whats my best option

stephenmarr

hey guys quick question for you.

ive an xps710 with a single 8800gtx card motherboard will take two in sli my question is
what would be better for me to
1. buy another 8800gtx or
2. a different card (nvidia) and maybe down the road get a second
also where do i buy the sli bridge?

jonny72

You can pick up a GTX for about 150 2nd hand now..

Sli bridges sold online, ebay, etc

stephenmarr

is that the better option so?

uberpixie

stephenmarr wrote: »

hey guys quick question for you.

ive an xps710 with a single 8800gtx card motherboard will take two in sli my question is
what would be better for me to
1. buy another 8800gtx or
2. a different card (nvidia) and maybe down the road get a second
also where do i buy the sli bridge?

Why do you want SLI?

SLI is only of use to you is you have at least 24" monitor running @ 1920 x 1200 resolution.

SLI does not magically double your performance in games, at most it MIGHT give you a 33% increase @ obscenely high game settings at very high resolutions.

SLI does not work in every game, it is not always supported on the day of release of a game.

Usually you are better off skipping SLI and just buying a much better single gfx card: as this better card will be concistent in ALL games not: it might be faster, it might be slower with running two cards in SLI. Also one card equals half the noise and half the heat and half the power requirements of SLI.

Now if you want to try SLI for the hell of it, fair enough, just be aware of the pitfalls and the fact it is not some magical silver bullet solution.

You have a 8800GTX so I do not see any reason for you to upgrade just yet. If you have at least a 24" screen then SLI may be worth looking at for you just make sure that your power supply is powerful enough to handle SLI. (would still prefer just getting a better gfx card myself)

stephenmarr

i have a dell 24" monitor running @ 1920 x 1200 resolution
some of the games i have cannot be run at full settings i would like to have all the bells and whistles.

Sqaull20

I have been down the sli/crossfire path a few times over the last 3 years and wont be doing so again.Its just a waste of time like uberpixie has pointed out brillantly.

You want to turn AA and all that on?

If you do sell your 8800gtx on adverts for 150 or so and get the much much better HD4870 for 200.

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/1344930/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-4870-512-mb-gdd.html

I have the gtx 260 ( got it cheap on dabs used range ) and its gives me a much better gaming experience than the 8800gtx sli set up I had for ages.The 4870 is even faster than my gtx 260.

The 8800gtx has been a great card, but its day is gone.Its beaten out by the 9800gtx+ and the hd4850 is even better than that and then the 4870 is significantly better than the 4850.Honestly throwing money at an old card at this stage is crazy.

The 4870 is about 50% faster than the 8800gtx without AA and stuff, when you add in all the effects its faster

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/07/11/summer-2008-graphics-performance-roundup/14

^^^^This is against an 8800Ultra, look out for the minimum frame rate ( most important ) its an average of 60% lower with 4xAA, 16xAF.



^^^Perfect example of why Sli is not worth it.Look at the max frame rate of the sli based 9800gx2, its 77fps which is higher than nearly every card, but look at its minimum.Its 28fps which is lower than a single 9800gtx ( which would be slower than your card @ 1080p ).The 4870 frame rate remains constant through out as you can see.

stephenmarr

so you reckon the 4870 is the one to go for what price range and what manufacturer

Sqaull20

stephenmarr wrote: »

so you reckon the 4870 is the one to go for what price range and what manufacturer

Doesnt really matter what manufacturer, they are all pretty much the same.

€204 from pixmania is cheapest I've seen.

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/1344930/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-4870-512-mb-gdd.html

PogMoThoin

I have a 4870, perfect for a 24' monitor, I highly recommend it, just go for the cheapest regardless of manufacturer as they're all the same reference board and identical coolers, only difference is the price

stephenmarr

the 4870 is the one to go for so are they all 512mb? saw a 1gb 4850 for €204 same as the 4870 which one is better?

