1 ATi or 2 Nvidia?

[Gaz]

Hey guys,

Wanting a little feedback here on two questions I have .

(1) I was down at my local PC World (yes, I know....) and if I pre-order (an hour before to pick it up at the shop) a Sapphire 8600GTS 256mb I get it for £132. OK you say, woopy doo.

I currently run an ATi x1950gt 256mb, and have a DFI LanParty SLi-DR mobo, so I thought.....hmmmm, could I get better GPU power from 2x8600gts's? Always wanted to dabble with SLi tbh. The 8600s in the shop are SLi enabled and I have the bridge that came with the mobo. My PSU is 850w so no dramas there.

Apart from the obvious Dx10 capabilities (I run Vista Home Premium), will there be a noticable increase in the combined GPU power compared to the single x1950gt? If so, how much on average do you think I could expect of an increase?

So what are your opinions?

(2) Regarding the above, the x1950 is Crossfire capable. Now, the mobo listed above is SLi (an Nvidia tech). Am I right in saying I couldn't bung another x1950 into the system and have it run? I assume not, but just wanted some more experienced answers

 

[FarFarAway]

Yep no Crossfire on an nVidia board mate I'm afraid.

As for the 8600GT's - yes they would outperform the X1950GT, but why not just buy an 8800GTS?

 

[Rastalovich]

Oh ya - if I`m looking for gaming power for my buck, I`d take 1 x 8800 over a pair of 8600.

U can get a seriously nice 8800 card for 2x £132.

 

[macgamesrule]

Based on numbers alone - number of shader units, RAM, shader clock - the single 8800 will beat 8600 SLI. The 640MB version definitely, and probably the 320MB version in most cases. Also there should be less hassle with drivers using a single card vs SLI.

imo check some benches; see if the games you're interested in would actually benefit from a G80, or if they're good enough with the X1950. No point in buying a $400 card to run your games at 150fps instead of 120; on the other hand there are some like Oblivion where you would gain HDR+AA etc. Thinking forward, a DX10 card will certainly be a requirement for the future, but until DX10 games actually become available, prices will only go down.

edit: just checked the nVidia site, there's a new Vista/G80 driver as of yesterday

 

[Gaz]

cool guys,

thanks very much. I'm interested in getting an SLi setup for the shear hell of it tbh. The only thing that I was thinking about is with a Skt 939 4400x2 CPU, the 8800's will be badly bottlenecked. I would *assume* the 8600 would be less so? That was my main consideration, which I forgot to mention lol.

 

[FarFarAway]

Whats the point of getting SLI when you get a far superior solution with far less hassle. Yes it will be bottlenecked but then so would 2 x 8600's

 

[Rastalovich]

Kemp - when u SLI something like these 2 8600, that have 256m?? memory with them, does it prove true that u have exactly 512m in effect ? or does it not quite work out that way ?

 

[FarFarAway]

No SLI utilises the memory on the card in the first slot - effectively giving you 256mb