SLI or new card

[Dalton2510]

hey i was wondering i have a XFX 8600GT with ultimate overclocked its Core clock is 680MHz should i get another one of these and go SLI or should i buy a whole new card like a 8800GT or possibly a 8800GTS i dont know what the performance increase % is to go SLI and you need to consider i only want to stay in the $100-150 right now im gettign about like 20-30 FPS on crysis with all graphics set to medium and no antialising on if you think i will get more with SLI or a completely new Card Please tell me

 

[nickc]

then go with the 8800GT, it want be much over u're budget, and SLI is only good for the producer's of the cards It does not make that much of a difference (assuming u are intending to keep u're computer). If u are going to change soon, the XFX 8600GT in SLI would make u're games more playable today.

 

[Whiffen]

Yeah, your going to see better performance with a 8800 GT than with two 8600's.

 

[Dalton2510]

ok i have noticed my motherboard supports PCI express x16 can i put a PCI express x16 2.0 card i that slot c

 

[LinkedKube]

the pcix16/2.0 wil, operate at pcix16 speeds. Its okay to use that card.

 

[Dalton2510]

ok well now that i have that answer what should i look for in buying a new 8800 im pretty good with computers for being 16 but i don't know everything the guy across the street from me choose my 8600 for me cause it had 680MHz core clock but i don't think he actually knows what to look for cause hes not a gamer and hes sorta a pot head so should i look for a higher core clock a higher memory interface, memory size, higher stream processors Idk what to look for so please inform me

 

[raybay]

The 8600 is good. The 8800 is better, but sometimes it is the letter that labels which are better than others... Like 8800GT vs 8800GTX. Sometimes the only real difference is price and many of the high cost $480 video cards are not as fast or as good as the $300.
You can learn a lot by reading all the reviews on cards which are updated monthly at www.tomshardware.com, www.anandtech.com, and others such as the MaximumPC site.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The stream processors is the first thing you should look at IMO, followed by the memory type. For you, the 8800GS is a good buy, being priced at around $140 or so.
Keep in mind that the more powerful the video card, the more power it sucks. So make sure you have a PSU providing sufficient power to whatever card you go for.