What is wrong with building an SLI sytem?

[The Sauce]

Don't be a playa-hater.

 

[wilrab]

At the risk of sounding like a total noob, what does SLI stand for?

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

I must admit these threads are pointless. I'm building an SLI sysyem for the same reason my mom keeps buying shoes, my brother buys sneakers and others put $50,000 dollars in cars that cost $5,000, because we can. life for the most part has to be pratical, but you can't say you have really lived life without there being at least some part of it thats a touch impratical, just for the sake of it, for no other reason than you can.

I'm late in response to this but.... "Here here!"

 

[apathypuff]

For some people, SLI just isn't feasible. For those like the OP and I, who buy (in my case, have built for me) every 5 years it's a great option. You pay an additional what - 100 on motherboard and 300 on graphics card for something that will just give your system more longeavity than buying a non-SLI system. I think this is the best route for those who aren't inclined to upgrade their system.

By the end of this week I shoul have an A8N 4000+ 2x 6600GT etc system that will last me a long time. A couple of years down the road when I decide to pop in a single card which is better than one (or both) of the 6600s I'm all set. Buy another and I'm set for even longer.

A great trade-off, I think.

 

[shinotenshi]

"Don't be a playa-hater. "
so cliche
yet in this case so true

 

[Zebo]

Because in 12 months I'll buy another $350 card that's faster than your two GT's. The only way you can be faster always is spend double what i do every year... Certainly you can't expect to be set for 5 years LOL

Then you have noise, power and heat which may seem small but they add up too considering you only hardcore 3d game a fraction of the comp time.


Anyway, I say like the rest buy what you want. My hobby is in finding the performance I need then finding the bang for the buck. Some guys just look at bang for the buck and are disappoited on the back end. You want the best bang regaurdless of buck. Three types of buyers which is why SLI will be attractive to the Later.

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Because in 12 months I'll buy another $350 card that's faster than your two GT's. The only way you can be faster always is spend double what i do every year... Certainly you can't expect to be set for 5 years LOL

Then you have noise, power and heat which may seem small but they add up too considering you only hardcore 3d game a fraction of the comp time.


Anyway, I say like the rest buy what you want. My hobby is in finding the performance I need then finding the bang for the buck. Some guys just look at bang for the buck and are disappoited on the back end. You want the best bang regaurdless of buck. Three types of buyers which is why SLI will be attractive to the Later.

Actually, a parallel approach will probably give the best bang for the buck over the long haul, and give the best bang regardless of bucks at any particular point in time.

 

[Zebo]

I don't know about that. SLI averages about 50% over it's same card in single config. History has shown we double performance every 12-18 months. So while you purchase a second card later for that 50% boost, the other guy sell his top card and buys one twice as fast. Your out another $350 and slower, he's out $200 (350-150 which he sells card for) and faster. Then you have the whole issue of trying to dump 2 two year old cards? What's a a 4600 worth these days... $50?

Nope the only way to fly is two at a time every year, or one at a time every year IMHO.

 

[Twigstir]

Originally posted by: Zebo
History has shown we double performance every 12-18 months. .

Check again. History will show it doesn't happen that fast very often at all. The last jump was but, most of the time it's far less. I would not count on another huge leap. Plus games may now incorporate SLI stuff in them for even better performance. The way to go depends on a lot of things. Only time will tell which direction was best.

 

[jlambvo]

Because in 12 months I'll buy another $350 card that's faster than your two GT's. The only way you can be faster always is spend double what i do every year... Certainly you can't expect to be set for 5 years LOL

I don't even want to keep posting on this but... why do people keep saying this?? In 12 months someone with an SLI board can put the same SINGLE card in that you just got. No extra cost, no double. It doesn't *require* you to have 2 cards, but the option will be nice. We've been spoiled because hardware has more or less actually been ahead of the software for a long time. I remember advertised features on the first Radeon that are only now actually being used in real applications. Now that we have game engines making full use of OGL2 and DX9, I don't think that will be the case for long. Don't you remember when it was fun to put games in the highest quality settings just to see what it COULD look like even though it was a slideshow? I think that's going to start happening again over the next year or two. Just the fact that they are releasing SLI indicates the beginning of a plateau to me.

