Ok I’m about to build my system and I need to know If SLI is worth getting. I am a hard core gamer, and I hear a lot about how SLI is not great or it’s too much money for what it’s worth and you don’t get that much of a boost in performance, Also If you buy a card and wait to upgrade in a year that there will be a better single card out. But the problem with all this is that everywhere I look people have or want an SLI system? What’s the take? Let me know?
Is SLI worth it?
- Thread starter Fantasia
- Start date
Geoff
VIP Member
If your a hard-core gamer, then you should get it. Theres about an 80% performance difference when you have another card in SLI array, so i dont know why people would say that its not worth it, but if you had 2x 7800GTX's, it will be a long time before they are outdated. So i would get it, and an SLI motherboard isnt that much more expensive then an ordinary PCI-E motherboard.
Johnnyboy0056
New Member
geoff5093 said:
true, but this is a very expensive set of vid cards that cannot even be used to their full potential yet by any video game on the market.
Just an idea fantasia, get an sli mobo, and buy 1 sli ready vid card, such as the 7800gtx, and when the time comes, buy the second one then. geoff is correct about them not being outdated for a long time, but u dont need both right now. the computer can work with 1 sli card, and then upgrade when u need to/have the money/want to.
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Geoff
VIP Member
Johnnyboy0056 said:Just an idea fantasia, get an sli mobo, and buy 1 sli ready vid card, such as the 7800gtx, and when the time comes, buy the second one then. geoff is correct about them not being outdated for a long time, but u dont need both right now. the computer can work with 1 sli card, and then upgrade when u need to/have the money/want to.
lets say you buy a new computer with a 6800GT, now that is really good now, but when it becomes outdated, then you can buy another 6800GT for alot less and then SLI them, and you will have a very nice system again, and it would be much cheaper then ditching the 6800GT and picking up the newest card.
gamerman4
Active Member
I don't think it is necessarily worth it. Say you spend $1000 on 2 $500 cards in SLI and have excellent performance for a long while. But you could spend just $500 on one card and have an unnoticeable performance difference since your eyes can't tell the difference between 150FPS and 75FPS. Your $500 card would be a great performer for say a good 3 years before it really starts showing it's age. In 2~3 years there will most likely be another $500 card that would be better than the $1000 SLI setup you paid for originally. This has already been seen because a 7800GTX is very close in performance to 2 6800s in SLI (not exactly sure by how much) and the 6800 was made maybe a year before the 7800GTX. Or it has been said that you could just buy one 7800GTX now and later when the 7800GTX pushes into mid-range prices, buy another one to ensure your performance for a little while longer. Or when ATi releases Crossfire, you can do that which could be a better (or not) alternative, it depends on the way Crossfire is implemented to increase performance.
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gamerman4
Active Member
I edited my post already. I know what your saying but I would rather have 1 new card than 2 outdated cards because we are still in the generation of DirectX9 and in a few years I would like to know that my cards will support the new features of newer software. Kind of like that older cards don't support SM3. SM3 is pretty much useless now since SM2 is still more than enough but eventually SM3 will be standard and PCI-E will make use of the extra bandwidth of the slot and other things are discovered and made.
Joefox
New Member
I wrote a lot and it all seems mixed up and torn.
SLI is a good idea but it's hard to justify it's existence. It's too pricey, and later it will be outdated for just another card upgrade. SLI is for true core gamers, who require extra power now. Saving a slot for later is novel, but you will likely end up upgrading the card altogether by the time you actually get around to getting upgrading your graphics anyway.
Get SLI now if you admire graphics and want two cards. Get SLI now if you want the novelty of being able to have two later. But like all things, be warned that newer technologies will crush all your current decisions leaving them fruitless.
SLI is a good idea but it's hard to justify it's existence. It's too pricey, and later it will be outdated for just another card upgrade. SLI is for true core gamers, who require extra power now. Saving a slot for later is novel, but you will likely end up upgrading the card altogether by the time you actually get around to getting upgrading your graphics anyway.
Get SLI now if you admire graphics and want two cards. Get SLI now if you want the novelty of being able to have two later. But like all things, be warned that newer technologies will crush all your current decisions leaving them fruitless.
super_xero
New Member
i say sli is worth it even if technology comes out that make sli obsolete you still have to cards for two seperate computers that what im gona do