should i bother with sli?

[ineed2upgrade]

im planning on building a new core2 rig and currently pricing up bits and bats and looking at what motherboard i want.
basically what motherboard i get is down to what gpu(1 or 2) i get.the monitor i will be using will have a resolution of 1680x1050.to run games at good frame rates with good detail setting do i really need 2 cards running in sli or can i get away with 1 decent card(8800 series) and still have good graphics and framerates?

 

[BillytheImpaler]

One 8800 should do the job for that resolution, methinks.

 

[nbkpsycho]

My 8800GTS eats that resolution np at all mate. one 8800GTX would be perfect

 

[ineed2upgrade]

ah should be a cheaper system then.dunno if i would want to stretch to an 8800gtx unless the price comes down a bit in the next 2 months or so.think an 8800gts may be ok for me.then is it 640mb version or 320mb version?hmmmm
tbh mine isnt going to be just for gaming its going to be my only pc so want a jack of all trades and dont really want to spend more than about £1200 on the tower(E6600/2gb 8500ram/psu/mobo/2 raptors and an armour lcs case)

 

[Slogan]

Don't go anywhere near an 8800 until these new ATI cards come out.

You can either go for one of those (if they're much faster and decently priced in comparison to an 8800) or you'll get a slightly cheaper 8800.

 

[ineed2upgrade]

well im not gonna be building while may so will be hanging round atleast another month

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

i dunno why people say one card would work fine at those resolutions, new games like crysis will have bad minimum fps imo.. some games get slow in heavy action even at 1024 x 768

I still cant justify the cost of SLI though, major waste of money.. the only reason i think its a waste is because of the improvement it gives, usually only a 40% (if that) increase over 1 card for double the cost.

 

[Shocky-FM]

i dunno why people say one card would work fine at those resolutions, new games like crysis will have bad minimum fps imo.. some games get slow in heavy action even at 1024 x 768

I still cant justify the cost of SLI though, major waste of money.. the only reason i think its a waste is because of the improvement it gives, usually only a 40% (if that) increase over 1 card for double the cost.

Crysis isnt out yet so how exactly do you know a single GTX can't cope at 1680*1050?

But yes, SLI is a waste of money.

 

[Perfect_Chaos]

Crysis isnt out yet so how exactly do you know a single GTX can't cope at 1680*1050?

But yes, SLI is a waste of money.

Because when i had my 6800 GT for doom 3 and HL2 they never stayed at a high rate of fps when in gun battles or open areas, you always got that dip below 60 even with recommended settings the game sets.

 

[ineed2upgrade]

well i never said sli was a waste of money or even asked that question,just if sli was a waste of money for me and the resolutions im after

 

[andyr]

Hi , i just changed to one gtx as two wasnt good value , i sold two 575/1800 and bought one 626/2000 and am happier with the overall result

 

[RaiderX]

crysis will run maxed out on a single GTX

 

[andyr]

crysis will run maxed out on a single GTX

Yeah we need a good game to prove all this hardware and a nice set of drivers " come on Nvidia youve had long enough "

 

[SideWinder]

Don't go anywhere near an 8800 until these new ATI cards come out.

You can either go for one of those (if they're much faster and decently priced in comparison to an 8800) or you'll get a slightly cheaper 8800.

Exactly what i'm doing. <3

 

[Arcane]

I'm running a single GTX at 1680x1050 on a 20" WS monitor. I'm pretty happy with it overall, it can't maintain 60fps in some of the more intensive games (oblivion, tomb raider legend etc) but older stuff it flies with (HL2, Quake 4). It really depends on your definiton of playable and how high a minimum framerate you insist on. I had 6 and 7 series SLI setups but haven't bothered this time around yet....I don't think they're a waste personally.

 

[Shocky-FM]

Because when i had my 6800 GT for doom 3 and HL2 they never stayed at a high rate of fps when in gun battles or open areas, you always got that dip below 60 even with recommended settings the game sets.

And? that has nothing to do with Crysis or a 8800GTX, it's a completely different game and graphics card. Lol

 

[easyrider]

im planning on building a new core2 rig and currently pricing up bits and bats and looking at what motherboard i want.
basically what motherboard i get is down to what gpu(1 or 2) i get.the monitor i will be using will have a resolution of 1680x1050.to run games at good frame rates with good detail setting do i really need 2 cards running in sli or can i get away with 1 decent card(8800 series) and still have good graphics and framerates?

At that res a single GTX will be fine.

PLu you can always get another when its needed.
And they will drop in price in about 3 weeks


However I hate SLI its vastly overated.

Single cards for the win.