Also, the 50% increase isn't average, it's closer to the minimum where the GPUs are actually being stressed, which again is rare today with *first generation* Source and Doom3 games. I recall one benchmark where Doom 3 somehow actually saw a 105% increase in one instance.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Twigstir

Originally posted by: Zebo
History has shown we double performance every 12-18 months. .

Check again. History will show it doesn't happen that fast very often at all. The last jump was but, most of the time it's far less. I would not count on another huge leap. Plus games may now incorporate SLI stuff in them for even better performance. The way to go depends on a lot of things. Only time will tell which direction was best.

Compare a GF2 ULTRA to a 6800ultra and tell me what you get. 5 years and at least 8x or 800% faster. I was being very conservative at doubleing every 12 months.


http://www.digit-life.com/arti...ver2003/index.html#p19

 

[rpmcrash]

Originally posted by: figfiddle

Originally posted by: rpmcrash
im going to use it for auto cad only the an8 realy isnt a good board it OC like sh!t and like i implyed some times you get burned.
i odered a vnf4 for my gaming all you realy need is one 6800 ut pci-e for now and a 3000+nc and some DDR 3200 MUSHKIN 2x512
and a scsi drive then oc the hell out of it. then you will have something. the AN8 will be a work rig . I will bench mark both rigs .
then i will post them in cpu and processors. I think you will be in for a shock performance wise. I was!!!!! for the AN8.

I haven't heard that the A8N doesn't OC well. Interesting. Hmm.

check out the threadsOFFICIAL asus AN8 SLI thats just some of the problems to over come.
and how many people you know spent that kind of money for a test board to be the first
to have it. they will work out the problems together then they will tell guys like you how to fix it.
by the way my company purchased all the parts for that build and its handling autocad well no slow
downs and dosn"t eat up mem when downloading cnc machine programs to the cnc mchs on the
shop floor. if it keeps working like it did today it will pay for it self in three months. I could never
justify that kind of cost for gaming.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: Zebo

Originally posted by: Twigstir

Originally posted by: Zebo
History has shown we double performance every 12-18 months. .

Check again. History will show it doesn't happen that fast very often at all. The last jump was but, most of the time it's far less. I would not count on another huge leap. Plus games may now incorporate SLI stuff in them for even better performance. The way to go depends on a lot of things. Only time will tell which direction was best.

Compare a GF2 ULTRA to a 6800ultra and tell me what you get. 5 years and at least 8x or 800% faster. I was being very conservative at doubleing every 12 months.


http://www.digit-life.com/arti...ver2003/index.html#p19

The majority of that performance gain was caused by only two generations, the 9700 Pro and the 6800/X800. ALL other generations were very incremental performance gains. And the 9700 Pro was a phenomena that I hadn't seen since the Voodoo2 days, so I wouldn't count on performance gains like that every 12-18months. The 6800/X800 series was another surprise, but I'd count that as another oddity. Like I said, I wouldn't count on performance numbers like that every 12-18 months. Take a look at the next gen ATi card, the X850 line. Great product, but it ain't a 9700 Pro. It's just an incremental speed step.

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: Zebo

Originally posted by: Twigstir

Originally posted by: Zebo
History has shown we double performance every 12-18 months. .

Check again. History will show it doesn't happen that fast very often at all. The last jump was but, most of the time it's far less. I would not count on another huge leap. Plus games may now incorporate SLI stuff in them for even better performance. The way to go depends on a lot of things. Only time will tell which direction was best.

Compare a GF2 ULTRA to a 6800ultra and tell me what you get. 5 years and at least 8x or 800% faster. I was being very conservative at doubleing every 12 months.


http://www.digit-life.com/arti...ver2003/index.html#p19

How do you figure? 2^5 = 32, not 8.

