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BFGTech 9600 GT OC in SLI vs. GeForce 8800 GTX @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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BFGTech 9600 GT OC in SLI vs. GeForce 8800 GTX - Will two BFGTech GeForce 9600 GT OC video cards SLI'd offer a better gaming experience than a GeForce 8800 GTX? NVIDIA thinks so. Let’s see what the real-world differences are with 9600 GT SLI and an 8800 GTX in Crysis, COD 4 & UT3.

Though Crysis doesn’t show off SLI in its best, COD 4 and UT3 surely do with very high framerate performance even besting an 8800 GTX. The fact that 9600 GT SLI framerates were higher, but with the gaming experience being the same, it seems like a better value to save some cash and get two 9600 GTs in SLI instead of one GTX if you are looking to spend around $300 on a graphics setup right now. Again, you have to have a setup that supports SLI.
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Well, this was rather interesting, 1st you guys didnt choose the 8800 gTS 512 mb which IS a better choice since its a new GTX, which perform just as good, and i would say, a 9600 GT SLI isnt a good choice though due to higher powerconsumtion vs a single 8800 GTS, but 2x 8800 GTS SLI would be rather interesting.

I starting to like what you guys are doing here seing sli reviews, but please kyle steve , and dave? dont remember all ya names yet.

Please do this, roundup on features, performance, scaling and all that crossfire vs SLI, there is DECADES since it have been done, and i still think crossfire is the best multigpu way though, in features, and performance gained by each card, nvidia starting to catch up i think, hopefully they will(if not ima gonna go mad.)

while ati goes all in on multigpu, nvidia doesnt, while doing so, the multigpu support in games isnt that big, and they rather not make a really good support, while also driver is a subject i know, but games needs work aswell, just as games doesnt support 8 cores, and still many games that doesnt utilize dualcores as good as they should.

well, what i'd like to see is, is a crossfire 3870 better than for instance 1x8800 GTS. is 2x 8800 GTS more powerfull than a 9800 GX2 when its released and so on, what will give us alot for the money, crossfire or sli, or should we just buy a expensive single from nvidia ?

crossfire and sli brings a promising upgradeability, need more performance, buy another videocard, rather than selling the current and buying a new one and the ease of use and support of the crossfire, i dont know more than 2 people with nvidia so i dont know about SLI, bring us youre thoughts on sli, i wanna learn more about sli aswell since i just love to know stuff.

although its the same price for a GTX as 2x 9600 GT just to mention it and a GTS 512 mb is cheaper which is at the same performance level as a GTX, perform somewhat worse at high res with AA.
 
Great article. What about power usage in the system? Do 2 9600's use more power than a single GTX? Personally I'd still go with the GTX, I use an Intel chipset, so I'm limited to crossfire.
 
LanPirate1 said:
Great article. What about power usage in the system? Do 2 9600's use more power than a single GTX? Personally I'd still go with the GTX, I use an Intel chipset, so I'm limited to crossfire.
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This is from another article.

As far as power utilization goes we found that the entire system hit peak wattage of 271W with the GeForce 8800 GT. The GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB heat a peak load of 303W and the 8800 GTX hit 326W, so the GeForce 8800 GT is indeed using less power.

A single 9600 GT hit 236w. I am going to guess 320w to 340w under full load for our test system with 9600 GT SLI. Brent should be by later this morning and be able to tell us.
 
good to see people who agree, why choose 2x 9600 GT, okey, if you dont have the money, and patience for saving up to a powerfull VGA, it makes sence.

Intel chipset or amd depends on ur cpu though, and go for a singel 8800 GTS, why do you guys still go like go for GTX

Hardocp did a 8800 GTS review, and yeah, 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS perform almost just as good.
and the 8800 GTS should provide less powerconsumtion and does support all the same things, texture memory is only 512 mb though.
 
Any chance of getting new numbers on the 9600GT's in SLI and Single card performance as the new beta driver was just released for the 7,8, & 9 series to give performance improvements for Crysis 1.2??