PogMoThoin

No, there's no advantage in having 1GB over 512MB, the 1GB HD4870 doesn't perform any better than the 512MB

Blazer

There's a 1gb version of the 4870 coming out in the next few weeks.
At 1920x1200 it will give you an advantage with AA+AF.
I came from SLI 8800gtx to 4870 and I was blown away by the difference.
COD4 looks amazing. I upgraded then to the X2 version which was even better but some ppl have some problems with this card.
Considering a 4870 €210 is beating 2x8800gtxs is amazing value from ATI.
Kudos to them for not milking their customers and screw Nvidia for overpricing their cards.
Then again I could be repeating all this in a few years but the other way around.:D

PogMoThoin

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

There's a 1gb version of the 4870 coming out in the next few weeks.

Nope, from readin the threads on XS there's little or no difference between them, more here

vedwards

This thread goes back to 2008 and a lot has changed in graphic cards but would a new single graphic card e.g GTX560ti (or other card - open to guidance) be better than my current configuration?

Area-51™ 7500
*Processor*: Intel(r) Core™ 2 Quad Q6700 2.66GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB
*Operating System*: Genuine Windows(r) Vista Home Premium - English
*Chassis*: Alienware(r) P2 Chassis - Space Black
*Chassis Customisation*: Alienware(r) AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Fusion Red
*Motherboard*: Alienware(r) Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard
*Graphics Processor *: Dual 256MB NVIDIA(r) GeForce™ 8600 GTS - SLI Enabled
*Memory*: High Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 4GB - 4 x 1024MB
*Power Supply*: 700 Watt Alienware(r) Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply
*System Drive*: Single Drive Configuration - 250 GB Serial ATA 3 Gbit/s,
7,200 RPM with 16MB Cache
*Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM *: 20X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer
*Sound Hardware*: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio - Standard
*Monitor*: 22" Dell UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor

tuxy

It actually difficult to get a good price on a 560 ti as it's been replaced with the 600 series.
The a Radeon 7850 or GTX 660 for around the €200 mark will be a big upgrade over that old sli setup

Overheal

Blazer wrote: »

There's a 1gb version of the 4870 coming out in the next few weeks.
At 1920x1200 it will give you an advantage with AA+AF.
I came from SLI 8800gtx to 4870 and I was blown away by the difference.
COD4 looks amazing. I upgraded then to the X2 version which was even better but some ppl have some problems with this card.
Considering a 4870 €210 is beating 2x8800gtxs is amazing value from ATI.
Kudos to them for not milking their customers and screw Nvidia for overpricing their cards.
Then again I could be repeating all this in a few years but the other way around.:D

In the 6+ years I've been following this tech crap, "AMD milking their customers" is not a phrase I have run across. I can not say the same of Intel or Nvidia.

vedwards

tuxy wrote: »

It actually difficult to get a good price on a 560 ti as it's been replaced with the 600 series.
The a Radeon 7850 or GTX 660 for around the €200 mark will be a big upgrade over that old sli setup

Thanks TUXY, Would you believe that I only found out since my post that one of the cards is defective! I'm not sure if it ever worked so the SLI was useless. Will I also have to upgrade my monitor (current monitor 22" Dell UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor) do you think?

Regards

tuxy

No need to upgrade the monitor one your happy with the picture it displays. A new card will work fine with it giving you better frame rates.

cherryghost

Jaysis, hard to believe the 4870 is over 4 years old now.

Anywho, closing this. Vedwards if you want furher advice open a new thread, don't bump zombie ones.



EDIT: Herp... I'm not a graphics mod. I was in PC Upgrading & Building mode :P

marco_polo

IBTL :pac:

vedwards

cherryghost wrote: »

Jaysis, hard to believe the 4870 is over 4 years old now.

Anywho, closing this. Vedwards if you want furher advice open a new thread, don't bump zombie ones.



EDIT: Herp... I'm not a graphics mod. I was in PC Upgrading & Building mode :P

Thanks cherryghost, will do in future...and thanks again to all the respondents.