Anyone got the eVGA Akimbo 1GB 8800GT(s)?

[Illyest]

I'm in a bit of a conundrum...

I have an eVGA 8800GTX KO ACS3 currently. I looooovvvvve the card and would really like buy another one to run SLI for the first time. Unfortunately, there's still a price premium on it ($550-$650) and for that I could buy 2x9800GTX's or... 2x8800GT 1GB's that I'm asking about...

A little back brief...

I have a 26" monitor (1900x1200 rez) and though the single GTX has performed "admirably" over the past year or so, games are really starting to make it struggle at that rez (with eye candy). So last week, I saw vanilla 8800GT 512's in a local store...said fuggit and bought 2. Got home, safe mode uninstalled the current video drivers, installed the GT's (and drivers), enabled SLI (restarted) and started gaming.... To my surprise (not so much really) the 2xGT's in SLI didnt perform all that much better than my single GTX...

I played Crysis with the "High" default settings but reduced shadows and post-processing to medium on the single 8800GTX, and it was very playable for me. With 2x8800GT's I figured I could get away with all settings on "High" at the very least... I was wrong... I ended up having to reduce the settings to what I played with on the single GTX. Now I know Crysis is a "system killer" but I thought that was crap... After 3 days playing with them, overclocking, and trying different drivers I decided they werent really an "upgrade" and returned them. It seems that the 768MB of memory on the 8800GTX is a bigger "bonus" than I thought, so I'm concered that 2 9800GTX's wouldnt be that much different. This brings me to the Akimbo 1GB 8800GT's....

Would the 1GB of memory (plus some overclocking) put their performance to what I should "expect" over a single 8800GTX? (I know that's a subjective question..) Or am/was I expecting too much?

 

[ratbuddy]

Uhmm, you can get a second 8800GTX for $300 or less these days..

 

[reclaimer122]

$380, and that's still one of the more expensive (but reasonable) ones. You don't need the same brand and specs as the original, just the same card.

 

[ratbuddy]

$380, and that's still one of the more expensive (but reasonable) ones. You don't need the same brand and specs as the original, just the same card.

$330 after $50 rebate.. Or just grab one from EVGA's B-stock, http://www.evga.com/products/bstock.asp for $300..

 

[keninishna]

Yeah I saw an 8800 gtx on ebay sell for 210$ with shipping. Its really making me itch to sell my gx2 and go 8800 gtx sli. I'm curious though on how 1 gig GTs will do in SLI. I hate the 512 ram the gx2 is limited to.

 

[ratbuddy]

Yeah I saw an 8800 gtx on ebay sell for 210$ with shipping. Its really making me itch to sell my gx2 and go 8800 gtx sli. I'm curious though on how 1 gig GTs will do in SLI. I hate the 512 ram the gx2 is limited to.

Do you play at 2560x1600 or something?

 

[keninishna]

Do you play at 2560x1600 or something?

No I do play at 1080p but the resolution isn't the problem I play company of heroes regularly and in order to play it on high settings it needs over 600mb of video ram and stutters terribly with the gx2. Don't ask my why considering crysis on high from what I've seen requires about 450 mb of vram. I also think oblivion also uses over 512mb of ram with some certain settings I havent checked.

 

[Illyest]

I know you can mix and match "stock" 8800GTX's but I'm not sure about and dont want to worry about stock o/c mix-matched cards. My card is stock o/c'd to 626/1450/1000, that BFG is 600/1400/900 and the eVGA B-stock one is stock. Isnt SLI finicky with mis-match settings? I.E. downclocks to the lowest card? Personally, I view mixing different stock o/c cards akin to mixing different brands of memory. It works but you dont want to do it...

To echo Kininshna, Crysis on the settings/rez I play uses 800MB of ram on some maps.

 

[blazed]

It will downclock 1 card to match the others yes, but you could always overclock the lesser one as well. For your needs picking up one of those $300 or so GTXs is your best bet.

 

[Illyest]

Well, I found the BFG 8800GTX OC2 which is the exact same clocks as my ACS3....went with that for $430 at Tiger Direct.

Next question...is this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118037 cooler the real deal or what?

 

[=XAF=AfterShock]

Old thread but look what a found in my random boxes from when I bought a house

 

[Railgun]

Why throw anything out? Wonder what the difference was between the blue and red label, if nothing else other than color.

 

[=XAF=AfterShock]

I'm not sure, I didn't even know you could get other colors, I got 1 from my uncle years ago and I grabbed 1 off of newegg because I figured akimbo lol, I was hoping to stumble on the evga 980 ti that went missing when we moved, these were the first and only cards I've ever used for sli.

 

[freeagent]

I had the blue one.. it was actually a pretty good card too for being a single slot. I got it in a trade and used it for physx in a GTX 570 sli setup.. not sure if it actually did anything though

 

[Evilsizer]

lol 2008 to 2024

 

[Blaylock]

Why throw anything out? Wonder what the difference was between the blue and red label, if nothing else other than color.
View attachment 365520

Clearly, one of them has BFG Technology. LOL (Whatever the Heck that is.)

 

[EarthDog]

Wonder what the difference was between the blue and red label, if nothing else other than color.

One looks like a dual slot, larger blower (orange), the other single slot blower solution (blue)??

(Whatever the Heck that is.)

It's a Ronald Dahl thing .

In that image, one is BFG brand, the other, EVGA. BFG sold a ton of PC parts back in the day. GPUs, PSUs...systems.

 

[Railgun]

One looks like a dual slot, larger blower (orange), the other single slot blower solution (blue)??

Sure is. The red image is...massive...so I didn't really look into it too much. Then I guess...technically...other than the physical characteristics, what the difference is. Granted it's far too long ago, but I don't recall there being any differences of the same line back in the day.

 

[don256us]

I can share the OP's enthusiasm to SLI. I did it for a while and felt like a King. Not a god but a king. Fun times.

And yeah, I was BFG and the other EVGA. I also noticed that the blue one has one less cap showing in the lower right. Different manufacturer and slightly different design.

 

[EarthDog]

I also noticed that the blue one has one less cap showing in the lower right. Different manufacturer and slightly different design.

I think that's just the angle(?). The two in the same pic are reference boards, I believe. I see six caps on each through the grill.

hen I guess...technically...other than the physical characteristics, what the difference is.

EDIT: So, I think the Akimbo ran at 720 MHz while the base clock was 600 Mhz (the Zotac in the image, ran at 660 MHz).