Why-Sli=waste of money

[imported_michealo]

i still highly doubt any hard core gamer (people who buy SLi cards) bought a 6800GT, and thought "ok, in year, i'll buy another 6800GT."

especially when we all know how often nextgen cards come out

it's rediculous

 

[cr0ssfire]

In my opinion, SLI as it currently stands is nothing but a marketing gimmick to get people to buy more than they actually need. There's an awful lot of hype about SLI, and an awful lot of people buy into it. Many get the impression that all the -> X-TREME GAMERZ!!1!! <- are doing it and getting massive increases, so they buy into the same idea in hopes of attaining teh ub3r machine.

There's more than one problem with that conjecture.

The first is that there's honestly no need to invest in multiple video cards when one is more than capable of running the latest games at crazy resolutions with insane effects. I don't know why so many people have the idea that SLI is absolutely, totally required to enjoy playing any given game at high resolutions; I dare you to name one game that wouldn't perform well with a single 7800 GT or GTX. You can't give me a name, obviously, because there's really no game out there that either of those cards are incapable of handling. When you can hit 1600+ resolution with a card like that and still have great performance, then congratulations - you've got yourself a working piece of hardware that can play everything you could possibly throw at it.

To invest in SLI to attempt to buy one card now and one card later is equally absurd. If you're in that situation in the first place, it means that your wallet isn't quite as large as you'd like it and you need to make smart decisions about investing your money so that you can make the best use out of the money that you've got available. SLI, if you haven't noticed, is definitely not a good 'value' in any sense of the imagination. Paying for another expensive video card after you've already bought one and then crippling both of them by making them run at half speed is not a smart decision. If you invest in two expensive pieces of hardware, then you had better darn well be able to get your money's worth out of them instead of bottlenecking them at half each. What are you getting for your investment? You're getting more noise, more heat, and nowhere near the performance that you actually paid for.

SLI right now simply isn't necessary in any way, shape, or form for great performance in games today. People have somehow managed to play games with a single video card just fine for years now, and that isn't changing regardless of what the marketing hype says. What possible reason could anyone have for doubling the heat and noise in your system, and throwing your money down the toilet by crippling your expensive pieces of hardware? For a minor performance increase? For an ego boost because you have the LATEST THING (even if it's a terrible option)? It isn't worth it, and I'm definitely going to sit the "dual video card" revolution out with only one card.

But then again, that's just one man's opinion. 🙂

 

[ArchAngel777]

Some of you on this forum have a hard time thinking outside of the box. People have clearly demonstrated how SLI is a very viable means for an upgrade. People have also clearly demonstrated that in some cases, it will not be much of a wise choice. Both side have made some decent points. But this fact remains. The origional OP had said it was a "waste" and did not specify a time frame within his origional post. Therefore, he failed to take into account those who think differently, and have ample proof at that.

A 7800 GTX isn't much faster than a 6800U Sli setup in most situations. But what you fail to realize is SLI will get you some other featuers, such as 16X AA. What is also nice about SLI is double the fill rate essentially. Meaning, you can turn on 16X AF and 16X AA and still have some bandwidth to spare.

With all of this said, will I be going to an SLI setup? No, because I will not be upgrading for a few years and when I do, I most certainly will be upgrading the entire system, not just the video card.

I can tell you one thing... If my wife didn't put a spending cap on my toys, I would definitely have a 7800 GTX SLI setup, and I would enjoy every bit of it. But until she removes the cap, I will have to live with a single 7800 GTX.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: cr0ssfire
In my opinion, SLI as it currently stands is nothing but a marketing gimmick to get people to buy more than they actually need. There's an awful lot of hype about SLI, and an awful lot of people buy into it. Many get the impression that all the -> X-TREME GAMERZ!!1!! <- are doing it and getting massive increases, so they buy into the same idea in hopes of attaining teh ub3r machine.

There's more than one problem with that conjecture.

