I was wondering that if you were to have Dual Graphics Cards in your computer, what will it exactly do for you? What advantages does Dual have over Single? If someone could give it to me in a nutshell I'd appreciate it.
Dual Graphics Cards Question.
This topic is locked from further discussion.
It depends on if it's crossfire or SLI. SLI scales a bit better, I believe, so you'd be looking at anywhere from as little as 10% to as much as 90% increase in performance in some games. It varies with each game, each card and each set of drivers. It's definitely something you'd need to do a bit of research into.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce--9800-gtx-sli-review-bfg/
A review of SLI performance with the 9800GTX, one of the best cards available considering price/performance ratio.
Well, in a nutshell, 2>1. 2 processor cores>1core, dual-channel RAM>single channel RAM, RAID0>single HD.
2 cards SLI or Crossfire will generally give you anywhere from 10-50% better performance in 3d apps and games.
2 cards not in Crossfire or SLI will allow you to plug more monitors into your video cards (I think you might be able to do this with crossfire enabled on ATI cards, but I never really had a reason to test it)
Well Im gonna give you some specs info on my next Computer so tell me if my specs can back up Dual Graphics Cards.
Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Processor.
1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Dual 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 x 2048MB
NVIDIA® nForce® 790i Ultra SLITM Motherboard
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card
Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3
Well Im gonna give you some specs info on my next Computer so tell me if my specs can back up Dual Graphics Cards.
Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Processor.
1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Dual 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 x 2048MB
NVIDIA® nForce® 790i Ultra SLITM Motherboard
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card
Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3Digital_DJ_00
It's perfect for Dual SLI system, I believe you spend a lot of time to build such good choice... How about Dual ATi HD 4870 it cost cheaper than Dual GTX 260...
[QUOTE="Digital_DJ_00"]Well Im gonna give you some specs info on my next Computer so tell me if my specs can back up Dual Graphics Cards.
Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Processor.
1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Dual 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 x 2048MB
NVIDIA® nForce® 790i Ultra SLITM Motherboard
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card
Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3Aldouz
It's perfect for Dual SLI system, I believe you spend a lot of time to build such good choice... How about Dual ATi HD 4870 it cost cheaper than Dual GTX 260...
Thank you. I've always been an Nvidia products fan so I didn't give ATi much thought but you are right about it being cheaper. However I'm still set on getting dual nvidia graphics cards.:D
this has the smell of a dell build. why? aegia physx. why else? Killer NIC.zxvbAnd those are bad? And this isn't a Dell build.
[QUOTE="Digital_DJ_00"]Well Im gonna give you some specs info on my next Computer so tell me if my specs can back up Dual Graphics Cards.
Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Processor.
1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Dual 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 x 2048MB
NVIDIA® nForce® 790i Ultra SLITM Motherboard
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card
Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3Aldouz
It's perfect for Dual SLI system, I believe you spend a lot of time to build such good choice... How about Dual ATi HD 4870 it cost cheaper than Dual GTX 260...
It's an Nvidia motherboard. You can SLI, but no Crossfire.
depends.
if u want to play at really high resolutions then sli/crossfire are basically a must. big 32 inch monitors (not TVs, they only have a res of 1366X768 ot 1920X1080) basically need 2 GPUS to give good performance at high detail settings. no single GPU, not even a gtx 280, will last long playing games at those kind of reses.
but thats about it really. if ure playing at something like 1280X1024 or 1600X1200 then a good single GPU will deliver good performance. 2 will usually deliver better...not not enough to warrant the outlay. the other thing is that sli and crossfire are a bit patchy and can be a hassle. games need to support them and the increase in performance varies wildly. sometimes there can be a massive leap (COD4 loves dual graphics tech from what i hear) and soemtimes it can be less that 20%.
my advice is to go for one good card instead of 2 decent cards if ure building a new rig unless u intend to play at massive resolutions on a huge monitor. then 2 good cards are very much needed. the only other time id consider dual graphics is if u already have a decent GPU and u just want something cheap to tide u over while u get a completly new system.
