7800GT SLI vs one 7800GTX

[Veech]

Hi all,

My first post here.

I'm looking to build an upgraded gaming system, FEAR is bogging down my current system.

I'm considering the Asus A8N32-SLI board with the Athlon64 4000+ and 2GB RAM. I could get one GTX card for about $470, or 2 GT cards for about $700. Maximum PC's November issue compared benchmarks of both configurations, and it looked as though 2 GTs can really kick one GTX's bootie.. 2 - BFG 7800 GTs in SLI hit 11,047 3Dmark05, where one PNY 7800 GTX hit only 7648 3Dmark05.

The Asus Extreme N7800 GTX hit 8560 3Dmark05, but it was really expensive.

$650 is really pushing my budget for video cards, but I have a theory, based on Max PC, that 2 - GTs will give more bang for buck thatn one GTX.

Any other opinions?

thanks!

Veech

 

[shinzwei]

Why not buy 1 GTX and save up for a 2nd GTX

 

[moonboy403]

why not wait till the ultra version of 7800 comes out??
i'm pretty sure that it'll cost less than $650
and would be kicking any video card's ass

 

[biff 24 2000]

Originally posted by: moonboy403
why not wait till the ultra version of 7800 comes out??

 

[nitromullet]

Grab yourself two of these...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...details.asp?EdpNo=1549681&Sku=B52-1030

...that's much closer to $600 than $700 for dual GT's.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
Grab yourself two of these...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...details.asp?EdpNo=1549681&Sku=B52-1030

...that's much closer to $600 than $700 for dual GT's.

Holy Crap that's a great deal!

 

[Crescent13]

Don't get a 4000+. It's a waste of money. Either get a 3700+ and overclock to 4000+ speeds, or get a 3800+ dual core.

 

[Unkno]

X2 3800+ FTW.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Crescent13
Don't get a 4000+. It's a waste of money. Either get a 3700+ and overclock to 4000+ speeds, or get a 3800+ dual core.

Not everyone OCs. (I don't, for example)

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
Grab yourself two of these...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...details.asp?EdpNo=1549681&Sku=B52-1030

...that's much closer to $600 than $700 for dual GT's.

CRAAAAAAP!!!! Yeaarrrgghh even!!!. That is the best deal going right now. By far.

 

[sgentry6]

TigerDirect is horrendous for rebates.

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: sgentry6
TigerDirect is horrendous for rebates.

I've gotten 3 HDD rebates without any hassle just to let you know. (all were purchased this year)

To the OP, what size is your monitor? Unless you have a ridiculusly huge screen I doubt a SLI system is necessary.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: nitromullet
Grab yourself two of these...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...details.asp?EdpNo=1549681&Sku=B52-1030

...that's much closer to $600 than $700 for dual GT's.

CRAAAAAAP!!!! Yeaarrrgghh even!!!. That is the best deal going right now. By far.

Yep it is, but it's not my find... I have to give credit where credit is due.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1715382&enterthread=y

nice find kurt454

 

[Veech]

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks

Originally posted by: sgentry6
TigerDirect is horrendous for rebates.

I've gotten 3 HDD rebates without any hassle just to let you know. (all were purchased this year)

To the OP, what size is your monitor? Unless you have a ridiculusly huge screen I doubt a SLI system is necessary.

Just a 17" CRT, but I've been patiently waiting for that crack Dell 24" FP to go on sale for $750 or so, as it was a few months ago, the one everyone raves about. But other than that, I'll probably just upgrade to a 20" FP screen sometime in the future.

Is SLI wasted on 17" or 19" CRT? That's the first i've heard about it. I thought SLI would allow running everything at max settings... no?

 

[Veech]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
Grab yourself two of these...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...details.asp?EdpNo=1549681&Sku=B52-1030

...that's much closer to $600 than $700 for dual GT's.

Wow, Thanks for that info!! But am I on the right track that 2 GTs in SLI are significantly better bang for buck than 1 GTX?

 

[Veech]

Originally posted by: moonboy403
why not wait till the ultra version of 7800 comes out??
i'm pretty sure that it'll cost less than $650
and would be kicking any video card's ass

but will it kick 2 GTs in SLI?

 

[Veech]

Originally posted by: Unkno
X2 3800+ FTW.

FTW?

yeah, I don't OC much.. but a dual core really is most beneficial for running 2 apps at once, correct? I generally don't do that. I may burn a CD and surf the net at the same time, but that's about it. When I'm gaming, that's the only app I'll have open.

 

[anandtechrocks]

I think you should definately go 3800+ X2. Dual core is the future and it's not worth it to blow $400.00 on a single core chip.

NVidia's new Forceware 80.xx series drivers take advantage of dual core, Unreal Engine 3 is going to be optimized for dual core PCs, Windows Vista is developed around dual core technology, and many more software developers will follow suit.

The way I see it you are always multi-tasking. Playing a game while having an anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, and other programs such as FRAPs, or Ventrillo will undoubtebly favor a dual core system.

At this point in software and hardware development, why anyone would not buy a Dual Core chip when looking to buy a $300-400 processor is beyond me.

 

[Veech]

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
I think you should definately go 3800+ X2. Dual core is the future and it's not worth it to blow $400.00 on a single core chip.

NVidia's new Forceware 80.xx series drivers take advantage of dual core, Unreal Engine 3 is going to be optimized for dual core PCs, Windows Vista is developed around dual core technology, and many more software developers will follow suit.

