Upgrading SLI or New GPU

C

C McCarter

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
Messages
183
Hi,

I am looking to upgrade my graphics and am wondering if it would be better for a cost vs preformance stance to upgrade my motherboard to a 750a SLI and get a second 8800GT or to keep my current motherboard and spend the extra 150ish on a better video card, or wait and upgrade later?
I game at 1920x1200, my rig is in my sig.

Colin
 
You should spend the money on a new video card.

You would get better performance.
 
What?!
TWO 8800gt vs 1 4850 and/or 9800gt? Are you smoking crack?
Get a second 8800gt!
 
Is something wrong with the current gpu and mobo to warrant an upgrade?
I would keep what you got if it works for what you need, buy something in Nov/Dec when prices will surely drop.
 
Just get a gtx260. It matches 8800gt SLI. And thats 1 card, less power, heat, and more fps.
 
C McCarter said:
Hi,

I am looking to upgrade my graphics and am wondering if it would be better for a cost vs preformance stance to upgrade my motherboard to a 750a SLI and get a second 8800GT or to keep my current motherboard and spend the extra 150ish on a better video card, or wait and upgrade later?
I game at 1920x1200, my rig is in my sig.

Colin
Click to expand...

You should sell the 8800GT and get the 4850 or 4870. The 4850 is almost twice as fast as the 8800GT, and the 4870 outperforms the 2x8800GT.
 
Are you sure it's not the M2R32-MVP? Because I haven't been able to find much on your particular board.

If my suspicions are correct, though, your board supports CrossFire, not SLI. Regardless, it may be easier to just replace your 8800GT with a newer, better card (like the HD4870 or the GTX 260) than it is to go for a(n) CrossFire/SLI setup. It's not like the rest of your setup is bad -- and, as noobman alluded to earlier, you could always sell the old card afterwards to recoup some of your costs.
 
tiraides said:
Are you sure it's not the M2R32-MVP? Because I haven't been able to find much on your particular board.

If my suspicions are correct, though, your board supports CrossFire, not SLI. Regardless, it may be easier to just replace your 8800GT with a newer, better card (like the HD4870 or the GTX 260) than it is to go for a(n) CrossFire/SLI setup. It's not like the rest of your setup is bad -- and, as noobman alluded to earlier, you could always sell the old card afterwards to recoup some of your costs.
Click to expand...

That does make quite a difference. Because while 2 8800GT's SLi'd will be better nine times out of ten compared to a 4850, if you cannot use 2 8800GT's then the OP should sell the one he has and get a 4850 for less than net cost as adding a second 8800GT
 
I agree with noobman and tiraides. I would not wanna bother getting another 8800GT along with another mobo. I think it's more of a hassle. I personally would get either a HD4870 or GTX260. The HD4850 is faster than the 8800GT but, I like even more oomph in performance.
 
HardwareGuru said:
I agree with noobman and tiraides. I would not wanna bother getting another 8800GT along with another mobo. I think it's more of a hassle. I personally would get either a HD4870 or GTX260. The HD4850 is faster than the 8800GT but, I like even more oomph in performance.
Click to expand...

Agreed but the OP wanted to spend like 150ish on his gpu
 
My bad. But, I feel it's not worth spending $150 for a HD4850 upgrade from an 8800GT. Depending on what games he plays, he may not get much of a performance difference. A game like Stalker for example, the HD4850 won't be faster than an 8800GT. I would wait and save up just to get an HD4870 or GTX 260.
 
then get a 4850..
what res do you play at? unless you got a 24'LCD, your not going to see huge SLI gains.
 
HardwareGuru said:
My bad. But, I feel it's not worth spending $150 for a HD4850 upgrade from an 8800GT. Depending on what games he plays, he may not get much of a performance difference. A game like Stalker for example, the HD4850 won't be faster than an 8800GT. I would wait and save up just to get an HD4870 or GTX 260.
Click to expand...

Agreed the 4850 is sort of half step up from the 8800gt versus the full step a 4870 would be but sometimes the old $$ makes decisions for us.
 
MrGuvernment said:
then get a 4850..
what res do you play at? unless you got a 24'LCD, your not going to see huge SLI gains.
Click to expand...

Clearly reading comprehension isn't one of your strong points.
I game at 1920x1200, my rig is in my sig.
Click to expand...


If I'm reading your post correctly, the options are either
1) get a 750i and a second 8800GT
or 2) sell the 8800 GT, and spend what you would have spent on a 750i and the second 8800GT on a video card. Looking at probably 75$ with ease if you sell the GT you have, the cost of 750i at 130$, and 100$ if you got the new GT on sale, you have a budget around 300$.

I'd pick up a single GTX 260 if I were you. You might grab a 4870 1GB version, they are nearly even on performance, but the 260 will be cheaper, shouldn't be hard to find it at 220-230AR, less if you try harder.
 
Let's look at things from a price perspective.

What you already have is:

- MOTHERBOARD: Asus M2R32-MPV (or -MVP) -- native CrossFire (AMD/ATI) support
- VIDEO CARD: EVGA (NVIDIA) GeForce 8800GT SC

The following (links) are approximately what you should expect to pay for (though realistically, you would probably be looking for the cheapest deals around):

- A decent, overclocking SLI motherboard ($130) (For the purposes of this argument, I am not recommending an upgrade to an Intel-based build.)
- A second 8800GT (new $165, used $90, and exact model $175)
- A single HD4850 ($155)
- A single 9800GTX/GTX+ ($150/$190)
- A single HD4870 (512MB $260, 1GB $300)
- A single GTX 260 ($265)

(The used price of the 8800GT could also give you an understanding as to how much you could expect to sell it for. For now, let's say that the resell value of both the EVGA 8800GT and the M2R232 are each $90. And for simplicity's sake, let's also assume that the above options all have no tax and free shipping. We're also ignoring any and all mail-in rebate amounts so we could focus on the up-front costs, which I've highlighted in bold.)

Let's look at option #1 - getting a new SLI board and a second (new) 8800GT:

$130 + $165 = $295 - $90 = $205

The realistic approach to option #2 would be to get a better card (let's go with a 512MB HD4870) and then sell your 8800GT:

$260 - $90 = $170

(While this is a gross oversimplification, based on the games you play, anything less than the HD4870 or the GTX 260 may not perform very well at the resolution you're using. Ideally, you would consider a high-end card like the GTX 280 or the HD4870X2, but I'm assuming that you want to spend no more than $300 on your upgrades.)

Let's look at another option -- taking advantage of your motherboard's built-in CrossFire support (with two HD4850 cards):

$155 x 2 = $310 - $90 = $220

The "best" option (under/around $300) would be to go with the 1GB HD4870, since it offers good (if not great) performance at a 1920x1200 resolution while giving you the option to go with a second HD4870 (for CrossFire) later. However, the GTX 260 is a good, (comparatively) cheaper alternative in the single-card front.

The X-factor in all of this is the total amount you're willing to spend up front. If my suspicions are correct, $150 is not enough to make a significant improvement in your visual performance.
 
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