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SLI or watercooling?

Perfect_Chaos

Perfect_Chaos

Perfect_Chaos

Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2004
Posts
5,183
Location
South Wales
i'm a gamer, but noise is also a concern for me.

Reasoning in wanting SLI is to avoid games getting below 60fps where a single card would. But if i run them on a 20-21" monitor then i wont notice any difference?

With water i could get a single card and clock it up a little more over stock, getting silence also.

Water = quiet, cool temps, good overclock.

SLI & air cooling = superior gaming performance, decent overclock on cpu, running hot, noisy.

So a downside to both really, if anybody could point me in the right direction then id like to hear what you have to say.

I think getting both SLI & water would be too expensive, not to mention i'd have to buy blocks for each card.. then a year later id have to sell the cards/blocks seperately which might be a hassle. I'm sure there wouldnt be any trouble selling them both seperately with stock coolers intact on an auction site though.

The question is, is it worth it for the extra performance or just a rip off?

thanks
 
The nvidia 8800 cards are just about silent....

even with watercooling you still need case fans,PSU fans,rad fans running....

And just because something watercooled don't always mean it will overclock anymore then went it's on air.....
 
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Water cooling can cool down both CPU and GPU, and it is a one time investement (you just buy brackets for new sockets etc).

Another point I would consider, is the fact that watercooling is a constant performer, wereas SLI performs when possible. This is what I never liked about SLI really. I am of the people who believe in spending on single cards, which will perform always at the rate they were sold to me.
 
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I've yet to find an active water cooling system that is actually any quieter than an air-cooled case with carefully chosen fans.

Zalman Reserator and Preytek Serenity are silent, but passive and so not suited to lots of high-power components.

Unless you're running a mega-monitor you're better off with one 8800GTX than two of anything else.
 
I only have 2 fans on my system. 2 Yate loons 7v( ~25db?). The pump, you cant hear it. Only way to tell if its on is you stick your ear over it when there is absolute silence in the room.
 
drak3 said:
I only have 2 fans on my system. 2 Yate loons 7v( ~25db?). The pump, you cant hear it. Only way to tell if its on is you stick your ear over it when there is absolute silence in the room.
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2 fans....But you need two fans just for a dual 120mm rad,,,You most have a PSU and case fans as well...
 
chaparral said:
2 fans....But you need two fans just for a dual 120mm rad,,,You most have a PSU and case fans as well...
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I do not have case fans, and so far it is working fine. The rad is front mount and works like case fan as well. The only other fan is on the PSU (which is very silent) but I want to put water in the PSU as soon I get some spare money.
 
Just checked out a different site for benchmarks on the 8800 GTX in sli, it seems there is only roughly 10fps difference in minimum fps, in the couple of game tests i saw.. and since thats where it counts then i guess SLI is a rip off.

it gives almost double the max FPS, but minimum is what everybody wants and it seems just a small boost over 1 card.. pointless then. Could probably gain almost that with voltage changes and overclocking a single card.
 
Perfect_Chaos said:
Just checked out a different site for benchmarks on the 8800 GTX in sli, it seems there is only roughly 10fps difference in minimum fps, in the couple of game tests i saw.. and since thats where it counts then i guess SLI is a rip off.

it gives almost double the max FPS, but minimum is what everybody wants and it seems just a small boost over 1 card.. pointless then. Could probably gain almost that with voltage changes and overclocking a single card.
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More then likely because the game is cpu limited were it get the low fps....
 
I have an Opteron 170 and a 7900 GTX. I get slowdowns also on some games but I think buying another card wont help much unless you get more CPU.

Just manage with what you have, SLI is a waste, especially with that CPU. Watercooling isn't that quiet but will allow higher overclocks.

I would say if you have a 22" or smaller monitor then stick with what you have, if you have a larger monitor then get watercoooling and overclock.

No point in SLI imo, you would need to do a total upgrade.
 
Another vote for watercooing with carefully chosen fans and a silent pump IMO it will be much better for silence and overclocking then aircooling. If you want to get obsessed with silence but also have cooling there when you need it then get a t-balancer which when set-up correctly will speed up you fans when your computers gets hot (ie playing games) and then slow them down when its cooler (watching a movie or word processing etc.).
 
Depends what your SLIing - the 6800 series suck for SLI performance - whereas the 7 series give a nice boost and most people simply don't have the CPU to SLI the 8 series effectively...

If your goal is to keep a constant 60fps in most of the games out right now with decent quality settings then your going to need 2 things... a conroe at 3gig or a similiar performance CPU which I don't think AMD have atm... and atleast a 7900GT (or 7800GTX) SLI or an 8800GTS (which makes more sense as it would set you back the same amount).

Screensize doesn't really make much odds unless your only playing at 640x480 or something.
 
Ah with the 8800 series you will need a minimum of a 3.6gig conroe to make it worth SLIing them... prolly better watercooling and clocking up then I guess.
 
Perfect_Chaos said:
i meant SLI'ing a pair of 8800 GTX's.. or possibly Crossfire 2 2900 xt(x)'s

or just get a single high end card, along with watercooling & oc the card.
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You not going need SLI 8800gtx or crossfire 2900xt(x) for only a 21" monitor...
 
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