I know it would be time consuming and a lot of trouble, but I'm curious as to how much of an improvement those drivers would actually make. :D

Edit: Just ignore this post, I double checked those drivers and they don't cover the 9 series, so no improvements for Crysis 1.2 just yet for the 9series. =(
 
Someone ^^^ mentioned power comparisons, how about a noise and heat comparison? Are two 9600GT's going to run hotter than a single 8800GTX? I guess if you have a decent & proper system build, it's not an issue.
 
Great article. For me though, the history of SLI and reputation it has at causing problems with certain games, (especially new ones) is enough for me to strike it off the list.

Even if it consistently offered a 10-15% performance gain over a single card, Im not sure Id buy into it as all it would take is one new game to have 'yet more SLI driver issues' for my investment to be ruined.

Same with cross fire to be honest though.

Does anyone else think like this or am I being too risk averse ?
 
lewchenko said:
Great article. For me though, the history of SLI and reputation it has at causing problems with certain games, (especially new ones) is enough for me to strike it off the list.

Even if it consistently offered a 10-15% performance gain over a single card, Im not sure Id buy into it as all it would take is one new game to have 'yet more SLI driver issues' for my investment to be ruined.

Same with cross fire to be honest though.

Does anyone else think like this or am I being too risk averse ?
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Ive been using SLi for a good long time (I'd hate to think of the bucks I've spent) and for me it has always worked flawlessly. Right now in fact I have a Triple SLi setup and it too has performed as advertised right "out of the box".
Ive used AMD based MBs and my current 680i board has been a great performer.
I think it's time to recognize SLi as a very good option.
The main problems,in my experience, have been more chipset than graphic.
 
Good read. I didn't expect them to match up so well.

It still does not feel worth it to me though. I was an early adopter of SLI with the 6600GT's, then I went to 6800GT's, and finally 7800GT's- and about all I got out of my experience was annoyance. Now, I'm sure things have come far from the 7800GT to the 9600GT, and this review suggest that, but you still have to limit your chipset, have two physical cards, an SLI capable/certified PSU, big case with adequate air flow, etc. All this for about the same cost as a one card solution that is nearly identical in performance.

Now, if you wanted to SLI some Ultra's or GTX's to get the highest possible capabilities that seems like one thing. But to try and make two lesser cards equal to the high end single card solution doesn't add up to me.
 
Brent, another very good article.

The thing is, now if you or Kyle say anything bad about SLI we will quote you on this Gold Award ;) for a SLI setup and this quote

One thing is for certain; two NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT cards configured in SLI are a surprisingly powerful combination and represent an excellent gaming value.
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Now if nVidia supported multimons with SLI like AMD does, then this would be an awsome setup.
 
In reading on your experience with UT3, you mentioned that it was playable up to the highest resolution. Does playability exclude jitters, hiccups and random stuttering? I have a similar setup...latest drivers and all (not latest BIOS though) and a 650i Mobo. UT3 is smoother when SLI is disabled, but gets higher frames when enabled and it stutters. I really wonder if 8x8 SLI PCIe lanes are the problem here. Any thoughts?
 
Great article; it's nice to see these comparisons made to give the consumer an indication of the tradeoffs.

Unless I missed it, the article did miss one advantage of the GTX over the 9600's: future expansion. If you're running one GTX rather than two 9600's, there's always that extra PCI express slot free for other things, particularly for another cheap (probably used) GTX down the road to SLI those together.
 
just wanted to say wow that was one of the best articles i've read here in a while, and thats saying a lot. i really liked how you guys investigated a very viable option that someone might consider when building a new box - its showing a direct option for some that may be more cost effective.

and the 'apples to apples' graphs were a nice touch, one of the few times i thought them very relevant.
 
It was based on this idea that I bought two 8800GTs and SLIed them instead of getting the Ultra. Great article, was a good read.
 
nice. It's starting to look like maybe the GTX 9XXX card will be able to do crysis at high settings.
 
As stated in the review, it almost seems pointless since the only games that really take advantage of SLi, you don't really need to...
 
sigh. When given a choice between a single card or two sli'd cards that give nearly the same performance, I will always choose the single card.

