SLI: A tax on the uninformed

[infinitevalence]

Im sure by now you have thought at some point about buying an SLI board and two nVidia graphics cards. You have gone to lanparties and seen SLI rigs, read reviews going over SLI, and you want it. You want it because its big, its bad, and it sounds cool... o and it also costs a hell of alot of $$ so you can brag about it.

Well guess what, SLI is a waste of $$ and im going to prove it to you. Im not doing this because i cant afford it, belive me, i really thought about running down to compusa and buying two 7800GT's and two 6800GT's just to write this up, I am doing this because I am sick of marketing telling you that you need SLI so your e-penis will be large.

I know this thread is going to tick allot of people off, mostly those who refuse to realize that they got had, but deal with it. It happens to us all, i have some $1200 speakers that are worth only $250, i got had. It happens to us all, and marketing people know this, thats their job.

So now for the crux of the argument.

So its 8mths ago and you want to go SLI rather than buy 6800 Ultras (since they are $450) you get two 6800GT's for around $600. You then get an SLI board which at the time costs around $175 (were getting the cheap one as you just spent $600 on GFX cards) So you go home hook up your system to your 19" CRT and fire up Farcry, Halflife2, CS:S, and Doom3. The graphics are amazing and you feel like god.

So what did this really get you.
MOBO - 175
GFX --- 600
Cost -- 800 (shipping and maybe some tax)

Projected 3D Mark 05 score: 8500 depending on OC (1gb Ram A64 3500+)

Right now your thinking, well its not 8mths ago any longer so i could do it much cheaper now.

MOBO - 100
GFX --- 475
Cost -- 600 (damn that shipping)

no change in 3D Mark....

So not bad right only $600 for the basic set up right. Well guess what you over paid, and here is why. If you were to right now go and buy a decent motherboard and 7800GT you would pay alot less and get the same experience.

MOBO - 75
GFX --- 300
Cost -- 400 (im so killing that fedex guy for taxing my ***)

Projected 3D Mark 05: 8200 (same memory same CPU)

So your paying $200, and thats just an estimate, for maybe 300 3Dmarks... we still have not taken into consideration overclocking of the CPU and graphics. I should mention that if you want to get the most out of your SLI system you need TWO water blocks or heatsinks to cool your cards so thats another $100 just to match the OC from one 7800GT.

Are you starting to see my argument? Well guess what Im not done yet, you still have that pesky 19" CRT to deal with... Guess what its kinda old so it only displays up to 1280x1024. The fact is that almost any decent graphics card can run every game you play (except fear, and i will get into that too) at this resolution with all the eye candy turned up. I used to run HL2, NFS:UG, Farcry and Doom3 at 1920x1200 with most, if not all eye candy at max on a X800XL which can be had for $250. Now i have a X800GTO2 and with OC there is not a single game that i cant max out on my monitor. The point im trying to make here is that unless you have a 20" wide screen monitor or larger SLI WILL HAVE NO EFFECT on in game settings.

I know some of you will bring up Fear... well im sorry but that game is so taxing on GFX cards because of the crappy programing. HL2 had amazing graphics when it came out and it was VERY playable with even a mid to low end graphics card. Fear on the other hand is unplayable with anything less than a X1800/7800 class card. Thats BAD programing, not a reason to pay out your ears for more graphics cards.

Now lets get to the other counter argument... but i want the best now so why not two 7800GT's. Guess what in 6-8mths there is going to be a new card coming out from nVidia that will cost $300 and will preform as well as two 7800GT's. Your asking how do i know this? Well if you look at the graphics market for the last, say, 5 years they have basically doubled performance ever 12mths. So why in gods name would you spend twice as much money now when you could just sell your current graphics card and upgrade in a few mths for 1/2 the cost of going SLI.

The only reason you would EVER go SLI is if your a hardcore bench marker. Thats it SLI offers NO improvement for gaming except in the extreme cases and trust me YOUR NOT ONE OF THEM. SLI is a marketing gimmick that is designed to get as much money out of you as it can. Their weapon in this is information. The dont want you to know that SLI offers nothing, thats why when they send out GFX cards to review sites they always send two... what review site is going to get two cards and not show the best, their life blood is based on readers and readers want to read about the best.

