Does SLI Affect Overclock?

S

sdlvx

Gawd
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Dec 9, 2007
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The price of the 8800GTS 320MBs have came down to about 200 dollars on newegg. I have found this tempting, but I have my system pretty heavily overclocked, and I was wondering if adding an extra card will place strain on the chipset and cause it to be less stable at the currently overclocked speeds. I searched google, and the forum, and I found nothing on this issue. So I guess it's either a really good question, or a really stupid one.

System Specs:

Opteron 165 @ 2.91Ghz (323mhz * 9)
Asus A8N32-SLI (nForce4 Chipset)
EVGA 8800 GTS 320MB (g80)
2GB DDR1 G. Skill

I should mention that I think that the chipset is already at it's limit. I have tried lowering the CPU multiplier and raising the system clock by 10mhz, and I would not get a boot. I realize it could be a lot of things, but that kind of has me concerned.

Here's a dump of my cpuz.txt
http://pastebin.ca/902486
 
with the exact same mobo and cpu as you i've upgraded to two 7900 gto's last year and i found it made no difference in my overclock what so ever.

*however*

and extra card can dump more heat into your case especially onto the southbridge which just goes right up that nice heatpipe to the northbridge as well. i find my mobo makes the computer restart randomly at around 45ºC so check your mobo temps.

other than that, should affect it. SLI will affect your video card overclock though. remember, you can only go as fast as the slowest one since they have to be overclocked together.

best of luck.
 
The only effect I've ever seen multiple video cards have on overclocking is increased ambient heat inside the case. Even if you have to backdown your overclock the second video card will more than make up for that in games.

However I wouldn't buy an 8800GTS 320MB at this point. I'd go ahead and grab an 8800GT instead. I've seen EVGA 8800GT 512MB Superclocked cards for $229.99. Unfortunately going SLI you'll be limited by the small 320MB frame buffer.
 
Dan_D said:
However I wouldn't buy an 8800GTS 320MB at this point. I'd go ahead and grab an 8800GT instead. I've seen EVGA 8800GT 512MB Superclocked cards for $229.99. Unfortunately going SLI you'll be limited by the small 320MB frame buffer.
Click to expand...

So I can mix and match a little with SLI?

I'm not on a super high res screen, but I'd like to jack up the AA and AF, and the FPS dips in the heat of battle, and I know it's not CPU limited, because I look at the task manager CPU graph thing when I play, and both cores aren't maxed out (unless I'm playing something like Crysis).
 
sdlvx said:
So I can mix and match a little with SLI?

I'm not on a super high res screen, but I'd like to jack up the AA and AF, and the FPS dips in the heat of battle, and I know it's not CPU limited, because I look at the task manager CPU graph thing when I play, and both cores aren't maxed out (unless I'm playing something like Crysis).
Click to expand...

No. You'd need to remove the 320MB 8800GTS. The 8800GT performs far better than a single 8800GTS 320MB and will remove the limitations imposed on your machine by having only a 320MB frame buffer. If you want to increase AA and AF then 320MB won't cut it. BTW both cores not being maxed out doesn't mean you aren't CPU limited. Computers are ALWAYS CPU limited.
 
sell off the 320mb 8800gts and pick up 2 8800gt's and you are set.
 
Modred189 said:
I don't KNOW this, but I have a feeling the ONE 8800GT would be better than the 2 8800GTS 320's, especially in the area of AA and AF. I guess it depends on what resolution you are running at.
I would also check out this link from hard deals forum:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1273538
Click to expand...

Well the 8800GTS's in SLI would be faster but would probably start to faulter at high resolution especially when AA and AF are used. The lack of physical memory will be their achillies heel.
 
I found a great improvement over my old 8800GTS 320MB to my new 8800GT 512MB, running a resolution of 1680x1050, got myself I nice boost of 20-30FPS in all my games, expect crysis. I sold my 8800GTS 320MB for $175 and bought the 8800GT for $220 shipped.

It all depends on your resolution and how much AA you want to put on.
 
Only other thing you have to worry about is whether your psu is powerful enough.
 
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