Upgrading Rig: 8800GTS SLi or single 9800GX2?

[Tropicocity]

As the topic says, I'm looking to upgrade my rig slightly. I plan to play COD4, Crysis as best as i can, and am looking to hopefully not upgrade again this year.

Current specs are as follows:

e6600 2.4ghz @ 3.3ghz
Asus P5B-Deluxe mobo
BFG 8800GTS OC 640Mb (g80)
2Gb OCZ PC-8500 SLi-Ready ram
2 x 320Gb Hitachi Deskstar SATA-II In RAID 0
OCZ GameXStream 700-watt PSU
Samsung 206bw 202 Widescreen - 1680x1050



I've currently got my gts on sale on ebay, and i plan to spend the money i get from that on an upgrade. Now, I have a few upgrade options really, bearing in mind the money i should get from the sale:

- Buy a single 8800GTS 512 for a total cost of about £20/$40 depending on brand and do a straight swap

- Buy two 8800GTS 512 and a new motherboard for Sli - total cost about £ 200-£250 depending on motherboard and brands of products and re-install rig basically

- Buy one Club-3d 9800GX2 for about £200 and do a straight swap

Link for cheapest uk GX2 here

Any ideas? Obviously the latter two require more money but will give much greater performance in the latest games (As most nowadays do support sli in some way) and whats an upgrade if you don't spend anything?

I'm no fanboy (switched between ATi and nVidia quite often) but Ati cards are currently not an opition. I've done my research, and in 9/10 cases the ATi cards fail against their nVidia counterparts in all tests aside from 3DMark (e.g the best 3dmark scores are by and large with the 3870x2) - its real-world gaming i'm concerned about.

Any input would be appreciated, but if possible I'd prefer some logical non-fanboy opinions on the subject.

Thanks!

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

I would get a 9800GX2 over two 8800GTSs in SLI. While SLI has gotten much better in terms of driver support, it's always better to get a setup that doesn't rely on SLI for it's performance as opposed to one that does. A factory clocked 9800GX2 may be slightly outperformed by a stock 8800GTS SLI setup but having one powerful card is always better than having two cards in SLI IMO.

 

[Tropicocity]

Hmm, well don't forget that the 9880gx2 is essentially two 8800gt cores on two pcbs running as one card. My only worry is whether the on-board sli of the gx2 will work correctly, and besides that i've heard that the cooling isnt that good due to one card being cooled with the warm air from the other card (only one cooler there :x) Also, i think the gx2 doesnt push air out of the system very well or something ?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Cycles back into the case, so adequate airflow is a must if you run one of these. Also what you raise is a good point about the SLI running between the two gpus, but keep in mind as drivers mature the performance will increase as well. Still if you have an SLI board either one is a good option.

 

[Tropicocity]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Cycles back into the case, so adequate airflow is a must if you run one of these. Also what you raise is a good point about the SLI running between the two gpus, but keep in mind as drivers mature the performance will increase as well. Still if you have an SLI board either one is a good option.

Well that's where my 2nd purchasing option came in, the fact that the Asus p5b-deluxe is unfortunately not a SLi motherboard as it only has one pci-express 16x slot (the other is a 1x i believe). Hence, if i want sli-levelled performance (Which i wouldn't mind at all seeing as i can't think what would be a bigger gaming upgrade than a sli setup when i currently have a single g80 8800gts) i'll need to shell out for a motherboard too.

Wish i'd spent an extra £30-40 or so back when i chose my motherboard and gotten a sli one, would've made sli 8800gts the easy option xD

 

[Tropicocity]

Incidentally, is there any other option for better gaming performance than i have now, aside from the gpu? As far as i can tell my ram(on Xp 32-bit) and OC'd cpu are fine and the card is the best upgrade path for better fps/gameability

 

[krnmastersgt]

You are correct in that assumption, your cpu won't be a bottleneck for quite some time. The 9800GX2 looks like your best option then, assuming your psu can support it, possible to return your mobo?

 

[Tropicocity]

Had the motherboard for ~ 13 months now so i doubt a return is possible hehe. So i'm literally left with the three options, each of the latter two costing quite a bit more.
There's the whole thing about being able to quad sli in future if i get the gx2, but then that'd be more money and i'd still have to get another motherboard :\

 

[Hauk]

All points already covered. Obviously going SLI involves more than just selling your old card and buying new ones. New mobo is a big factor.

