8800GT SLI now or wait for new single card in Oct?

Hello All,

I currently have a 512MB MSI 8800GT OC, Mem 1900MHz GDDR3, GPU 660MHz, in my rig and was planning on getting a second one at some stage.

My problem is I want to upgrade when Fallout 3 launches in Oct (alledgedly) and I'm trying to work out the best way to do this.
A second 8800GT now will cost £124.54. If I wait the price will drop, but stocks may run out.
So what are my alternatives?
8800GT SLI will beat anything else that I can buy for around £125 now, but will that situation have changed by Oct? I have the money for the card now, but by Oct my GPU fund will be up to £300
As far as cost benefit (seeing as I already have one 8800GT) does it make any sense to spend £300? Will I see that much extra benefit over spending half that amount on a second 8800GT?

So as far as I can work out options are;
1 - buy second 8800GT now (and get benefit of second card for the next 3 months)
2 - Wait till Oct and get a 8800GT cheaper (risk of no stock)
3 - wait till Oct, or whenever the game launches and get a diff card.

So what do you all think?

Cam

None of those. You should either:

3a - wait till October and sell your 8800GT, using the funds to buy a different card
4 - wait till October and buy a second hand 8800GT off someone who is doing 3a.

I agree with kalniel, i'm in a similar situation as i currently use a 9600gt which is great at the resolution i game at (1440*900) (I think thats right :S )

I've been tempted to sli that but i'm thinking for the time being i'll just wait and see what is revealed in a few months

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kalniel

None of those. You should either:

3a - wait till October and sell your 8800GT, using the funds to buy a different card
4 - wait till October and buy a second hand 8800GT off someone who is doing 3a.

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That Sir is a Damn fine Idea!!!

Close the thread, problem solved :)

Another vote for what Kalniel suggested;

You could pick up a 9800GTX for £117 at Scan (if you have signed up for free shipping then that is the total cost) if you are willing to wait till it comes into stock, or go for a HD4850, which is same ball park figure monetry wise.

Offset your costs by selling your 8800GT :)

What kinda of resolution do you want to game at? That'll also help you determine what kind of card you are looking for, along with how nice you want the game to look (AF/AA).

If you wait, with the release of 9800GTX+ around the corner, prices may fall further for both the green team and the red team.

Win-Win for the consumer :D

In all fairness it won't cost quite as much to SLi right now
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145605
(they don't have to be the same brand after all)

But I would just sell the old and buy a new card when you feel it no longer performs how you wish. You might find that the GT handles it nicely :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

In all fairness it won't cost quite as much to SLi right now
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145605
(they don't have to be the same brand after all)

But I would just sell the old and buy a new card when you feel it no longer performs how you wish. You might find that the GT handles it nicely :)

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It doesn't need to be the same manufacturer, but does need to be the same speeds (gpu, mem, etc) Mine runs at 660, 1900, 1650. Looks like all MSI 8800GT's cards run at those speeds, but not the Zotac one.
I could plug in a slower one, but the faster one is then throttled back so kinda a waste.

It depends if you consider waste losing a bit of a clock or spending an extra £40 to get the same clocks when you could clock them back up yourself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

It depends if you consider waste losing a bit of a clock or spending an extra £40 to get the same clocks when you could clock them back up yourself.

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I thought it was a real sod to OC cards in SLI? It was back when I was runnig dual 7800GTX's, has it gotten easier?

Never tried it myself tbh but my mates 7800GT SLi setup was always successfully overclocked, quite high as well.

Well in that case I'll def hold out till the game is actually released. That way I can either pick up a second 8800GT for £80 or less by then, or there will be a new card that it makes sense to buy.

I briefly OC my MSI 8800gt's using Riva Tuner 2.8 just for benchmarking and it was a breeze to do. GPU-z confirmed that boths cards were clocked the same as did everest ultimate. I also found that riva tuner was very useful for manually changing my fan speeds on my gpu's.

The questions is do you really need another 8800gt?
One 8800gt is more than capable of running every game today. As mentioned you would be better off waiting to upgrade.

Main worry with OCing SLi is that your OC speed is limited by the slower card and not knowing which is the slower card.
Two card, twice the chance of problems.

I'd definately hold on for now and see what the situation is like in oct.
Now I just pray they don't make a hash up of fallout 3.