Originally posted by: terentenet
Originally posted by: yh125d
don't listen to terentenet. at those resolutions, sli gtx's will have at MOST a 10fps gain? and a 10 fps gain when you're geting 80-100fps in the first place just aint worth it. I don't care how much money you have, its a dumb move. You should go for a single gtx, and a cpu/mobo upgrade to C2d, or a single gtx and a 24" monitor
Correction. Notice my sig, I have 8800GTX SLI. I think I'm in a better position to judge the performance increase as I used a single 8800GTX and went SLI afterwards. The increase is there and it's not 10 FPS. I can play the games I played before, with more eye candy while maintaining same or higher FPS. As long as you like eye candy, SLI is a good investment.
yh125d, not everybody likes playing games at 1280x1024. Some like high res, high AA&AF. It's about quality and visual experience.
That's why some want X-Fi sound cards and don't go with the on-board sound.
Some want the 37" Westinghouse and 30" HP/Dells and not go with the budget solution of 17" CRT.
Some buy G15 or Saitek Eclipse keyboards instead of the generic 102 key beige keyboard.
What do you like more? A E60 BMW 530i or E60 M5? Even knowing traffic regulation apply to you as well, the M5 is nicer and more desirable.
Each product has a buyer. If you like it, have the money for it, you get it.
I'm not telling the OP to go or not go SLI. I was just sharing my experience of SLI. Drivers support it just fine. Most games have SLI profiles. Performance increase may vary from 0% to 80%.
FEAR made a great difference for me. Average framerate went from 65 FPS on a single 8800GTX to 110FPS on SLI. Old average is now minimum.
Don't think just for now. A single 8800GTX might be enough with current games and 1440x900. You don't buy a video card for A game. You want a good setup that will last some time.
Do you really want to upgrade once newer games appear and bring the GTX to it's knees? What if later on the road you invest in a bigger monitor?
Many of you see the 8800GTX as the all mighty that can conquer all. By far, not true. I could bring mine below 20FPS in Oblivion (at 1680x1050). All I have to do is enable HDR in game, set 16Q AA, 16xAF, start Transparency AA and set it to SS. It's that simple.
8800GTX SLI let's me do all that and not fall under 30 FPS.
Crysis and Alan Wake are coming later this year and chances are not even a SLI of 8800GTX's will handle them good.
Better performance didn't kill anybody. If you have the money for it, take it and enjoy it.