The first is that there's honestly no need to invest in multiple video cards when one is more than capable of running the latest games at crazy resolutions with insane effects. I don't know why so many people have the idea that SLI is absolutely, totally required to enjoy playing any given game at high resolutions; I dare you to name one game that wouldn't perform well with a single 7800 GT or GTX. You can't give me a name, obviously, because there's really no game out there that either of those cards are incapable of handling. When you can hit 1600+ resolution with a card like that and still have great performance, then congratulations - you've got yourself a working piece of hardware that can play everything you could possibly throw at it.

To invest in SLI to attempt to buy one card now and one card later is equally absurd. If you're in that situation in the first place, it means that your wallet isn't quite as large as you'd like it and you need to make smart decisions about investing your money so that you can make the best use out of the money that you've got available. SLI, if you haven't noticed, is definitely not a good 'value' in any sense of the imagination. Paying for another expensive video card after you've already bought one and then crippling both of them by making them run at half speed is not a smart decision. If you invest in two expensive pieces of hardware, then you had better darn well be able to get your money's worth out of them instead of bottlenecking them at half each. What are you getting for your investment? You're getting more noise, more heat, and nowhere near the performance that you actually paid for.

SLI right now simply isn't necessary in any way, shape, or form for great performance in games today. People have somehow managed to play games with a single video card just fine for years now, and that isn't changing regardless of what the marketing hype says. What possible reason could anyone have for doubling the heat and noise in your system, and throwing your money down the toilet by crippling your expensive pieces of hardware? For a minor performance increase? For an ego boost because you have the LATEST THING (even if it's a terrible option)? It isn't worth it, and I'm definitely going to sit the "dual video card" revolution out with only one card.

But then again, that's just one man's opinion. 🙂

One problem with your reasoning is that you are taking into account the current generation of video cards. What games have come out since the 6800U SLI was king of the hill? None, to my knowledge. Therefore, if you think a 7800 isn't overkill, how would a 6800U SLI be overkill? It wouldn't.

It seems to me that you are argueing against SLI in this time frame we are in right now. But that isn't accurate to do, because SLI came out with the 6800 series and was quite needed if you wanted to experience gaming with all the bells and whistles.

The point is, SLI isn't worthless, it is just that we havn't had any new games to tax these new cards like the last generation was tested. F.E.A.R. may very well be the game to off-set your statement that SLI isn't needed.

In any case, when talking *need* in computer terms, that is quite realtive. Because even the cheapest of 3d cards can play games and therefore, it could be argued that even a GeForce 4 is overkill. It all depends on your standard for gaming.

Some people always want 4X AA and 16X AF. Others just want to run 2048 X 1536. Yet, some prefer 1024 X 768 with no special options. Should we lower our definition of need to the lowest possible standard? Because if so, pretty much any graphics card within the last 2 years is overkill...

 

[cr0ssfire]

Well, actually...the main point that I was trying to make (although it may not have come out that way) is that I don't believe that paying for two video cards only to cripple both of them at half performance is worth it at all. If you could actually get double performance, as you can in SLI x16, then I could possibly understand people embracing it as they are now.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: cr0ssfire
Well, actually...the main point that I was trying to make (although it may not have come out that way) is that I don't believe that paying for two video cards only to cripple both of them at half performance is worth it at all. If you could actually get double performance, as you can in SLI x16, then I could possibly understand people embracing it as they are now.

If they were both crippled at 1/2 performance, then SLI would be a whopping ZERO PERCENT faster than the single card... But since extensive testing has been conducted, I think it is safe to say that your statement is grossly exagerated.

