Budget SLI system

[stb1swat]

I might be selling my 8800GTS 512 to a friend. What would be a reasonable SLI system. Basically under $300. I saw the 8800GT is down to around $100 a piece, but is there a better ATI alternative?

 

[ricanflow]

You can run these boys in SLI:

Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N884-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ Superclocked Edition 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Or you can grab a single one of these:

Newegg.com - XFX GX260NADFF GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

 

[stalin90]

ur getting pm'ed

 

[baron5]

definitely dont run sli with cards under 300 dollars, thats for sure. just pick up one core 216

 

[tastegw]

if your selling a g92, do not turn around and buy 2 more of them to sli with.
if anything, just get another 8800gts and run them as a pair. but...

go with the gtx 200 series, just one will do you well like the above posters said.

 

[BongWizard]

if you're set on a dual card setup 2 4850s can be found for about $300 and will best just about anything else you could get for that price (only bad thing is that ATI sux with their driver updates), but a single Core 216 will be more compatible with a wide variety of games and benchmarks and will still give you awesome performance

 

[stb1swat]

I was under the impression that when the GTX series was released, Nvidia was trying to breach the gap between their rendering cards and gaming cards. Are the GTX260 really more able than a good sli system or a X2 system? How are they at OCing?
I'm still skeptical about them. My immediate instinct would be to buy a 9800GX2 or something of the like. Higher clock core and I know they're good OCers. 256 stream cpus.
Why would I want a GTX?

 

[Hefemeister]

June 16th 2008

GTX260 vs. 9800GX2: The GTX260 finds itself in an interesting position. While it usually falls slightly behind the 9800GX2 in raw FPS, one must not forget that the 9800GX2 relies on profiles and AFR for its performance. When you take these things into account, it becomes difficult to recommended the 9800GX2 over a single GTX260. Other advantages offered by the GTX260 include being equipped with the more reasonable 2ea 6 pin connector configuration as well as the reduced power requirements. While short of the GTX280's 1GB configuration, the GTX260's 896MB of memory is far above the 512MB limitation suffered by the 9800GX2, which will allow it to pull ahead in certain situations, such as Crysis, at High Settings. The GTX260 retails for $400US, which further puts the 9800GX2 in a difficult place. With all these factors in mind, we will not be at all surprised to see the 9800GX2 quickly phased out.

source

 

[stb1swat]

But the 9800GX2 is as low as $220 now...

Good information though. I'll take it into consideration.

 

[Hefemeister]

You can get 260's for around $250 now. The article is old that is why I put the date on it. It is worth the $30.