SLI or not?

[chriswood_7]

Hey guys,

Just looking for a bit of advice on whether to go SLI or not?

I recently upgraded my old 3500+ to an X2 5200+, with 2GB RAM and an ASUS SLI board. I am currently running a 256MB Gainward Bliss 7950GT golden sample on this board, but have the opportunity to get another of the same card. Is it worth me whacking in another graphics card, or are my capabilities restricted, and try to save up for an 8800 card?

Any help appreciated,

Cheers,

[MiNiMaL_FuSS]

I would save and get an 8800....even the cheaper 320mb 8800's are pretty amazing and wont have any trouble running modern games on full.

SLI will get you more brute force and raise ur FPS, but a new card will get you shiney new effects and shaders ontop of that, plus SLI dosnt ever seem to deliver the full 200% performance of 2 cards, you usually end up with much more like 150%.

Go for the new card!

[hse180]

I would personally save and get a 8800gt or the newer 8800gts, you will have the benefits of shaders and DX10 and also they will beat the 7950 sli set up.

[shaithis]

SLI blows, as does crossfire.

Do yourself a favor and stay well clear.

[chriswood_7]

Thanks for the advice everyone cheers

[ps3ud0]

SLI blows, as does crossfire.

Do yourself a favor and stay well clear.

Thats not strictly true - SLI indeed does, but it seems that crossfire scales pretty damn well - with either solutions I wouldnt personally recommend them unless you are gaming on a monitor that supports at minimum 1920x1200...

For any resolution below that a single 8800 should be fine for now dependent on the resolution and game (crysis mainly) - hard to see past the new G92 8800s...

plus remember that x2 is going to bottleneck the 8800 compared to a C2D... which again limits the plus factors of buying it... wouldn't it be better to sell up and get a fresh setup.obviously keep some components if it helps...

That X2 should be fine - the majority of games nowadays are shader-intensive and over normal gaming resolutions the GFX card will be the limiting factor. I think it will cope with this GFX upgrade - after that Id upgrade to C2D/Q. Im still on an Opty 165 with a G92 8800GTS...

ps3ud0

[sawyen]

oh c'mon guys.. SLI is not THAT bad.. I had the same impression until I actually got one and its not overly dissapointing really..

But if you ask me, I'd say a new 8800GT or newer if its between them and a pair of 7950GT..

HAving said that again, I think its worth reiterating that SLI is not that much of a boo.. it is actually quite decent by my experience.. just a tad bit expensive for me on the gear I got on launch..

On the CPU side of things, well.. I have a 4600+ (ok.. overclocked to a 2.8Ghz but its by no means a screaming processor) and I have SLI and I see tangible enough scaling that its actually worth it.. so I think your 5200+ should have no problem.

[ps3ud0]

The C2D is a great CPU, but the X2 arent slouchers either really (Id still term them as mid-range+ since they are dual core). The main advantage is they overclock like hell...

Youd definitely would see a quantifiable increase in FPS but I dont think the effort of upgrading would be worthwhile. I just dont think the X2 would slow down the 8800 enough to make it a viable option...

No point in upgrading for the sake of it...

As a caveat, its very dependent on what games you play, the resolution and how much AA/AF you use.

ps3ud0

[ps3ud0]

On a laptop you should only consider a C2D - power per watt is far superior which means higher efficiency per clock and so a longer lasting battery...

Im up, cos for some reason, Im addicted to redecorating my room and surfing for a desk atm - even got a room plan setup in Visio . On a side note I got COD4 delivered today from GAME

ps3ud0

[Hunain]

Plus wont Sli'ing the Setup need a more powerfull PSU compared to getting one 8800GT?

[Blitzen]

Hey guys,

Just looking for a bit of advice on whether to go SLI or not?

I recently upgraded my old 3500+ to an X2 5200+, with 2GB RAM and an ASUS SLI board. I am currently running a 256MB Gainward Bliss 7950GT golden sample on this board, but have the opportunity to get another of the same card. Is it worth me whacking in another graphics card, or are my capabilities restricted, and try to save up for an 8800 card?

Any help appreciated,

Cheers,

Depends how much you can get the second card for really.
If its £50-60 then go for it. THe prices of those cards wont drop much further and you will see a bit of a performance increase.

To be fair though, and i think someone lese mentioned it, if you are on a budget then the 320mb 8800GTS's are already sub £150 and i would think you up a second hand one for around £80-110. This will outperform the 7950GT's in SLi anyway.

[EtheAv8r]

SLI is simply not worth the effort and expense.

Very few games or apps actually support it properly, and for lots of stuff it make little or no difference, and for some SLI actually degrades performance. Get the fastest single card you can. Save money and hassle!