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to sli or not, that is the question!

3dcandy

3dcandy

3dcandy

Soldato
Joined
18 Jun 2003
Posts
4,368
Location
Rugeley
Right, on the upgrade path again, hoping to move systems about, so my gaming pc will be an Abit AN8-Sli with a 3700+ san diego. Do you guys reckon it will be worthwhile going sli or would an X1800 be a better bet for me as I only really play games like IL-2/Pacific Fighters and the UT series...and a bit of GP4 and FS2004
basically, I could get an X1800 or 2 x cheaper SLI'd boards!?!?!?!
 
Depends what card your thinking of SLI ing. An X1800XT i think is comparable with SLI 7600GTs.

SLI 7900s will deffo be faster. What res will you be gaming at?
 
Question #1: What is your budget?

Question #2: Do you particularly prefer ATI or Nvidia?

Question #3: Are cool and quiet operation a priority?

Question #4: Are lower costs and raw power a priority?
 
Sorry for hijack

I game @ 1920x1200

Currently have 1 7800gtx

Do I - Buy a 1900XT and sell the 7800 or buy another 7800 and sli them?

Costs the same
 
Right....
gaming at 1280 x 1024, 17" TFT.
I never pay over the odds for my kit, especially regarding gaming, so price is a consideration.
tend to prefer ATI, I feel the stock image quality to be better, although wouldn't be adverse to nVidia either!
Cool and quiet is fairly high on list, replacing a dual athlon setup with an x2 setup to reduce noise
power, will be on 24/7 so needs to be fairly efficient!
 
Well, for that resolution I would say that SLI or Crossfire really wouldn't be a cost effective solution as most of the mid-range and all of the high-end graphics cards currently out can handle 1280x960 with very little effort.

If you're looking for cool, quiet operation and lean toward ATI graphics cards for the superior image quality, then taking resolution into account I would quickly suggest the HIS Radeon X1900 GT with IceQ 3 cooler. It exhausts all the heat from the graphics card straight out through the back of the case like the ATI stock cooler while being much quieter, and I would've suggested an X1800 XT instead but none of them ever came with an IceQ 3. :(

The only problem is that the X1900 GT does draw more power than its Nvidia cousins as far as I am aware, but definitely not much more (around 10W over, if that.)

I would suggest the Geforce 7900 GT, but I am sure you have heard about their horrific failure rate, and they're also quite a bit more expensive than the equivalent Radeons. Not all is lost however, as Nvidia aren't far from releasing their 7950 GT which will in time become heir to the 7900 GT's price/performance mark.
 
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a single X1800XT, X1900GT would do the job just fine, or in nvidias case a 7600GT or 7900GT if your willing to risk failure
 
looking at just over £150 from ocuk for a new card then...anything that will ease the pain slightly as this upgrade is already a big un in terms of beer money for me!?!?!
 
3dcandy said:
looking at just over £150 from ocuk for a new card then...anything that will ease the pain slightly as this upgrade is already a big un in terms of beer money for me!?!?!
Click to expand...
The only real options in the sub-£150 price-range are the X1800 XT, X1900 GT, and 7600 GT I'm afraid. The 7600 GT is only £88 and would save you an incredible amount of money, but it won't offer anywhere near the bang of the other two.

Alternatively, you could buy second-hand from the Member's Market. Always good deals in there and you can usually rest assured that the gear is in great condition. :)
 
For the price of a 7900GT you could get an X1800XT with a VF-900 cooler.
Faster in most cases and quieter. I'm probably too late now though as you're already looking at cards in the MM.

Either way, if you get the X1800 in MM then i'd thouroughly recommend getting the VF-900 to go with it. The same goes for if you get an X1900GT that doesn't have the HIS IceQ 3 cooler.
 
mark1 said:
For the price of a 7900GT you could get an X1800XT with a VF-900 cooler.
Faster in most cases and quieter. I'm probably too late now though as you're already looking at cards in the MM.

Either way, if you get the X1800 in MM then i'd thouroughly recommend getting the VF-900 to go with it. The same goes for if you get an X1900GT that doesn't have the HIS IceQ 3 cooler.
Click to expand...
Seconded. :) He could probably find a VF900 in the MM at some point too.

Bonus. :D
 
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