SLI/Crossfire: The cold hard truth

Which case is the best all around case?

  • Cooler Master Centurion 5 case w/ window.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • NZXT Trinity case.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Antec super lanboy

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • My case is better

    Votes: 0 0.0%

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SLi setup's don't gain much of a boost on FPS, but you cant put the AA & AF on crazy settings like 32 AA 12 AF .... lol :eek:
 
I dont think that buying the same card twice is worth getting better graphics, there fine the way they are... the old fashoned way
And this may sound confusing but.... it seems that when they compare sli and one card. they put both on max settings. Maybe they can show the preformance increase with them on the same aa + af
You know how people like to critisize something they cant buy like the
For example:
XBOX 360
 
I can see you have some decent data to back up your arguement and everything, but my question lies more with chipsets. You're saying SLI and Crossfire aren't so hot with (i believe) nforce4 SLI chips and their ATI counterparts. What about nForce4 Sli x16 chips or motherboards with north and south bridge chipsets?

They probably aren't worth the money still but my question is do they work better? Also what about non Sli chipsets? Should I get nForce4 or nForce Ultra? is there enough of a difference to make it worth the money.

I already bought an 6800Xt card but I'm regreting it. If I had it to do again I would just get a budget card like one of those low profile series 7 cards.

Just know that I'm not attacking your arguement. I'm simply buying a computer soon and want to make a good decision
 
there is difference for sure. the tough problem is exactly what u asked. is it worth it? i would say yes IF u are deciding to get SLi for sure. still not worth it at all in my mind but many stand by it. there isnt much difference in price so i would say go for it :)
 
better question: what exactly does the Motherboard chipset do? I'm sure it regulates some of the SLI stuff, but having a solid understanding of that will allow me to make a good choice on which one.

and could someone post up what chipsets are good at what?
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131568

this is an amazing mobo for gaming today for nVidia SLi

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131004

and for ATI CF this is awesome.

go with either ASUS, MSI, DFI or Gigabyte. those r ur best bet. DFI and ASUS being the best of all. or for intel if u plan on getting the insane conroe soon, then go with ASUS or intel's own

this is an awesome board too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136165

anything else just ask
 
Hello everybody, new to the forums....and a fairly new computer enthusiast. Saw the SLi topic and had to chime in. First off, props to the autor, looks like you put in a lot of time researching this, awesome post.
And now to the matter at hand, is SLi/crossfire worth it? To me, yes it is worth it if you buy the right parts. When I was reading the specs on the mobo (a8npremium), I was kinda wondering why you would want an 16x sli board?? Isnt the whole point of running SLi to take FULL advantage of each cards 16x? So once again I wonder why they used such an inferior SLi getup.
Anyway, in my opinion the whole point of sli (other than placing high numbers on 3dmark), is being able to run any game at the absolute highest quality, without breaking the bank on a sweet video card. I recently put together an SLi rig -asus a8n32SLiDeluxe, opty165,2gb hyperx,2xevga6800's,X-Fi. With this getup I literally run ANY game at its max resolution, on the highest quality. My rational for getting SLi rather than "saving" money on a cheaper mobo and getting a better video card, first off my 2 6800's cost me a total of $199 (after mail in rebate), my mobo cost me 190 after shipping, total cost around $400. I dont think I could get a GOOD video card for what it cost me to get both of the video cards and the motherboard. And as for performance, what the graphs didnt show was what the absolute lowest FPS rate was and what was peak, and how much of the time did it spend below a "playable" framerate. So when youre reading that you think 'a single 6800 doesnt perform THAT much worse then it does in SLi' well I got news for you it does it performs A LOT worse, the lowest frame rate for a single card was WELL below half of what it did in SLi. Basically, that means the difference between a playable frame rate and a non playable frame rate. And all the games that were tested, in my opinion, wouldnt even really tax a higher end system. It was kinda funny actually when I was lookin at the numbers, especially for HL2 I actually chuckled, I get higher frame rates with my 6800's. My average frame rate is 121 (when you run the video stress test) on max settings. In css I rarely fall below 100 fps, and thats usually only on maps that are poorly made.
What they really NEED to test SLi and a single GPu is on a game like Oblivion, so far thats the only game that I have that actually taxes my system. I'd really like to see the results for that. I bet on a game like that is where you would notice the biggest difference between SLI and a single card GPU.
At any rate, SLi rocks, its worth the money (to me), not to mention when then DX10 cards come out Im going to buy 2 and be set for a number of years (I hope). DX10 is the only reason I didnt get 7800GTX's.
-P.
 
yes! finally a good answer.

is SLI worth it? not unless you go all the way. I take it you have an SLI x16 chip? Someone should edit this thread to give the message that cheap SLI is a total waste, but if you get a good SLI motherboard and stuff it can help with some games like oblivion. oh and for the record, not sure when this study was taken, but it was probly when HL2 and BF2 were the top games not oblivion, so thats why.
 
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