I agree with most on this. Dont get that worthless PhysX card. While the Killer NIC is truly an awsome thing to behold (I got to play with one a few months back and I REALLLLLLY want one ^_^), if your not seriously into online games then it two is a waste. I dont mean MMO's either. I'm talking about head to head games like UTIII and what not. Thate where it shines. If your not really doing those then its sort of wasted. Instead, consider saving the cash on the PhysX and the Killer NIC and getting two GTX 280's instead of the 260's. You didnt say which Killer NIC you were looking at, but between the PhysX and Killer NIC you could save between $300 and $400 to put towards the 280's and that would cover it. Infact, you might be able to squezze in a thrid 280 for about that much. Then again, if you really are doing a ton of online frag fests then the Killer NIC is worth it. Thats really up to you.kodai
Hmm.. Well if that's the case then I'll probably wait it out and save some money to upgrade my choice to Dual GeForce GX2's. I've been searching up on benchmarks alot lately and I've discovered that GX2's perform better than the GTX260 but it's slightly behind the GTX280. Depending on how things go, I might upgrade to Dual Nvidia GeForce 9800GX2's.
Well, the Killer NIC is a fantastic card but has some driver issues on some rigs, but thats rare and the devs are good at fixing problems. The lesser modle (just under $200) lacks a lot of the extra features that make the bigger brother card (the $300 version) worth while. But if you dont torrent (mods, I only speak about hardware here and not a censord topic), are on a high ping network (alot depends on your ISP for how useful the Killer NIC really is) and dont live by the type of game where have the split second edge on your opponent is a must, that makes it nothing more than a braggin rights card. There is an advantage though. It offloads network traffic from the CPU (which tends to be a lot more work than most think about) and that alone can give you a couple of extra frames per second in a game. However it will not best a 3 GPU (even though the scale badly) in this department. So again, the money would be better spent on a third GPU.
If your going with an SLI board and can afford two GX2's but decide not to get the worthless PhysX adaptor (as Nvidia GPU's are starting to support PhysX so it's not needed on an Nvidia GPU based rig), and not get the Killer NIC, then you will find that the extra GTX 280 will serve you well for giving you the push needed in AA/AF. ATI currently has the edge on AA/AF performance. The only way you can compete with an Nvidia rig is pure, brute, force. If you want 16QAA/16AF on any current game that supports and on a 30" 2550x1600 display then you will want the extra 280.
Lets be honest here. If you gonna shell out the dough for the rig you listed then it would be best to give it that little extra omph to really make it worth the cash. While tri SLI has shown it simply doesnt scale well, it does indeed provide the boost to AA/AF at high resolutions if you already have dual 260/280's. It just that at 1920x1200 or 2550x1600 you tend not to notice the "jaggies" near as much so the advantage is not always worth it for the gaming buck. You could buy 8 or 10 games for the price of the thrid card. Which is kinda nice for the new game rig, ya know. But if you can swing the extra cash and undertand that you will get a notciable boost (just not near as much as the dual setup) then it can be worth it. While you can future proof your system, you can reach a price/performca point that is worth it for YOU to consider it a valuable investment so as to delay the inevitable next build. It all about how much you value your time and your games. If you can swing it, then go for the best. If not, then you can get pretty damn close and save a bundle. The trade off is minor to some and major to others. Just dont expect to tripple or even double the performance of a rig that costs half as much. Thats when you will with you hadnt spent the money and it will sour your game hobby.
Oh yeah the tri SLI GTX 280 is a far better option than the dual GX2's for many a reason. It just may not be worth the extra cash for you.
Well Im gonna give you some specs info on my next Computer so tell me if my specs can back up Dual Graphics Cards.
Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Processor.
1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Dual 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 x 2048MB
NVIDIA® nForce® 790i Ultra SLITM Motherboard
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card
Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3Digital_DJ_00
- GTX 260 is more expensive and slower then the HD4870;
- I wouldn't touch an Nvidia nForce platform with a 10 foot pole if I cared about data security;
- The Killer NIC is quite possibly the biggest waste of money in the PC market;
- The Ageia PhysX card is nothing but a power hungry lemon nowadays.
A pretty weak build, and you have no excuse for not going for the cheaper AND faster build (X48 + HD4870 CrossFire) apart from fanboyism.
Well Im gonna give you some specs info on my next Computer so tell me if my specs can back up Dual Graphics Cards.
Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Processor.
1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Dual 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 x 2048MB
NVIDIA® nForce® 790i Ultra SLITM Motherboard
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card
Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3Digital_DJ_00
Great choice with the DDR3 ram. I see a huge performance gain with DDR3 over DDR2 although most people will disagree. Once you do go DDR3, it's a whole 'nother level. But that's from my personal experience, so take it with a grain of salt.
A 1000-wat PSU, sounds great especially for future upgrades if you have the cash, which it seems like you have plenty of judging from your build. ;) I like Ultra X3 1000-watt for the easy cable management. All the PSU cables are detachable = awesome-ness. Quality PSU, too. :)
As far as the Quad goes, great choice, but I would wait for the price drop of the brother CPU - Q9550. It overclocks much better and it has the added stock speed that you want, with an overall higher overclocked performance. The price of the Q9550 is suppose to drop to the price of the Q9450 starting Q3 2008, which is suppose to be the end of July or early August. Wait, if you can. :)
790i Ultra SLi mobo. Excellent mobo. I would definitely get that if I wasn't into Crossfire. :)
If you can, get the Western Digital 10K RPM Raptor X. It's a beast. I cant tell you how much I love this thing. I'm planning to go Raid 0 next month once I have enough money to buy another HD4870 and another one of these bad boys.
Everything looks good man. Enjoy. Have fun. :D
Well, the Killer NIC is a fantastic card but has some driver issues on some rigs, but thats rare and the devs are good at fixing problems. The lesser modle (just under $200) lacks a lot of the extra features that make the bigger brother card (the $300 version) worth while. But if you dont torrent (mods, I only speak about hardware here and not a censord topic), are on a high ping network (alot depends on your ISP for how useful the Killer NIC really is) and dont live by the type of game where have the split second edge on your opponent is a must, that makes it nothing more than a braggin rights card. There is an advantage though. It offloads network traffic from the CPU (which tends to be a lot more work than most think about) and that alone can give you a couple of extra frames per second in a game. However it will not best a 3 GPU (even though the scale badly) in this department. So again, the money would be better spent on a third GPU.
If your going with an SLI board and can afford two GX2's but decide not to get the worthless PhysX adaptor (as Nvidia GPU's are starting to support PhysX so it's not needed on an Nvidia GPU based rig), and not get the Killer NIC, then you will find that the extra GTX 280 will serve you well for giving you the push needed in AA/AF. ATI currently has the edge on AA/AF performance. The only way you can compete with an Nvidia rig is pure, brute, force. If you want 16QAA/16AF on any current game that supports and on a 30" 2550x1600 display then you will want the extra 280.
Lets be honest here. If you gonna shell out the dough for the rig you listed then it would be best to give it that little extra omph to really make it worth the cash. While tri SLI has shown it simply doesnt scale well, it does indeed provide the boost to AA/AF at high resolutions if you already have dual 260/280's. It just that at 1920x1200 or 2550x1600 you tend not to notice the "jaggies" near as much so the advantage is not always worth it for the gaming buck. You could buy 8 or 10 games for the price of the thrid card. Which is kinda nice for the new game rig, ya know. But if you can swing the extra cash and undertand that you will get a notciable boost (just not near as much as the dual setup) then it can be worth it. While you can future proof your system, you can reach a price/performca point that is worth it for YOU to consider it a valuable investment so as to delay the inevitable next build. It all about how much you value your time and your games. If you can swing it, then go for the best. If not, then you can get pretty damn close and save a bundle. The trade off is minor to some and major to others. Just dont expect to tripple or even double the performance of a rig that costs half as much. Thats when you will with you hadnt spent the money and it will sour your game hobby.
Oh yeah the tri SLI GTX 280 is a far better option than the dual GX2's for many a reason. It just may not be worth the extra cash for you.
kodai
Well the monitor I'm getting supports a max res of 1920 x 1200, but I'll be setting my res at 1600 x 1200 on my games to be safe. Plus I might fork over the extra cash for Dual 9800 GX2's.
nice build. I personally don't like ATI due to problems i'v had with them with all the grpahics cards i'v bought from them. Imo do not go for the HD as I don't think it' db eworth teh hassle of the problems you might get. But of cousre thats me I personally won't ever buy from ATI again due to problems i'v had with them I am going to save up for gtx 280's one of these day sonce they lower the price a bit :).blade55555
What problems did you experience?
