What do I need to run 2 9800 GTXs in SLI?

[EdGey]

if i was you, id buy a decent motherboard and get something like 2 x 8800GTX rather than the GX2.

althought the GX2 is a good card, it seems an awfull lot of money and do you need it?

buying a cheap motherboard is a bad idea as you !will! regret it later down the line.

 

[chaparral]

Oops, sorry. I meant GX2, not GTX. I posted that really late at night.

I would pick SLI 8800gtx over a 9800 gx2 Quad SLI setup

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ3OCw3LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA

Here are some Quotes from the review:

"If there ever was an argument for going 8800 GTX SLI, the 9800 GX2 is the poster child."

"AA higher resolutions is still not a reality due to the 9800 GX2’s limited memory amount and bus width."

In Crysis..."The GeForce 8800 GTX SLI setup felt “smoother,” i.e. the 9800 GX2 Quad SLI setup felt like it slowed down in several parts of the game, for a brief period, while the 8800 GTX SLI setup moved smoothly along in those parts...Quad SLI downright choked in Crysis when we tried to apply even 2X AA. Quite simply, 512MB of RAM and the narrowed memory bus are prime suspects for bottlenecking the GeForce 9800 GX2 Quad SLI."

"Call of Duty 4 further confirms our theories about the GX2s being bottlenecked by their 512MB of RAM. We were not able to run at 4X AA while the 8800 GTX SLI was, a two GPU solution beating a four GPU solution, and the main differences are the larger framebuffer (768MB vs. 512MB) and the wider memory bus width (384-bit vs. 256-bit.) It all seems to be adding up to a conclusion about the 9800 GX2."

Jericho..."AA simply was not playable at any resolution in this game; it simply “choked” the 9800 GX2 cards. The 8800 GTX SLI was faster, with very consistent performance. It certainly seems like 512MB of RAM to each GPU on the GX2s are crippling performance at high resolutions, and when you factor in AA. Ouch."

 

[mike gunnz]

Slightly off topic, but what drivers are best for SLI 8800GTX?

 

[Andeh]

Slightly off topic, but what drivers are best for SLI 8800GTX?

Latest nVidia drivers.

But as for SLI GX2's All I can say is, listen to the regulars on here when they warn you about the GX2. They speak the truth. It isnt worth it.

 

[bru]

........And no card will really last you 3 years.......

8800gtx anyone...............

 

[pingwing]

For cool factor i havnt upgraded my 7800gt for just over 2 years (aboutish)
so they do last....

 

[Grimley]

Hello Grimley, depending on the other hardware components kissenger system or will consist off, either the Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU or the Corsair TX 750W ATX2.2 SLI Compliant PSU will be absolutely fine for running an dual Nvidia 9800 GTX system.

I would just like to point out that the list from the link you have posted is actually recommended power supply units for a dual Nvidia 9800 GX2 graphics card system and not a dual Nvidia 9800GTX system.

OK, Just trying to help

 

[chaparral]

For cool factor i havnt upgraded my 7800gt for just over 2 years (aboutish)
so they do last....

Do you not realise how slow a 7800gt is compared to the nvidia 8800 cards that got release about 18 months ago

7800gt & 7800gtx could not even cope with the games that where out when they were the fastest cards out about 2 half years ago (I.E fear , Oblivion)

 

[kissenger]

I would pick SLI 8800gtx over a 9800 gx2 Quad SLI setup

That review compares 8800GTX with 9800 GTX - not GX2. I know that because GX2 has 1Gb mem, not 512Gb. It's right about the 8800 being faster than the 9800GTX, though.

The GX2 spanks both cards either way.

 

[Fire Wizard]

OK, Just trying to help

Hello Grimley, sorry, I honestly wasn't having a go at you or anything like that. I just wanted to point that out in case some people got confused. I do apologise if my post was written in a slightly nasty manner and if I came across as a bit of an idiot, that certainly wasn't my intention though.

 

[kylew]

You need no sense to run 2 9800GTXs in SLi

Considering that 8800GTS G92s are the same, as a lot of others are saying.

 

[chaparral]

That review compares 8800GTX with 9800 GTX - not GX2. I know that because GX2 has 1Gb mem, not 512Gb. It's right about the 8800 being faster than the 9800GTX, though.

The GX2 spanks both cards either way.

That review is comparing a 9800gx2 , quad 9800gx2 ,8800gtx SLI , ATI 3870x2
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ3OCw1LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

And it looks like the 8800gtx SLI setup spanks the quad 9800gx2 setup at high res with AA on
(checkout the min FPS and the quad 9800gx2 setup is only set to 2xAA )