SLI vs ?

[Rollotomussie]

Ok so this will prove how dumb I am when it comes to newer computer systems, but I've seen a bunch of threads that say SLI sucks or its the way to go, so heres my question:

If your going with Nvidia graphic cards is there anything else? or is that what they mean when they say if you go SLI?

 

[gurusan]

SLI stands for Scalable-Link-Interface...basically you use 2 identical graphics cards at the same time...you usually pay twice the amount (2 graphics cards) for roughly a 50% performance gain (which is not always realized as sometimes games don't support SLI and you are stuck with 1 active gpu).

I've always been with the crowd that prefers a single powerful GPU to two lesser GPUs in SLI...but it's really down to personal preference/the games you play/how much money you have

 

[Vaanish]

I have always been a fan of multi GPU configurations.

1.) It looks cool
2.) Look at the OPs other thread and you will see an instance when SLi is logical and also probably the best option.

 

[saltynay]

but overclocking a single card gets you about a 20% performance gain so ging sli in reality means your only getting a 30% performance increase on some games for 100% of the cost

 

[Vaanish]

but overclocking a single card gets you about a 20% performance gain so ging sli in reality means your only getting a 30% performance increase on some games for 100% of the cost

you say that, but he could always go SLi and OC.

 

[gurusan]

yeah it really depends on the individual and their needs/setup/how often they upgrade.

I upgrade all the time and it's much easier to get rid of 1 GPU in order to upgrade to the next decent GPU.

It just makes more sense to me personally to sell of GPU A for 100 and then put it toward a better GPU B that costs 200 than to just buy another GPU A for sli config.

 

[saltynay]

you say that, but he could always go SLi and OC.

but not every card has the same overclocking potential and if in sli you are limited by the card with the lower clock speed

 

[Drewser]

I agree with Gurusan. I was just in the dilemma of purchasing another identical card and running in SLI, or selling it off to upgrade to a completely different GPU.
For me, it was cost effective, and the results from both options performance wise were similar.

 

[commandercup]

but not every card has the same overclocking potential and if in sli you are limited by the card with the lower clock speed

nearly every card (of the same make) overclocks within 100-250 mhz of each other... the hardware is all the same unlike CPU's with their different stepping and cores and wattage etc.

also, SLI is useful if you buy the second card once the price has lowered significantly so that your original card + new card = less then super card

IE. you bought an 8800 gts last week for 280, in a couple months, the price will be more so 150-225 and so you can buy it then and have SLI for a cheaper price with relative performance gain with the price

your 8800 gts' resale value will drop as the retail price drops so its all good

 

[veg1992]

SLI stands for Scalable-Link-Interface...basically you use 2 identical graphics cards at the same time...you usually pay twice the amount (2 graphics cards) for roughly a 50% performance gain (which is not always realized as sometimes games don't support SLI and you are stuck with 1 active gpu).

I've always been with the crowd that prefers a single powerful GPU to two lesser GPUs in SLI...but it's really down to personal preference/the games you play/how much money you have

the only time we do recommend it is at extremely high resolutions.. like higher than 1920x1200