 

[monster64]

I'm so sorry for getting a 6800 GT with an SLi mobo a year ago and thinking of upgrading in a year or so. If only you had built me a time machine and we went 1 year into the future and gotten word/benches of the 7800 GTX I wouldn't have bought an SLi mobo. When you build me a time machine, I won't upgrade to a second 6800 GT, and instead I'll wait. Besides, this mobo can go to 315 fsb. Can your non-sli mobo? No, I don't think so.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Originally posted by: cr0ssfire
In my opinion, SLI as it currently stands is nothing but a marketing gimmick to get people to buy more than they actually need. There's an awful lot of hype about SLI, and an awful lot of people buy into it. Many get the impression that all the -> X-TREME GAMERZ!!1!! <- are doing it and getting massive increases, so they buy into the same idea in hopes of attaining teh ub3r machine.

There's more than one problem with that conjecture.

The first is that there's honestly no need to invest in multiple video cards when one is more than capable of running the latest games at crazy resolutions with insane effects. I don't know why so many people have the idea that SLI is absolutely, totally required to enjoy playing any given game at high resolutions; I dare you to name one game that wouldn't perform well with a single 7800 GT or GTX. You can't give me a name, obviously, because there's really no game out there that either of those cards are incapable of handling. When you can hit 1600+ resolution with a card like that and still have great performance, then congratulations - you've got yourself a working piece of hardware that can play everything you could possibly throw at it.

To invest in SLI to attempt to buy one card now and one card later is equally absurd. If you're in that situation in the first place, it means that your wallet isn't quite as large as you'd like it and you need to make smart decisions about investing your money so that you can make the best use out of the money that you've got available. SLI, if you haven't noticed, is definitely not a good 'value' in any sense of the imagination. Paying for another expensive video card after you've already bought one and then crippling both of them by making them run at half speed is not a smart decision. If you invest in two expensive pieces of hardware, then you had better darn well be able to get your money's worth out of them instead of bottlenecking them at half each. What are you getting for your investment? You're getting more noise, more heat, and nowhere near the performance that you actually paid for.

SLI right now simply isn't necessary in any way, shape, or form for great performance in games today. People have somehow managed to play games with a single video card just fine for years now, and that isn't changing regardless of what the marketing hype says. What possible reason could anyone have for doubling the heat and noise in your system, and throwing your money down the toilet by crippling your expensive pieces of hardware? For a minor performance increase? For an ego boost because you have the LATEST THING (even if it's a terrible option)? It isn't worth it, and I'm definitely going to sit the "dual video card" revolution out with only one card.

But then again, that's just one man's opinion. 🙂

While I agrees
Why's your nickname Crossfire?

Just wanna add the worst time is when you have to DITCH the two grpahic card you got and buy a new gen one which offers only like 10% improvement

 

[cr0ssfire]

I'm so sorry for getting a 6800 GT with an SLi mobo a year ago and thinking of upgrading in a year or so. If only you had built me a time machine and we went 1 year into the future and gotten word/benches of the 7800 GTX I wouldn't have bought an SLi mobo. When you build me a time machine, I won't upgrade to a second 6800 GT, and instead I'll wait. Besides, this mobo can go to 315 fsb. Can your non-sli mobo? No, I don't think so.

It's alright; you didn't know any better. It's not your fault. If you beg for forgiveness, I may let you live this one time... 😉

Annihilator, I always thought it was kind of a nifty nickname. It has nothing to do with the ATI crossfire coming out, but people still peg me as an ATI fanboy every time they see my name.

If you ask me, nVidia's leaps and bounds better than ATI but I guess you wouldn't know it my my nickname, eh?

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: monster64
I'm so sorry for getting a 6800 GT with an SLi mobo a year ago and thinking of upgrading in a year or so. If only you had built me a time machine and we went 1 year into the future and gotten word/benches of the 7800 GTX I wouldn't have bought an SLi mobo. When you build me a time machine, I won't upgrade to a second 6800 GT, and instead I'll wait. Besides, this mobo can go to 315 fsb. Can your non-sli mobo? No, I don't think so.

um, yeah....actually my "non-sli" board can OC to that just fine..

are you retarded? SLI has NOTHING to do with ocing your FSB....maybe read a little more on OC'ing before making a statement like that...

