285 GTX vs 8800 GTX SLi

SkodaMart · 30 Jul 2009 at 20:02

I have just swapped my 8800 GTX SLi setup for a single 285 GTX.
I am getting exactly the same 3Dmark06 score! (I am using Windows XP)
The advantages of the 285 GTX is that it runs at a much lower temp 44 idle 60 load (vs 75 idle 90+ load)
Also I am getting 100% better performance in games with poor (or no) SLi support. I think it was worth the money now that the prices have dropped.

Ultim8 · 30 Jul 2009 at 20:22

what cpu do you have?

SkodaMart · 30 Jul 2009 at 20:23

Ultim8 said:
what cpu do you have?

Conroe E6600 at 3.33 GHz

Ultim8 · 30 Jul 2009 at 20:26

your cpu will be bottlenecking your graphics hence no better in 3dmark, if i remember rightly even a qx9650 couldnt keep up with a 8800gtx at the time.

Might be time to get an i7

SkodaMart · 30 Jul 2009 at 21:23

How did I know that was coming!! lol. I have ran 3dmark06 with a q6700 at 3.6ghz and got a shade over 17000. The reality of it is I didn't see any performance boost in my games with quad core.
14800 (approx) with E6600 and 1 285 GTX.
I have just run the Resident Evil 5 variable benchmark at maximum settings (only dx9 though) and got 67.2 fps at 1650 x 1080, can't really complain!

mrthingyx · 30 Jul 2009 at 21:38

8800GTX SLI is not a slow setup... what were you expecting?

SLI/Crossfire has taken the wind out of high end cards' performance premiums, and looking and benchmarks there isn't much difference twixt your previous and current hardware.

In fact, I'd guess your 8800GTX SLI setup may actually have been faster for a number of games than the GTX285...

SkodaMart · 30 Jul 2009 at 21:44

mrthingyx said:
8800GTX SLI is not a slow setup... what were you expecting?

SLI/Crossfire has taken the wind out of high end cards' performance premiums, and looking and benchmarks there isn't much difference twixt your previous and current hardware.

In fact, I'd guess your 8800GTX SLI setup may actually have been faster for a number of games than the GTX285...

I was very pleased with my 8800 GTX SLi setup. I was expecting a sideways upgrade. The main advantage with 1 card is you get all of the performance all of the time. It was frustrating when SLi wasn't supported or supported poorly.
The Witcher and Neverwinter Nights 2 being 2 examples. (same engine)

kylew · 30 Jul 2009 at 22:49

To think you could have had close to two times the performance of 8800GTX SLi if you had bought a 4870X2! (same price as a GTX285)

8800GTX SLi isn't slow at all, but nVidia has a habit of pretending their old cards don't exist, or they only focus on optimising their drivers for their latest and greatest GPUs.

elpedro · 30 Jul 2009 at 22:53

kylew said:
they only focus on optimising their drivers for their latest and greatest GPUs.

Well seen as the latest 190.38 drivers are for

NVIDIA said:
...GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, and 200-series desktop GPUs and ION GPUs.

I don't see how that is true at all

blaineoliver · 30 Jul 2009 at 22:57

They support, doesnt mean that they optimize the drivers for older cards.

kylew · 30 Jul 2009 at 22:57

elpedro said:
Well seen as the latest 190.38 drivers are for

I don't see how that is true at all

Which part?

'Pretending their older cards don't exist' was in reference to them optimising their drivers for their latest cards.

It's something we all know they do. I didn't mention anything about support.

SkodaMart · 30 Jul 2009 at 23:08

178.24 worked best for my 8800 GTX SLi setup without a doubt. I agree the latest drivers seem to be best suited to the latest cards.
As for ATI, well there aint much point even looking when you are running a 780i motherboard!

Monkeynut · 30 Jul 2009 at 23:15

SkodaMart said:
As for ATI, well there aint much point even looking when you are running a 780i motherboard!

4870X2?

elpedro · 30 Jul 2009 at 23:25

kylew said:
Which part?

'Pretending their older cards don't exist' was in reference to them optimising their drivers for their latest cards.

It's something we all know they do. I didn't mention anything about support.

So only the latest cards get any sort of performance boost by latest drivers?

SkodaMart · 31 Jul 2009 at 06:36

Monkeynut said:
4870X2?

a 4870X2 Will work on an nVidia board?

james.miller · 31 Jul 2009 at 06:47

of course, its a single slot card - it'll work on just about anything with a pci-e slot

Kribby2006 · 31 Jul 2009 at 09:58

kylew said:
To think you could have had close to two times the performance of 8800GTX SLi if you had bought a 4870X2! (same price as a GTX285)

.

Yea and all the potential problems that go with the X2, he seems happy enough and 1 GPU is always going to be more consistent.

D13 · 31 Jul 2009 at 10:02

I dont understand, is this a question?

kylew · 1 Aug 2009 at 10:57

Kribby2006 said:
Yea and all the potential problems that go with the X2, he seems happy enough and 1 GPU is always going to be more consistent.

Considering he's just come from SLi, I some how suspect he doesn't have reservations about a dual GPU set up.

As for 'potential' problems with an X2? You could say the same about any piece of computer hardware.

Rroff · 1 Aug 2009 at 12:14

If you look around these and other forums you'll see a lot of people who upgraded from 8 series SLI to a 4870x2 ended up on single 200 series cards and claim them to be a bit smoother. I suspect the op would have been one of those people. I don't think the transition from SLI to cf always goes down well.