Please dont fall for the marketing hype, dont waste your $$ on SLI or crossfire. If you want to prove me wrong or argue go for it, im always open to new evidence. Better yet, send me two 6800GT's and two 7800GT's i will bench and test return my results along with the cards.

ok, flame on

 

[skylinedo]

mmmmm sli, reminds me of my 3dfx days

gave my voodoo2 to my friend when i bought my ati xpert2000 so he could sli it with his identical card. don't know if it made a significant difference tho

 

[DeepScience]

Please dont fall for the marketing hype, dont waste your $$ on SLI or crossfire. If you want to prove me wrong or argue go for it, im always open to new evidence. Better yet, send me two 6800GT's and two 7800GT's i will bench and test return my results along with the cards.

I think I'd agree with all that. Add to that the point that the 3D mark thing seems optimised for SLI while I think there's a lot of games that get very little boost which means running at the slower card speed.

 

[Beginner]

my e-penis isn't that big, i have flashed 59xx card

good info.

here's a question somewhat related to sli. lets say a buddy bought an sli board and 2 - 7800gtx's. i know he can go down to just one 7800gtx, could the other sli slot since its pci-e 16x be used for a pci-e 8x raid card?

 

[infinitevalence]

yes thats what my room mate is doing, has a PCIe GFX card and a PCIe RAID card

 

[Evilsizer]

well you didnt have to say this for me to get it... i never understood why they had brought back SLI. I say brought back because the only real need for it was when the voodo's came out back in the day... now agp/pci-e has so much bandwidth its godly. i find it funny i play savage on rig #1 in my siggy.. now there are a few out there that have sli setups playing this game with x2's. I asked them why they upgraded there comp just to play that game. They said i dont just play this game, i said well i see you on here for 8+hrs a day. Funny thing is he prolly paid 8x's the amount i did for my setup... just for those wondering i didnt spend big $$ for this 6800U. It only cost me the $70 for a thermal stasis heatsink that i had to put on it. I really dont see the need for SLI cards, now i can understand putting both on the same card like the 3dfx V5 5500. That card made more sense in the way the rendering was handled then what is out now for SLI.

 

[Sjaak]

Just don't buy along with the masses. I always buy my VGA cards when they're getting oldfashioned. I bought a radeon 9800PRO for ~180$ two years ago and it served me very well untill last october when i bought an X800PRO for the same amount of money.


All my games run fine at my screens 1280x1024 resolution (19"TFT). I'm satisfied, why spend more?

 

[Blackmage]

SLI, is worthwhile upgrade maybe not as soon as the cards come out but 8months Later you can invest in a cheap performance increase rather then spend money on something brand new because it cant play the games at the settings you want.

 

[vixro]

two 7800GTX being outdone by a newer card in 8 months is 8 months of having the fastest. sometimes it comes down to having the best. when the 7900's come out, I will have 2 of the top of the line 512's in SLi and wont bat an eye. I enjoy the 16xS AA, it's very pretty on my other system.

 

[Flip-Mode]

Finally someone is saying what should have been said a long time ago! I agree 1 gazzilion % with what was said here.

 

[nikeair]

Agree 100%, SLi is more of an image/****ing contest/ego thing that in actual games doesn't help over 1 nice card.

 

[kovboi]

i really thought about running down to compusa and buying two 7800GT's and two 6800GT's just to write this up

you'd really buy 4 video cards from compusa? that kinda hurts your credibility.
but seriously, i bought an SLI motherboard thinking I could add another 6800GT further down the road when prices drop. but i've come to understand that the market doesn't work that way. instead, the prices stay about the same but availability dwindles while new cards get rolled out.

 

[wa77ss]

SLI is good for benching. Adds approximately 70% in score. Thats the only reason I would get it.

 

[TheGame240]

you'd really buy 4 video cards from compusa? that kinda hurts your credibility.
but seriously, i bought an SLI motherboard thinking I could add another 6800GT further down the road when prices drop. but i've come to understand that the market doesn't work that way. instead, the prices stay about the same but availability dwindles while new cards get rolled out.

The real deals come from people ditching their current cards for the new tech. So it does still remain a viable upgrade path. Of course you're still caught in the same catch 22 the OP mentioned in that performance doubles so it's either pick up a new card for ~$400 and sell your current card for ~$200 or pick up a used version of your card for ~$200, either way your out $200 and end up with double the performance.