I'll tell ya though, I have oc'd G92 GTS's in SLI and my rig is FAST! I LOVE it. Scaling is very good in games like Crysis, Bioshock, The Witcher, Orange Box, and many others. With the exception of Crysis, a pair of these are unstoppable on 24" and below screens. I pan my mouse around really fast just to see how quick the POV changes, it's freakin sweet. You can read all the benchies, but it comes down to liquid smooth gameplay at your resolution.

Anyway, GX2 is a viable option. So is a GTX. So is a 9800 GTX at $350ish come April 1st. Should be a beast for the money and be a nice step up from 640 GTS...

 

[Tropicocity]

Hmm well i was looking at a possible monitor upgrade too but that can be left for when 24" monitors drop a bit more heh.
Already got my 8800gts 640 on ebay so im hoping to decide what to get pretty soon

Also, 9800 GTX at $350? You sure you don't mean the gts? UK prices are really bitchy, that was the cheapest gx2 i could find, most others are at the £440 mark/$880 USD :\

 

[Hauk]

Yea UK changes the formula a bit, but $350 appears to be the release price for the 9800 GTX..

I'm one of the few who think it's a great price for the card, but I think after real benchies and OC's with good drivers come available, people will begin to realize it's a pretty solid offering. They dogged the 8800 GTS on release too.

I'll tell ya, if you can pre-order that EVGA for $310 plus $40.00 shipping or so, you're getting a damn good deal. They ship worldwide. And the fact they're a GSA provider with certification is a good sign. GSA is for US government suppliers. They gotta sell it cheap..

 

[imported_wired247]

Originally posted by: Tropicocity

- Buy one Club-3d 9800GX2 for about £200 and do a straight swap

Before I read your entire post, I saw this and nearly had a heart attack.

I thought the dollar had fallen even lower in value than its already pathetic state.

 

[Hauk]

Yea it's becomming scary...

 

[Extelleron]

From what I have seen, 9800GX2 is faster than 8800GTS 512MB SLI, despite the higher clocks of the GTS.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...0m_1gb_graphics_card/9

SLI also requires a new motherboard, which is what makes cards like the 9800GX2 attractive.

Whether or not the 9800GX2 is actually worth the money is another story. IMO, buying the 9800GX2 at this point is a bit foolish when R700 is not too far away.

 

[Tropicocity]

Originally posted by: wired247

Originally posted by: Tropicocity

- Buy one Club-3d 9800GX2 for about £200 and do a straight swap

Before I read your entire post, I saw this and nearly had a heart attack.

I thought the dollar had fallen even lower in value than its already pathetic state.

Ahahaha xD I knew there'd be people looking at the prices and gasping, hence why i remembered to put in bold about taking into consideration that i'd be getting money from the sale of my current card

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1
I would get a 9800GX2 over two 8800GTSs in SLI. While SLI has gotten much better in terms of driver support, it's always better to get a setup that doesn't rely on SLI for it's performance as opposed to one that does. A factory clocked 9800GX2 may be slightly outperformed by a stock 8800GTS SLI setup but having one powerful card is always better than having two cards in SLI IMO.

FYI going with a 9800GX2 is the same as going SLi- it's just SLi in one slot. So it share all the strengths and weaknesses of SLi.

(although IMO the "weaknesses" are few and far between)

I don't know what you mean by "SLi has gotten better". I've had NVIDIA SLi in one form or another since they re-introduced it and the only real change that springs to mind is when they added vsynch and triple buffering into the mix. It's always been pretty solid and easy to use.

 

[Tropicocity]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
From what I have seen, 9800GX2 is faster than 8800GTS 512MB SLI, despite the higher clocks of the GTS.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...0m_1gb_graphics_card/9

SLI also requires a new motherboard, which is what makes cards like the 9800GX2 attractive.

Whether or not the 9800GX2 is actually worth the money is another story. IMO, buying the 9800GX2 at this point is a bit foolish when R700 is not too far away.

As with most benchmarks, the gx2 and 8800gts sli are literally on-par, with it being down to which brand of gts you get (stock vs oc) as no gx2 ocs are out yet afaik.

