9600GT SLI

[jjzelinski]

For about the price of an 8800GTS I'll be running two 9600GT's tomorrow and I wanted to start a discussion about it for those interested in such a setup.

I'm pretty excited about this setup, especially for how inexpensive it is. The only caveat, of course, is the need for an SLI mother board. I needed a new MB anyways so that partially what provoked me into getting another 9600GT.

Th MB I'm getting is an MSI P7N SLI Platinum based on the 750i chipset. I picked it up from the egg for ~$165, and I'll be picking it up tomorrow with the other 9600GT. it will be coupled with a C2D 4300 and 4Gb G. Skill PC800.

I'll be doing a fresh install of Vista 64 Ultimate and running the new 174.15(?) WHQL's that are supposed to be great for SLI'd 9600GT's.

I'll run some benches like the requisite 3Dmark06, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, F.E.A.R., and Hellgate (if I can figure out how to run a timedemo or something.) I might run CoD4 but I'm wondering if that'll be pointless considering how well that game runs under far less hardware than what I'm going to throw at it.

Stay tuned, the sooner I write then the less eventful the installation will have been Wish me luck!

 

[seipheroth]

I'm considering going for a 9600GT SLI setup as well. Hard to pass considering the prices on the GT's have dropping a bit lately. I'm interested to see how your experience goes, even though the only hardware I have in common with you is the E4300. I'm guessing when I eventually get it going my numbers will be slightly lower. Even so, it'll give me another set of numbers to look at along with what I've seen from reviews around the 'net. Good luck, and from the looks of other reviews I'm sure you'll enjoy the setup

 

[boybleu]

i also should be receiving 2 9600gts from the egg tomorrow (supposed to be today but delayed arrrg)


running 780i q6600 and deciding what ram still


i recently read an article where 2 9600gts ALMOST perform as well as a 8800gtx playing crysis. considering cysis is supposed to get an sli driver boost soon it could be a really sweet deal in the end.

please let me know how your install goes!

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: boybleu
i also should be receiving 2 9600gts from the egg tomorrow (supposed to be today but delayed arrrg)


running 780i q6600 and deciding what ram still


i recently read an article where 2 9600gts ALMOST perform as well as a 8800gtx playing crysis. considering cysis is supposed to get an sli driver boost soon it could be a really sweet deal in the end.

please let me know how your install goes!

i think they are quite faster than a 8800gtx at resolutions under 1600x1200 NOAA

 

[Piuc2020]

Yeah 9600GT SLI is only a few frames slower than 9800GX2.

Be sure to install Service Pack 1 for Vista, it includes a bunch of performance and reliability hotfixes and quite a few hotfixes for SLI performance.

 

[jjzelinski]

Ok, broke 12k 3DMarks in 06; looking back at my scores with a 7900gt and they've more than doubled (~5300)

FEAR ran max everything at 33/45/66 min/ave/max.

Lost Coast ran at 89.99 max everything.

Still working on crysis and hellgate benches. Good stuff so far

 

[imported_wired247]

congrats, sounds like a nice setup.

 

[CVSiN]

grrr making me rethink my motherboard and vid card choices... beginning to wish I had bought a SLI board instead of just going with the DS3L

 

[batmang]

Originally posted by: jjzelinski
Ok, broke 12k 3DMarks in 06; looking back at my scores with a 7900gt and they've more than doubled (~5300)

FEAR ran max everything at 33/45/66 min/ave/max.

Lost Coast ran at 89.99 max everything.

Still working on crysis and hellgate benches. Good stuff so far

So you broke 12k with TWO 9600GT's or one?

 

[CVSiN]

2.. this is SLI

 

[SniperDaws]

Erm im getting 13995 with 1 overclocked 9600GT and my q6600 at 3.2Ghz, whats the avg score for 2 9600GT's using 3dmark 06 ?

Hmmm mind you im running XP and 3dmark 06 is very cpu orientated so dont listen to me

Get some games tested with all the bells and whistles turned on, youll be in for a shock because these cards are rapid and dont take a knock with 16AF enabled and only a sight knock with AA enabled.

Tweak away and enjoy

 

[jjzelinski]

Originally posted by: SniperDaws
Erm im getting 13995 with 1 overclocked 9600GT and my q6600 at 3.2Ghz, whats the avg score for 2 9600GT's using 3dmark 06 ?

Hmmm mind you im running XP and 3dmark 06 is very cpu orientated so dont listen to me

Get some games tested with all the bells and whistles turned on, youll be in for a shock because these cards are rapid and dont take a knock with 16AF enabled and only a sight knock with AA enabled.

Tweak away and enjoy

Ok thats odd, I'm breaking 12k in 3D06 with TWO as far as I can tell. In fact I was hitting about 9k with one so it didn't seem abnormal to me.

It looks like the only advantage you'd have in running the test is your quad core, but it's clocked 600Mhz slower. You think my E4300 is weakening my performance?

EDIT: I haven't touched any of the settings in the forceware control panel, is there something in there I should focus on?