SLI Questions

[Bacchus451]

Hey there,

Here is what I have in my computer as of now:

Intel PentiumD920 2.8Ghz Overclocked 3.36Ghz

Asus P5WD2 Motherboard

CPU-Z Reads me as having 2048Mbs of DDR2 Memory, but there is over 3Gbs in there, going to have to check that out I guess.

XFX GeForce 7600GT video card

Rosewill RP500-2 Power Supply. There are two +12V, 1 and 2. 1 is 18A, 2 is 16A.

So my question is this. With my video card should I purchase another one and SLI them, or would it be cheaper or better to just purchase a better single card. Also, if I do go for SLI'ing them, what are the requirements for buying another card? Does it need to be the exact XFX card, or just any 7600GT?

Thanks.

 

[Surkitz]

hi baccus. im not sure if you have to buy exactly another xfx card or not, but to my knowledge, different manufacturers can put different clock speeds on the same 7600. so that may cause a problem. now as far as SLI'ing 2 7600s, i think its safe to say ONE 7900GT would outperform 2 7600s in SLI.

 

[Bacchus451]

Yeah I was thinking that. That makes me wonder, though, that if I bought two 7900GTs I could probably buy a single step-up-from-7900 card and be better off hence what's the point of SLI?

 

[Fred G]

SLI (and crossfire) usually makes sense with higher end cards, though i think, i'm not excactly 100% sure about it, 2 7600 GTs in SLI will beat 1 7900 GT.

 

[Surkitz]

i thought i read a review not long ago where they tested 2 7600's against one 7900 setup to see if the slower cards in SLI could beat the at that time, more powerful 7900. the results i thought were that the 7900 was either marginally better or somewhat better than 2 lower performing cards in a dual setup.

 

[Fred G]

You could be right, like i said i'm not sure. I recomend that the original poster researches this further or waits for someone who knows this for sure preferably from first hand experience.

 

[Surkitz]

Yeah I was thinking that. That makes me wonder, though, that if I bought two 7900GTs I could probably buy a single step-up-from-7900 card and be better off hence what's the point of SLI?

I was lead to believe that it was nothing more than a gimic to get sales boosts for card manufacturers. however, now that SLI and Crossfire have been reporting data and real world results have been out, SLI'ing a computer isnt a bad concept as long as they can keep the performance level ahead or, at least in line with the next generation single card. otherwise its a waste of resources. my $.02