General Hardware and Software

[MkKul]

There are people who think that SLI is great but others think that it is waiste of money. What if you try to actually save money through SLI. Instead of getting one expensive card such as 6800Ultra or x800XT, you get two 6600. What would you think would be faster, two 128mb 6600 or a single 6800GT or x800Pro? If you have two 128mb vid cards, would it be the same as having a 256 vid card? I heard that in order for you to play Doom3 on Max graphics, you need a 512mb vid card. Would two 256mb vid cards allow you to play Doom3 on Max settings?

[webo]

I've heard SLi works really well. PCworld reviewed it, and I think it did outperform those other cards. I can't give you the specifics since I don't have it with me.

[MkKul]

most of the reviews online tested SLI config with 6800Ultras, which for the MOBO and 2 cards would be over $1000. I didnt come by any review with slightly slower vid cards.

[Gimpy]

the way i understand sli, the two 128mb 6600's would show higher performance than a single 256mb card. the number of pipelines through the sli would be greater than those on a single card. the sli should run cooler than the single card but at the same time you will need more wattage to fire up both cards

[MkKul]

I saw a few tests that showed that single 6800Ultra was better than SLI with 6800Ultras. I think this is so because not all games compleatly support SLI but i really would not like to pay more for less.

[ancient46]

Anand Tech has an extensive test article on SLI. They tested the 6800 GT, 6800 Ultra and the 6600 GT, and compared them to the single card performance. The 6600 SLI performed about on a par with a single 6800 GT which prompted the recommendation to buy one 6800 now and go SLI later.

See http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2284&p=1

[MkKul]

if i would go with a single card then i would most likely get x800XL caz it performs just as well as 6800GT but costs $100 less. On the other hand, since its from ATI, there is no way to set it up to SLI config.

[theelviscerator]

sli is only for .1% of the country at most..

If you arent a Harcore gamer who wants to build a new system and spend several thousand dollars doing it just get a good single slot solution.

[MkKul]

i am however a PC Gamer and am looking at A64FX-55 for the next CPU, and a good but not too expensive vid card to complement my CPU.