Why SLI isn't worth the $$$

[FragMagnet]

But in most consumer applications you would be running on 1 cpu. but running multi-apps could/should benefit. With dual cpu's iirc, Q3 was the only game that showed a benefit, and it was in the 1-2% range. I hope the developers start looking at this soon, as XP should be close. Once we see the graphics work on one cpu, and the AI on the other it should show benefits.

 

[BossNoodleKaboodle]

The thing I really don't understand is why GPU's are SO much more powerful and have so much higher bandwidth than CPUs. Their core clocks are lower, but they move so much more data in and out. Why don't we have 256bit CPUs if we have 256bit GPU cores?

 

[BullseyeBob]

lol^

256-bit memory interface

 

[Elios]

quad channel mem that would be cool i think there are some CPUs that have the Sun Spark comes to mind that would be a cool thing for Dual core A64s lol each core with Dual channel mem that would be hellish fast add SLied NV50's and that would be a UBER UBER PC

 

[Chris_Morley]

I seriously doubt u can make a card go from singl link DVI to dual link with a BIOS update. Most likely it's a hardware thing and it costs to much to implement on consumer videocards (hence only professional grade ones get it)

As for SLI'ing Quadros, all the more power to you - but prices on even regular pci-e 6800s are cranked up too much, quadro prices are not for consumers either. I don't think u can budged 2 latest gen quadros in 1k, it's prolly cost more than that Apple 30" LCD

All we sell is workstations. On average, they cost well over $4K. When I was an account exec, I sold graphic workstations to the tune of $10K and HD editing stations for $25K. There's a market for it, believe me, we're neck deep in it.

 

[Dan_D]

Check this out:

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njk2LDU=

Now I am not sure what the minimum of three FPS is all about, however I suspect it has to do with the all too familiar stuttering problems with HL2. Either way 266FPS in HL2 is BADASS. Especially at 1600x1200 4xAA and 16xAF.

My monitor goes to 2048x1536. It would be superbadass to have a game playable as such resolutions. SLi makes that kind of visual quality possible on a desktop computer.

SLi isn't needed. Nor are 6800Ultra's or GT's. Some of us want the best and most powerfull computer hardware. Me personally I like the best gaming experience I can get. So SLi is worth it to me.

Which is why I went PCI-E in the first place.

 

[Chris_Morley]

Check this out:

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njk2LDU=

Now I am not sure what the minimum of three FPS is all about, however I suspect it has to do with the all too familiar stuttering problems with HL2. Either way 266FPS in HL2 is BADASS. Especially at 1600x1200 4xAA and 16xAF.

My monitor goes to 2048x1536. It would be superbadass to have a game playable as such resolutions. SLi makes that kind of visual quality possible on a desktop computer.

SLi isn't needed. Nor are 6800Ultra's or GT's. Some of us want the best and most powerfull computer hardware. Me personally I like the best gaming experience I can get. So SLi is worth it to me.

Which is why I went PCI-E in the first place.

But your motherboard only has one PCI-E slot? Shoulda waited for the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe.

 

[undertheradar]

With the last few posts, it makes me think about the 'power-user' computer in general. Since PC games are starting to capture the attention of major development houses and catching mainstream (I have seen more PC game commercials this year than any before...not console, but PC...Im sure in no small part due to some major titles coming out all at once). Some of these titles are actually challenging the hardware that is not 2 years old...but new. It seems that parts are getting more expensive and powerful. A few years ago a top of the line rig would have say...a Ti4600 GPU...$400 at most brand new. Now, our premium rig would be a dual 6800U setup ringing in at up to $1000 for the cards alone, running on a mobo costing twice as much of what one without SLI would be. Ram isnt getting cheaper...not like it used to be. $300 sometimes for a gig of decent memory. Premium chips are slowing down so much that the top models are holding their prices longer...$800 or more for some. Our gaming rigs are beginning to look more like workstations...and being prices to match. My new rig cost me close to $2000 for me to DIY. Raptors, 6800Ultra, A64 3500, 1Gig RAM, Lian Li case, reuse existing water cooling, audigy2 plat pro sound, etc. And thats nothing. A few years ago, $2000 would buy you a premium Alienware or Falcon...Ok, maybe not quite the top, but almost. Now that bar is up around $6000. Hardware manufacturers know we are hooked and will pay through the nose for our game playing...but how much higher will they go? If my next computer that I build for myself (I make a new game rig every 2 years) costs me $4000 I am going to seriously consider other options.... I remember when parts on pricewatch really were half of what they were at the local store. What happened?