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333

Originally posted by: monster64
I'm so sorry for getting a 6800 GT with an SLi mobo a year ago and thinking of upgrading in a year or so. If only you had built me a time machine and we went 1 year into the future and gotten word/benches of the 7800 GTX I wouldn't have bought an SLi mobo. When you build me a time machine, I won't upgrade to a second 6800 GT, and instead I'll wait. Besides, this mobo can go to 315 fsb. Can your non-sli mobo? No, I don't think so.

um, yeah....actually my "non-sli" board can OC to that just fine..

are you retarded? SLI has NOTHING to do with ocing your FSB....maybe read a little more on OC'ing before making a statement like that...

That is not very kind... At least use the term Mentally Challenged... 😀

 

[Sunbird]

Originally posted by: cr0ssfire
Well, actually...the main point that I was trying to make (although it may not have come out that way) is that I don't believe that paying for two video cards only to cripple both of them at half performance is worth it at all. If you could actually get double performance, as you can in SLI x16, then I could possibly understand people embracing it as they are now.

Crossfire you noob!

The cards dont have half the performance just cause they are running on PCIe x8 in SLI mode :/

Most current cards would hardly push a agp 4 slot, let alone a 8.

 

[Auric]

The notion of adding a second card to equal the performance of a single current generation card seems ill-conceived. Simply selling the old card and buying the twice-as-fast new one is little effort and lots less technical hassle and limitation plus benefits by having the latest hardware features and may result in less depreciation as well. Thus I contend dual cards should only be considered by those who desire to maintain the highest performance system at all times (i.e. install fastest pair of cards and replace with next generation fastest pair of cards upon availability).

 

[MobiusPizza]

Well if we think about it in depth, there are pros and cons of SLI setup
One of the important note is that you have to buy SLI a the right time to fully benefit. Consider the following cases:

i) Hardcore gamer who have money to spend

No problem here just buy 2*SLI cards straight out of box

ii) Looking for upgrade later on
Now we would need to buy SLI at the right time to get any benefits. The best time to buy is when a new generation card is just out and you buy either the top or second tier model;

Wait till next gen and buy new cards at 70% price point. This way it costs you actually more than buying a next gen card but you get about 6-12 month of benefit of having a fine card when you first bought it instead of sticking to old one and wait for the next gen. Although the performance would likely to be lower at the end of product cycle

HOWEVER if the new gen is just out for a bit and you buy the old gen for 70% price point, SLI is not good option as when you upgrade later next gen is almost out; and any further investment is NOT as good as if you originally pay extra to buy the new gen and you lose the new gen features



So summing up the timing of acquiring SLI is important

 

[Sunbird]

Remember, its just cause nVidia is being so rigid that this is actually a problem.

If the system was different in that you could run your old 6800GT alongside your 7800GTX in a SLI mode, then that would a nice place to be.

 

[lordsaytor]

This subject post should be renamed to "Haters of all SLI mobos"

I don't know what the hell the OP wants? That all who gets a SLI mobo without getting two vid cards get hung and shot??
Here in Toronto at the local computer parts retailer, the price difference between the Asus A8N-E and the A8N-SLI is less than fourty bucks CDN.

To the OP, get a life. Those who choose to get an SLI mobo with only one card is their own business.
And to all those who think two 7800GTX will not be much better than a single 7800GTX, well you should send your hate mail to Anandtech
and sue them for libel for publishing articles that praise SLI.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

1. The card is no longer in production.
Even when the cards go out of production, they'll still be sold. I still see MX4000's on Newegg.

2. It's a waste spending double the cash only to see a max of 10fps increase.
Agreed, but not with your 10FPS figure 🙂.

3. A new card offers twice the performance of the sli'd sysytem at half the total cost.
Somewhat disagree, it's a bit of an exxaguration, but you're right. 1 7800GTX will beat 2 6800Ultras.

