A few comp spec questions

dhartz

Hey guys, im just wonderin if i would lets say have 2 8800GTS 320mb cards would that be as good as 1 8800GTX card ? And i have 2gb kingstone ram (i think its a bit above 800hz) so if i installed Vista will i still be able to play COD4 on high without framerate trouble ? I mean sincei  heard Vista takes quite a good bite of your ram .  Oh and will dx10 come to xp ?

nekrothing

Originally posted by dhartz


Hey guys, im just wonderin if i would lets say have 2 8800GTS 320mb cards would that be as good as 1 8800GTX card ? And i have 2gb kingstone ram (i think its a bit above 800hz) so if i installed Vista will i still be able to play COD4 on high without framerate trouble ? I mean sincei  heard Vista takes quite a good bite of your ram .  Oh and will dx10 come to xp ?

The two 8800GTS 320MB cards should be fine compared to a single 8800GTX, but as far as Vista and high quality gaming goes (such as running COD4 on high without frame rate trouble), its 4GBs or bust.

Varlok91

2 8800GTS are not as good as 1 8800GTX.

SLI is only good for really high resolutions. In normal resolutions it usually only gives about a 25% increase in performance.

 

goneglockin

Yes practically any pair of 8800GTS 320MB cards in SLI can outperform a single GTX at high settings/resolutions.  Sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot- differs from game to game as not all are optimized for SLI rigs equally.

I still think it's a bad idea to do right now because of timing.  All sorts of new cards are right around the corner in november- and possibly refreshes of the current 8800s to a better fab process.  The difference between an 80nm GPU and 55nm GPU in terms of heat, efficiency, and power consumption is night and day.

 

dhartz

Originally posted by Varlok91


2 8800GTS are not as good as 1 8800GTX.
SLI is only good for really high resolutions. In normal resolutions it usually only gives about a 25% increase in performance.
 

is 1440x900 high res :x ?

CleffyII

1900 is high res.  GTX always performs better then 2 GTS, except in certain rendering applications optimized for it.  No game is really optimized for SLI and you get at best 25% increase in performance.

goneglockin

1440 x 900 is kinda mid-range.  I see 1600s x 1200s in a lot of benchies now and I've seen some games support 2560 x 1600 for larger monitors.

It's a bad time to buy a graphics card though.  Something faster and cheaper will be out in like 3-6 months.  New cards that not much is known about ARE coming in NOVEMBER.  And all the current top end Nvidia/ATI cards are not revolutionary either.  They are some of the largest cards ever made, using more power and as inefficient as can be.  

A good time to upgrade will be when you see a card that largely outperforms ATI's/Nvidia's current top end and is SMALLER, uses LESS POWER, produces LESS HEAT, and is MORE EFFICIENT.  That's what technological evolution is all about.  Not making these dinosaur monster graphics cards that barely fit inside someone's rig because you and your only competitor in the market are too lazy to innovate.

goneglockin

Originally posted by CleffyII


GTX always performs better then 2 GTS, except in certain rendering applications optimized for it. 

There's plenty of benchmarks available on Google that say otherwise.

Try:  8800 GTS 320 SLI BENCHMARK

 

Varlok91

 

Originally posted by dhartz

Originally posted by Varlok91


2 8800GTS are not as good as 1 8800GTX.
SLI is only good for really high resolutions. In normal resolutions it usually only gives about a 25% increase in performance.
 

is 1440x900 high res :x ?

No, one 8800 GTX card will be better than two 8800GTS cards at that resolution.

An 8800GTX will destroy any game at that resolution, but if you are looking to save some money I suggest the new 8800GT because in all benchmarks I have seen it has beat the 8800GTS and only the 8800GTX seems to top it.

At only $280 it makes the card a really great deal.

Benchmarks - http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/29/geforce_8800_gt/

Card at Newegg - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048+1069633099&Description=8800GT&name=PCI+Express+2.0

 

 

Varlok91

Originally posted by goneglockin


 
Originally posted by CleffyII


GTX always performs better then 2 GTS, except in certain rendering applications optimized for it. 

 

There's plenty of benchmarks available on Google that say otherwise.

Try:  8800 GTS 320 SLI BENCHMARK

 

Even if the SLI setup is better its probably not by much, especially at his resolution.

Considering that you will have to pay more for a power supply and motherboard that can support two cards as well hardly makes it worth it.

Plus if you are going to SLI in vista I hear the drivers are pretty bad as well.

Overall I still advocate one card instead of two even if there is a small performance gain, unless of course as I said earlier you are playing at a high resolution.