Hey everyone, I know plenty about computer hardware but one thing I never looked into was the benefits of SLi. I'm building my next system hopefully at the beginning of 2009 and I'm looking into SLi but I dont know if it's worth it. 1. Can someone tell me which decision is better? A or B? A- Buy 1 SLi 8800GT and buy a 2nd in the future when I need the power. B- Buy 1 280GTX and upgrade much later in the future when I need the power. 2. Which offers better performance right now? 2x512mb 8800GTs or 1 new 512mb-1gb 280GTX? 3. Also which is more power consuming? 4. Is there anything I need to know about having an SLi setup before having one? (besides having 2 PCI Express slots, duh)
Two 9800GTXs are only $179 each (without rebates) and they cost less then a 280 GTX. Two 8800GTs get beaten by a single 280 but two 9800GTXs should have no problem beating a 280.
Thats cool. By the way I'm aware that SLi setups require a good power supply but all I know about power supplies are watts. I've been told that what's most important about power supplies are "amps". What the heck is that all about?
Look you still have a good video card. In a couple of months Nvidia will release 55nm gtx260/280s. Which will clock alot higher use less power and possibly be cheaper. Hold on to that 8800gt for now. If you have an sli mobo dont get an ati card thats crazy. Amps are the amount of current something draws. The amount of amps across your 12v rail is the most important thing in a psu.
SLI and Crossfire configurations are always a bad option. Few games support them to their fullest.
Unless you're planning on playing on a resolution higher than 1920x1200, don't bother with SLI or 1GB (single) cards.
A single HD4870 will run any single game out there right now at its maximum settings. It can even run Crysis with everything on high/very-high @ 1680x1050 @ 30+fps
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=13 The reason the gtx260/280 and hd4850/70 dont perform well in sli is because the still have very imature drivers. I own a gtx260 and I feel like Im doing beta testing for free. They will perform better all around including scaling in sli with better drivers. Look at the 8800gt in those benches.
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