to SLI or not..

gerico · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:30

Well i have been reading thread after thread and looking around lots of websites. I was thinking about purchasing - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-PC - Which i have no doubt is one heck of a power beast. However.. Do i really benefit from spending so much with regards to gaming? Or am i just spending lots on a card thats got software issues.. Would i be better getting two cheaper cards and getting the same power output?

Yes im fairly noobie at this stuff, but i know you guys generally know your stuff so guide me here!

:eek:

neo-omega · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:33

What's the spec of your computer?

Rroff · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:34

SLI is the nVidia term on ATI cards its called crossfire for multi GPU.

If your playing at resolutions over 1920x and more than 8x AA with the latest games and don't plan on upgrading for awhile after then it might be worth it... if your playing upto 1920x and under 8x AA then you'd be perfectly happy with a 5870 or even 5850.

gerico · 14 Dec 2009 at 20:42

neo-omega said:
What's the spec of your computer?

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 4.00GHz / Gigabyte EX58-UD5 Intel X58 Motherboard / Corsair 6GB DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz DDR3

Nick1881 · 14 Dec 2009 at 20:46

2 x 5970 would be overkill to say the least.

chaparral · 14 Dec 2009 at 21:06

mr_x_plosion said:
2 x 5970 would be overkill to say the least.

he didn't say he was going buy two 5970 cards..

reiyushin · 14 Dec 2009 at 21:47

Get a single 5870 for now.

If/when it starts to feel sluggish get a second

Nick1881 · 14 Dec 2009 at 22:03

chaparral said:
he didn't say he was going buy two 5970 cards..

My bad.

jorzeh · 14 Dec 2009 at 22:13

really the 5970 is 2 5870 chips just underclocked so really you could just get a 5850 for now and when there cheaper buy a 2nd.

just my 2 cents

jigger · 15 Dec 2009 at 00:00

gerico said:
Well i have been reading thread after thread and looking around lots of websites. I was thinking about purchasing - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-PC - Which i have no doubt is one heck of a power beast. However.. Do i really benefit from spending so much with regards to gaming? Or am i just spending lots on a card thats got software issues.. Would i be better getting two cheaper cards and getting the same power output?

Yes im fairly noobie at this stuff, but i know you guys generally know your stuff so guide me here!

You are always better of with the single fastest card you can get.

That way your not relaying on your motherboard dual GPU performance, a bunch of monkeys writing software with bias. And you don't need to pay for a sli licensed PSU.

coupe69 · 15 Dec 2009 at 02:19

jigger said:
You are always better of with the single fastest card you can get.

Agreed, but try telling that to the hoards on this forum who have just purchased two 5770's :eek:

Rroff · 15 Dec 2009 at 02:22

Don't listen to the multi GPU haters.

coupe69 · 15 Dec 2009 at 02:39

Rroff said:
Don't listen to the multi GPU haters.

I don't, in fact I'm currently running two GTX 260 216s in my pc, but only because I'm a bit of a hardware whore

I was originally going to sli my 280 but these 260s came up cheap in mm so I went for them.

I do think it's good advice though for the majority of people who probably don't upgrade as often as myself

Get the most powerfull single gpu card you can afford at the time, and then you can always sli or crossfire it at a later date.

You'll notice I didn't quote all of jiggers post

Rroff · 15 Dec 2009 at 02:53

Got my hands on a couple of gigabyte 260GTX Super Overclocked... running 1500 shaders out the box and will do atleast 1550 - haven't tested above that yet... performance is nothing to sniff at.

coupe69 · 15 Dec 2009 at 02:59

Yes I think I remember you talking about these in another thread. I've actually read the legitreview on those cards, they do look pretty tasty.

jigger · 15 Dec 2009 at 09:20

Dont listen to Rroff he just has a boner for all things SLI.

Dual Card setups are still full of fail, anyone that says otherwise is very lucky or plain wrong.

unknownsock · 15 Dec 2009 at 09:25

jigger said:
Dont listen to Rroff he just has a boner for all things SLI.

Dual Card setups are still full of fail, anyone that says otherwise is very lucky or plain wrong.

Lol when were SLi/crossfire crap in the last year or two?
When i did it i saw a helluva lot more performance in a lot of games..

Although if it was me, i'd get a 5870, and get another later next year for cheap.

raralis · 15 Dec 2009 at 09:26

jigger said:
Dont listen to Rroff he just has a boner for all things SLI.

Dual Card setups are still full of fail, anyone that says otherwise is very lucky or plain wrong.

lol.

Why are dual card setups full of fail?

They offer from 50% to 90% boost (depending to resolution) and don't cause any problems.

A few years ago when dual card setup were uncommon, there were problems yes, but now the drivers/cards have matured enough not to have those problems anymore.

reflux · 15 Dec 2009 at 09:31

jigger is a troll. I've engaged with him in discussions before about the subject and asked him if he has ever actually ever owned a multi-gpu setup, or even actually looked at any reviews, and he never answers.

Multi-GPU is, for the most part, quite good these days but it is still better to buy a single high-end card if you can.

Arcane · 15 Dec 2009 at 09:32

jigger said:
Dont listen to Rroff he just has a boner for all things SLI.

Dual Card setups are still full of fail, anyone that says otherwise is very lucky or plain wrong.

What a ludicrous comment, unfortunately very typical of a very ill-informed and very vocal minority on these forums.