Is SLI worth it?

[cfuk]

Is SLI all it's cracked up to be? i'm thinking of going to SLI, but is it worth having two graphics cards to play a game with? or would it be better to just get a PCI-E board and one graphics card?

Thanks

[Spunkey]

If you have a monitor that can do 1600x1200 at a decent refresh rate, then yes, if you have the money.

Personally if i went SLi it'd have to be dual 6800GTs, as 2x6600s are roughly the same as a single 6800GT, so it just doesnt seem worth going that route to me.

[0iD]

I don't think it is at the mo, but that's just my opinion. When my current rig cant' handle the pace, then maybe I'll look into it.

I mean this is the second incarnation of SLi & it's died on it's arse once, who's to say that it wont do it again?

[Swafe]

depends if money > sence

for the price, its not a great deal better (2X Price, 10-20%increase) your probably better off just buying the best GPU you can today, then upgrading somewhere along the line when you need more power

[Butcher]

6600GTs is closer to an ultra, still not worth it though.

Main bonus of SLi is you can max settings and go nuts on AA/AF without trashing your frame rate.
It is a lot faster than one card though, almost twice as fast in some games. Dunno where you got 10-20%, it's a lot more than that in most games that support it.

[Lee H]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...004-27gpu.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...04-27gpu2.html

Benchmarks for nearly every card - SLI and non SLI in a variety of games and AA and FSAA settings

Hope this helps,

[Agent]

for the price, its not a great deal better (2X Price, 10-20%increase) ......

Where have you got those figures from ?

[Xaneden]

I suggest if you are buying PCI Express, get a SLI able card, just in case u want to use SLI in the future. That way, u can just buy another copy of the same card.

But, you won't get real SLI yet. The most u can get on current motherboards is 1 x16 bus and a x4 bus. I believe u could get a motherboard which split the x20 speed total in a different way (it might have been dual x10, I'm not sure).

Hope that helps.

[buzz_lips]

In my opinion you just don't get value for money with SLI. Think how much 2 decent cards are to buy, then think about where you could spend your holidays?

Or Do you get twice the power - answer no.

[cfuk]

well i was thinking of going for dual 6600GT's or one 6800GT then getting another one when i've got the money to.

[Xaneden]

CFUK, thats the best best, because on a current motherboard, 2 6600GTs would be about equal to 1 6800GT (remember, it'd only be x4)


Also, you'd get pretty close to double speed with dual x16.

I'd say if, for instance, 1 card would give you 30 fps, 2 would give you about 50 fps.

[cfuk]

has anyone used the new DFI SLI board? i was thinking of going down that path if i go SLI as i know DFI boards are great for OC

[Swafe]

Where have you got those figures from ?

My deluded brain it appears, I think Im thinking about something else

[Butcher]

But, you won't get real SLI yet. The most u can get on current motherboards is 1 x16 bus and a x4 bus. I believe u could get a motherboard which split the x20 speed total in a different way (it might have been dual x10, I'm not sure).

Existing motherboards are all 8x/8x split.

[Xaneden]

Are they? I was certain nearly all motherboards are split x16/x4.

Because the x4 is currently seen as a use for an extra monitor etc.

[korda]

I've heard there have been several stability problems with SLi cards, but all these should be fixed with a bios update.

I'm getting an ASUS A8N deluxe SLi and apparently i'll need to update when i get it. If things go wrong i'll be here posting my woes!

My main reason for SLi was future proofing. didn't want to have to update everything 6 months on.

[edit: Xcelsion; Looking at specs for my mobo:]
2 x PCI Express x16 slot
*SLI mode : x8 , x8
*Default(Single VGA) mode : x16, x1