Throw a bone to the newbie!

[splash]

I just built a computer nForce 680i Ultra Socket 775, Intel Q6700 2.66GHz OEM, 250GB SATA HD, 4GB DDR2 PC6400, ATX Mid-Tower Case, 750 Watt Power Supply, Ultra X-Wind / Socket 775 / Copper / CPU Cooling Fan to 3.8ghz, XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX Video Card - 256MB DDR3, PCI Express, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV

My monitor is a Gateway FHD2400

So my question is would SLI with another 8600 GT really be worth it or should I hold on to my 70 buck for a future card?

No games yet, last game I bought was Unreal Tournament.

Is there a website that gives a charting of all these cards showing performance (fps) under certain video settings

THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY INPUT!

 

[Mabrito]

A SLI 8600GT would be a waste IMO. Hold your money for the next generation of cards. If you plan on gaming in the future you probably want to replace that 8600GT with a 9600GT, 8800GT, or higher in general.

 

[dochmbi]

Your graphics card is quite underpowered considering your other system specs. Imo you would be best off waiting for 1 month for the next generation cards to come out and then upgrading. If you get a GTX 280 you will probably more than double your 3d performance.

 

[Diablo2K]

I would say given the fact that your newest game was Unreal Tournament I would hold on to your $70. I think if you do plan on upgradeing I would save up a little more and get yourself a 8800GT 512, that card will do you fine with all the latest games, I dont think 8600Gt 256meg in SLI will benefit you much if at all with the new games, You got to remember, even tho you would have 512meg of video memory w/ 8600GT in SLI, both video cards will have the same thing in there memory, so its not like its being doubled. Its actually being cut in half. The newer games really do need 512meg of video memory.
Everything else in your new system looks awsome!

 

[apoppin]

I would say given the fact that your newest game was Unreal Tournament I would hold on to your $70. I think if you do plan on upgradeing I would save up a little more and get yourself a 8800GT 512, that card will do you fine with all the latest games, I dont think 8600Gt 256meg in SLI will benefit you much if at all with the new games, You got to remember, even tho you would have 512meg of video memory w/ 8600GT in SLI, both video cards will have the same thing in there memory, so its not like its being doubled. Its actually being cut in half. The newer games really do need 512meg of video memory.
Everything else in your new system looks awsome!

excuse me, how does SLi cut the memory in half?

Both GPUs share the same memory. With AMD, if you pair a 256MB card with a 512MB card, the total memory used is 256MB. If you pair 2 - 512MB cards, 512MB total vRAM is used so there is no loss.

However, the 8600 'anything' is horribly underpowered and chokes on any DX10 game. 8800 or 8900 is much better and you can get a new GT for ~$130 that will blow away SLi'd 8600s. AND - to top it off, true performance is here next month with Nvidia's new GT200; what is it, rumored to be more than twice faster than the old 8800GTX ultra; still the single fastest GPU core! My 2900xt Crossfire barely beats it.