6800GT SLI or X850XT?

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: RobotOfHatred
I didnt say the PE, just the X850XT (I want the X850 because of the nice fan=good Overcloaclability)

The problem is that 1)I cant find a 6800GT (PCI-E) For as chea as I can find anX850XT (690)

2)An SLI Mobo is $90 more then a regulare NF4-FX Gigabyte PCI_E mobo

Not if you take a pencil to the Northbridge

The problem is that 1)I cant find a 6800GT (PCI-E) For as chea as I can find anX850XT (690)

Where in the hell are you looking?? 6800GT PCI-E run about $350, where are you seeing a 6800GT over $600??

sli is simply not worth the hassle

What hassle are you talking about? All you do is pop in the second card and enable it in drivers, what is so hard about that.

-Kevin

they've fixed this apparently, the first batch of the mobos are indeed capable of being modded to a full SLI board.....but they've fixed that now

 

[Ackmed]

Id like to know where these $350 PCI-E 6800GT's are like Gamingpreek claims.

He also seems to think there are no problems with SLI at all?

To the topic poster, 2x6800GT's are faster, in the games you've listed. If you can afford it, then I wouldnt hesitate getting them. As long as you've researched and your other parts match up well with it.

 

[Gamingphreek]

I never said there were no problems with SLI. A lot of games are supported yet either. Also there are 6800GTs that are 350-400.

-Kevin

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
I never said there were no problems with SLI. A lot of games are supported yet either. Also there are 6800GTs that are 350-400.

-Kevin

In AGP, there are tons of $350-$400 6800GTs.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
I never said there were no problems with SLI. A lot of games are supported yet either. Also there are 6800GTs that are 350-400.

-Kevin

You said there were no hassles with SLI. Just pop in the second card and enable it in the drivers. Obviously thats not always the case.

You also said there were $350 PCI-E 6800GT's. Dont back peddle now, got a link for one?

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
I never said there were no problems with SLI. A lot of games are supported yet either. Also there are 6800GTs that are 350-400.

-Kevin

You said there were no hassles with SLI. Just pop in the second card and enable it in the drivers. Obviously thats not always the case.

You also said there were $350 PCI-E 6800GT's. Dont back peddle now, got a link for one?

I agree with the former more than the latter. SLI is very user friendly, and has few "problems". Most of the "problems" are that it doesn't work on some older games that don't need it anyway, as all SLI cards are as fast as last gens best anyway.

(i.e. If you were saying 5950s and 9800XTs were fast enough to run the games that were out then with AA/AF, 6600GTs> run them just as well or better. The games that have come out since get benefit from SLI, in general)

I read last night that there are about 100 profiles in the 75 series drivers.

 

[Ackmed]

That is certainly good news. The only BIG thing that concerns me, is the problems with DVI and widescreen LCD's. To be honest, Im confident enough that I can get the games I want to work with SLI. Except I cant get anyone to give me an answer concerning Tribes: VE. It used the UT2003 engine, so its kinda old. But the game is very demanding on some maps, with 20+ players.

Ill be getting the 2405FPW next month.. and 1920x1200 has me a little worried to be honest with my current card. I dont like to turn down quality settings to get better frames.

 

[Mojo027]

NCIX just got the Sapphire x850XT in the other day I believe. And it's retailing for something like $650 Canadian. I'd go for that. Two 6800GT's are going to cost you at least $950 Canadian, the extra $300 is simply not worth it. Especially considering the games you play, they are better played on an ATI card. Well, except for Doom 3, but an x850XT will still run that game fairly decently.

 

[Zenoth]

Why don't you just wait for the next ATi core. It will be available around this summer I'd say. Short supply certainly though. But you got technology from five years ago, so if I were you, I'd wait just a few months still, and get a single new ATi GPU when it comes out.

 

[imported_dragon119]

Originally posted by: RobotOfHatred

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek


Where in the hell are you looking?? 6800GT PCI-E run about $350, where are you seeing a 6800GT over $600??
.

-Kevin

In canada a PCI-E 6800GT is over $600 pretty much everywhere Ive looked.