Just my 2 cents, but I'm not for the "SLI future proofing" side. If you go out and buy a 7800GTX now, it should last you two to three before you have to start reducing settings to the point where it gets annoying.

However, on the other hand, if you're the type of guy who will bitch out if you can't play the games at all high settings, go for it. My 9800Pro (that's a 2 year old card almost) can play BF2 at mostly high settings (shadows and something else on medium) at 1024x768. I don't seem to mind, but apparently others do.

Scenario:
Think about it this way... your 3 year old Geforce4, assuming you had the highest end model, could play all games at high settings. You realize that they're cheap now, and go to SLI your Geforce4's....

It's just redundant. 2 GF4's in SLI. Won't a single 9600 crush that?

This is what your 7800GTX will be like 3 years from now, it'll be "that old card", just like the GF4 is today.

Again, my 2 cents. SLI is a boon for gamers who wish to be on top of things, definately.
-The Pentium Guy

 

[suicidalpigeon]

thank god im a low/medium settings guy, that way i wont have to be bitchin' in this thread that again, was discussed a while ago.

 

[SNiPeRX]

Originally posted by: love2skate824
Okay, so there are tons of people out there buying sli mobos with only one gpu. Why?
Most say future proofing. By the time they scratch up enough moolah to buy another gfx, they'll realize that..

1. The card is no longer in production.
2. It's a waste spending double the cash only to see a max of 10fps increase.
3. A new card offers twice the performance of the sli'd sysytem at half the total cost.

So in case your getting sli right now, its a waste to get the sli mobo.

and to those who think that dual gpu is the future of computer graphics, think agian. Won't someone be smart and invent a dual core gpu?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe that years ago voodoo line had a dual core gpu... I will look up and find out.

EDITED:

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-262-1.htm

"The 3D1 most certainly is not the first dual core graphics card; Voodoo 2 cards have always relied on multiple chips to support multitexturing, and other solutions took that even further like the ATI Rage Fury MAXX (which was one of our first reviews). "

And there is a dual core 6600gt

But, I do agree sli is a waste of money....

 

[monster64]

Originally posted by: SNiPeRX

Originally posted by: love2skate824
Okay, so there are tons of people out there buying sli mobos with only one gpu. Why?
Most say future proofing. By the time they scratch up enough moolah to buy another gfx, they'll realize that..

1. The card is no longer in production.
2. It's a waste spending double the cash only to see a max of 10fps increase.
3. A new card offers twice the performance of the sli'd sysytem at half the total cost.

So in case your getting sli right now, its a waste to get the sli mobo.

and to those who think that dual gpu is the future of computer graphics, think agian. Won't someone be smart and invent a dual core gpu?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe that years ago voodoo line had a dual core gpu... I will look up and find out.

EDITED:

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-262-1.htm

"The 3D1 most certainly is not the first dual core graphics card; Voodoo 2 cards have always relied on multiple chips to support multitexturing, and other solutions took that even further like the ATI Rage Fury MAXX (which was one of our first reviews). "

And there is a dual core 6600gt

But, I do agree sli is a waste of money....

Not dual core, dual GPU. Very big difference. They just stuck two 6600 GTs on 1 PCB and there you go.

 

[Azndude2190]

Originally posted by: love2skate824
Okay, so there are tons of people out there buying sli mobos with only one gpu. Why?
Most say future proofing. By the time they scratch up enough moolah to buy another gfx, they'll realize that..

1. The card is no longer in production.
2. It's a waste spending double the cash only to see a max of 10fps increase.
3. A new card offers twice the performance of the sli'd sysytem at half the total cost.

So in case your getting sli right now, its a waste to get the sli mobo.

and to those who think that dual gpu is the future of computer graphics, think agian. Won't someone be smart and invent a dual core gpu?

Actually i'm planning on getting another 6600GT pretty soon

 

[rise]

lol, this isn't locked yet? sweet.