SLI/Crossfire pointless?

[Danger30Q]

I'm not a big OCer but I try to get a little juice out of what I got for 24/7 gaming use.

My understand the purpose of SLI/Crossfire is to buy a single card now, use it until games becoming too demanding for it to keep up, and then buy another card to get a little more juice out of your system. However, by the time the card becomes slightly obselete, a newer more powerful single card will be able to tramp the older card running 2 in SLI.

My plan last August when I bought my 7800GTX was to wait until it could no longer run games (BF2) at the highest settings and then buy the 2nd card. But I don't see the point to spending $450 on another card when I could sell mine and spend around $200 to buy a X1900 XT which seems to me to be able to compete with 2 7800GTX cards in SLI.

Am I missing the boat entirely with SLI? Is the point to SLI/Crossfire mostly for benching?

[J-Mag]

yes,
no need for it in games

Do you live in a cave or what?

SLI is obviously benefitial at higher reolsuitons and detail AA/AF settings.

[Gnome]

I'm not a big OCer but I try to get a little juice out of what I got for 24/7 gaming use.

My understand the purpose of SLI/Crossfire is to buy a single card now, use it until games becoming too demanding for it to keep up, and then buy another card to get a little more juice out of your system. However, by the time the card becomes slightly obselete, a newer more powerful single card will be able to tramp the older card running 2 in SLI.

your understanding of SLI is correct. that's what the major selling point was, and lots of people told me in the 6800/x800 days "yes the nvidia cards are slower but i can buy another one for cheaper in a few months and sli them", in general my response was "dumass".

your reasoning is totally correct, and the only point of SLI/CF is to take 2 high end cards and SLI/CF them NOW in order to get the best performance possible. otherwhise 2 low/mid range cards end up costing the same as the higher end card which performs better then the SLIed lower end, so there's no point there either.

And by the way, the way SLI scales in games is rather sucky. especially when you know you're paying 100% more for another card.

(note : i am currently running an SLI rig with 2 7800GTs. i never really fell for the "upgrade to sli later". )

[v0dka]

x2

SLI/CF is nice for benching, and spending your money if you dont know where to leave it. (You could also just send it to me though ;) )

[Kunaak]

High resolutions + High AA and AF + fast CPU = Great.

Low Resolutions and High Effects and Fast CPU = aww whatever.

High End Videocards + High End Effects + Slow CPU = messed up priorities.

option.

get a Dell 2405 and 2 Crossfire X1900's and a 2.8 ghz or higher A64, and then play at 1920 x 1200... then say you can play FEAR just fine with a single card... if you like slide shows... sure.
otherwise... like tim allen says...

MOOOR POWUUR -ARR- ARRR- ARRR !!!

[mdzcpa]

get a Dell 2405 and 2 Crossfire X1900's and a 2.8 ghz or higher A64, and then play at 1920 x 1200... then say you can play FEAR just fine with a single card... if you like slide shows... sure.


Yep...what ^HE said:D

I also don't buy the "by one now, by one later" deal. Just not worth it when advances are made so quickly.

However, putting two high end cards together and running at super high res with ALL the eye candy on is sweet. Myabe not practical....but sweet none the less.

[ugp]

High Res is only good if your monitor supports it...

In my case 1280x1024 is the highest and a x1900XTX is just fine..

[mtb856]

Just depends... my old CRT does 2048x1700, so SLI would probably be awesome with that. Granted I can't afford SLI anyways, so the point is moot, but I figured I'd post my 2 cents worth.

Not everyone has LCD's yet... and even the crummy CRT's have some decent resolutions. I'm actually more of a fan of my CRT than I am with most of the LCD's out there... but that's just me. :)

[deathman20]

In my case having a SLI setup would benifit me since native res is 1920x1200 for me. Truely though I like just having 1 card. I don't have to worry about the motherboard, I can just pick best preformance for the buck, I don't have to worry about another card, don't have to worry about power supply and don't have to worry about how to cool the second card.

Later on having 2 GPU's on the same card might become more of a main stream thing then ya I'll go for it but for now 1 card will do for me, and if I have to i'll turn down the AA, lower the AF a bit, and drop the res before I compermize the effects in the game.

[mdzcpa]

Not everyone has LCD's yet...

You got that right. There isn't an LCD on the planet I'd trade my Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB for when it comes to gaming. 2048 x 1600 @ 85mhz refresh cannot be denied for pure gaming nirvana:D

Though I do tend to play at a more sane 1920x1200 @100mhz for most FPS shooters.

[b1lk1]

My two 6800GS cards in SLI easily outperform a 7800GTX and also cost less. While SLI is probably best for benchmarks, I still firmly believe that using two 6800GS cards for gaming makes more sense than 1 7800GTX. These cards run cooler and overclock better. I run a 21" CRT and game @ 2048X1536 so I see tremendous benefits of running SLI. For an ordinary system that hardly games with a low quality monitor, no. For a good mid-high end system with a screen that takes advantage, yes.

[iboomalot]

when phospher coated flat screens that can reproduce the color as good as my NEC 22" and has no ghosting at all I will sell or throw out my CRT.

that extra space behind the LCD I wouldn't use anyways.

my X1800 will get me by until the next gens hit this summer.

AM2 + X2000XT will be fun

[Zenjirou]

Usualy the new card cannot beat the previous generation in sli. 1900xtx does not equal or exceed in performance to two gtx in sli.
7800gtx cannot beat 6800Ultra in SLi

Also one must buy second card not when its $450. LOL

More like spend 450 on first card, 200 on second card a year and half later is beter. In that sense SLI can save you money rather than paying again for high end card.