My e-peen grows with two cards, but shrivles like getting out of a pool on a cool spring morning at the thought of having to rely on driver support.
 
Good article.

While I would go for the single card, sometimes you are just low on money and can only afford the one cheap card and then have to wait to get a second one for SLI. Nice to see that for anyone in that boat that they will get some decent bang for their buck when they add a second card later.
 
ScourggeFX said:
In reading on your experience with UT3, you mentioned that it was playable up to the highest resolution. Does playability exclude jitters, hiccups and random stuttering? I have a similar setup...latest drivers and all (not latest BIOS though) and a 650i Mobo. UT3 is smoother when SLI is disabled, but gets higher frames when enabled and it stutters. I really wonder if 8x8 SLI PCIe lanes are the problem here. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Yes, there were no jitters, hiccups or stuttering with the SLI setup in UT3 at 2560x1600. Note that I had framerate smoothing disabled, you can try the game with or without framerate smoothing to see if that helps.
 
THRESHIN said:
just wanted to say wow that was one of the best articles i've read here in a while, and thats saying a lot. i really liked how you guys investigated a very viable option that someone might consider when building a new box - its showing a direct option for some that may be more cost effective.

and the 'apples to apples' graphs were a nice touch, one of the few times i thought them very relevant.
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Thanks, glad you enjoyed it :)
 
Great review. Once the 9600GT's drop to around $150 w/o MIR's, I would definitely consider it... if I had an SLI mobo :rolleyes:

I feel sorry for you Brent, you must be completely SICK of these three games by now, lol. I can't imagine that you play video games in your spare time like most of us do :p
 
I too am quite impressed at how well Crysis +1.2 plays on a single 9600GT. Great Article, I'll still keep my 8800 Ultra in the SLI Box for the Time being as teh Graphical experience seems to be nicer on it. But overall, I would have to give some credit to Nvidia for bringing a real winner, to the LowMid Crowd who definately benefit from this Card.
 
SpeedyVV said:
Brent, another very good article.

The thing is, now if you or Kyle say anything bad about SLI we will quote you on this Gold Award ;) for a SLI setup and this quote



Now if nVidia supported multimons with SLI like AMD does, then this would be an awsome setup.
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Exactly my belief, also. More Monitors would be a kick.
 
Citizen86 said:
Great review. Once the 9600GT's drop to around $150 w/o MIR's, I would definitely consider it... if I had an SLI mobo :rolleyes:

I feel sorry for you Brent, you must be completely SICK of these three games by now, lol. I can't imagine that you play video games in your spare time like most of us do :p
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Crysis is still fun to use, very fun, COD 4 is good, I'm tired of UT3 though, but it does look great at 2560x1600.

We definitely need newer games, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 will be out this month, we are going to evaluate gameplay performance on it with video cards, it uses a heavily modified UE3 engine, so perhaps it will replace UT3 for us.
 
Trepidati0n said:
But you have a Q6600 and not all software is optimized to use all four cores. So, by similiarity, is your system a SCAM?
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Alot of 3D rendering and video editing. No, it's no scam. You need a brain check if you're comparing a quad core processor to a SLI.
 
BanDeodorant said:
At least we have the CHOICE, especially those that have 30 inch displays. Less than 100% better perfomance with additional cards is better than not having the technology around.

Anyway, great review!
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This could be done with 1 video card if they choose to.
 
ASIA911 said:
Alot of 3D rendering and video editing. No, it's no scam. You need a brain check if you comparing a quad core processor to a SLI.
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Is it safe to say that you need a brain check if you are calling dual video cards "a SLI"?? SLi is not a product you buy.... ;)
 
Your pricing info is a bit off. The 9600GT might be $150 after rebate, but most places won't let you use two rebates. This means you'll get one at $150, and the other at $180. This puts two of them at ~$330, not $300. Add in the cost of a SLI motherboard and SLI approved PSU, and the cost for a new builder is probably equal. If I was a new builder, I'd probably go with the 8800GTX. You don't have to worry about SLI scaling.
 
