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Worth upgrading from GTX 295 Quad Sli
- Thread starter Flanno
- Start date
OK everyones being saying it already - but they missed a couple of points...
Except in a very few cases - the 295GTX is too VRAM limited to actually work properly if at all at resolutions and settings where the 4th card could even come into play.
tri-SLI with 896Mb cards has some minor benefits at 1920x-2048x but beyond that simply don't have the VRAM - anything beyond 2 way SLI with 896Mb cards is pretty pointless.
Personally I'd say sell one of the cards now while they still fetch a premium and save the rest for either a 5970 or GT300 based high end card.
Except in a very few cases - the 295GTX is too VRAM limited to actually work properly if at all at resolutions and settings where the 4th card could even come into play.
tri-SLI with 896Mb cards has some minor benefits at 1920x-2048x but beyond that simply don't have the VRAM - anything beyond 2 way SLI with 896Mb cards is pretty pointless.
Personally I'd say sell one of the cards now while they still fetch a premium and save the rest for either a 5970 or GT300 based high end card.
There have been a few reviews with dual 5970s (four GPUs) and they showed a considerable performance increase in some titles, so there are definitely gains to be had. However, there certainly is poor value in anything beyond two topend GPUs, especially when many games are CPU limited.
There are a few cases where 4-way SLI works really well... but generally you need a lot of VRAM, a min of 2048x res and a lot of CPU power to get there.
The best useage for more than 2 cards really would be for anti-aliasing but I'm not sure if you can setup 2x in SLI and 2x doing AA as I think SLI-AA disables SLI rendering entirely
The best useage for more than 2 cards really would be for anti-aliasing but I'm not sure if you can setup 2x in SLI and 2x doing AA as I think SLI-AA disables SLI rendering entirely
Some good points Rroff. Ta.
The only real benefit I had when running 2xgtx's in quad sli at 1920 was to be able to run very high levels of AA in a lot of games and still get high framerates. I found with a single gtx it wasn't possible. Pretty much what I am doing now. I guess my 5890's wont come into their own until I can afford a 30" screen.
The only real benefit I had when running 2xgtx's in quad sli at 1920 was to be able to run very high levels of AA in a lot of games and still get high framerates. I found with a single gtx it wasn't possible. Pretty much what I am doing now. I guess my 5890's wont come into their own until I can afford a 30" screen.
30" then see how the cards scale. Can then always sell 295s if still unsatisfied and upgrade to the 5970s, by then they will have mature drivers and even higher performance. Could always go down the tri sli / tri fire card route - have read that it scales better than two dual gpu cards. (look at tri sli 285s for example - even now one of the best combos around).
no you dont need to upgrade,i have a similar setup an it flys....the only game i enable quad for is crysis...i dont need quad for anything else other than benching
As for scaling i dont see a problem with it,you can notice the difference with quad in some games,only when its needed
As for scaling i dont see a problem with it,you can notice the difference with quad in some games,only when its needed
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It's called a hobby for a reason. It's nothing got to do with money or sense. And this is a forum for enthusiasts isnt it
Soldato
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Quad SLi is crap anyway isn't it? I mean, from what I know, it doesn't scale very well and can cause more problems than it's really worth.
Sell the 295s and get a 59xx if he REALLY wants to spend more money. And get a 30" monitor to run it on. That would be better.
If it was me, I would want to wait until Nvidia bring something out. It could be damn good.
Sell the 295s and get a 59xx if he REALLY wants to spend more money. And get a 30" monitor to run it on. That would be better.
If it was me, I would want to wait until Nvidia bring something out. It could be damn good.
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Because not all of us like vsync - and the only way to really deal with tearing otherwise is to render high enough fps that the frame differences are really small and only noticeable on areas with lots of parallel lines.
Also some games have the old "magic" fps where physics, etc. work optimally when capped at certain rates like 125fps... and similiar some games have faster input update rates and are more responsive when running 100+fps - which isn't a big deal for singleplayer but for multiplayer can make a good difference.
I agree with the FSAA thing tho - above 4 you generally don't notice any difference when actually playing - its only in screenshots you can really tell.
Well the short time I had it, I had no issues. Games ran fine. And while the 2nd gtx didn't give twice the performance, it probably gave closer to 40-60% depending on the game. Most people who say it's crap have never used it. If anything I'm having more issues with crossfired 5870's at the moment. But true, a new monitor is in order for my mate, and for me (when I get the cash).
Out of curiosity, I've noticed a lot of new titles don't have AF listed as an ingame option. Is it still advisable to force 16x AF through the control panel ? I assume a quad sli or crossfire 5870 setup can handle this.
Regarding noticeable differences above 4x AA, I seem to remember playing Half Life 2 with a quad sli setup (9800GX2's) once and forcing 16xAA and Transparency AA through the control panel. Made a big difference to the game if I remember rightly. I guess things have moved on.
He is talking now about buying an EVGA 4 way board and buying 4 5870's just like Bodar over on Xtremesystems. Of course this means he will have to get a Lian Li PC-P80 as you need not just 8 pci slots but a case long enough to accomodate the extra inch and a bit this mobo has. I'm advising him to look at the Asus supercomputer instead. Same 7 x 16x PCI-e slots (4 are full 16x), and dual nforce 200 chipset. Same size as Rampage2 Extreme, so will fit in any of the HAF's, even the 922 which I believe will cool better than the P80. Only thing is he will be limited to 3 5870's as the 4th one will be positioned in the last PCI-e slot on the edge of the motherboard, so would require a case with 8 pci slots. Also rules out the possibility of a decent sound card. Other permutations are 2x5970's, and the supercomputer board allows you to space them out nicely for better cooling. Then again, so does the much cheaper P6T Deluxe.
They guys spec is the same as mine, except he runs a HAF932 and 12GB Corsair GT 2000mhz CAS 7 (hard to find) and he uses the onboard sound. (just added a Xonar Essence STX myself).
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Yeah, I've noticed that too. There are quite a few games that are severely limiting graphics options in an attempt to streamline but that's not what the PC is about. Every game should feature in-game settings for AA and AF. STALKER is a good example of a game with a lot of customisability, as well as being at the forefront of graphics technology. I just hope consoles don't kill off the ability to customise the PC experience. Dragon Age shows how a multiplatform game can still thrive on the PC and offer are truly PC experience.
Soldato
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- 26 Apr 2004
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- Milton Keynes
The ONLY reasons to swap from GTX295 SLI would be crossfire 5870 or a 5970 once drivers are sorted out should be more consistant, eyefinity once crossfire is supported (3*24 inches in ultra widescreen would be pretty sweet) and for the lower power consumption.
Otherwise he'd be better off waiting until something actually needs an upgrade!
Even Crossfire 5870 or even Quadfire (or Crossfire 5970) is complete and utter overkill for almost any game out there right now. Crysis is the most demanding game out right now and that flies on one or two 5870s in comparison to most cards, there really is NO need.
Otherwise he'd be better off waiting until something actually needs an upgrade!
Even Crossfire 5870 or even Quadfire (or Crossfire 5970) is complete and utter overkill for almost any game out there right now. Crysis is the most demanding game out right now and that flies on one or two 5870s in comparison to most cards, there really is NO need.