GTX 660, SLI or sell off for bigger?

[guskline]

I think the $399 price of the R9 290 has sent shock waves both up and down the video chain as far as prices of other video cards.

 

[Hdgamer]

In a single card configuration it might not have the horsepower to use all the VRAM, but in SLI you double that power without doubling the VRAM. In SLI 1.5GB could become a bottleneck, in fact some games utilize more than 2GB VRAM.

The funny thing is I don't hear people bitching that they can't play BF4 with Sli GTX660's with all the settings maxed out at 1080p because they're vram limited. Only a few select people that don't own those setups complain about not having enough vram so they wouldn't have them. I would like to hear personally from end user experience how unplayable it is. Funny because even when [H]ocp does an article on how vram isn't the limiting factor on these games, people still write off how we still need more vram. I own a pair of GTX 660ti's and play on a 60" 1080p LED tv. I'm going to get the game tonight and try it for myself and report back here...

 

[Hdgamer]

Nevermind $60 just to benchmark a game. Anyone have any cheaper games for me to try on my GTX 660ti's at 1080p that may be questionable at using more vram and making it unplayable?

 

[Hdgamer]

I wouldn't mind picking up Metro Last Light if that's a good one. But would never buy Crysis 3 or another Battlefield since I only end up benchmarking with those games... Need something I can play with some sort of story that's good. LOL

 

[Hauk]

I wouldn't mind picking up Metro Last Light if that's a good one. But would never buy Crysis 3 or another Battlefield since I only end up benchmarking with those games... Need something I can play with some sort of story that's good. LOL

Metro LL and Crysis 3 both have decent storylines IMO, can only go so far with story on either. Both are great stealth/sniping games though, with good AI.

 

[rgallant]

re vram most comments on vram would be about buying cards to day and not having access to the next gen. of games in vram bench marks ,so what if 5 year old games[console ports] don't max. the vram what about next months games?
-and for the record my gtx 580's 1.5gb had a vram crash @ 1440.when bf3 came out -top end cards at the time.
60" 1080p LED tv.nice but not 120 hz or high res

 

[Hdgamer]

re vram most comments on vram would be about buying cards to day and not having access to the next gen. of games in vram bench marks ,so what if 5 year old games[console ports] don't max. the vram what about next months games?
-and for the record my gtx 580's 1.5gb had a vram crash @ 1440.when bf3 came out -top end cards at the time.
60" 1080p LED tv.nice but not 120 hz or high res

I also have a 30" 2560X1600 monitor that is not hooked up yet due to me moving and needing a new desk. TBH I prefer to play all my games on the big screen on the couch. While the higher res monitor is defiantly nicer, I prefer comfort over a crisper picture. Also could care less about 120 hz while nice, I think 60hz is smooth enough. I'm not that picky though. Big picture while laid back on my recliner with full surround sound is the way to go. Got a lapdesk for my keyboard and mouse and couldn't be happier!!!

 

[Blue_Max]

Dang! Dropped price to $150CDN and it still has 1.5y of extended "easy replacement" warranty - STILL no takers (except for traders offering their Radeon 4000-series power-suckers!)

 

[Headfoot]

You can't look at selling your old computer hardware in terms of loss... that's unrealistic. You have to set your expectations in line with the buyer's reality. Why would anyone buy a 660 unless the price is right when you can get a 7950 with aftermarket cooling for $180 new on deal?

 

[BallaTheFeared]

BUT apparently F@H hates SLI...

Unless something changed, you can disable SLI to fold without issue.

That said if you do folding already, jump over to LTC on a 7950 and it will pay for itself at the current rate/price in about 3 weeks of 24/7 mining :hmm:

It's not a ton faster than the 660, slower than 660 SLI but hey its something new and different :|

 

[Blue_Max]

Unless something changed, you can disable SLI to fold without issue.

That said if you do folding already, jump over to LTC on a 7950 and it will pay for itself at the current rate/price in about 3 weeks of 24/7 mining :hmm:

It's not a ton faster than the 660, slower than 660 SLI but hey its something new and different :|

LTC? What's that? And I presume it's another program that works better with AMD? I'm so close to just blowing the wad and getting a new 280x or something. Throw the 660 into a secondary system... that replacement warranty is a must for something running full-tilt 24/7.

 

[Rezist]

I would imagine new 660's are around 180ish right now, you'd probably need to get to 120 maybe 130 to get buyers interested, I mean most ppl would buy new over saving 30$ and a potential headache.

As long as you stay at 1080p I think adding maybe another used 660 would offer the best performance/$. But ofcourse there will be more headaches.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

LTC is like bitcoins but good for GPUs. *AMD GPUs at any rate, Nvidia is terrible with it due to uarch difference.

280x is a overpriced 7970, stick to the 7950 with a good cooler and unlocked voltage control :thumbsup: