2 GTX 260 sli or 2 GTX 260 sli + 9800GT physx?

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cq842000

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Hey guys and gals, I have an honest question and I'd like some honest and qualified input. My question is, should I run 2 GTX 260s in SLI ( x16, x16) or should I use 2 GTX 260s for SLI and have a 9800GT for dedicated Physx (x16, x8, x8). Assuming that there is no hit to bandwidth either way, which would you prefer and why? I already have the videocards, but perspective is it's own magical pot of gold.
 
I would put the 9800GT in, the x8 PCI-E bandwidth will have little to no effect. But I don't think you will really see any improvement in games, there aren't very many that actually take advantage of a dedicated PhysX card.



BTW... Those 260's would do mighty fine on F@H:
http://www.techist.com/forums/f109/folding-home-guide-223396/
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Lol, thanks Burn. I still plan the 24 hour folding run...once my mobo gets back to me. It's already shipped, so it should get here from newegg either Monday or Tuesday. My PS3 is dedicated 24/7. I mainly play games that use Physx like Crysis, UT3, Gears of War, etc. I just finished Fable: The Lost Chapters today...boy is my left mouse button finger tired.
 
That's weird, I tried the 2 GTX260s and 1 9800GT today, and it made my Crysis fps score about 7 frames higher and in The Witcher:Enhanced Edition my fps went up by about 15fps.... The witcher doesnt even use Physx. Something suspicious is going on here. I'll try it again with the new mobo, where the 9800GT can run at x8. The 9800GT was running at x4 (last slot on the Asus P7P55d Pro mobo). That's got me wondering, why the increase?
 
Lol, thanks Burn. I still plan the 24 hour folding run...once my mobo gets back to me. It's already shipped, so it should get here from newegg either Monday or Tuesday. My PS3 is dedicated 24/7. I mainly play games that use Physx like Crysis, UT3, Gears of War, etc. I just finished Fable: The Lost Chapters today...boy is my left mouse button finger tired.

Crysis doesn't support physX.
 
Hahaha same old slaymate, no problem slay. I'll do it when I get the new mobo, as using this setup has some kind of driver issue(MSI Afterburner stops responding, maybe it doesnt like the zotac card). Hey thanks for the tip about Crysis not supporting Physx, which makes this even more suspect. It couldnt be the cpu freq, as I set it lower when I'm not benching. MSI Kombustor reports that my max fps is now 65fps where as it was 62 max.
 
I have two 9800GTs left over from the upgrade, and I intend to sell one, once I make 100 posts and I have the privilege to do so. As for Physx being a waste, I suppose it depends on your preference, as even ATI can use Physx(software implementation). Havoc works just as well as physx, but like I said, it depends on your preference. Patonb, dont worry, I'll fold with it in the future. I have been restraining all my attempts for the most part to increase performance and tweak to my heart's content until I can get my mobo, ram, Hdd upgrade, and make more permanent computer arrangements. It makes no sense to me to push this thing to the breaking point and expend so much effort eliminating the variables, when I'll just have to start over in a week and do it all again with a whole new set of controls and variables.

*UPDATE* I think I've isolated the anomaly to a driver level error. When I booted with the 9800GT, windows installed the default 9800gt driver, and then I noticed that my overclocking program would not recognize the 9800GT and would stop responding after about 30 seconds. GPU-Z reported it accurately, so I know that the driver was installed. I'll see if I can replicate the same fps scores with my new mobo when I get it. (I'm so tired of waiting for it)
 
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