SLi

[Dog Pants]

Oh 5punk tech support, lend me your advice:

I know cock all about SLi - all the machines I build are either a bit old (mine) or office desktops (work) - so I'm behind the curve. I'm hoping to upgrade to a PCI-E setup by April (ie my birthday) and have been musing over SLi. Would I be able to buy an SLi motherboard and run it off one GFX card until I could afford another? Will any GFX cards run in SLi (I'm looking at getting a Radeon X800 GTO)? Is it actually worth doing or is it an evolutionary dead end?

Ideally I would like to go for an Athlon 64 3000+, Abit AN8SLi Deluxe and the X800 (upgraded to two later). I've not looked too far into this because I don't know the SLi bit is feasible - I'm assuming the CPU and MOBO are both socket 939.

I'll be keeping my existing RAM (2x 512mb PC3200), which I assume will work fine in the new setup.

I'm confident that the rest of the setup is okay, but I'm putting down all the details in case they're important.

Cheers!

[ProfHawking]

im no expert in sli, but im pretty sure ATI cards cant run SLI. ATI's version of SLI - crossfire - isnt really viable yet. So you will prob have to get nvida one(s), the top end ones normally.
As far as i know, you can happily run one card, then dual it up later, assuming you can get the same card again, later on when you upgrade.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Ok, this is fun (not trying to sound patronising, but it may sound that way)

There's 2 flavours of multi- graphics card setups.

SLI is nvidia's offering, and will work with most newer nvidia cards (both cards have to be identical)

CrossFire is ATi's take on the theme, which uses an external cable to link the 2 cards, you need to have a special card (a master card) and another standard card. you can use a good few different cards which don't have to match, but if you use say, an x1900 and an x800, the x1900 would be forced to run at the same speed as the x800.

Both methods have pros and cons;

Crossfire:

Pros:
Can use some existing cards as slave cards
Don't have to use identical cards

Cons:
External dongle is a bit messy.
Has a low refresh rate limit
Crossfire Motherboards aren't that readily available, also the ATI chipset leaves a lot to be desired right now.


SLI:

Pros:
Can transfer data across the PCI-E bus or use an internal link board
SLI Compatible Motherboards are considerably more available than Crossfire Motherboards

Cons:
Need 2 near identical cards
Nvidia graphics cards are power hungry, (take the cost of a > 500w high end PSU into account)

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Ideally I would like to go for an Athlon 64 3000+, Abit AN8SLi Deluxe and the X800 (upgraded to two later). I've not looked too far into this because I don't know the SLi bit is feasible - I'm assuming the CPU and MOBO are both socket 939.

I'll be keeping my existing RAM (2x 512mb PC3200), which I assume will work fine in the new setup.

I'm confident that the rest of the setup is okay, but I'm putting down all the details in case they're important.

Cheers!

K, time for part 2: the computer.

The motherboard looks nice, but will only allow you to run a single ATI graphics card or an SLI setup (see above)

The CPU is probably fine, but it's a good place to spend money, the more you spend, they better they get. (ignoring overclocking)

both should be S939, however remember to make sure the CPU you order is, S745 Athlon 64s are available too (which you don't want)

Memory will be fine, as should anything else you're carrying over.

However, unless you already have a nice PSU, you should certainly invest in something nice (expect to spend at least 50 quid) £11.99 ebuyer value PSUs will cause trouble.

[Dog Pants]

Cheers guys. As I said, I know nothing about dual card setups so it's all good gen. I'd go for the SLi option over crossfire, probably buying as good a card as I can at the time and getting the other soon (within 6 months) afterwards. The PSU may be a problem - I have a pretty new Tagan 420W that I don't really want to replace so soon.

How much of a performance boost do you get from it? From what you've said I'm thinking I may be better off with a single X800 setup and just upgrading the card once it starts to chug. I'm thinking upgradability in the long run, as I can rarely afford to get a new MOBO/CPU/GFX card (my last upgrade was in 2002, and next time I need to I may have a baby Pants).

[Dr. kitteny berk]

an X800 isn't the best of cards any more, but the GTOs look pretty acceptable for ~£130

right now, nothing will beat a 7800 GTX (nvidia) but i'm pretty sure there's ATI stuff incoming to humiliate nvidia, again. (remember fx5200 Vs. radeon 9700?)

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/02/ ... index.html should help choices a little

[deject]

an X800 isn't the best of cards any more, but the GTOs look pretty acceptable for ~£130

right now, nothing will beat a 7800 GTX (nvidia) but i'm pretty sure there's ATI stuff incoming to humiliate nvidia, again. (remember fx5200 Vs. radeon 9700?)

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/02/ ... index.html should help choices a little

ATI has the X1900's in the works, but the ETA is unknown at this point.

to answer a question, yes you can buy just one card now and then add another one later.

[TezzRexx]

Good old Tom

Acording to him, the Geforce 7800 GTX (256MB) is THE card.

EDIT: Upon further reading I appear to be wrong.

OH SO WRONG.

[deject]

Good old Tom

Acording to him, the Geforce 7800 GTX (256MB) is THE card.

EDIT: Upon further reading I appear to be wrong.

OH SO WRONG.

the single best card available right this instant is the 7800GTX 512MB card, which not only has twice the RAM of a regular 7800GTX, but it also has higher clock speeds.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

however, anyone who buys one deserves to be violated by This.

[deject]

however, anyone who buys one deserves to be violated by This.

ery true...

[Dog Pants]

Cheers for the advice again. I'm thinking I might go with an SLi MOBO running just one nVidia for the time being, because I can't afford to spend a fortune (£200 at a push) on the graphics card due to the other components I have to upgrade too. I also don't want to abandon my shiny new PSU less than 6 months after I bought it, so I figure I should be okay with it until I go for the second graphics card.

I was going for the X800 as a compromise between power and cost. Unfortunately the nVidia cards don't seem to come as cheap

[Hehulk]

I was going for the X800 as a compromise between power and cost. Unfortunately the nVidia cards don't seem to come as cheap

Good choice. I'll soon be the proud owner of it's little brother (the X700 pro). Nice, decent clock speed there.

[ProfHawking]

yeah, x800 is nice if you dont want to do SLI. i have an x800pro, cant see the point of anything faster for now. All of the games i play i can turn the settings up nicely etc.
In short i think: if you can't afford two SLI for ages, go for an x800 and save your money for next year or whatever. If you can afford to go to SLI soon, then buy one SLI-nvidia card & get anohter later. If you are made of money, get 2 x 7800gtx :D

[Dr. kitteny berk]

3rded.

i pretty much specced my new machine around not getting rid of my x800 pro

[Dog Pants]

Okay then, next dumb question: Half the motherboards I'm looking at have nVidia chipsets. Does that have any effect on the graphics cards I should use (ie, do nVidia cards work better with it)? Or are nVidia just doing chipsets too now?

Blimey, I haven't done this for years and it really shows

[Dr. kitteny berk]

shouldn't make any difference. however, there are some issues with some NF4 boards and some sata hdds, so that's something to bear in mind too

[deject]

Good choice. I'll soon be the proud owner of it's little brother (the X700 pro). Nice, decent clock speed there.

dude, X700 = crap, x800GT = same price + faster

[Dr. kitteny berk]

dude, X700 = crap, x800GT = same price + faster

Fuck, i'm agreeing with you again.

[TezzRexx]

dude, X700 = crap, x800GT = same price + faster

Fuck, i'm agreeing with you again.

OWNED.