SLI: Will I ever need it?

jac705 · 27 May 2008 at 22:20

Posted on here before about a system I'm about to build...
I have been looking at the Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 Intel X48 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 but it has recently occured to me that this does not support SLI and I plan to get a 8800 GTX.
I am not a heavy gamer (the only game I currently play is command and conquer 3) but I do have a 24inch monitor and do enjoy full HD movies.
Based on my uses do you think another graphics card (and therefore an SLI motherboard) is something I will ever need?
I only ask becuase I am hesitant to get an nForce 780i instead of the seemingly trustworthy Gigabyte due to the reviews not being very positive in terms of drivers etc.
Opinions on the matter would be appreciated!
(Sorry if this belongs in the motherboard forum).
Thanks

Cairnsey · 27 May 2008 at 22:31

No, Just stick with single cards. Buy a GTX, when games start to feel slow, sell your GTX and get another single card as there will be a much faster single cards available by that time.

Greebo · 27 May 2008 at 22:31

In general there will always be a single card which offers as good a performance as two "middle" cards in SLI so always the best advice to sell your old card and get a new single one - no issues with drivers, power requirements and SLI support and a better choice of motherboards.

The only but to this is when you can pick up a matching card to yours for peanuts eg say you get a GTX now and then get a chance to buy another one 2nd hand later for £50. Probably worth it then. But factor in the extra money needed for the SLI board in the first place plus either buying another psu or buying a very powerful in the first place and the cheap option doesn't seem as cheap.

In my case I replaced my 4 year SLI mobo with a new one that isn't on the basis that I have never used the SLI in those 4 years and hence never likely to.

Dingleberry88 · 27 May 2008 at 22:42

The last 2 motherboards I bought I made sure were SLi "just in case", but to be honest I've never even thought about getting a second card.

If the board you choose supports SLi then that's fine, but don't let it sway you at all.

jac705 · 27 May 2008 at 22:47

Hey thanks for the advice!
Think I'll stick to the Gigabyte then :-)

Rroff · 27 May 2008 at 22:48

whether you need SLI or not... I don't think I'd wish an nForce 680/780 board, especially asus on my worst enemy...

~>Dg<~ · 27 May 2008 at 22:49

dont bother unless you own a big ass monitor and even then your still better off with best single solution.

-)G(-Sawyer · 27 May 2008 at 22:52

I never thought of getting two cards for Sli myself but a friend sold me 2 8800GTS cards for £70. Since then I've really enjoyed having the extra power of 2 cards and had zero problems.

EffBee · 28 May 2008 at 09:52

I think no.

Excellent article in this months's Custom PC magazine about 2,3, and 4 video cards in a PC with different types of games.

Well worth a look.

Even with two cards some games actually run SLOWER than with one card.

Some cards work MUCH better in multiples than others.

As usual whether to use it or not depends strongly on the application - ie the particular game you want to play. There is no definitive general answer.

davecarter · 28 May 2008 at 10:23

Unless you can pick up 2 cards for a ridiculously low price then I would always go for the single card option.
I know I currently have an SLI setup but speaking from experience unless things improve drastically in the next 6 to 12 months then I definitely wont be thinking about SLI for my next build.

Arcane · 28 May 2008 at 10:48

I'll play Devil's advocate here and say that personally I think SLI is worth it.

It's not a good budget option or great value for money but then it'll give you better overall framerate increase's than anything else out there that people seem to think are worth while (RAID O, Quad Core CPU's for example). I don't know what cards people own out there that'll play "everything Maxed out" but my 8800GTX certainly wouldn't by a long shot.

Oh and Custom PC...sorry but half the conclusions that they come to are, well, interesting.

davecarter · 28 May 2008 at 10:51

Arcane said:
Oh and Custom PC...sorry but half the conclusions that they come to are, well, interesting.

Id agree with that, acording to them my setup makes FPS's (as a whole) show a 7% increase.
Crysis maybe but any other game is at least 3 to 4 times that

melbourne720 · 28 May 2008 at 11:07

SLi (and to a similar extent Crossfire) has always had the potential to be a golden goose for graphics card makers, without ever really taking off (apologies: faulty metaphor).

The idea of up to doubling your sales with the same customers is a marketing guy's wet dream, but a technical nightmare. The fact that so many games don't recognise the extra power, and the overhead means you'll never get twice the fps (or anywhere near that) makes it bad vfm.

Saying that, if someone came up to me with a £30 8800 GTS 512MB I'd probably think "What the hell... gimmie it!"

Final8y · 28 May 2008 at 12:47

melbourne720 said:
SLi (and to a similar extent Crossfire) has always had the potential to be a golden goose for graphics card makers, without ever really taking off (apologies: faulty metaphor).

The idea of up to doubling your sales with the same customers is a marketing guy's wet dream, but a technical nightmare. The fact that so many games don't recognise the extra power, and the overhead means you'll never get twice the fps (or anywhere near that) makes it bad vfm.

Saying that, if someone came up to me with a £30 8800 GTS 512MB I'd probably think "What the hell... gimmie it!"

We don't get X times the performance on multi core CPUs either with most software but that don't stop ppl buying & the only reason why its seems OK is that its cheaper than X mutli GPUs.

