2x6600GT or 1x6800GT ???

[sithspawn]

Hey guys,

im putting together my new comp (finally) but have reached a fork in the road. Im trying to decide whether or not to get 2x 6600GT PCI-X cards and hook them up in SLi, or get one 6800GT card PCI-X. The 6600GT SLi seems to be better in a lot of the benchmarks, and it is cheaper to buy two 6600's than a single 6800! But i hav also heard that htey still have a few kinks with the SLi technology.

ANy opinions?

 

[jnev_89]

it's pci-e, not pci-x. pci-x is something completely different). i'd get 1 6800gt and an sli board, you're spending pretty much the same amount of money and you'll be able to upgrade to another card later on.

 

[emeraldice]

Really?
PCI-x is something else? I thought PCI-x is just like PCI eXpress...just like PCI Express...someone else please claify?

Anyways, on the original question, SLI will defintaly rule the world one day...it's just that it's kinda expensive right now. But a single 6600 you can't go wrong w/. If you have money to burn, and SLI will make your games better than any single card out there, but a single 6600 means that you can buy yourself a really, really, nice lunch one day.

 

[gaara]

I highly doubt that SLI will "rule the world" anytime soon, voodoo was very similar to the current SLI technology, yet you don't see any voodoo cards around today.

The incompatibility issues, as far as I am aware, are the limited number of SLI compatible games. As far as I understand, nVidia must update the drivers of the cards in order for them to be compatible with games. Basically, nVidia has to rewrite the drives every time they want SLI to support another game, and if drivers have not been written to support a game you wish to play, it won't work.

I would personally go with a 6800GT, you can always add a second later if you feel its performance is lacking.

 

[emeraldice]

oh...that's information I didn't know about (about the drivers). And about the 'ruling the world' duel core will be everywhere...eventually. That's why i said someday.

 

[dale5605]

I disagree with that. Most of the advancements in computing come from new architecture and better processing methods. I don't think dual processors or dual video cards are the way to go.
Definitely go with the 6800 over SLI'ed 6600's.

 

[Blind_Arrow]

there is no PCI-X, i use to take it as PCI-X as well, but they are actually PCI-E x16 (for graphics) and PCI-E x1 (just like PCI Slots but E stands for express. as the weight is on X (XP, FX, OS-X,) so there is X Every where.

anyway, 6600GT in most of the benchmarks is @ 75% of the 6800's performance. so if tight in budget, or even if not, I'll recommend Dual 6600GT's. rather than 1 6800GT.

 

[sithspawn]

yeah im starting to think ill go for the dual 6600GT's.
gaara: Can you point me to a reliable source that says something like that. i have googled on it and found little results. My understanding of the SLi technology is this: it really is a work in progress right now. A lot of reviews i have read on the topic say something like this "We have had to take out some games from the benchmarks due to incompatability issues with SLi or artifact problems". But they always say as well something like "Without doubt, the stability issues in some games will also be seen to very soon, but at the moment of our tests the stability of the NVIDIA SLI platform was rather far from perfect.."

The thing is, no articles seem to be overly concerned about the problems that SLi has. Normally if a graphics card or something similar was having problems like this, it would get a seriously bad review. I think it is because SLi hasnt been perfected yet, but it WILL be perfected soon.

Its one of those things that would go either way i guess. a single 6800GT would be the safe way to go, but a dual 6600GT system is not only cheaper, but even sometimes BETTER than a 6800GT by a long shot. Ill keep looking in to it though before i go out and buy anything.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

1 6800GT will be better in alot of games

This also gives you the possibility to run a second.

 

[Qwert]

Weather or not SLI is even worth it, a 256MB is better then 2 128MBs. 6800GT...