 

[quicksilverXP]

I've got SLI right now with 2 6800GTs from Chumbo... both bought for exactly 800 dollars.... about 50 dollars more than for what I paid for for a true BBATI X850XT PE. I can tell you right now that for a 2005FP or simillar monitor, the X850XT PE cannot hold its own against SLI. But seriously, if you are an avid gamer, and want a good gameplay experience, then you wouldn't even THINK about playing games at 1024 or even 1280 as that would be a complete waste. If you haven't gamed at 1600 or above you are missing out bigtime.

 

[PvP-ForLife]

If you haven't gamed at 1600 or above you are missing out bigtime.

I play all games with 8x AA, 16x AF@ 1280X1024, only on a 6800 ultra with a 2.4c, the thing you said above denotes to things:
1. you're a rich and spoiled brat that tryes to find some excuse for his waste of money on something that dosn;t worth
2. you're an idiot

 

[Wolf-R1]

to you it isnt worth it...to others it is..when will poeple figure this out?

Obvious...


...or at least it should be.

 

[Dan_D]

I play all games with 8x AA, 16x AF@ 1280X1024, only on a 6800 ultra with a 2.4c, the thing you said above denotes to things:
1. you're a rich and spoiled brat that tryes to find some excuse for his waste of money on something that dosn;t worth
2. you're an idiot

It's an opinion. That doesn't make him a spoiled rich brat for that. I prefer playing at 1600x1200 myself. Does that make me spoiled or rich.

1.) The fact that he spent that much money on computer parts makes him more well off than most of us. That's no reason to talk to him like that and discount his opinion.

2.) How does that make him and idiot? The fact that he has a different opinion than you do doesn't make him an idiot.

8x AA, 16x AF@ 1280X1024, only on a 6800 ultra with a 2.4c? <---I hope that's seriously overclocked, otherwise you're looking at a slideshow. 8x AA is too much of a performance hit. Even at 1280x1024 on a 6800Ultra, unless your CPU's pushing past 3.6GHz on an overclock I wouldn't call that playable personally. That's my opinion.

I like 1600x1200 with 4xAA and 16X AF or sometimes 8X AF depending on performance. Does that make me an idiot? No it means what I consider a playable gaming experience and what you consider a playable experience are two different things.

Some of us like SLi and think it's worth the money.

 

[Wolf-R1]

I play all games with 8x AA, 16x AF@ 1280X1024, only on a 6800 ultra with a 2.4c, the thing you said above denotes to things:
1. you're a rich and spoiled brat that tryes to find some excuse for his waste of money on something that dosn;t worth
2. you're an idiot

You forgot the last option:

3. You enjoy the generally accepted 'highest' resolution available for today's PCs and think that everyone else should be able to view/play games with this resolution because it's fantastic!

Oh wait...maybe he's an idiot because he has his own opinion and values it enough to share it.

 

[tranCendenZ]

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041222/index.html

Just look at the scores. Not nearly marginal enough for me to spend about $1000 on graphics cards.

Might not be worth it to you, but some are willing to pay top price for the fastest computer graphics in the world. Some people will buy it simply because its the only graphics setup that will currently allow you to play Doom3 at 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF at 60+ fps.

Some might equally say that anything more than a GeForce MX400 is "not worth it," it really depends on your own personal preferences and priorities.

 

[Wolf-R1]

It's an opinion. That doesn't make him a spoiled rich brat for that. I prefer playing at 1600x1200 myself. Does that make me spoiled or rich.

1.) The fact that he spent that much money on computer parts makes him more well off than most of us. That's no reason to talk to him like that and discount his opinion.

2.) How does that make him and idiot? The fact that he has a different opinion than you do doesn't make him an idiot.

8x AA, 16x AF@ 1280X1024, only on a 6800 ultra with a 2.4c? <---I hope that's seriously overclocked, otherwise you're looking at a slideshow. 8x AA is too much of a performance hit. Even at 1280x1024 on a 6800Ultra, unless your CPU's pushing past 3.6GHz on an overclock I wouldn't call that playable personally. That's my opinion.