There are more games, 38 out of 40 that i have run that show a noticeable increase with multi GPU than software on multi CPU & if that extra GPU means i can run a game at 60fps with V-Sync when needed that's all worth it to me than the top single card that does 40-55 avg & V-Syncs to 30FPS depending on circumstance.

There are more games that make use of Multi GPU than games that don't.

There are more games that make use of Multi GPU than games that make use of multi CPU & as i said its more to-do with the cost than the results as If all Multi GPU was multi cored like CPUs & the cost difference was the same as dualcore CPU to quadcore CPU then people would be flooding to it even if most games only made use of 1-2 of 4 GPU cores like most games make use of 1-2 now on a quad CPU.

melbourne720 · 28 May 2008 at 13:16

Can't disagree with your post Final8y.

I'd add that a multicore CPU is still only 1 chip, and the slow take-up of multi CPU systems is probably a closer, analogous situation. Your spot on with the 'uses' of quads with (most) games, and it is probably only their uses with applications (3d, photoshop) coupled with the 'new chip to play with' factor that has meant you see more quads than SLi setups. Cost is probably a factor too.

-)G(-Sawyer · 28 May 2008 at 13:33

What are these games that run slower in Sli can’t say I’ve seen any.

After a couple of months running in Sli all I can say is wow it’s great, all my games run faster and smoother now. Last night I played GTR2 with 35 cars on the grid game at full settings, 16x AA vsync on and not one stutter. It is bliss I could never do that on my single 8800.

For the people who think having to cards is going to give you double the gaming performance, that is a bit silly really I’m mean think about again would you not really need double everything CPU, ram etc to get double the performance.

pugheaven · 28 May 2008 at 13:34

Well, although I hate the way SLi/Crossfire is still a load of rubbish considering how long it's now been out to iron out the bigs etc etc... I'm still going SLi next week... and purchasing another BFG 8800GT from overclockers... just £15 quid shy at the moment, and the missus is watching every penny ;-)

Hahahaha...

So in answer to your question, well, there isn't a definitive answer, all I know is the games I play will see a boost in gaing performance, plus I'm a marketting mans dream... if it looks good on paper, then I'll buy it, I'm pathetic hahahaha...

Plus it'll give me the extra breathing space I need until the prices of the new hardware come down, sorry, but there's no way on earth I'm paying £400+ notes for the next nvidia cards, I'll wait until the equivalent 8800GT comes out and clock the stuffing out of it...

Cheers
Pug

-)G(-Sawyer · 28 May 2008 at 13:39

pugheaven said:
Well, although I hate the way SLi/Crossfire is still a load of rubbish considering how long it's now been out to iron out the bigs etc etc... I'm still going SLi next week... and purchasing another BFG 8800GT from overclockers... just £15 quid shy at the moment, and the missus is watching every penny Hahahaha...

So in answer to your question, well, there isn't a definitive answer, all I know is the games I play will see a boost in gaing performance, plus I'm a marketting mans dream... if it looks good on paper, then I'll buy it, I'm pathetic hahahaha...

Plus it'll give me the extra breathing space I need until the prices of the new hardware come down, sorry, but there's no way on earth I'm paying £400+ notes for the next nvidia cards, I'll wait until the equivalent 8800GT comes out and clock the stuffing out of it...

Cheers
Pug

LOL I think you got the right attitude there mate.

pugheaven · 28 May 2008 at 13:40

-)G(-Sawyer said:
What are these games that run slower in Sli can’t say I’ve seen any.

After a couple of months running in Sli all I can say is wow it’s great, all my games run faster and smoother now. Last night I played GTR2 with 35 cars on the grid game at full settings, 16x AA vsync on and not one stutter. It is bliss I could never do that on my single 8800.

For the people who think having to cards is going to give you double the gaming performance, that is a bit silly really I’m mean think about again would you not really need double everything CPU, ram etc to get double the performance.

So, as someone who's got SLi mate, what games you usually play and what res etc etc? My games are... running in res's...

Crysis - 1920x1200 0xAA, 0xAF VSYNC off,
Bioshock - 1920x1200 2xAA, 4xAF VSYNC on,
Dirt - 1920x1200 0xAA, 0xAF VSYNC off,
UT3 - 1920x1200 4xAA, 8xAF VSYNC on,
UT2004 - 1920x1200 16xAA, 16xAF VSYNC on,

My reason for getting the extra card is so I can run vsync on Dirt and any other games Crysis, being the exception maybe... UT3 looks stunning and runs like a dream, no tearing etc, where'as Dirt has some tearing and it's not 100% smooth, playable no problem, but not perfect and hoping the extra GPU would solve this.

What 8800's are you running and CPU mate?

Cheers
Pug

-)G(-Sawyer · 28 May 2008 at 13:49

The games I play the most are

GT Legends
GTR2
rFactor
Dirt
TF2

I play all games at 1680-1050 with vsync on so with your set up your going to be able to play Dirt at high/ultra settings with vsync on and looking very nice.

Processor: Q6600 @ 3.40GHz
Motherboard : Asus P5N32-E SLi nForce 680
Memory: OCZ 4GB -6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 320GB X3
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640 X2
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1