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Looking For A Cheap SLI Setup

T

The Doc

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
1,148
I plan on building an Intel SLI rig this summer and I'm looking for a cheap SLI setup. Which card(s) should I go with? This rig will be fully loaded and I may even water-cool it in the future (CPU, both GPU's) Any advice would be helpful.
 
I plan on building an Intel SLI rig this summer and I'm looking for a cheap SLI setup.
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How much is cheap? Intel is yucky (peronal opinion) and it's pretty odd to see a cheap SLI because unless you want to buy the best cards than it would probably be better to go with a single card setup...what kinda stuff you doing with this computer? out of curiousity
 
2 X 6600 GT PCI Express from Pricewatch $320.00 including shipping
2 X 6800 PCI Express from Pricewatch $452.00 including shipping
2 X 6800 GT PCI Express from Pricewatch $646.00 including shipping
2 X 6800 Ultra PCI Express from Pricewatch $980.00 including shipping
2 X 7800 GTX PCI Express from Pricewatch $1,058.00 including shipping

I would not recommend getting the 6600 GTs if you are planning to watercool them.
Get at least 6800s or 6800 GTs.
 
Phranq said:
How much is cheap? Intel is yucky (peronal opinion) and it's pretty odd to see a cheap SLI because unless you want to buy the best cards than it would probably be better to go with a single card setup...what kinda stuff you doing with this computer? out of curiousity
Click to expand...

I'm going with Intel this round because I already have some Corsair 5400UL DDR2 memory that I want to use. I'll be doing a lot of gaming.
 
Why would you buy two 6800GTs when you could buy 1 7800gtx? Just buy 1 gtx and an SLI mobo if you really want it, then upgrade to 2 7800gtx later....single 7800gtx is what $550 now?


Edit:
I'm going with Intel this round because I already have some Corsair 5400UL DDR2
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...I guess you can be forgiven ;) just this once though!
 
Phranq said:
Why would you buy two 6800GTs when you could buy 1 7800gtx? Just buy 1 gtx and an SLI mobo if you really want it, then upgrade to 2 7800gtx later....single 7800gtx is what $550 now?


Edit:


...I guess you can be forgiven ;) just this once though!
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Well, that's very kind of you. :cool:
 
:D

Anyway, how much money you prepared to spend on the video card(s) and/or the mobo/cpu/gpu
 
Motherboards:

Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Socket 775 from Pricewatch $212.00 including shipping
MSI P4N Diamond Socket 775 from Pricewatch $221.98 including shipping
Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI ROYAL Socket 775 from Pricewatch $225.00 including shipping

Intel SLI boards are expensive!

For processors:

You can have from P4 520 2.8Ghz from $137.00 to the Pentium D 840D 3.2Ghz from $987.00.
 
The Doc said:
I'm going with Intel this round because I already have some Corsair 5400UL DDR2 memory that I want to use. I'll be doing a lot of gaming.
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And your rig with that memory, a top Intel proc and the SLI performance in the Intel world will still be less performance than that of an AMD rig for gaming. It's QED with the benchies out there, take a look.

If you'll be primarily "business" or "multimedia production" with occasional gaming, then I can understand this approach.

Guess I can't quite forgive you yet :p
 
why do people always recommend the Gtx when people are looking for something cheap? Your best bet is one 6800gt and go sli later down the road and buy another.
 
why do people always recommend the Gtx when people are looking for something cheap? Your best bet is one 6800gt and go sli later down the road and buy another.
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because you can't read?

I said if you're going to go SLI for something that costs $600 why not get a 7800gtx? He never gave a price...and I never said what I thought was cheap. SLI isn't worth it unless you're going to shell out cash for high end video cards, why go SLI when you can get equal performance with 1 card for cheaper?

I was explaining that SLI is goofy if you go cheap, not recommending a 7800gtx unless that's the price range he was looking for.
 
There is a 6600 non-GT vanilla that can be put in SLi coming out soon. Along with 6200's moddable to 6600's with the SLi connector byt the end of the month. Thats some low budget SLI fun ;)

Intel SLI is just fine, dont let the AMD funboys scare you away.

PS- You guys arent even helping him, he said he wants to make a cheap SLI rig, not 'Convince me to buy a 7800GTX or one 6800GT now and one later.
 
