6800GT SLI or X850XT?

[Waylay00]

Ok, face it guys. 99% of you who are against SLI are just jealous deep down inside. Just admit it. *Puts on flak jacket and awaits onslaught of SLI haters*

Even I used to be against SLI until I realized it was because I couldn't afford it and was just jealous.

And for those of you who say that SLI won't show that much of a performance increase, you are right in one aspect, but wrong in another. As of now, not many games show that big of a performance increase. That is because those engines were designed before SLI was even mentioned, and the high end single graphics cards can run them fine. Just wait until new games comes out, THEN you will see the benefit of SLI.

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: Waylay00
Ok, face it guys. 99% of you who are against SLI are just jealous deep down inside. Just admit it. *Puts on flak jacket and awaits onslaught of SLI haters*

Even I used to be against SLI until I realized it was because I couldn't afford it and was just jealous.

And for those of you who say that SLI won't show that much of a performance increase, you are right in one aspect, but wrong in another. As of now, not many games show that big of a performance increase. That is because those engines were designed before SLI was even mentioned, and the high end single graphics cards can run them fine. Just wait until new games comes out, THEN you will see the benefit of SLI.

I'm not against SLI at all. I mean some people who really want the biggest and best now have the option to spend as much as they want and get nearly double the performance. I would have SLI in a second if I had the money. But I'm still in college and doubt getting an SLI rig will be one of my top priorities upon graduation. I think the prices right now are just not worth it for the OP in Canada atleast.

 

[hans030390]

nope, 6800gt's are faster....and they support Shader model 3.0...a pair of those with SM3.0 will easily kill a x850 in future games

 

[n yusef]

I'd get the X850XT because the performance increase of SLi isn't worth the added price. If both cards were free (or you had the money), I would have SLi myself. Unfortunately, they aren't. As far as SM 3.0 goes, I want a video of your trip to the future that proves SM 3.0 does something for FPS or IQ that SM 2.0 cannot. Just my opinion though.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: 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.

agrees with above.

what some of you don't seem to realize is, he has a CHOICE of upgrading to another 6800gt instead of getting two right away. so in other words, let's say he buys the 6800gt now. just one. he really really enjoys it and it brings him happy fun times. then when time comes, he suddenly thinks he needs more performance. he can see if he should spend money on a complete NEW technology (he would do it anyway if he got the x850xt) or if all he needs is another 6800gt which would probably be dirt cheap and bring him much more performance without having to spend a lot to bring him the latest performance.

 

[AlexR]

How long do you think a 6800Ultra would last?

 

[andy nowotny]

X850Xt is my choice, at least it need not a sli mb

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: andy nowotny
X850Xt is my choice, at least it need not a sli mb

That's true, but it's a lot slower as well.

 

[OinkBoink]

wow,its amazing how much cash ppl throw on playing games...........

 

[DragonFire]

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.

All the more reason why SLI is a waste.

I find half the remarks in this thread stupid. It seems many of you can't think 12-18 months from now.

1) What happen to 3DFX from trying to force SLI? They thought no one could touch them with there dual V2's and then Nvidia came along with there TNT...

2) Unless you have a FX-55, SLI is a waste as even a FX-55 becomes a bottleneck to the cards.

3) 10-14 months from now a single video card will out perform two 6800's in almost everything and more then likely support better features. Perhaps SLI will still be around at the time but are you going to really pay $600 every year for two video cards just so you can brag about stupid 3Dmark scores?

4) There is not one game out today that requires two 6800's. I have no problem playing HL2/D3 @ 1600x1200 4xAA 8xAF with all details on high with my X800XTPE.
Oh I suppose some of you will cry about Unreal3 or other games like it but by the time U3 comes out, it will be time to upgrade my video card but I still execpt to be able to play U3 @ 1280x1024 after tweaking...

5) If you don't already have a PCI-E motherboard I suggest you don't get one. Everyone buying PCI-E SLI motherboards and dual video cards are so screwed in a year when AMD comes out with a new socket supporting DDR2 ram.....meaning everyone buying $200+ SLI boards now will just do it again in a year or so...

I find that kind of upgrading a waste. Where my FX-55 will last me into next year when AMD supports DDR2, my 1GB of ram will be more then enough intill next year when I go to 2GB DDR2 ram, My X800XTPE will be more then enough intill at least Xmas...if not longer.

 

[nRollo]

X800XT PEs are slow compared to 6800GT SLI Dragonfire. I've had both, and can point you at numerous benchmarks supporting this.

Just because you don't want to have fast video, you shouldn't insult those who do.

UT2004
I'd call 151fps vs 113fps a difference.

COD
I'd agree 143fps vs 122fps isn't a huge deal.

Doom3
68fps vs 37fps is the difference in "playable" or "not". I really doubt you can play Doom3 at 16X12 4X8X on a X800XT PE-THP used a A64 4000+ to get that 37fps, an FX55 isn't that much better.

Far Cry
Again, 53 or 61fps vs 36fps is the difference in playable vs not- another game I can play at 16X12 4X8X on 6800GTs that X800XT PE owners can't enjoy at this setting.

Battlefield VN
84fps vs 61 fps is a huge difference again Dragonfire.

HL2
104fps ve 93fps is not a big deal- not a lot of advantage here for SLI.

HL2
120fps vs 105fps is getting closer- I'm gussing at 19X14 the difference would kick in.

So there you have it Dragonfire- even though X800XT PEs are fine gaming cards, I think I 've proved 6800GTs aren't a "waste".

What's going to come out in the future is irrelevant, I'm playing all my games at 16X12 4X8X and above now.

 

[Munky]

And so the flamefest continues...

No one is doubting the fact that 2x6800gt in sli is faster than just about anything else right now. What strikes me funny is that all you sli supporters are bent on arguing how it has a good upgrade path, and that it's actually worth the money. Now, considering that SLI actually worked in ALL games like it was supposed to, I'd still not invest in it because

1) You cant guarantee me that SLI will even exist in the future, even a year fom now. I know you would like to try, but you CANT.

2) Saying that 1 6800gt is fast enough for games that don't support SLI is a moot point - if I pay for 2 video cards in SLI, then I expect to get the performance I paid for ALL the time, not sometimes, and not "when the new drivers come out that will finally fix all the problems"

3) When you buy one 6800gt and then wait for prices to drop to buy another one and put them both in your SLI board, you are actually LIMITING your upgrade path. Not only are you stuck with nvidia, but now you HAVE to buy another 6800gt, or else you've blown away a bunch of money on SLI without ever using it. And even if you do buy another one a year from now, you will still lag behind in power and features of newer cards.

It all comes down to how much are you willing to spend. I could go and get myself a SLI setup, but I will not, because to me it's not worth the money.