Upgrade to 8800GTS/GTX or stick with SLi??

[s_kinton]

At the moment Im running 2x 7800GTs in SLI and have been since the week they came out, so 15 months or so.

Im thinking of upgrading to either a GTS or GTX as an xmas present from my gf. I cant decide whether its going to be a worthwhile upgrade over my current setup, taking into account that I game at 1280*1024 at the moment (soon to be 1680*1050 with a new 22" WS LCD).

So would a GTS or GTX give a noticeable difference in games? Or should I wait for the next nvidia refresh, when games really start using dx10?

[Kezzer]

Are you really going to notice the difference that much? Personally I'd stick with what you've got.

Actually, I see that you're a number cruncher (from your sig), so you'll probably want a bigger numbers coming from the "random number generator".

[doddsy]

Well most reviews show a gts running about the same speed as 7900gt sli. I'd say you'll probably see a little improvement moving to a gts with the possibility of sli in the future. Of course a gtx is quite a bit faster so you'd see a good increase there and you'll still have the option of sli later on. And of course you're gonna want some extra horsepower for your new screen. Go for the GTX, you know you want to!

[dave87]

I think you'd be best off waiting for the second revisions of these cards, as they are quite possibly going to run cooler, most definitely have better driver support, and probably fall in price. Plus, what your running at the moment isn't exactly shoddy

[doddsy]

I think you'd be best off waiting for the second revisions of these cards, as they are quite possibly going to run cooler, most definitely have better driver support, and probably fall in price. Plus, what your running at the moment isn't exactly shoddy

Yeah but think how much bigger your e-penis will be with an 8 series card!

[CrazyMonkey]

Yeah but think how much bigger your e-penis will be with an 8 series card!

made me laugh ^.

Well it stick with what youve got or if you really want the awesome GTX. As said you e-penis() will enlarge quite a big amount and a GTX is gonna rock that 22" screen!

A 22incher + a GTX is huge.

[NightshadowUK]

33 inches to be exact.

[CrazyMonkey]

33 inches to be exact.

lool 33 inches thats pretty dam large

[Hans Voralberg]

1680x1050 is nothing for 7800GTS in SLi so i dont see much point in upgrading for performance issue but hey, 8800 = lots of bragging rights

[ExceededGoku]

ERM... if he's got 2 7800GTs in SLI and he scores around 6000 in 3dmark06 then I think at 1680x1050 he will notice most games will run at a significantly lower fps than the 8800GTS/X considering they are getting around 10k upwards... Look at my 3dmark06 score and I lag in more recent games so...

[Hans Voralberg]

Really ? I got a single 7800GTX last year and I hardly lag @ anything. Or may be that's just me playing old games. It lags a bit in Oblivion but when I push hell out of it it's ok ??

[acrobat]

Actually its ALOT faster than 7800s in SLI. Infact its even faster than a pair of 7900's in SLI. So you will get a big boost.

Also, Oblivion is quite power hungry, but there are more power hungry games than that. And in the coming months and next year, there are going to be MUCH more power hungry games. Theres already atleast 1 game that will bring even an 8800GTX to its knees if you crank it to maximum settings.

And as someone else mentioned, the resolution you play games at is important here. If you play at 1600x1050 or less, and you dont mind lowering some graphics quality settings in some games, then your current setup should be fine.

But if you want to crank all games to maximum, and/or you want to push higher resolutions, then the 8800 is the way to go.

Something worth mentioning though.... is that the ATI equivalent will be released early next year, which isn't too long to wait. Waiting until then would be WELL worth it. The chances are, it will be better than the 8800, and even if it isn't, it will be comparable, and it will push the price of the 8800 series much lower. There will also be an upgrade to the 8800 soon enough. So unless you absolutely need the best, right now, then I would suggest waiting to see ATI's R600.

[s_kinton]

Thanks for all the replies.

I've decided to get myself an AMD x2 4800 (939), so I dont have to upgrade my mobo/memory or water block yet. I'm also gonna get myself a 8800GTX, probably the Palit one from scan, not sure yet.

I figured that I'd need dual core for Vista and upcoming games to give the GTX enough data. Hopefully it should clock well with my watercooling.

Any thoughts on the above?

[Smokey21]

Definatly not worth it at that res.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The processor upgrade is probably a good idea but I would hold off on the graphics card front as there are no games which support directx10 at the moment. Also when Vista and the R600 prices will drop further and maybe even some new revisions of the 8800GTS/GTX may also come out too.

[Mr Pants]

Sell both cards

The 8800s have much better AF quality and the new AA mode is great, you should get a nice speed increase as well