I got shafted by Nvidia with my 7600 GS, but that didn't stop me from buying an 8600 GT for an office workstation rig. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you winded up with the short end of the stick.
Just because you've had a problem in the past, it doesn't justify you shelling over $300 (x 2 for SLI) just for an extra 10% performance.
nice build. I personally don't like ATI due to problems i'v had with them with all the grpahics cards i'v bought from them. Imo do not go for the HD as I don't think it' db eworth teh hassle of the problems you might get. But of cousre thats me I personally won't ever buy from ATI again due to problems i'v had with them I am going to save up for gtx 280's one of these day sonce they lower the price a bit :).blade55555
I've have the same experience too... I buy ATi Powercolor X1300 2 years ago... got some problems, a year ago I buy Foxconn 8600gt still have problem... Last December I build computer for my cousin use ASUS 8800gt its runs great no problem... March I buy MSI 9600gt OC no problemo too... SO I think you should consider it by its Brand...
[QUOTE="blade55555"]nice build. I personally don't like ATI due to problems i'v had with them with all the grpahics cards i'v bought from them. Imo do not go for the HD as I don't think it' db eworth teh hassle of the problems you might get. But of cousre thats me I personally won't ever buy from ATI again due to problems i'v had with them I am going to save up for gtx 280's one of these day sonce they lower the price a bit :).Wesker776
What problems did you experience?
I got shafted by Nvidia with my 7600 GS, but that didn't stop me from buying an 8600 GT for an office workstation rig. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you winded up with the short end of the stick.
Just because you've had a problem in the past, it doesn't justify you shelling over $300 (x 2 for SLI) just for an extra 10% performance.
I think you need to realize that not everyone is an ATi fan, and vise versa. To some people it's not about the performance increase or the low price for ATi Cards. It's about what brand people stick to, like with you and ATi, and like me with Nvidia. I've had both ATi and Nvidia products, and I prefer Nvidia. I think you called my build weak just because of the fact that I didn't decide to use ATi cards...
[QUOTE="Wesker776"][QUOTE="blade55555"]nice build. I personally don't like ATI due to problems i'v had with them with all the grpahics cards i'v bought from them. Imo do not go for the HD as I don't think it' db eworth teh hassle of the problems you might get. But of cousre thats me I personally won't ever buy from ATI again due to problems i'v had with them I am going to save up for gtx 280's one of these day sonce they lower the price a bit :).Digital_DJ_00
What problems did you experience?
I got shafted by Nvidia with my 7600 GS, but that didn't stop me from buying an 8600 GT for an office workstation rig. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you winded up with the short end of the stick.
Just because you've had a problem in the past, it doesn't justify you shelling over $300 (x 2 for SLI) just for an extra 10% performance.
I think you need to realize that not everyone is an ATi fan, and vise versa. To some people it's not about the performance increase or the low price for ATi Cards. It's about what brand people stick to, like with you and ATi, and like me with Nvidia. I've had both ATi and Nvidia products, and I prefer Nvidia. I think you called my build weak just because of the fact that I didn't decide to use ATi cards...
Well ppl that think this way are what? Stupid?
[QUOTE="Digital_DJ_00"][QUOTE="Wesker776"][QUOTE="blade55555"]nice build. I personally don't like ATI due to problems i'v had with them with all the grpahics cards i'v bought from them. Imo do not go for the HD as I don't think it' db eworth teh hassle of the problems you might get. But of cousre thats me I personally won't ever buy from ATI again due to problems i'v had with them I am going to save up for gtx 280's one of these day sonce they lower the price a bit :).domke13
What problems did you experience?
I got shafted by Nvidia with my 7600 GS, but that didn't stop me from buying an 8600 GT for an office workstation rig. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you winded up with the short end of the stick.
Just because you've had a problem in the past, it doesn't justify you shelling over $300 (x 2 for SLI) just for an extra 10% performance.
