Why SLI....really, WHY?

[Frogbones]

I have two 8800gts's and most of my games don't support them in SLI . Grid, both STALKER games, SPORE, X3.:bang head

only two games that run good with it is COD4 and Oblivion...which both run excellent on one gpu.

Will Fallout 3 support it?

Kinda upset game makers aren't supporting it like I thought they would.

I'm really thinking about selling both and getting a 280 or the like, really.

I'm looking for some insight on why I should keep them or sell them and get a really good single card solution. Since SLI pretty much seems only good for braggin rights and bench marks.

[EmAn]

It may not be the same with sli, but with crossfire there is a big difference in fps for me between enabling crossfire and having it disabled. I have tried it in GRID, fear, americas army, CoD4, and a few other misc games. Try using fraps and watch for your average fps with sli disabled and then enable sli and look at your average fps. I think there would be a change in it. ;)

[e6600]

i dont think you would be using a 280gtx at its fullest potential with your 6400+ system, maybe much better minimum framerates, but upgrading wouldnt really justify the costs

you would actually have to dish out another $200 depending on how much you sell your gts's for.
a 4870 or 260 would do you much better with that system

[Frogbones]

I have tested it with fraps...I do get better FPS but the game play is hoorible, STALKER games crash and reboot my machine, GRID is all "micro stuttery", SPORE had lines all through the screen.

Without SLI all games run great! over 45fps on avg. With it, most of my games either BSOD/restarts, or just horrible performance or wierd glitches. Ran several different drivers versions, updates on Mobo (bios,chipset etc.)

Plus I dual boot XP/Vista Ultimate 64, same thing in both OS's.

Crysis is the only one that truely runs better (actually awesome) in SLI avg. 50fps in Vista U. with Extra high settings @ 1680x1550, It also runs like a champ in XP under SLI.

[EmAn]

Test each card individually and see if one of them artifacts.

[outhouse]

the 200 series work great as long as there not bottlenecked by the CPU as said.

the reason to SLI is for faster frame rates on larger monitors. 260,s on 22" and smaller and 280,s for anything above. [if you want all the eye candy at max settings]

[outhouse]

oh as far as your problems ditch the drivers and use a cleaner and try newer or different drivers.

[Badbonji]

Wow really? I have S.T.A.L.K.E.R shadow of chernobyl, i get around 40-50 fps with one card at 1920x1200, and around 80-90 with 2 in Sli + OC, so I would say it scaled quite well. Looks like something is up with your system then, could be a CPU bottleneck but probably faulty card as BSoD should not happen.

[Frogbones]

Testing a few things out with Riva.

[shadin]

SLI and Crossfire are good for three things, in my opinion:

1. Pushing very large displays (higher than 24") at max settings.
2. Benchmarking enthusiasts.
3. Bragging rights.

Gamers who run reasonably sized monitors, in my mind, can get a max price/performance ratio out of a single, powerful GPU setup. I know some people will disagree with my analysis, but having gamed the last few years at 1600x1200, 1680x1050, and 1920x1200, I've never found an instance where investing in a single GPU didn't give me max performance. By the time there was a benefit to getting a second card for CF/SLI, it was always more practical to sell my current card and upgrade to a newer, more powerful single GPU.

Not a really popular opinion, I know, but I don't think CF/SLI is really for gaming unless you're running massive displays.

[Badbonji]

Well one 8800gts 512mb cant max out all games at 1920x1200 which is what I play at, that is why I got 2 of them.

[Frogbones]

Hmm some glitch or somthin.... cause I was seeing that GPU1 was 10mhz faster than GPU2 causing latency= instability.

I reset my speeds and made sure both were @ 690. Tested both versions of STALKER...no crashing. running 125-130 in STALKER SoC and 45-70 in STALKER CS @ 1680x1550 All under XP, not Vista

Using 177 drivers from that bundle pack that Nvidia put out.

SPORE ran good, haven't tried grid yet (don't feel like getting out the wheel).

still a little skeptical...but happy...for now.

yeah normally I run on a 22 incher....sometimes I will take my machine and hook it to my 42inch TV and play on it for a while at a 1920x1080 res. now with possibly eliminating the issue I will probly run on the TV a bit more.

Prop to Rivatuner and Home everest for helping me out.