There is a 6600 non-GT vanilla that can be put in SLi coming out soon. Along with 6200's moddable to 6600's with the SLi connector byt the end of the month. Thats some low budget SLI fun
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Yes cheap SLI fun...just not too fun for gaming. You could get a single slot card that runs better than the 6600s in SLI for the same price im quite sure.
 
This is a strange question. For any cheap SLI solution you would probably be able to find a cheaper, faster single card. The only people with cheap SLI should be those who started off with a single cheap card and even that is questionable.
 
HighTest said:
And your rig with that memory, a top Intel proc and the SLI performance in the Intel world will still be less performance than that of an AMD rig for gaming. It's QED with the benchies out there, take a look.

If you'll be primarily "business" or "multimedia production" with occasional gaming, then I can understand this approach.

Guess I can't quite forgive you yet :p
Click to expand...

I know AMD is better for gaming but I have this Corsair 5400UL memory that I want to use therefore due to that Intel is my only option in this case. BTW, I do build AMD rigs too.
 
Phranq said:
Doc...how much $$$ you spending, it's the only real way we can help ya.
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$800-$900

I need the following:

* Motherboard
* Processor
* 2X Video Cards
 
why do you want a cheap sli setup..jsut get a single card thats fast and fits your budget

it may make your E-penis larger if you say to noobs that you have two video cards, but you aren't fooling me :p
 
Dudeyourlame said:
why do you want a cheap sli setup..jsut get a single card thats fast and fits your budget

it may make your E-penis larger if you say to noobs that you have two video cards, but you aren't fooling me :p
Click to expand...

But that defeats the purpose of a cheap SLI setup.
 
The Doc said:
But that defeats the purpose of a cheap SLI setup.
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But the point is, that the cheap SLi can be beat in performance cheaper. Let me tell you from having SLi, there are some games that can't use it and theres profiles and additional driver issues to deal with. If your not doing in on 6800GT's or Ulta's at LEAST its not worth it.

On a 7800GTX yes. On a 6800Ultra/GT yes. 6600GT's NO. I know there are alot of people who own 6600GT's in SLi and that's fine. However for around the same money you could have gotten a more headache free 6800GT and had the option to upgrade that. Roughly equal performance but with added configuration and software issues. Not a wise move at all in my opinion.

For me 6600GT's in SLi leaves you with that "should have got a V-8" of feeling.
 
The Doc said:
But that defeats the purpose of a cheap SLI setup.
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what??!?!

im sure most people would have 1 strong card rather than 2 weak cards

like Sir Fragalot said configuration problems.. like Dual monitors to enable that you have to switch Sli off and then reboot for dual monitors.. pain in the arse. But if that has been Fixed that would be cool
 
I'd rather have 1 6800 GT than 2 6600 GT's.

With an SLI mobo you can always upgrade and get another card for SLI.
 
Brent_Justice said:
I'd rather have 1 6800 GT than 2 6600 GT's.

With an SLI mobo you can always upgrade and get another card for SLI.
Click to expand...
QFTT

Fraglot is trying to get that point across. 1 7800 is cheaper, less problems, and performs better than two GTs in SLI. Is it really that hard of a decision?
 
id have to agree that 1 gtx or 6800ultra would be better cuz if u get 2 cheap cards and they start to become outdated ud have to replace both which is a huge hit when it comes to $$$ i know sli does sound impressive :D but in real life performance is what really matters no? only reason that would make sense of getting a cheap sli setup would be if u want 4 monitors but u did state that this would be for gaming so i doubt this is the case :p but in the end its all up 2 u if u want a cheap sli setup probably dual 6600gts would do
 
The Doc said:
I did, I said $800-$900.
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Buy a 7800gtx now, like a deal from dell (around $500 and prices are dropping already) and wait for another deal or for a price drop. When you are willing to spend almost a grand on video cards why would you choose nothing but the best?? :confused:
 
I was supposed to get 2 Geforce 6800 GTs... then I found out that the 7800GTX is EQUAL and a little bit better in some games than TWO Geforce 6800 Utlras in SLI mode.

Do the math... go for the 7800GTX!!! This baby rocks! ;)
 
you cant get a cpu mb and 2 gtx's for 900.. he said he needed to get the cpu and mb with that $900, i would have to agree with most of the people here tho get a cpu and sli mb, and get a 6800GT now and one down the road or wait till you have another grand in a few years and get 2 of what ever is top of the line then
 
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