Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
1. Not sure, they are supposed to be identical but if they are both reference standard then they are to all intents and purposes the same.
2. SLI is not going to give you double the performance but should give you better frame rates at this resolution depending on the game some scale better than others.
3. Without knowing the specs of the PSU (number of rails max load available to 12v) I couldn't possibly say for sure. My first instinct would be no but I could be wrong (I haven't heard much in the way good things about Hiper.)
4. Your SLI memory has just been certified to work in an SLI set-up. You can not allocate this to your graphics card in anyway shape or form.
Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
Hi,
Many thanks for your help. I will go ahead with the upgrade and post my results! I am unsure of my exact spec of psu but i am doubtfull too! It does say it's SLI compatible but as you suggested they are kinda weak! It's a modular version which cost about £65.
Cheers for your time
Matt.
Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
SLI won't get you much, if you are really limited by memory size.
It's a 320MB card and SLI does not increase usable frame/texture buffer size.
It will give you nearly twice the effective memory bandwidth, but only the same 320MB effective memory size you've always had.
Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
A friend of mine is in a similar situation.
He actually already has two BFG 8800gts 320mb in SLI, and was talking about wanting triple sli with 3 gtx's, which lead us onto discussion about SLI and it's actual performance difference.
I think we concluded that a single 8800gts 512mb (g92) will actually be quite similar in performance to 2x320mb 8800gts (g80) in SLI. With games that obviously support SLI properly and offer actual performance increase favouring the 2x320mb 8800gts (g80) slightly.
The obvious downside to SLI is more heat from two, older (each one being hotter) cards, and more power used (on perhaps a questionable Hiper power supply).
Factor in that not every game supports SLI and you might ask yourself whether it's worth getting a single 8800gts 512mb (g92) and selling your older 8800gts 320mb (worth at least £100).
Then you'll always have the choice to add another 8800gts 512mb (g92) card to SLI if you want to (but you'll probably end up being in the same situation by the time that time comes), rather than being stuck with 2 older 320mb g80 cards.
Of course if you've been offered the 8800gts 320mb for free then scrap all of the above :p
Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
I wouldn't bother buying another 320mb GTS. If you are depserate for performance, sell you current one and put the money you were going to buy the second card with together and get a single, high end card with at least 512mb of vRAM.
As oralpain said above, adding another card won't give you a total of 640mb of vRAM, SLi only uses one cards memory for textures etc, meaning you'll have the same 320mb limitation.
Just to clarify your first question, as long as the cards are the same model it doesnt matter what manufacturer they're from or even if one is a factory overclocked version. You Hiper PSU would be ok to run those cards, but they're are mixed reports on the recent quality of Hiper PSUs.
Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
booth_matthew
Hi all,
I currently have a bfg 8800gts 320mb card with 4gb ram and a core 2 duo @ 3.00ghz. I find that playing crysis @ 1650x1050 on a 22" monitor my card can get some slow down. I think it's due to the 320mb on my card rather than anything else? I have been offererd another 8800gts 320mb card and I wand to SLI them up. Would you be able to answer these following queries?
1. they are different makes, mine's a BFG model and the other will be a XFX, will I hot any probs there?
2. Will another card really help at this res or would I be better with a 640mb version?
3. I have a 3 year old Hiper 580wat psu, will this still be ok?
4. Also I have (so called SLI Memory) from corsair. In my bios can I alocate any of this to my graphics card. I have a Asus SLI motherboard 680 chipset.
Cheers for your help matt.
1. You will have no problems mixing brands as long as GPU model is the same.
2. That depends on whether Crysis requires more than 320MB of RAM- I don't think I've seen any games where the 320MB cards run out of framebuffer at 16X10, but I don't remember seeing any Crysis benches on this card either. You wouldn't be running AA, so that works in your favor.
3. Your PSU is not sufficient, the lowest certified Hiper is 680W.
4. No.
If you're sticking with the 580PSU, a more powerful single card such as the G92 GTS is the best you can do. Hope this helps.
Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
I am not familiar with Hiper, but for what it's worth, a good 580W PSU should handle a G80 GTS. But Crysis is just a very demanding.
Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
SLI will not increase your framebuffer size.. you will still be limited by the 320MB from the GTS..
Crysis requires quite abit of frame buffer and will easily take up all your 320MB even on Medium settings on 16x10. SLI will improve your FPS performance, but don't expect yourself to be able to bump up resolutions or image quality as that effectively makes your experience memory limited instead of GPU limited.
Not a big fan of Hiper, but you can try it.. I can run 2 8800GT, a very very overclocked 4600+ and LOADS of HDD on a HX620 FWIW.. then again, HX lines from Corsair do have been build quality compared to Hiper..
Re: SLI Help 8800GTS 320mb?
Hi Guys,
Wow! Thanks for all your help here. I have taken all this on board and am going to get a newer 512gts after all. I did not realise despite having 2x cards in SLI that it would not help my memory issues! My PSU says it's SLI compatible but that was around 3 years ago now so would suit a single card just fine.
\cheers Matt.
