SLI ready AMD mobo Question

Cisco Kid · Dec 27, 2004

I plan to try out an SLI board but starting to ask questions first. I see that Asus has a sweet board, it is pricey, actually even less in Canada than the US.

I am wondering about any other recommendations for SLI boards that are cheaper and the best choice for 2 vcards to add

CK

Grimes · Dec 27, 2004

Cisco Kid said:
I plan to try out an SLI board but starting to ask questions first. I see that Asus has a sweet board, it is pricey, actually even less in Canada than the US.

I am wondering about any other recommendations for SLI boards that are cheaper and the best choice for 2 vcards to add

CK

Well, most of the SLI boards will carry a hefty price tag! If you are looking for sli video cards, probaby the 6800 series will yeild the best price/performance result. But it's hard to find pci-e 6800s. Good luck, that rig will kick butt!

trueplaya4ever8 · Dec 27, 2004

well get one and always add the other later. like a 6800gt or 6800u

Cisco Kid · Dec 28, 2004

it may be in my best interests to wait for another entry to the market for an SLI board. As far as the wallet goes I am looking at 2x6600GT's, starting with one first

thanks for the feedback guys

ck

Grimes · Dec 28, 2004

Cisco Kid said:
it may be in my best interests to wait for another entry to the market for an SLI board. As far as the wallet goes I am looking at 2x6600GT's, starting with one first

thanks for the feedback guys

ck

Cisco,

two 6600gt's will perform around the same as one 6800gt; there is a pretty good article on anandtech.com on sli performance. If you could bear the extra 125 bucks for a regular 6800, it would probably do better for your sli setup in the long run.

treepop · Dec 30, 2004

I think one 6800gt would be the way to go.....seeing as most people are able to flash them to an ultra....and seeing as 1 6800ultra is better then 2 6600gts, although I dont know how hard it is to score a 6800gt pci-e......

T'wolves · Dec 31, 2004

anandtech.com does have a nice article, 2 x 6600GT's is the best price/performance you can get(about $400-$420 for both) and performs better than a single 6800GT. I've been doing price shopping myself, the cost of two those is less than or equal to all the single 6800GT agp($400-$450) cards which you cant use for SLI or upgrade with, muchless the pci-e($450-$500) ones. The Ultra is a waste of money($600 agp), specially for the pci-e ones, $900 at zipzoomfly.com. The last alternative is a couple of 6800 pci-e, but for two will total about $700, probly not worth it. I'ld say 2x 6600GT's is the way to go.

Skeetman · Jan 1, 2005

I just purchased a Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI and 2x eVGA-6600GT Pro cards (they won't be here until monday or tuesday).They should run well because the Pro cards have 1.6ns ram rated @ 550. I'm sure I will see quite an improvement from my the AIW 9700 PRO I use currently.

I eventually want to get 2x 6800 GT (can't find 'em anywhere right now), but due to availability I went with the 6600s. The great thing about eVGA is they offer a step up program. If I apply for the step up (within 90 days), they will credit me the total price I payed for the 6600s. So I pay the difference and send them my cards and they send me 2 6800s.

The great thing about SLI is the options for the future. If the dual 6600s run as well as I hope, I may just use them for the next 6 months or a year and get 1 OR 2 of the great next-gen cards whenever they come out.

I really don't think games are going to even come close to saturating all of the potential of SLI (or even single next-gen cards) for at least 1-2 years. Any game that would be that strenuous would not be playable "by the masses". We just had a big step up in games with the release of Doom 3 and HL 2. These have been in development for years. IMO the next jump won't be for a few more years.

Skeetman

treepop · Jan 1, 2005

Skeetman said:
I just purchased a Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI and 2x eVGA-6600GT Pro cards (they won't be here until monday or tuesday).They should run well because the Pro cards have 1.6ns ram rated @ 550. I'm sure I will see quite an improvement from my the AIW 9700 PRO I use currently.

I eventually want to get 2x 6800 GT (can't find 'em anywhere right now), but due to availability I went with the 6600s. The great thing about eVGA is they offer a step up program. If I apply for the step up (within 90 days), they will credit me the total price I payed for the 6600s. So I pay the difference and send them my cards and they send me 2 6800s.

The great thing about SLI is the options for the future. If the dual 6600s run as well as I hope, I may just use them for the next 6 months or a year and get 1 OR 2 of the great next-gen cards whenever they come out.

I really don't think games are going to even come close to saturating all of the potential of SLI (or even single next-gen cards) for at least 1-2 years. Any game that would be that strenuous would not be playable "by the masses". We just had a big step up in games with the release of Doom 3 and HL 2. These have been in development for years. IMO the next jump won't be for a few more years.

Skeetman

What about everquest2?......that game will bring any current system to its knees......just a thought........stupid hang over :beer:

El-Scotto · Jan 2, 2005

ive heard there have been some problems with ocing and the asus board, you may want to wait a little until you purchase an sli board, but there have been a lot of complaints about the a8n-sli, I have yet to hear anything about the gigabyte k8nxp-sli board as it just came out

Jolt · Jan 2, 2005

Skeetman said:
The great thing about SLI is the options for the future. If the dual 6600s run as well as I hope, I may just use them for the next 6 months or a year and get 1 OR 2 of the great next-gen cards whenever they come out.

nVidia Geforce 6-series are "next-generation" cards. They have so many good features yet to be used(actually all features may be used, if not soon). There will be along way to go before any new thechnology gets here as nVidia used plenty of time on there 6-series. I dont think they will lauch a whole new generation of cards in at least a year. ATI has still to get up and running on SLI. It is now up to gamedevelopers to make games that support stuff like pixel shader2 and all the nittigritti stuff for the masses.

Skeetman · Jan 3, 2005

Jolt,
I agree with you. The statement you quoted was in support of my personal decision to go with dual 6600 GT cards. Some people are criticizing SLI by saying that a single "next-gen" card will be better than any current dual card set up. I was stating I will probably keep the 6600 GT set up until those new cards come out. Then I will have the option to use 1 OR 2 of them.

Skeetman

*EDIT* I have my rig up and running. See the gigabyte motherboards section.*

SLI ready AMD mobo Question

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