great debate here >_<

Kewl Munky

New Member
Well for a while I was kind of stuck on the idea of getting a gx2, and eventually a second one. On newegg I can get a regular EVGA one for only $284! So getting two of them would be like $558, which is cheaper than one was not too long ago.

The issue with that though is that I heard each GX2 is like 5 pounds. That being said, if I do get two of them that's 10 ****ing pounds on my motherboard, and most people are cautious of putting the ifx14 on their motherboard, and that thing is only a little over 2 pounds. Also, does anyone know if the evga gx2 requires both a 6 and 8 pin, or can you use either or?

I decided to look at the 9800GTX(+) cards. I can get an EVGA 9800GTX+ one for $200 on newegg. I was looking at benchmarks, and quad sli beats them out on most things, like crysis on very high, though on medium and high tri sli beat quad. The thing is, unless I can get an adapter, I only have 2 PCI-E connectors. Also, I don't know how big of a power supply I would need for them.

Next, I was looking at the GTX 260's. For a single GPU they sound amazing, and on newegg I can get a regular EVGA one for $279, or a SC for $289 with a $10 main in rebate (which would ultimately get me a better card for the same price). Now I'm not sure about how these fair against the GX2. I read someone's benchmarks on them, and I believe they had two, where on crysis they did several tests. But one that really peaked my interest was that on crysis very high, no AA, 16x AF, on 1680x150 resolution they had an average of 31FPS. I believe that 3 of these would beat out 2 GX2's (quad SLI), but by how much?

What I'm wondering is which graphics solution would be the best for my money, and if it is indeed the gx2's, is it extremely risky to have two of them hanging off of my motherboard? Getting two GX2's would be $586, three 9800GTX's would be $600, and getting three GTX 260's would be $839.

Personally, I don't think the three GTX 260's would beat out two GX2's enough to be worth the extra 200 and some dollars, and since I've seen two GX2's beat out three GTX's more often than not, it sounds like I'd be paying more for less.

I usually play games with pretty high level graphics. I usually play crysis, unreal tournament 3, timeshift (graphcis rehauled), and portal (not graphics demanding, but I play it). I currently have a single EVGA 8800GTS 512mb.

Thanks for reading for anyone who actually did. I hope I can get some help deciding.
 
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Ok I've said it before Quad SLi is NOT worth it. The benchmarks are hardly better, if not worse than just one GX2, or SLi 9800 GTX's. Do you really need to spend that much money on 2 or even 3 gfx cards? I'm running one 9800 GTX and getting about 40 FPS on Crysis on high. Unless you are really doing extremely graphically intensive stuff, I'd say just stick with one GTX 260/280, or one GX2, or maybe even SLi 9800 GTX's. With the way prices/technology changes it's just not worth it to spend a lot on video cards or CPU's for that matter.
 
I'd definitely agree with tknick...
for the money, i'd simply SLI some 9800GTX's or get a GX2 or something... Quad SLI (or tri) is an unneeded, expensive, energy draining move that you'll regret in the short and long run...
 
Well if I got two GTX's that'd be $400.

And I want to run crysis on very high with as much AF and AA as possible.

Actually, I'm starting to think I don't really want to spend that much money. One 280 might satisfy me, and if later on once it becomes not powerful enough for what I need I could always get another and bring life back right? But a 280 at $449 on newegg and two GX2's for $586. How does a single 280 perform? I'm sure a 280 would severely outperform it, especially for me since I play on 1440x900.

Maybe 2 260's, but wouldn't 2 gx2's outperform them and be cheaper? I think I should just get a single gx2.
 
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Well if I got two GTX's that'd be $400.

And I want to run crysis on very high with as much AF and AA as possible.

Actually, I'm starting to think I don't really want to spend that much money. One 280 might satisfy me, and if later on once it becomes not powerful enough for what I need I could always get another and bring life back right? But a 280 at $449 on newegg and two GX2's for $586. How does a single 280 perform? I'm sure a 280 would severely outperform it, especially for me since I play on 1440x900.

Maybe 2 260's, but wouldn't 2 gx2's outperform them and be cheaper? I think I should just get a single gx2.

I think the record for Crysis on Very High is 80 FPS, and if I remember correctly it was with 3xSLi GTX 280's. So running on Crysis on Very High for now typically just doesn't happen. I'd say go for either one GTX 280, or SLi 9800 GTX's.
 
Why would I get one 280? That's $450, and it only beats the gx2 on higher resolutions like 2560x1600 and 1920x1200, and usually when AA is enabled. My monitor is 1440x900 and my tv is 1080p.

I think a gx2 would be a great, cheap solution for me. And I could possibly get another later if games demand it.

I also found some benchmarks on the gx2 vs the 9800GTX.

On medium and high the three GTX's win:

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1363/6/nvidia_geforce_9800gtx_in_tri_sli_tested/index.html

But on very high the 2 gx2's prevail:

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1363/7/nvidia_geforce_9800gtx_in_tri_sli_tested/index.html

Also, do you know if you have to plug in both a 6 and 8 pin into the gx2, or just either or?

Found two more.

http://resources.vr-zone.com/tux/gtx280/full/benches/crysis_h.jpg

http://resources.vr-zone.com/tux/gtx280/full/benches/crysis_vh.jpg

P.S. Sorry if I'm being very hard to please.
 
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