 

[Twigstir]

Look at processors, gpu, and all other computer componets. You see periods of gaint leaps and slow growth periods. Notice all the recent problems with heat. SLI and duel core processors are ways around road blocks. It would be unwise to expect GPU's to double every single 12-18 months.

During the processor boom, intel had plans for 5.4G processors today and 10G processors by the end of 2005. Those plans are not delayed, they are gone for now. Now processors are moving in a new direction - duel core.

Nivida had a hudge flop with the 5900 ultra. Video card have still made great leaps since then. But heat seems to be very big and common problem in todays computers.

There are reasons why these companies are moving to duel core and SLI type setups. They are looking for ways around road blocks. I would expect GPU's to slow up much like processors. GPU's seem to be ahead of the game with SLI, where duel cores are a ways off.

 

[figfiddle]

Originally posted by: apathypuff
For some people, SLI just isn't feasible. For those like the OP and I, who buy (in my case, have built for me) every 5 years it's a great option. You pay an additional what - 100 on motherboard and 300 on graphics card for something that will just give your system more longeavity than buying a non-SLI system. I think this is the best route for those who aren't inclined to upgrade their system.

By the end of this week I shoul have an A8N 4000+ 2x 6600GT etc system that will last me a long time. A couple of years down the road when I decide to pop in a single card which is better than one (or both) of the 6600s I'm all set. Buy another and I'm set for even longer.

A great trade-off, I think.

Very well put sir. To buy technology which is already aged and expect to go another 2 to 3 years even is ridiculous. Spend a little more and stay ahead of the curve. All the same people who are putting us down right now will be the same people raving about their SLI system because they can finally afford one a year from now.

 

[figfiddle]

Bump

 

[TantrumusMaximus]

All I know is that I am one of those people that was an nVidia fanboy... ever since the GeForce series toppled 3DFX I was nVidia only. Then came along the performance of the Radeon 9700 Pro, OMG it blew away the competition, my nVidia fanboy friends chastised me for going with ATI and any problem I had was instantly "oh its your ATI traitor..." LOL, I'm sure a lot of you have experienced this between Intel and AMD.

I'm one of those folks that is quick to adopt a new technology not because it's the best choice for the long haul but because I'm facinated with what it can do for me RIGHT NOW. I want to throw Half-Life 2 and other new games on 1600 x 1200 and experience them in all their glory.

Is this the most responsible thing to do with my money... hell no. Is it going to be a good solution long term... I think so, I know when I jumped on the dual Voodoo2 setup back in the day I never regretted it.

Crossing my fingers

Also I don't know if some of you heard about the Gigabyte SLI 6600GT on a single board.... that is another trend that will be forming the dual GPU boards. From what I read 2 SLI 6600GT's did not outperform one 6800 SLI, however the single dual GPU SLI on one card did beat the single 6800 Ultra. I would love to see a manufacturer place 2 GPU's on a board like this but still allow us to SLI two of them for technically "4" video cards, that would be CRAZY FAST!

 

[Cy6nUsX1]

Hmmm....spend it on Beer and Strippers or build an "experimental" SLI PC? My wife says build the PC. Since I already finished building my Turbo Z I need another "wholesome" money pit.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[w00t]

because there is no need for 2 graphics cards and this point and there never will be mainstream. since 1 card can run all games high settings. just my opinon

 

[beany323]

Originally posted by: w00t
because there is no need for 2 graphics cards and this point and there never will be mainstream. since 1 card can run all games high settings. just my opinon

depends on the definition of mainsteam, nvida is banking on the idea of sli so to say never isnt that correct. (and to be honest i do agree with your side, to a point)

yes they will always make games preform for 1 video card, but they may even allow for those who have the 2 that choice..

atm, going pci-e and probably sli..(just don't tell the wife..hehe!!)

kthxbye