SLi / Nvidia Chipset - worth it anymore?

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PKZero

Limp Gawd
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Dec 26, 2005
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I am in the process of pricing out parts for a new build. First, I am thinking of making the switch from AMD to Intel on this one. I have 2 8800GT OC’s running at the moment and I really haven’t seen a huge performance increase that justified the price I paid when they came out. My second question is, with all the AMD and Intel chipset options available, are current Nvidia chipsets with SLi capabilities even beneficial? Or are the AMD/Intel chipsets with a single card option just as good? I wouldn’t be completely against splitting off one of the 8800GT’s into another machine since newer video cards are fairly reasonably priced these days if SLi is not as high performance any longer. Thanks in advance.
 
With higher detail settings in higher resolutions (>1680x1050), the benchmarks I see still show SLI is pretty beneficial. It all depends on what you want though. Only you can make the decision based on what resolution/detail you like to game, how often you game, how critical you are about frames per second, etc.
 
If you go Intel, do /not/ get /any/ SLI board save for a 790i / 790i Ultra or EVGA 750i SLI FTW. Trust me on this -- I've been through 6 680is and 2 780is. The 790i and 750i are the only current Nvidia chipsets I'd /ever/ trust on the Intel side of things.

Building AMD right now would probably be a poor decision. It'd be different if you were considering Phenom 2, but... as of right now, they have nothing that even begins to compete with Core2, and i7 is just that much farther ahead.

Your best (but most work-intensive) option, I think, would be to sell both your 8800 GTs and buy a single GTX 280 or 4870X2 and a P45 based board like the ASUS P5Q Pro or one of the Gigabyte P45s.
 
sli is still a viable platform provided you don't mind paying for $250 board.
 
i wouldnt do sli on an nvidia chipset just because i had bad luck with them, but if i was on a budget and didnt mind trying to work out the kinks i would prolly look at the 750i.
 
the most recent cards are so powerful, it almost puts SLI out of the picture. These days SLI is not performing quite as well as ATI Crossfire. And honestly, you don't even really need crossfire either...
So, if you want top speed, go with Intel CPU and Intel MOBO and AMD Radeon 48xx - if you want to keep the options open for crossfire at a later date, just be sure the board has extra PCIe and supports it.
cheers!
 
Servant of Shodan said:
the most recent cards are so powerful, it almost puts SLI out of the picture. These days SLI is not performing quite as well as ATI Crossfire. And honestly, you don't even really need crossfire either...
So, if you want top speed, go with Intel CPU and Intel MOBO and AMD Radeon 48xx - if you want to keep the options open for crossfire at a later date, just be sure the board has extra PCIe and supports it.
cheers!
Click to expand...

oh really. 1920x1200 scales well in sli. (hope crossposting is allowed, sorry if it isn't)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-gaming,2061-7.html

image013.png
 
Mega666 said:
oh really. 1920x1200 scales well in sli. (hope crossposting is allowed, sorry if it isn't)

*nice graph*
Click to expand...

Sure, it varies from game to game. I'm no fanboi of either breed (although I've only bought AMD CPUs for myself for past 6 years - I buy Intel CPUs for all the builds I make for other people). If you play tons of Crysis, go ahead, get the Nvidia.

It is my belief though that the Radeon 4870 is the better well-rounded GPU at this time.
:)
 
silent-circuit said:
If you go Intel, do /not/ get /any/ SLI board save for a 790i / 790i Ultra or EVGA 750i SLI FTW. Trust me on this -- I've been through 6 680is and 2 780is. The 790i and 750i are the only current Nvidia chipsets I'd /ever/ trust on the Intel side of things.

Building AMD right now would probably be a poor decision. It'd be different if you were considering Phenom 2, but... as of right now, they have nothing that even begins to compete with Core2, and i7 is just that much farther ahead.

Your best (but most work-intensive) option, I think, would be to sell both your 8800 GTs and buy a single GTX 280 or 4870X2 and a P45 based board like the ASUS P5Q Pro or one of the Gigabyte P45s.
Click to expand...

I agree with all that. I have an EVGA 750i SLI FTW and it's one of the best boards I've ever owned. AMD is far far behind right now. I had an Athlon 64 X2 6400+ and my new E8500 absolutely crushes it performance wise. I have two 8800GTs now but I would love to upgrade to 280s soon.
 
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