Dual SLI vs. ATI Crossfire

[playswiss421]

I can't figure out which one I want to get. I play WoW, so I know that it doesn't really matter for that, but I also like to play FPS and other graphics heavy games. I searched the forum for other topics, but all I found was one from 2005, apparently before Crossfire tech. was introduced. Any help I could get deciding would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[playswiss421]

Another thing I was wondering about is: do ATi GPUs work with Intel chipsets? All the ones I have looked at say they need AMD MOBO. I am trying to learn as much as I can about these things, so any input would be much appreciated.

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

ATI is now owned by AMD, however, ATI video cards will work fine with an Intel chipset and CPU as far as I'm aware. Perhaps that's changed...

To be honest, they're both a waste of cash in my opinion, which isn't an uncommon one I might add.

You can check out some combinations of SLI/CrossFire benchmarks here.

 

[Whiffen]

Yeah like Zeno sticks had said SLi or Crossfire can just be more costly and give less performance than buying 1 better card. If you could tell us how much you are going to spend we can help to find you what would give you the most bang for your buck.

As for whats better I think it would really just depend on what cards you would be buying. I heard that Crossfire has more features but really when it comes to gaming performance their would be almost no difference between them.

 

[LinkedKube]

sli and CF can be useful if you actually have a game that can utilize all that memory with the two combined cards. I think 90% of people would say sli because the performance is just better. go CF if you want good results w/o killing your pockets.

But hey, i spent 800 for my card, so i guess i shouldn't be talking...

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Yeah like Zeno sticks had said...

Zeno sticks haha...

 

[Whiffen]

Well SLi or Crossfire do become useful if you are buying the top end cards or you want more than one display or like really high resolutions.

If you are buying for SLi or Crossfire in the 200$ range, one 8800 GT would beat whatever SLi or Crossfire setup you have. On the other hand when buying the more top end cards like the 8800 GT in SLi for that 400$ you will get about the same performance of one ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 for a little cheaper.

Lmao sorry Zenosinks XD

 

[LinkedKube]

you dont need sli for dual display, in fact sli makes running 3 or more monitors difficult sometimes.

 

[_FAKE_]

sli and CF can be useful if you actually have a game that can utilize all that memory with the two combined cards. I think 90% of people would say sli because the performance is just better. go CF if you want good results w/o killing your pockets.

Wrong. The performance of nVidia's high end GPU's have better performance than the high end ATI GPU's because the nVidia 8800's are simply more powerful altogether.

BUT!!! CF scales better than SLI so when you add dual ATI GPU's you will get a larger performance increase than what you do with dual nVidia cards.

For example, if you could get 2 GPU's from ATI with the EXACT same performance as 2 GPU's from nVidia and put them both in CF and SLI, the CF will have better performance in games and general usage.

Also SLI is more popular because nVidia GPU's are more preferred and more popular.

 

[playswiss421]

I actually want to get dual XFX GeForce 8800GT pcie 2.0. I want to build a wicked gaimng rig, and am willing to take some time to save for the parts. I am going to be running it with a Asus P5E WS Professional MOBO ans Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 CPU. Like I said, I'm looking for a really good gaming rig. I ahve heard the the 8800GT is better than the newer 9800GX2. Is there anything to that?

 

[playswiss421]

Sorry, I meant the 9600GT... Would I be better going for something like the GTS or Ultra? I want the best I can get, and I would like to run dual cards. Thanks guys!

 

[_FAKE_]

I actually want to get dual XFX GeForce 8800GT pcie 2.0. I want to build a wicked gaimng rig, and am willing to take some time to save for the parts. I am going to be running it with a Asus P5E WS Professional MOBO ans Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 CPU. Like I said, I'm looking for a really good gaming rig. I ahve heard the the 8800GT is better than the newer 9800GX2. Is there anything to that?

Sorry, I meant the 9600GT... Would I be better going for something like the GTS or Ultra? I want the best I can get, and I would like to run dual cards. Thanks guys!

If your going for a high end gaming rig than I HIGHLY suggest you ditch the QX6850 and get a QX9650, it overclocks a lot more and is clock for clock faster.

If you don't give a rats *ss about power consumption than I would recommend 3x8800Ultra's or 2x9800GX2's. The 9800GX2 and 8800GT in SLI are fairly close when it comes to performance so its up to you which one you want to get if you just want plain dual GPU solution. Also consider looking into getting 2x8800GTS 512MB (NOT THE 320MB OR 640MB VERSIONS).

You will also need very good RAM if you plan on overclocking. Also the 9600GT in SLI isn't a bad choice. I hear it scaled better than the 8800GT in SLI.

Also remember when going SLI or CF you get microstuttering. Its very common in dual GPU solutions. Its where you get stuttering even if you got very good framerates. And when you playing at 60+FPS the game can feel likes its not going any faster than 30FPS.

 

[gamerex]

I switched from Nvidia to ATI and I was happy. ATI had a lot more features in the control panel. Just adding my 2 DDRs'.