Since I've found an X850XT for a fair amount cheaper ill go with that (pluss, like I said before, an SLI mobo is expensive)

 

[imported_dragon119]

Definitely 6800 GT with SLI, get 1 for now and upgrade another 1 later, DX9 SM3.0 is the way to go for all the latest games and new future games.

 

[my sons father]

DX9 and SM3.0 for FUTURE games? How about quad gpu's and 1 gig of DDR4 on a single card? DX10 and SM4.0? Put your wish list in early for X-mas! (and sell your SLI boards off fast, while they're still worth something so you can afford it!)

A fool's money is soon wasted on gimmicks like SLI!

 

[Bar81]

All of you with the get one and upgrade later comments fail to realize that SLI apparently doesn't work with different revisions of cards. So, if in a year, he wants to get another 6800GT, if they're a new revision (which in all likelihood they will be) they won't work.

If you're working with a budget, SLI makes even less sense. It's not like Voodoo2 SLI where every game got a doubling of performance. Best case scenario generally you're looking at a 50% increase in performance over a single 6800GT and considering that the X850XT slaps the 6800GT around even overclocked with AA/AF the SLI combo even in a best case scenario is going to give you a somewhat smaller gain over the X850XT you're considering. Plus add in the problems with SLI motherboards (SATA controller issues and immature, buggy BIOSes), the cost of a new power supply, and SLI itself (doesn't work/show any significant gain for 99% of games out there, if you have a widescreen LCD with a DVI connection it still doesn't work right) and SLI isn't the panacea the fanboys and nvidia apologists would lead you to believe.

Get the X850XT, it's not even a question.

 

[Cheesetogo]

I would buy a 6800 gt or ultra now, anbd when that starts slowing down, get another one.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
I would buy a 6800 gt or ultra now, anbd when that starts slowing down, get another one.

Dammit, how many times do we have to debate this topic again. SLI only makes sense if you have a lot of money to throw around, or you just HAVE to get the most powerful gaming rig, only to find out in 6 months that a new card for half the money will wipe the floor with 2 of yours. Who cares that you can buy one now and another one later? Would you want to buy another one later, when there will be single-card solutions that will easily outclass yours, and have better/newer features. I definitely wouldn't.

Those of you touting SM3 as "the future" will be touting DX10 and SM4 by the end of this year, the only difference is I didn't shell out close to $1000 for 2 gpu's.

 

[Atomicus]

Would the SLI set up suck up more voltage?

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
I would buy a 6800 gt or ultra now, anbd when that starts slowing down, get another one.

Dammit, how many times do we have to debate this topic again. SLI only makes sense if you have a lot of money to throw around, or you just HAVE to get the most powerful gaming rig, only to find out in 6 months that a new card for half the money will wipe the floor with 2 of yours. Who cares that you can buy one now and another one later? Would you want to buy another one later, when there will be single-card solutions that will easily outclass yours, and have better/newer features. I definitely wouldn't.

Those of you touting SM3 as "the future" will be touting DX10 and SM4 by the end of this year, the only difference is I didn't shell out close to $1000 for 2 gpu's.

I'm just saying that if he wants to have the option, he could buy another ultra. I'm not telling him to buy two, I'm saying that he should buy one, and if it starts to slow down, which it probably wonb't for at least a year, he could buy another at a much cheaper price. Even if he never buys another ultra, it's still a good choice to get one as the x850xt is not really any improvment (according to this site just a few percent) over the x800xt, and he would not be likely to notice any diffenece between one ultra and one x850xt, but if he wants to have another option to upgrade, he has it. It probably would make more sense to buy the new type of card later, but I see no reason why not to add on another option for upgrading by buying a single ultra.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Atomicus
Would the SLI set up suck up more voltage?

Well, voltage is not really the correct term, but yeah it would suck up a lot more power than a single card.

 

[AlexR]

Tell me this, If I get 2 Ultras now, how long will it last?

Also can you run it stablely with a Enermax Coolergiant 480W?

Baically, 1 Ultra is equal to a x800xtp (I think), most games dont support SLi. So maybe buy 1 ultra now, when next gen games come out, buy another.