I'll never go back to ATi i think, Haven't seen them bring out anything at all to compare to nvidia for ages. Even when they brought their amazing 3870x2 out, nvidia release one that beats it, it's been that way since i had my x850xt and then my 1800xt, nvidia simply overtook

One thing i just saw is that the gx2 would require one 6x AND one 8x pci-e connector. Now, my OCz GameXstream psu has 4 pci-6 connecters; it doesn't have an 8x though. Meaning now my two biggest cost options are as follow (Taking into account the money my card will get on ebay again!!):

- Buy two 8800GTS 512 and a new motherboard for Sli - total cost about £ 200-£250 depending on motherboard and brands of products and re-install rig basically

and

- Buy one Club-3d 9800GX2 for about £200 BUT also have to shell out for a GX2-compatible psu, meaning another, what, £150 for a decent one?

I'm leaning more towards the SLi config now, as i'd rather pay less money to buy two graphics cards and a new motherboard than pay more to get one card and a psu i think ;-;

 

[imported_wired247]

Your PSU should have more than enough power for the 9800 GX2. The BFG card comes with a 6pin to 8pin adapter. I have not gotten the card yet but it's in the mail. I will let you know if there are any problems with the adapter, but BFG puts their lifetime warranty behind this configuration so I think it should be just fine.

There are also adapters on sale around the internet for $7-10 usd, if you don't like BFG.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: Tropicocity

Originally posted by: Extelleron
From what I have seen, 9800GX2 is faster than 8800GTS 512MB SLI, despite the higher clocks of the GTS.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...0m_1gb_graphics_card/9

SLI also requires a new motherboard, which is what makes cards like the 9800GX2 attractive.

Whether or not the 9800GX2 is actually worth the money is another story. IMO, buying the 9800GX2 at this point is a bit foolish when R700 is not too far away.

As with most benchmarks, the gx2 and 8800gts sli are literally on-par, with it being down to which brand of gts you get (stock vs oc) as no gx2 ocs are out yet afaik.

I'll never go back to ATi i think, Haven't seen them bring out anything at all to compare to nvidia for ages. Even when they brought their amazing 3870x2 out, nvidia release one that beats it, it's been that way since i had my x850xt and then my 1800xt, nvidia simply overtook

One thing i just saw is that the gx2 would require one 6x AND one 8x pci-e connector. Now, my OCz GameXstream psu has 4 pci-6 connecters; it doesn't have an 8x though. Meaning now my two biggest cost options are as follow (Taking into account the money my card will get on ebay again!!):

- Buy two 8800GTS 512 and a new motherboard for Sli - total cost about £ 200-£250 depending on motherboard and brands of products and re-install rig basically

and

- Buy one Club-3d 9800GX2 for about £200 BUT also have to shell out for a GX2-compatible psu, meaning another, what, £150 for a decent one?

I'm leaning more towards the SLi config now, as i'd rather pay less money to buy two graphics cards and a new motherboard than pay more to get one card and a psu i think ;-;

That's not true except in the last 1 1/2 years since G80 launched. ATI dominated with the X1900 series and nVidia didn't really stand a chance with GeForce 7. X1800XT beat 7800GTX, X800XT/X850XT beat 6800 Ultra, 9800XT beat any FX series card... along with 9800 Pro and 9700 Pro before that.

HD 3870 X2 is slower but cheaper. You can't compare a $400 HD 3870 X2 with a $500-600 9800GX2.

For the first time in a long while, nVidia got it right with G80 and AMD had troubles getting R600 where it needed to be, although there is nothing wrong with the design. With a new generation of cards, I have confidence AMD will get their game together.

 

[Tropicocity]

Originally posted by: wired247
Your PSU should have more than enough power for the 9800 GX2. The BFG card comes with a 6pin to 8pin adapter. I have not gotten the card yet but it's in the mail. I will let you know if there are any problems with the adapter, but BFG puts their lifetime warranty behind this configuration so I think it should be just fine.

There are also adapters on sale around the internet for $7-10 usd, if you don't like BFG.

Cheers for that heh.

