course, but to get more performance now, u gotta pay. bang for buck isn't what high end parts are about. when u start going up to the 7800's level u aren't getting bang for buck whether u get sli or not. you pay for premium experience

not to mention sli does have a benifit of higher mininmum fps, which really matters during a game. so i guess it would age slightly better.

 

[gi0rgi0]

Im in this sort of situation. I got a sli mobo and a single 7800gt. I want to get another gt but now hearing about the impending g71 series im confused. Would it be wiser to wait ?
Maybe do like what the op said, get a better oc'ing single card mobo and the g71 or go sli now. Im looking to get the the dfi sli expert and another gt.

Like Oroo said its all about getting the performance that you want now. Or waiting to see how it goes. Since I want performance for the games im playing now though.
Im just going to have to bite the bullet. Ive spent quite a bit already so theres no going back now. Plus I usually sell my old parts to recoup back at least some of the money
I spent for the new stuff. I think most on this forum do the same. So its never as much as you think. Plus its a lot of fun 😀

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well the point of sli is to get more performance, not save money. its performance u can't get any other way..well cept waiting for newer faster video cards of course, but to get more performance now, u gotta pay. bang for buck isn't what high end parts are about. when u start going up to the 7800's level u aren't getting bang for buck whether u get sli or not. you pay for premium experience

not to mention sli does have a benifit of higher mininmum fps, which really matters during a game. so i guess it would age slightly better.

Thats not true....alot of games no adays are capped at a certain maximum fps.....
For example quake4 is capped at 60 and you will not do any better with even 4 sli cards.
As well as other games.....

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
well the point of sli is to get more performance, not save money. its performance u can't get any other way..well cept waiting for newer faster video cards of course, but to get more performance now, u gotta pay. bang for buck isn't what high end parts are about. when u start going up to the 7800's level u aren't getting bang for buck whether u get sli or not. you pay for premium experience

not to mention sli does have a benifit of higher mininmum fps, which really matters during a game. so i guess it would age slightly better.

Thats not true....alot of games no adays are capped at a certain maximum fps.....
For example quake4 is capped at 60 and you will not do any better with even 4 sli cards.
As well as other games.....

Your missing the point. A higher minimum fps is good. Suppose you were playing FEAR. The min. fps on 1 7800GT is 20 (lets just say its 20, have no idea what it would really be). Thats pretty slow for a first person shooter. Now, lets put another GT in. That min. fps is now at ~35. Thats A LOT smoother than 20. Sure, the avg. framrate is like 60, but what alot of people dont take into account is the min. frame rate. Like in graphic intense areas, the fps get noticably LOWER and thus noticably choppyer. (thus min. framerate). A higher min. framrate is always good.

EDITED for content

 

[Some1ne]

The problem is that in most systems your minimum framerate is going to be the result of things like the game loading textures from the HDD, or the OS paging things in and out of memory, which do not depend on the graphics hardware. A second video card doesn't help you here.

 

[BlueElite06]

Well, If someone baught a 7800 GT now, and waited a year and purchased another 7800 GT when the new and best cards come out (At 500$) And the 7800 only costs 200$, wouldnt you get about the same performance and save a lot of money? Thats how i looked at it...

 

[Some1ne]

It depends. First there the chance that the prices won't work like that (take a look at the 6800 Ultra/GT series, they're still fairly expensive despite the clear dominance of the 7800 series cards). Second, there's the added $50+ cost of getting an SLI mainboard that needs to be accounted for. Third, there's the possibility that two 7800 GT's in SLI may not perform as well as the new best card at $500 will. Fourth, there's the possibility that by then, DX10 will be out and as with the DX9 shader model it will require specialized hardware in order to get full support for all the new features, so by adding a second 7800 GT, which only supports DX9, you'd be missing out on all the new eye-candy.

 

[BlueElite06]

all true, I guess only time will tell. For me, someone who is entering college, I think SLI is the best and, probably cheapest route for a good gaming experience in the upcoming year. It's hard to say how much more advanced things will get. The 7800 GT alone is a kickass card. I don't plan on even upgrading to SLI (If i go SLI) for a very long time, as a solo GT plays everything quite well at the current time.