SLI??? yeah right :p !!!

james.miller · 30 Mar 2008 at 19:03

that depends. most games render more of the world as the resolution increases, but not all of them. some games render the same 'window' but in greater detail. let me go find some links for you...

addylad · 30 Mar 2008 at 19:09

Thanks for the effort

FatRakoon · 30 Mar 2008 at 19:19

Only a short while back I wanted to knock up a SLI box purely cos I had an SLI Mobo.

No real reason other than that.

People knocked me and slated the idea, but I was determined to prove them wrong...

I got myself setup with a Pair of Gigabyte nVIDIA 6600GT cards and I got the benches all fired up and wrote down the numbers to run their noses in it...

I was wrong.

Sure, it made things a tad smoother, but no better... Not at all better.

about 6 months ago, I got myself a paid of 8800GT Cards... This was a dual reason behind this...

1 - Cos I got another SLI Mobo
2 - At these prices, you gotta, just for a laugh

What a waste of time.

Sure, it helped, Id be lying if I said it didnt. but was it worth it?

NOPE!

Needless to say I have still got the 6600GT SLI Setup running and thats staying as it is, its fun for messing about, but its not used for gaming anymore, and the 2xGT's are now seperated and my kids have great gaming machines again.

Rroff · 30 Mar 2008 at 21:00

6 series cards never ran in SLI mode very well...

7 Series in SLI and lower 8 series 8500, 8600 work best in SLI with biggest gains - 8 series seem to be held back by other system components...

If you were running 2x 8800GT on an AMD board running an opty then you were wasting your time - its only just upto powering one 8800GT properly.

grs_link · 31 Mar 2008 at 10:01

true, I have to agree on this.

SLI does need a strong cpu behind it and plenty of bandwidth...

mmm... time to google any articles comparing dual and quad core performance on sli mode

and by the way FatRakoon u are clearly stating ** dissapointment over the sli issue, but u are not really backing it up with examples.
I would be greatful if you did.. just so that we, that never had sli configurations get a clearer picture of all of this

FatRakoon · 2 Apr 2008 at 03:06

grs_link said:
and by the way FatRakoon u are clearly stating ** dissapointment over the sli issue, but u are not really backing it up with examples.
I would be greatful if you did.. just so that we, that never had sli configurations get a clearer picture of all of this

Well, ok, I suppose I could sort out a few tests and run then in SLI and seperately, with the 6600GT's and the 8800GT's and then we can see how much of a difference we get when comparing one 6600 with two and the same with one 8800 and two... Not trying to compare the difference between the 6600 and the 8800 though... Thats just thick, but certainly the differences between such differing ages of card.

Erm, ok, I will organise something then in the next few days when I have spare time... The differences IIRC however were in the 10-20% range for the 6600GT and closer to 50-60% for the 8800GT... If my memory is up to scratch.

Wibble?

Rroff · 2 Apr 2008 at 15:43

I wouldn't bother with the 6 series

they were pretty naff in SLI...

If you have a decent CPU behind it you should see average gains across a bunch of games of 60-70% at 1280x1024 res with 8800GT SLI and closer to 90% at 1920x and upwards with plenty of FSAA.

FatRakoon · 2 Apr 2008 at 16:53

Rroff said:
I wouldn't bother with the 6 series they were pretty naff in SLI...

LOL... I just wanted to... Not for any particular reason other than I wanted to meddle about with SLI as I got hold of an SLI Mobo ( A8N-SLI ) and as I already had one 6600GT, and saw another on "The Bay" and thought why not... And indeed why not?

I already have a stupid number of PCs wit hfar more powerful hardware inside than a pair of 6600GTs but IO just wanted to piddle about.

Everyone knocked me for it, but it was fun.

Rroff said:
If you have a decent CPU behind it you should see average gains across a bunch of games of 60-70% at 1280x1024 res with 8800GT SLI and closer to 90% at 1920x and upwards with plenty of FSAA.

When I toyed with my 8800GTs I found that the Opteron inspite of what many seem to think was very capable of running the pair of them.

Admittedly though, a good C2D will make them work for their money for sure.

Agreed in the benefits of them... I say 50-60, you say 60-70 both correct depends on the setup and/or games I s'pose?

Will I ever go back to SLI ?

Nah... Back on the Voodoo2 it was worth it... On the 6600GT it does help smooth a game a little but thats about it really, with 8800GT and above, its just getting too costly to be really worth it.