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Very hi res gaming - GTX or SLI low end?

Hades

Hades

Hades

Man of Honour
Joined
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Posts
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I've got a Dell 30" and looking for a gfx upgrade. I don't have a problem running at lower resolutions as it's the size I love. But what would be better for ultra high resolutions (2560x1600)...

A single GTX
or
SLI low-end cards such as GT's or a pair of used 640mb GTS's

Can't afford SLI GTX so that's out :)
 
Game at whatever you are for now, in 8 weeks or so (Feb/March) you will see new high end GPU's, the 9000 series is launching on FEB 14th with a 9600 card.
 
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For a 30" youll need nothing less than SLI GTX/GTS (well whatever the top 2 cards are) - mad to have such a high res if you cant support it for games - seems such a waste...

Was considering it myself at one point, but am leaning towards a 37" FullHD TV instead now...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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If you're looking at ultra high resolutions then I'd have thought memory bandwidth was everything. I'm not entirely sure but I think that SLI doesn't actually increase the memory bandwidth over that of a single card. If this is true then a GTX would probably be a better bet than using two "lesser" cards in SLI.
 
helmutcheese said:
Same end result, your 1 cards RAM BW wont add up to 2x that if one lot of RAM is not even used. :)
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Not really - just because you get the same answer doesnt mean your statement above was correct - of course both sets of RAM will be used, just used to render different areas of the image dependent on what SLI profiles you are using...

Its a difficult question to answer since in reality the GTX has superior memory bandwidth compared to the G92 GTS (~80Mb/s vs ~60Mb/s) but its ability to use this to its advantage at such high resolution might be moot.

Yes the G92 is hampered by the 256bit memory bus and may saturate the bandwidth, but I doubt the GTX would have the power to saturate its 384bit bus (when overclocked)...

Id easily go for SLI G92 GT/GTS over a single GTX for those resolutions - if we were just talking about a single card the answer would be obvious...

But its an apples oranges comparison...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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helmutcheese said:
I did not give above as the Gospel, I do not know much about SLI as IMO its a waste of time mostly. :)
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Agreed :) - but sadly the only real option when you play at such resolutions - Ive had my 2405FPW for years now and would love to get a bigger monitor, but I know Im on the cusp of needing SLI/Xfire which I will not consider a real solution (you really do become the game developers/GFX manus 'female dog')...

Why above 24" I think FullHD TV is a decent alternative - who can say they see the difference in detail between 1920x1080 compared to 2560x1600 - the first thing someone says when they get the 300XWFP is the display size not the resolution...

Case in point ;)
Hades said:
I don't have a problem running at lower resolutions as it's the size I love.
Click to expand...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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With 2 cards in SLI using AFR one card builds one frame and the other card builds the next frame... so while it might not be doubled your effective memory bandwidth is higher than the memory bandwidth of one card...
 
helmutcheese said:
I did not give above as the Gospel, I do not know much about SLI as IMO its a waste of time mostly. :)
Click to expand...

i went to crossfire 3870's from a gtx and game @ 1920x1200 and i can honestly say it blows the GTX out of the water.

i haven't used SLI since 6800 days but crossfire scales extremely well.
 
ps3ud0 said:
Agreed :) - but sadly the only real option when you play at such resolutions - Ive had my 2405FPW for years now and would love to get a bigger monitor, but I know Im on the cusp of needing SLI/Xfire which I will not consider a real solution (you really do become the game developers/GFX manus 'female dog')...

Why above 24" I think FullHD TV is a decent alternative - who can say they see the difference in detail between 1920x1080 compared to 2560x1600 - the first thing someone says when they get the 300XWFP is the display size not the resolution...

Case in point ;)
ps3ud0 :cool:
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Well i can see the Difference from 1920x1080 to 2560x1600 depending on the game as some times all you get is more smoothness image wise.
 
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Ben M said:
wait for next gen cards and pick up some cheap 8800GTXes and SLI them =D
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That's what I'm thinking. I've seen quite a few for sale recently as people start offloading them in preparation for the new gen :) So will either get new gen or wait until they are out and then go for old gen SLI.
 
I have a single GTX and a 30" Dell. I can play everything maxed out with acceptable framerates - not tryed crysis though which I hear will bring most gpu's to there knees on highest settings due to the rushed coding(typical EA tbh).
 
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