Final choice/Hype or practicality?

After exhaustive research Ive narrowed it down to these 2 for my e6700/8800GTX combo.

P5N-32 SLI Deluxe-SLI
P5W-DH Deluxe-non SLI

My determining factor on what I get depends on if I really need SLI for my desires.

I desire: 1280x1024 full AA/HDR, Soft shadows; basically the works for present day and future (Crysis specifically) games.

Since the theory of GPU capability seems to double such as the case with the 8800 GTX vs 7900 GTX, and from what i gathered 1 8800GTX will suffice for my needs is there any real benefit for running an SLI board in my case? other than benchmarks and higher resolution i dont see why i would really NEED it, am i correct in all this?

This is the only thing holding me back, please shed some light on this.

Come fellas, I know you have some sort of an opinion?!

I don't think you'd need SLI. By the time you get around to needing it, you can always just get a new graphics card. 8800GTX is overkill for 1280x1024 now, so it should be able to hold it's own with newer games coming out this year at that res.

As for which of those boards to get, you definitely don't want to get one of the 590 series SLI boards. I'm not sure which Asus board you were looking at as there are several that go by the P5N32 designator. So if you decide on that, make sure you get the 680i (P5N32-E SLI).

I would say those two boards are pretty equal. I have the P5W DH, and don't see any reason to "upgrade" to the 680i board. I'd say take a look at the features and get whichever board has more of what you're looking for.

kirbyrj said:

I don't think you'd need SLI. By the time you get around to needing it, you can always just get a new graphics card. 8800GTX is overkill for 1280x1024 now, so it should be able to hold it's own with newer games coming out this year at that res.

As for which of those boards to get, you definitely don't want to get one of the 590 series SLI boards. I'm not sure which Asus board you were looking at as there are several that go by the P5N32 designator. So if you decide on that, make sure you get the 680i (P5N32-E SLI).

I would say those two boards are pretty equal. I have the P5W DH, and don't see any reason to "upgrade" to the 680i board. I'd say take a look at the features and get whichever board has more of what you're looking for.

Click to expand...

Hey Kirby I was just about to holler at you or Eclipse as i know you 2 now whats going on My thoughts were the same as yours. As far as resolution I have spent the last several days picking out an LCD and Ill be using 1680x1050, should I now reconsider or is that still negligable with my
7900gt?

Thanks man!

nemesis27 said:

Hey Kirby I was just about to holler at you or Eclipse as i know you 2 now whats going on My thoughts were the same as yours. As far as resolution I have spent the last several days picking out an LCD and Ill be using 1680x1050, should I now reconsider or is that still negligable with my
7900gt?

Thanks man!

Click to expand...

Well, that's starting to change things a little bit. You're talking about an increase from 1.3million pixels vs. 1.75 million on the larger panel. If you already have a pair of 7900GT's (I think I saw that in your sig), I'd probably stick with those for the short term in SLI and then see what happens with Crysis, etc. because what you have now will certainly be good enough for most games even at the higher res of your new LCD.

So I guess I'd opt for the SLI board at this point. It's not like the 8800 series prices will go up in the future, so you're only going to save money by waiting a little longer (or you'll end up with a newer R600 or 8900 card).

If you only have a single 7900GT, that might be a little different. I'd think about going with a single 8800GTS and then possibly buying a second for SLI when the newer games hit (or 8800GTX now if you have the money). I just can't imagine that Crysis and initial DX10 games are going to be so powerful that an SLI pair of 8800GTS/X won't be able to handle it on a 1680x1050 panel.

SLI will go the way of the dodo bird and the VESA local bus.

Sooner or later you will see dual core GPU's on the market and when you do nobody will go to the hassle of setting up SLI. Having two video cards is just more heat, requires bigger power supply (more heat again) and a more crowded motherboard (more heat yet again)

Just my 2c

wdn said:

SLI will go the way of the dodo bird and the VESA local bus.

Sooner or later you will see dual core GPU's on the market and when you do nobody will go to the hassle of setting up SLI. Having two video cards is just more heat, requires bigger power supply (more heat again) and a more crowded motherboard (more heat yet again)

Just my 2c

Click to expand...

Yeah... besides all the problems that sli causes, I think the real deal breaker for people building new systems, is that not only is one single card of the next generation faster, but it's cheaper then two of the lower generation too. The only real use I can see for sli is if you need the most power possible, and sli some 8800gtx's.

dual core cards come soon

that will be great

you have idea when they hit market maybe