Problem is, i was quoting the _cheapest_ x2 i could find, the Club3d one on one specific website. The BFG card comes in at a hefty £422/$840 for the americans Insanely expensive :|

 

[Tropicocity]

Originally posted by: Extelleron

Originally posted by: Tropicocity

Originally posted by: Extelleron
From what I have seen, 9800GX2 is faster than 8800GTS 512MB SLI, despite the higher clocks of the GTS.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...0m_1gb_graphics_card/9

SLI also requires a new motherboard, which is what makes cards like the 9800GX2 attractive.

Whether or not the 9800GX2 is actually worth the money is another story. IMO, buying the 9800GX2 at this point is a bit foolish when R700 is not too far away.

As with most benchmarks, the gx2 and 8800gts sli are literally on-par, with it being down to which brand of gts you get (stock vs oc) as no gx2 ocs are out yet afaik.

I'll never go back to ATi i think, Haven't seen them bring out anything at all to compare to nvidia for ages. Even when they brought their amazing 3870x2 out, nvidia release one that beats it, it's been that way since i had my x850xt and then my 1800xt, nvidia simply overtook

One thing i just saw is that the gx2 would require one 6x AND one 8x pci-e connector. Now, my OCz GameXstream psu has 4 pci-6 connecters; it doesn't have an 8x though. Meaning now my two biggest cost options are as follow (Taking into account the money my card will get on ebay again!!):

- Buy two 8800GTS 512 and a new motherboard for Sli - total cost about £ 200-£250 depending on motherboard and brands of products and re-install rig basically

and

- Buy one Club-3d 9800GX2 for about £200 BUT also have to shell out for a GX2-compatible psu, meaning another, what, £150 for a decent one?

I'm leaning more towards the SLi config now, as i'd rather pay less money to buy two graphics cards and a new motherboard than pay more to get one card and a psu i think ;-;

That's not true except in the last 1 1/2 years since G80 launched. ATI dominated with the X1900 series and nVidia didn't really stand a chance with GeForce 7. X1800XT beat 7800GTX, X800XT/X850XT beat 6800 Ultra, 9800XT beat any FX series card... along with 9800 Pro and 9700 Pro before that.

HD 3870 X2 is slower but cheaper. You can't compare a $400 HD 3870 X2 with a $500-600 9800GX2.

For the first time in a long while, nVidia got it right with G80 and AMD had troubles getting R600 where it needed to be, although there is nothing wrong with the design. With a new generation of cards, I have confidence AMD will get their game together.

Meh, what i mean is, sure the x1900 series was there but then nvidia got its g80 out to beat that. Meanwhile ati released their counter to that which didnt actually top it as far as i know.

Also as for the 850 beating the 6800, they were pretty much par too iirc, i opted for the 850 as it was cheaper and i was budgetted heh.

I still don't see myself returning to ATi anytime soon after owning cards from both sides, especially with BFG being on the nVidia side of things.

And yeah, i'm definately more looking towards gts sli than gx2 currently :X

 

[Hauk]

What mobo are you considering?

 

[Tropicocity]

Originally posted by: SteelSix
What mobo are you considering?

I'm not sure. I'm torn between several 780i/750i motherboards, possibly even willing to consider a 680/650i if its decent enough to keep my c2d at 3.3-3.6 with sli support that works properly :\

 

[Dadofamunky]

Damn. 200 pounds for a 9800GX2? can you send me one for that price? That's insane.

All kidding aside, I think just getting the newest video card into your system is the least traumatic and most satisfying option. I don't like to do motherboard swaps unless I have a compelling reason to. Your system looks fine otherwise. Card's kinda expensive but your time (and the uncertainty that comes when installing a new mobo) is valuable too.That thing should fly!

 

[Tropicocity]

Originally posted by: Dadofamunky
Damn. 200 pounds for a 9800GX2? can you send me one for that price? That's insane.

All kidding aside, I think just getting the newest video card into your system is the least traumatic and most satisfying option. I don't like to do motherboard swaps unless I have a compelling reason to. Your system looks fine otherwise. Card's kinda expensive but your time (and the uncertainty that comes when installing a new mobo) is valuable too.That thing should fly!

My main concerns with the gx2 are in-case heat issues (Might end up heating up my wc tubing xD), the need for an 8-pinpci-e cable which i do not have, and the price for anything but the club3d version >.<