I could be wrong, Im still a newbie at these things.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Bar81
All of you with the get one and upgrade later comments fail to realize that SLI apparently doesn't work with different revisions of cards. So, if in a year, he wants to get another 6800GT, if they're a new revision (which in all likelihood they will be) they won't work.

FUD. A. I'm unaware of any "rev2" nV4Xs. B. You're assuming the bios will be substantially different on these cards that haven't been built yet.

If you're working with a budget, SLI makes even less sense. It's not like Voodoo2 SLI where every game got a doubling of performance.

FUD V2 SLI came nowhere near doubling performance on every game.

Best case scenario generally you're looking at a 50% increase in performance over a single 6800GT and considering that the X850XT slaps the 6800GT around even overclocked with AA/AF the SLI combo even in a best case scenario is going to give you a somewhat smaller gain over the X850XT you're considering.

FUD SLI gives a 30-90% increase in performance.

X850XT PE 38fps at Doom3

6800GT SLI 65fps at Doom3
Can you say Q4 Bar81? I thought you could.

X850XT PE 43fps at Far Cry

6800GT SLI 58fps at Far Cry
Playable vs. not

X850XT PE 67fps at Battlefield Vietnam

6800GT SLI 106fps at Battlefield VietNam
The X850 XT PE is pathetic compared to 6800GT SLI at this.

Etc.
The fact of the matter is that the games that don't use SLI already run at 16X12 4X8X+ on a single 6800GT, so you really don't need SLI for their feeble old engines.

Plus add in the problems with SLI motherboards (SATA controller issues and immature, buggy BIOSes), the cost of a new power supply,

FUD

and SLI itself (doesn't work/show any significant gain for 99% of games out there, if you have a widescreen LCD with a DVI connection it still doesn't work right) and SLI isn't the panacea the fanboys and nvidia apologists would lead you to believe.

Paying $500 for an SM2 card these days is what you should be talking about. Not everyone has $500 to gamble that the feature set/MS standard of 2003 will be good enough in 2005/2006. There are already examples of it being dated/unusable features (Far Cry HDR, Riddick soft shadows, Splinter Cell Chaos) and games coming out soon that are native SM3. Of course, there's the whole UE3 "no fallback to SM2" controversy.

Get the X850XT, it's not even a question.

LOL- for smart people that want some gaming power there is.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Azzy64
sli is simply not worth the hassle imo, get an x850xt and you will be happier i feel, even if slightly less powerful, but highly potent * i have a x800xt pe (about same as an x850xt ) and i am very pleased, can play hl2 at 16x12 6aa 16af at >80 fps, so i dont feel it NEEDS to be faster; by the time it does, dx 9 will be old hat, and i will be wanting to upgrade to a DX 10 card.

this post is a bit incomprehensible but hey its 1 am where i am, but just get the x850xt. trust

The last time i checked 40%+ wasnt "slightly".

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: my sons father
DX9 and SM3.0 for FUTURE games? How about quad gpu's and 1 gig of DDR4 on a single card? DX10 and SM4.0? Put your wish list in early for X-mas! (and sell your SLI boards off fast, while they're still worth something so you can afford it!)

A fool's money is soon wasted on gimmicks like SLI!

DDR4, like rambus XDR, has latency problems and will likely not be used in graphics (unless theres a breakthrough).

DX:Next will not be called DX10.

SM4.0 is pretty far off. Maybe X-mas 2006 was what you were thinking of?

The fools in your quote are playing games faster than you are. Now.

In 2007 will they be? maybe not. But then you can SLI your Geforce 8800GTs or Radeon god knows whats....and still get bleeding edge performance.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Also people keep bringing up that games are not compatible with SLI. That is FALSE. With the newer 7x series drivers it allows you to add, with the click of a button, a game profile to make use of SLI.

Also i dont know what all this buggy talk is. These boards are no more buggy, if not less buggy than other chipsets released.

-Kevin

 

[AlexR]

About the 7x drivers, I googled it and came across a thread.

"Check your video card temperature. The 7X series of drivers have been known to increase the idle and stress temperatures. If you're getting a BSOD on the 7X series of drivers, all signs would point to overheating."

 

[JBT]

I'ge just get the X850XT. SLI is cool and all but not for the price PCI-Express GT's are going for.