4745454b said:
Your pricing info is a bit off. The 9600GT might be $150 after rebate, but most places won't let you use two rebates. This means you'll get one at $150, and the other at $180. This puts two of them at ~$330, not $300. Add in the cost of a SLI motherboard and SLI approved PSU, and the cost for a new builder is probably equal. If I was a new builder, I'd probably go with the 8800GTX. You don't have to worry about SLI scaling.
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If you don't already have a SLI-capable motherboard and power supply, the price for the 9600 GT SLI will actually much, much more than a 8800 GTX, given how much they've come down in price. (Which Brent mentions in the article and I quote: "Of course the one caveat to all of this is that you have to have an NVIDIA nForce chipset based motherboard that supports SLI or you cannot obviously use SLI. You know who you are.")

On the flip side, not all cases can handle the sheer length of a 8800 GTX. In my Lian-Li case, for instance, it simply wouldn't fit, without taking out the hard drive cage at least (fat chance). So if you already have a SLI motherboard, and have too small a case for a GTX, then the situation is reversed and 9600 GT SLI becomes the far more economical choice, even with the small $30 premium for the cards themselves.

If you have too small a case and a non-SLI motherboard (like me), then neither is really practical at this point. The people who really need it though (those with big monitors) probably already have a large case or a SLI motherboard, if not both.
 
Citizen86 said:
GI feel sorry for you Brent, you must be completely SICK of these three games by now, lol.
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Yea seriously.

You have one game that scales like shit with multi-gpu's.

Another game that scales great with mutli-gpu's but isnt stressful enough on the gpu itself to begin with.

And then you have another game that was developed to long ago to be stressful on anything meaningful and also has an fps cap to boot.

Yea Im dying for something new to come out to give the [H] a little more leg room for testing.

As for the review, IMO according to the review given nVidia lives ups to its claim. The thing is you tested a non-stock 9600GT to a stock 8800gtx. That just throws a usless monkey wrench into anotherwise rock solid controlled testing environment.

While the OC's where rather low, the difference between the two setups werent exactly staggering either. Who knows, maybe if you tested a fully stock setup we'd see a much more even'ed out exp. rather than seeing the 9600 taking the crown in fps in most of the tests (which is another thing, i dont care how shitty a game is PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD find another two games) that were ran.
 
ASIA911 said:
This could be done with 1 video card if they choose to.
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No it can't!

Dont take my word for it. Go through a few of the reviews [H]ere and you will see that for the newer games, and even some not so new games, the maximum playable settings is not 2560x1600 with the highest settings.
 
Good job on the review. Choices for gamers are always welcome.
 
What if you increase the AA level without turning the resolution up higher, then, do the SLI cards give an advantage?

If your monitor doesn't go beyond 1920 x 1200 than a 25xx resolution will be utterly useless, but, being able to use higher AA modes is not.

Let's put a little more effort into finding a situation where there may be an advantage for one card or the other, then leave it up to readers whether that particular advantage would be useful to them.

Most PC game players won't have monitors capable of the higher resolutions you test at, but a lot of us would be interested in being able to use higher AA modes at lower resolutions that are supported by our monitors, such as 1680 x 1050, which I didn't even see tested most of the time, dispite it being a very commonly used resolution with 19 - 22" widescreen LCD monitors. I'm sure a LOT more people have monitors running that resolution than either 1920 x 1200 or the even higher resolution you tested at.

SpeedyVV said:
Brent, another very good article.

Now if nVidia supported multimons with SLI like AMD does, then this would be an awsome setup.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't give up the ability to watch a movie on the 2nd monitor while playing a FPS game on the 1st monitor, it's really cool. With my 8800GT I couldn't even get video to playback properly on the 2nd monitor half the time, even without SLI or runing a fullscreen game on the 1st monitor.

--

I hope you don't mind that I usually forget to say something like "great article" ~ I figure enough people say that already I don't need to say it again?
 
I see in a couple of graphs that you have provide, ie Crysis the cards are hitting the 0 FPS line, why isn't this reflected in the minium FPS? Perhaps I am not understanding the graphs correctly.
 
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