Need an honest answer about Sli

[ZaX]

Lo guys,

At present I'm scoring 104k on my single 7800 GTX in Aquamark and I use to score about 85k with my 6800 Ultra, a difference of 19k but to tell you the truth the difference in games is barely noticeable (for me). Now I'm thinking the guys with 2 X 7800 GTX in Sli are scoring about 20k more than me but is this power really noticeable in games? I need an honest answer please. I know this is probably something relative.

 

[maverik-sg1]

Depends which games you are talking about Zax mate and what resolution you are playing at.

You got the tools to game at 1600x1200 or higher) but with full eye candy on, a single GTX will struggle to to give you a useable min frame rate 'in-game'.

It's mostly FPS (FEAR, battlefront2, COD2 etc..), 3rd person (Max Payne 2, prince of persia), racing sims and online games (not WOW or RTS though I suspect) that benefit most from SLI.

Mav

Mav

 

[ZaX]

I need to actually see an Sli system running so I can judge for myself. There's a pc world around the corner from me, do you think they'll have one there?

 

[stocky]

I doubt it very much!

Hmm, I personally think SLi is a bit cheeky - using two separate cards together is cheating 8)

Get one top notch card and stick a good W/C peltier on it, and it'll probably keep you happy

 

[gorby]

This is how i think of it...

uber rig + uber card = great gameing with full settings (AA AF etc) up to about 1280x760

uber rig + 2X uber card = same as above but up to riddiculous Res's

It may be a different story if the rest of your system is pony.

imo for games sli is not worth it if u use a 17" TFT that is only comfy @ 1280

Im only speaking from second hand experiance. To me it seems like a becnhmark / willy waving exercize (theres nothing wrong with that tho )

As the new consoles come out and games really start pushing SM3 HDR and stuff like that, perhaps SLI will offer some better upgrade flexabilty. But then a new card will prob'ly be out by then that can do all the new fx much better up to a certain res!

-the same chips (ish) go into new consoles and Pc's with consoles dictateing most of the development cycle, so why would nvidia / ati make a card that can do 1gazzilon X multriscopic-mega-dega-antialiasing when even the best high def Tv's of tommorow will run at 1280x 760 ( or some other widescreen res)

Have you guys seen xbox-live on hi-def? Thats only 720 p high-def (1280x768 downsampled) one lower than the PS3 will be ) and it looks absaloutely amazeing.

in a nuttshell, imo, Res aint all its cracked up to be

 

[fatty]

If you have the cash to throw away buy the second card if not dont bother I did find going from 2 x 6800u's to 2 x 7800 gtx's bf2 was a lot smoother but the 2gb ram helps too so??

I only use a 17" tft and score 110-120 in aq

 

[maverik-sg1]

Zax mate - there are few EPUK guys in London - I know its a big place - maybe a trip to see fatties playing BF2 (with SLI enabled/disabled) will help?

U dont need SLI if you are running under 1600x1200 - then and only then is it viable, having said that - your rig rocks at 3.2Ghz with a 24" WS Dell - it's a crime not to be running at those settings, plus add a bit of HDR in teh mix and ur in the zone

Mav

 

[fatty]

I think a lot of people that went for the big 24"s got them because they used to run 2 x tft's duel monitors but now with sli you cant so they have reverted to getting just one huge tft

 

[maverik-sg1]

I think a lot of people that went for the big 24"s got them because they used to run 2 x tft's duel monitors but now with sli you cant so they have reverted to getting just one huge tft

Not me mate - I was never a fan of the dual desktop , although I can see the attraction - I wanted 1600x1200 gaming in all its glory, after all I had the power, now I wanted to make sure that my gaming could enjoy it too

 

[ZaX]

Just been playing BF2 and fraps reports that my FPS for most of the time is at 100 and it never drops below 80. All settings are maxed out and res is 1600x1200.

 

[maverik-sg1]

Just been playing BF2 and fraps reports that my FPS for most of the time is at 100 and it never drops below 80. All settings are maxed out and res is 1600x1200.

Excellent, much better than I thought it would be - now try FEAR

 

[ZaX]

I did download the demo version of Fear but i didnt like it. It did run smoothly though. For me I dont think its ever worth doing SLI (unless someone gives me a second card ), if i just wait six months or so Ati/Nvidia will release the next gen cards.

 

[fatty]

If I had to phsycally pay for two high end card I couldn't afford it I would just go for the most uber single card at the time, I am just lucky at the moment with my upgrades and yes next on the cards may be a duel core cpu :wink:

 

[scorchio]

At the moment i dont think it will make that much difference depending on what games you play.

Saying that i'm sure the will be some bargain GTX's out the end of the month!

 

[fatty]

there where a couple tonight but i missed both

 

[wildc4rd]

Its the same old argument, buy now or wait for next gen. There is no right answer as far as I know, just enjoy what you have when you have it.

For what its worth, I think SLI does make a worthwhile difference in CoD 2, more so than any other game I play.

 

[ZaX]

How about in BF2? I run this at 1600x1200 with an average FPS of about 97. Would there be a noticeable improvement in BF2?

 

[maverik-sg1]

The human eye only registers up to 60fps - so as long as you are above that with all your eye candy on and the minimum framerate does not drop below that then the game is very playable with the hardware you have now.

No need to upgrade yet mate (unless of coursse you find some other game that needs sli to give it the grunt you need), although if you fancy a bit of UT2007 it'll either be next gen (G80 due out in August) or sli.

 

[ZaX]

Cheers guys, I think thats what I'll do, wait for the next gen GFXs as my games are very playable at the mo with the kit I've got.