While I do agree with everything the OP had to say, I would like to point out one thing that doesn't quite hold water. I would seriously question the sanity of anyone who is willing to shell out $600+ on graphics cards then only use them on a CRT monitor. Just doesn't seem like a very likely scenario. Most of the people you're going to find with SLI setups are either people who have the absolute best of everything and will be using a resolution of 1600x1200 or higher or someone who stumbled into a deal on 2 mid-level cards. I just don't see anyone spending that much on graphics cards and trying to use them at anything less.

 

[timzak]

Amen, brother!

I'm still chugging along on an XP-M at 2.4Ghz and it has no problem handling Doom3, Far Cry and the likes when mated with a 6800GS AGP. I too max almost all details and play at 1280 no problem. Turn off AA and 1600x1200 is smooth as silk too. By upgrading from a 9800Pro to the 6800GS, I basically committed to my XP-M for another 1-2 years. The older I get, the less time I have for gaming, so I am confident I will be satisfied with my rig in that period of time.

 

[Elif Tymes]

I believe you missed a very important, and very valid use of SLI.

I have my eVGA SLI Board, and a 7800 GT(Single).

Within 8 months, a 7800GT Should cost about $150, maybe less. I paid ~265 for my 7800GT.(Used).

Assuming in 8 months NVidia(or AMD) Releases a card that is greater performance than my 7800GT in SLI. (I.E. X2900XTX or whatever). Instead of dishing out $600+ for myself to remain competive, I merely have to dish out $150, and walaa.

I could of course sell off my current 7800GT for $150 or so, but then I still have $450 out of pocket expenses to get the card I want/need/think will make me cool.

SLI has a valid use, but it's NOT buying two cards right away.

 

[KillrBuckeye]

I agree with a lot of what was said; however, as some others have mentioned, SLI is still a viable upgrade path and not necessarily a waste of money.

First of all, I find your example of a 3DMark05 score of 8200 with a single 7800GT to be a huge exaggeration. It's more like 7200, which isn't that great compared to the score achieved by 2x6800Ultras. So the extra $200 is still getting you quite a bit IMO.

Second, many of us have large LCDs running high resolutions, and running a lower resolution isn't really an option on these monitors (it looks like crap). In my case, running the latest games at 1680x1050 puts a huge strain on my single 7800GT. I have to turn down AA/AF, texture detail, special effects, etc. to attain decent frame rates. If I had the money, a second 7800GT would do wonders for my gaming performance, and it would still be a much better value than a single 7800GTX (best available at the time) due to the price premium on the latest and greatest.

A year from now, I might be able to get another 7800GT for ~$200, maybe less, and my 2x7800GTs will be able to handle the latest games, thereby extending the useful life of my current system. I am not one who likes to buy from or sell to individuals over the internet, so this option is much more appealing to me than selling my 7800GT a year from now and buying the latest and greatest card.

While SLI is not for everyone, it still has its merits, and I hardly find it a marketing scam.

EDIT: Elif Tymes, it seems we think alike.

 

[Brando]

Also keep in mind that when new cards are released they often support new features like new versions of opengl or directx. I prefer 1 new card with all the modern features. I also like getting by with a reasonably priced power supply instead of a $200 sli mega beast 100000000watt. The cheaper motherboard is also a good point.

CRT's for life(until hdtv)

 

[KillrBuckeye]

Also keep in mind that when new cards are released they often support new features like new versions of opengl or directx. I prefer 1 new card with all the modern features. I also like getting by with a reasonably priced power supply instead of a $200 sli mega beast 100000000watt. The cheaper motherboard is also a good point.

True, but introduction of those newer features, at least the especially important ones, are sometimes years apart, which is much longer than the average useful life of a mid-to-high-end video card. DX9 has been offered in cards for how long now???

Regarding the PSU issue: many people on these forums are already owners of heavy-duty, SLI-ready PSUs. It's a prerequisite for heavy-duty overclocking.

 

[Brando]

I guess there are things I havn't considered but I'm just old fashioned. I like one kikasss card, one kikasss cooler, and no worries about sli compatability or power requirements. Plus it seems like newer cpu's\ram\gpu's are using newer manufacturing techniques all the time to lower power consumption. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I hope my 500watt will keep me going until it breaks.