I think you need to realize that not everyone is an ATi fan, and vise versa. To some people it's not about the performance increase or the low price for ATi Cards. It's about what brand people stick to, like with you and ATi, and like me with Nvidia. I've had both ATi and Nvidia products, and I prefer Nvidia. I think you called my build weak just because of the fact that I didn't decide to use ATi cards...
Well ppl that think this way are what? Stupid?
Yup.[QUOTE="Digital_DJ_00"][QUOTE="Wesker776"][QUOTE="blade55555"]nice build. I personally don't like ATI due to problems i'v had with them with all the grpahics cards i'v bought from them. Imo do not go for the HD as I don't think it' db eworth teh hassle of the problems you might get. But of cousre thats me I personally won't ever buy from ATI again due to problems i'v had with them I am going to save up for gtx 280's one of these day sonce they lower the price a bit :).domke13
What problems did you experience?
I got shafted by Nvidia with my 7600 GS, but that didn't stop me from buying an 8600 GT for an office workstation rig. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you winded up with the short end of the stick.
Just because you've had a problem in the past, it doesn't justify you shelling over $300 (x 2 for SLI) just for an extra 10% performance.
I think you need to realize that not everyone is an ATi fan, and vise versa. To some people it's not about the performance increase or the low price for ATi Cards. It's about what brand people stick to, like with you and ATi, and like me with Nvidia. I've had both ATi and Nvidia products, and I prefer Nvidia. I think you called my build weak just because of the fact that I didn't decide to use ATi cards...
Well ppl that think this way are what? Stupid?
No, I'm not trying to call anyone stupid.
[QUOTE="Wesker776"][QUOTE="blade55555"]nice build. I personally don't like ATI due to problems i'v had with them with all the grpahics cards i'v bought from them. Imo do not go for the HD as I don't think it' db eworth teh hassle of the problems you might get. But of cousre thats me I personally won't ever buy from ATI again due to problems i'v had with them I am going to save up for gtx 280's one of these day sonce they lower the price a bit :).Digital_DJ_00
What problems did you experience?
I got shafted by Nvidia with my 7600 GS, but that didn't stop me from buying an 8600 GT for an office workstation rig. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you winded up with the short end of the stick.
Just because you've had a problem in the past, it doesn't justify you shelling over $300 (x 2 for SLI) just for an extra 10% performance.
I think you need to realize that not everyone is an ATi fan, and vise versa. To some people it's not about the performance increase or the low price for ATi Cards. It's about what brand people stick to, like with you and ATi, and like me with Nvidia. I've had both ATi and Nvidia products, and I prefer Nvidia. I think you called my build weak just because of the fact that I didn't decide to use ATi cards...
I don't assume that everyone is an ATI fan, and I don't stick to ATI. I have multiple PC's that I've built in the past, and they've ranged from having Intel GMA graphics, ATI Radeon graphics to Nvidia GeForce graphics. Just because I know more about ATI GPU's does not mean however that I will end up purchasing ATI graphics indefinitely. I make like speculating and talking about ATI GPU's, but when it comes to pay up, I don't care what the make or model the GPU is.
People who stick to a brand need a slap in the face. They're essentially getting milked, as they ignore the competitive nature of rival firms by failing to reward the more efficient firm.
I called your build weak because you could attain faster performance at a lower cost--a double win scenario, if you will. The X48 Express is as fast as Nvidia's nForce 790i, but unlike the 790i the X48 doesn't suffer from data corruption issues, overclocks higher and is cheaper on average. The HD4870 is down right superior to the GTX 260 and is cheaper too (or as cheap), which is why I am puzzled by your choice to stick to a brand (which inevitably means that you'll be burning money sooner or later).
Anyway, suit yourself. :/
[QUOTE="Digital_DJ_00"]Well Im gonna give you some specs info on my next Computer so tell me if my specs can back up Dual Graphics Cards.
Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Processor.
1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Dual 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 x 2048MB
NVIDIA® nForce® 790i Ultra SLITM Motherboard
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card
Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3Aldouz
It's perfect for Dual SLI system, I believe you spend a lot of time to build such good choice... How about Dual ATi HD 4870 it cost cheaper than Dual GTX 260...
You can get a gtx260 at tiger or newegg for $270
Please Log In to post.
Log in to comment