Some SLI questions for two nVidia 7800GT cards

[Heatsinked]

Good evening all!

What performance gains can I expect from two nVidia 7800GT cards in SLI, compared to just one? Also, will two 256MB cards working together produce the same performance as one 512 card?

I know that not all games take advantage of SLI and that some don't work at all or must be forced to use SLI. Are there any hints or tips? Tricks of the trade?

Thanks for reading!

 

[MeatLoaf]

Performance increase can be anything between nothing to 90% depending on what game youre playing.

3DMark will show a big boost tho.

As a rough guide id expect something like ( depending on your cpu clock and gfx at stock ) 25k in 03, 10.5k in 05, and 7k in 06

 

[Tetras]

will two 256MB cards working together produce the same performance as one 512 card

Pretty sure max available memory would still be 256MB, so you'd not get any benefit from the extra card in that regard.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Yeah thats right memory doesn't double, you lose one cards, if you have 2x 256mb cards you don't get 512k, you only get 256mb, if you have 2x 512mb cards you don't get 1gb, you only get 512k.

 

[Heatsinked]

That clears that up then Many thanks, as always.

 

[pastymuncher]

Don't forget you will see more advantage at higher resolutions. I run my pair at 1600x1200 on my 21" Sony Trinitron CRT and can run all my games maxxed out with all the eye candy on. I doubt if i could do that with just one 7800GT.