Vista and SLI

[Pina Grande]

Ok so I did look at some other topics before I decided to post because I couldn't really seem to find a concrete answer. Some seem to say they can get it to work and some can't. I'm in the process of ordering a new computer and just had a couple questions.

Ok this is what I had planned on getting so far.

Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce? 3.0 Video Cooling and 1000 Watt SLI Capable Power Supply - Cyborg Green
Chassis Customization : Alienware® AlienFX? System Lighting - Fusion Red
High-Performance Liquid Cooling: Alienware® High-Performance Liquid Cooling
Graphics Processor: Dual Graphics Processors - Dual 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce? 8600 GTS - SLI Enabled
Processor: AMD Athlon? 64 X2 6000+ Processor w/ HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Memory: High-Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2GB - 2 x 1024MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Motherboard
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista? Home Premium
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 20X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Burner
Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio - Standard
Monitor: 20" Dell 1600 x 1050 UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel - Supports Blu-Ray!


(Yes, its Alienware. Please don't harass me about it)


Ok my first thing is. After looking at the laptop section on there website it says that Windows Vista does not currently support SLI. But it says nothing about that on there desktop section, which is what I was getting. Now what exactly is up with Vista and SLI? I've read several posts on here about people have tons of problems with getting SLI to even work on Vista or just extremely low performance. I talked to one of Alienwares tech people and they informed me that laptops don't support SLI but there desktops do, now is this right or am I being drug around? I even tried to contact Microsoft but got some chick who didn't even know what SLI was.

The other thing I wanted to ask was. Would I just be better off with going with a single GPU configuration for the time being? Or better yet, should I just get XP Pro? The single configuration I was looking at is a 320MB NVIDIA® GeForce? 8800 GTS - Superclocked! (so says the website anyways). I did call Alienware after finding all this out and the person I talked to assured me that the current setup I chose will work fine with Vista. But to be frank, I don't know if I should believe them.

I guess my main thing was if I would be better off going with a single setup for the time being with the 8800 GTS 320MB and then maybe get another one down the road. I wanted some opinions on if I would be better off going with SLI or a single setup. That and if the person at Alienware was telling me the truth when they said the system I chose with Vista would work fine with SLI.

Sorry if I repeated myself a couple times. And also if I posted this in the wrong place. Thanks in advance.

 

[Chaotic42]

It it were me, I'd get a single GTS now and then get a 9800 GTX when it comes out. Myself, I'm sitting on a 7800GTX and I'm going to try and hold out for the 9800s. If I'm going to shell out $500 for a video card, I'd rather wait a few months and get something that's really worth it.

 

[Pina Grande]

Ok thats good and all but that wasn't really what I was asking. What kind of difference will I see between the SLI setup I chose and the 320 GTS? And more importantly, does SLI work with Vista? Were the people at Alienware telling me the truth?

 

[Redox]

For Oblivion at 16x12 (pretty close to your resolution) a single 8800 GTS 320 would be the same as 2x8600 GTS in SLI.

In general, I would expect that the 8800 GTS would offer better all around performance and give you the option to add a second (or upgrade to a 9800).

 

[lyssword]

8600 SLI = weaker than a single 8800gts in most games
http://www.tweaktown.com/artic..._lost_coast/index.html and 640 mb version is actually close to 320 in peformance.
http://www.digital-daily.com/v...600gts_sli_vs_8800gts/

 

[Pina Grande]

Yeah I had found a few other tests like that but not SLI 8600's vs. Single 8800 320/640. I had pretty much decided I would go with the single card for the time being and upgrading down the road to another 8800 or possibly a 9000 series when they come out. Thanks for the info. So this actually leaves me with like an extra 100 bucks to spend. Would I be better off going with getting Alienwares acoustic dampening thing or maybe getting a Logitech G5? That or maybe upping to a 500 gb (250x2) setup.

 

[heyheybooboo]

If it were me I believe I would sit tight for a few months.

In addition to the new nVidia offering, the new ATI r650 should be rolling out at 65nm. It should be quite a show seeing what the HD 2950 XT and XTX will do with that 512-bit memory interface. Could AMD/ATI be sandbagging with the HD 2900 ??

Regardless of the prospective Radeon/Geforce performance frontiers the new offerings will drive prices down on some very fine vid cards . . .