The way I see it you are always multi-tasking. Playing a game while having an anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, and other programs such as FRAPs, or Ventrillo will undoubtebly favor a dual core system.

At this point in software and hardware development, why anyone would not buy a Dual Core chip when looking to buy a $300-400 processor is beyond me.

Point taken. Is the 3800+ X2 comparable in performance to the 4000+ in gaming?

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Veech

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
I think you should definately go 3800+ X2. Dual core is the future and it's not worth it to blow $400.00 on a single core chip.

NVidia's new Forceware 80.xx series drivers take advantage of dual core, Unreal Engine 3 is going to be optimized for dual core PCs, Windows Vista is developed around dual core technology, and many more software developers will follow suit.

The way I see it you are always multi-tasking. Playing a game while having an anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, and other programs such as FRAPs, or Ventrillo will undoubtebly favor a dual core system.

At this point in software and hardware development, why anyone would not buy a Dual Core chip when looking to buy a $300-400 processor is beyond me.

Point taken. Is the 3800+ X2 comparable in performance to the 4000+ in gaming?

I think the 3800+ X2 will be a touch slower than a 4000+ in gaming.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Veech

Originally posted by: moonboy403
why not wait till the ultra version of 7800 comes out??
i'm pretty sure that it'll cost less than $650
and would be kicking any video card's ass

but will it kick 2 GTs in SLI?

That is a tough question to answer... IMO, I would not imagine that an Ultra would out perform two GT's in most situations. That being said, the Ultra may come with 512MB of RAM, which will do two things: 1) make it really expensive 2) we might soon be to the point where 512MB of video RAM actually makes a difference, so it could help. The thing is, you're attemtping to compare two different things. On one hand you have an excellent value for a very high performing dual card set up. On the other, you are looking at a card that has not yet even been officially announced. All I can tell you is that a dual 7800GT SLI rig is the best high end, high performance bang/buck rig you can buy right now. No one can tell you what NVIDIA has up it's sleeve for the Ultra, no matter how much they speculate.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: Veech
Is SLI wasted on 17" or 19" CRT?

Yeah, it kinda is. Just because with a 17" or 19", even the best 17" and 19", 1600x1200 resolution is usually at lower refresh rates, if supported at all. At resolutions lower than 16x12, SLI doesn't really get much of a workout (though a case can be made for particular games here and there and using SLI Antialiasing with a lower res).

To get back to your original question, comparing 7800GT SLI to single GTX, anandtech has benchmarks here.

BF2 1600x1200 4xAA
GTX..........66
2xGT........88

BF2 2048x1536 4xAA
GTX..........42
2xGT........71

Doom3 1600x1200 4xAA
GTX..........54
2xGT........68

Doom3 2048x1536 4xAA
GTX..........35
2xGT........46

An interesting one here:
HL2 2048x1536 4xAA
GTX.........89
2xGT.......82
Splinter Cell's results are similar with a single GTX being equal to SLI GTs.

It's just like with any comparison nowadays... there will be benchmarks that show SLI is better, and benchmarks that will show a single card being better. My opinion, for your situation with a smaller CRT, get a single GT. If you can wait til November, see what ATI's XTs do to the market, as well as nV's 7800 Ultra. Those new cards may drive down the price of the GTX, which would make it a more attractive buy IF you get that LCD.

 

[daniel1113]

I had to make the same choice 2 weeks ago, and ended up going with the single GTX. Not only does this leave room for an upgrade later on, but avoids all the issues with SLI for the time being while the kinks are worked out. Plus, a single GTX is sufficient for any game out there at the current moment.

 

[Veech]

Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel

Originally posted by: Veech
Is SLI wasted on 17" or 19" CRT?

Yeah, it kinda is. Just because with a 17" or 19", even the best 17" and 19", 1600x1200 resolution is usually at lower refresh rates, if supported at all. At resolutions lower than 16x12, SLI doesn't really get much of a workout (though a case can be made for particular games here and there and using SLI Antialiasing with a lower res).
*snip*
It's just like with any comparison nowadays... there will be benchmarks that show SLI is better, and benchmarks that will show a single card being better. My opinion, for your situation with a smaller CRT, get a single GT. If you can wait til November, see what ATI's XTs do to the market, as well as nV's 7800 Ultra. Those new cards may drive down the price of the GTX, which would make it a more attractive buy IF you get that LCD.

hmm... November, eh? Just my luck the new video cards will be *just enough* faster to make me want them. ugh!

welp, there are a lot of things to consider here, not the least of which is whether to get an X2 Athlon CPU. I probably will, but will probably get a higher rated one since I'm not a big fan of overclocking.

In my current system: P4 3.0, Asus P4C800-E & 9800 AIW Pro 128MB card, I am experiencing stuttering in FEAR. One problem may be my RAM, so I ordered 2GB (2 x 1GB) of Corsair PC3200, and will pop that in and see if that helps the problem.

I plan to migrate that 2GB RAM into my new system which at this point I intend to be the Asus A8N-SLI board with (probably) an X2 Athlon CPU. I like the argument that going with one GTX card leave room for an upgrade down the road, especially considering that prices *may* come down in the next few weeks on these cards.

So for now, I'm hoping that the RAM upgrade will help performance, and hold me over until late November.

So now, I'll head over to the CPU forum and figure out which CPU will best suit my needs...

thanks all!

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: sgentry6
TigerDirect is horrendous for rebates.

Who cares? They are still only 320 without the rebates. Although "3dFuzion" doesn't really sound like a reputable company.