I like 1600x1200 with 4xAA and 16X AF or sometimes 8X AF depending on performance. Does that make me an idiot? No it means what I consider a playable gaming experience and what you consider a playable experience are two different things.

Some of us like SLi and think it's worth the money.

The problem with the [H] Forum is that there are too many "haters" on it and they can't seem to be open minded about things and just accept that there's more out there than the little box they put themselves into.

Why can't discussions like these be devoid of the crap that gets put into them and just be discussions on the topic at hand?

 

[Dan_D]

You forgot the last option:

3. You enjoy the generally accepted 'highest' resolution available for today's PCs and think that everyone else should be able to view/play games with this resolution because it's fantastic!

Oh wait...maybe he's an idiot because he has his own opinion and values it enough to share it.

Sharing an opinion is fine. Flaming someone for theirs and flaming them for their financial situtation being better than your average person, isn't right.

 

[texuspete00]

Hey I just read the subject. Hey guess what -> No one gives a crap what you think. BTW I'm a professional watermelon seed spitter. HEEHAWWW.... hey is for horses. Why do people start threads like this? Say it with me, altogether.... sing it from the rooftops! No One Cares!

 

[Wolf-R1]

Sharing an opinion is fine. Flaming someone for theirs and flaming them for their financial situtation being better than your average person, isn't right.

Absolutely...falls back to the last post I made about "haters".

 

[texuspete00]

I juz got SLI but ur right... dum of me to spend 1k on graphix without looking at the benchimacs. Still enuff time for me to RMA all the gear.... after the 15% restocker fee I wil still have enuff monies to buy a XTE on eboy. Thanx for unlighting me. Nut to self: rember to chek Tom's b4 spending me loot.

 

[Ballz2TheWallz]

sli is completly cpu limited even at high resolutions for dual 6800ultras, mabey if they coded a game that could take advantage of dual cpus and run a dual operton system(like $1200 for EACH processor i guess)with sli i guess you would see its true preformance

 

[Fury109]

Might not be worth it to you, but some are willing to pay top price for the fastest computer graphics in the world. Some people will buy it simply because its the only graphics setup that will currently allow you to play Doom3 at 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF at 60+ fps.

Some might equally say that anything more than a GeForce MX400 is "not worth it," it really depends on your own personal preferences and priorities.

I totally agree here, I'd love to run FarCry at max res, max setting pushing playable frames (60 average is reasonable for online play). Right now the only system that offers that is a SLI config or possibly a wildly overclocked machine. Of course SLI is a total luxury and currently I have to settle for less res and less eye candy to get the FPS I need for an enjoyable experience. But SLI is definately worth the money because you get gaming options not available in a single card solution.

Ballz2TheWallz-

SLI isn't cpu limited in every case, check the mentioned Doom3 or FarCry at max settings

 

[Ballz2TheWallz]

I totally agree here, I'd love to run FarCry at max res, max setting pushing playable frames (60 average is reasonable for online play). Right now the only system that offers that is a SLI config or possibly a wildly overclocked machine. Of course SLI is a total luxury and currently I have to settle for less res and less eye candy to get the FPS I need for an enjoyable experience. But SLI is definately worth the money because you get gaming options not available in a single card solution.

Ballz2TheWallz-

SLI isn't cpu limited in every case, check the mentioned Doom3 or FarCry at max settings

i still belive it could do much better w/ faster cpus

 

[Fury109]

Couldn't we all do better with faster cpu's

I sure could, im running a A64 2800+ at 2.2 LOL

 

[Ballz2TheWallz]

Couldn't we all do better with faster cpu's

I sure could, im running a A64 2800+ at 2.2 LOL

lol well im talking bottleneck, i dunno about the rest of your system but until we see dual core processors cpu's along with harddrives will be the bottleneck followed by AGP then once they are phased out i see pci-e cards bottlenecking the rest of the system and once vid cards get faster again we repeat said cycle

 

[geekcomputing]

sli is not aimed at teh mainstream.. its aimed at teh person that buys a corvette or a custom car.

 

[Sly]

Uh... AFAIK, SLI is that 'extra' mile for the ones who want the absolute best edge. The elite gets the fastest card there is, the elite of the elite gets two of them.

It's like what the guy above me said