Is SLI'ing 2 8600GTS's worth it?

[imported_tgenius]

I have a pair of 8600GTS available to me and was thinking of SLI'ing them. Is it worth it (will I notice a diff using both cards)? If not, was thinking of the Gigabyte DS3L.

I plan on building a box with a Q6600 Quad OCed using Crucial Ballistix 800 RAM.

Any opinions greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[krnmastersgt]

You have them already or you can buy them? You're going to need an nVidia chipset board for the SLI, which comes with its own nice little price premium on top of the cards, as for performance, I think they give around (probably less) than the 8800 GT level.

 

[imported_wired247]

If money is no object (or you already have the cards), then yes, it is worth it.

If obtaining 2 of the GTS's is roughly the same financial impact as buying just one, then go for it. The major difference is you should make sure you have enough power from the PSU, although 600W is probably more than enough even with a quad.

You won't get double the performance all the time, but for most games you will really notice a very noticable difference versus single card.

 

[imported_tgenius]

I actually have 2 8600GTS cards in my hands.

If I want to go with one of the NForce boards, what board would you guys recommend? Would you recommend the 750i or the 650i?

Is the performance of the nForce boards on par with the P35 boards? I was also looking at the new gigabyte P35 board if I went single card instead of SLI.

Thanks to everyone.

 

[imported_tgenius]

Anybody?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

ASROCK 1600-650i SLI or a 750i board.

 

[lopri]

If you have them in your hands then you gotta try out, I guess. My first-time SLI was done with mid-range stuff as well. Not that I wanted to gain performance, but I wanted to see how SLI works. Sometimes we geeks just have to see things for ourselves. I think a lot of arguments regarding performance/price (not just video card but every other part in our computers) are pure arguments. (i.e. BS) Try out EVGA 650i board or 680i LT. Both are available for less than $100. 750i would be better but I don't know if there are anything out there yet.

NF chipset will not be a record breaker, and has been always behind Intel in CPU-memory intensive apps. My impression with NF chipset is that it's pretty good and equal to Intel in 'parellel or contiguously sequential', 'predictable' and 'buffered' type of work. But it severely lacks in 'random', 'unbuffered', 'unpredictable' workload. It's hard to explain this but hope you get the gist. For everyday usage, I don't feel any difference and the storage subsystem can actually feel faster than Intel Matrix Storage. Good air circulation for the board is a must.

 

[imported_tgenius]

My question is the main purpose of this box will be video editing HD video (AVHDC) with a hint of video games in the background (hence doing the SLI) so what would be the best given that. (I will be running Vista Ultimate 64bit to use my 4GB of 800 Crucial Ballistix ram.

Appreciate the help/answers!

 

[krnmastersgt]

The EVGA 680i LT is a nice solution for getting SLI, I got 2 of em and both were DOA but oh well, just my luck (and maybe the UPS guy's feet since the box was obviously kicked around) If you want to go for the nForce 7 series I'd say wait for 750/790 to come out before you choose.

 

[imported_tgenius]

What's the timeframe for the 750/790 to be released?

 

[krnmastersgt]

From what I've read/seen anywhere from 1-4 months for 790i and 780i non-reference editions, as for 750, no idea, I'll see if I can find a timeframe.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: tgenius
What's the timeframe for the 750/790 to be released?

The Asus 750i SLI has been available for several weeks on Newegg for $150. Alternately go for that ASRock 650i.

 

[imported_tgenius]

Is the Asus the only 750 board available right now?

 

[krnmastersgt]

There's an msi one available too if you search 750i on Newegg, the Asus one has 2 pci-e x16 slots while msi has 3. I thought the only major advantage for the nF 7 series was the tri-sli since otherwise it performs the same as the nF 6 series, Asus made the board so I guess they see it differently.

 

[imported_tgenius]

krnmastersgt.. thanks for the answers...

How well do you the NF 650 compares to the P35 boards for overclocking? I was thinking of the new rev 2.1 Gigabyte P35 board with the dynamic power,etc.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well P35 = no SLI. I thought the original point of the board was to get SLI? I've only had light experience with the 680i boards, no 650 :x and those were all friends systems I helped with, pretty much the same as my 780i which is stable enough for me I suppose. If you want the highest overclock on your cpu you'll need an Intel chipset, but in terms of graphics nothing beats SLI if you have the money to put down for it.