New SLI cards question

Hi,

Want another scenario? Well, here it is even if you don't want it.

Oh, I have an A8N-sli deluxe with a San Diego 3700+ and love the board and CPU, so here is what I would do if I were in your position:

I would buy the A8N-sli (whatever sli version turns you on) and KEEP the 6800GT and run it in single mode until you get the bucks to add another 6800GT and then you will really have a horse to ride. Just make sure you have enough power supply to run the thing and you will then see why the sli is a neat concept.

Well, that is my two cents worth.

SLI fun

Like your thinking TW but my major problem there is that the 6800 is AGP so it has to go....A8V to A8N-SLI

Also its a test rig for hardware and games reviews so I will make the call on the two 6600GTs ...I can always flip the 6600s into 6800s or 7800s later...

your point on PSU is rather valid though...I have a 430W now, do you recommend uping that to say a 500 or 550?

Hi,

Man, did I miss that one big time. Sorry, but I was not thinking of the AGP card you had, but the pci-e model called GeForce 6800 PCI-E (the big bucks card). Anyway, your plan will work fine so go for it.

About the power supply, I would go for either a 500 or 550 Anec or Enermax for the sli board. Don't misunderstand, a 450 might be fine if it is a strong one like an Antec for the 6600 cards you are talking about, but if you have plans to move to two more powerful cards, it just is not enough to do the job. Don't make a move that will cause you to do it again when you move up to more powerful cards.

If your long range plans are to use two sli video cards , go with the 550 Antec and get it over with. Don't buy anything else and this is the best of the best for the money. They are about 100 bucks, but well worth it.

Hope that helps and sorry for misreading what you were saying. Have a great evening.

SLI Heaven

No worries TW

I grabbed the A8N-SLI and dual Gigabyte 600GTs so we shall see how it performs....

Antec 430watt PSU in the machine which worries me a bit...I have a 500 in another machine so might need to change them over...

I am hopeful of a few extra 3D marks..

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

430 is enough, just be carefull and dont throw on too many other things

i will also say, sli isnt always worth it. many things dont support it, and they will run single. in some pc world tests 1/5 of the time a 6800ultra beat dual 7800gtx.
ide go with a 7800 instead. it probly would have more pipes and faster ram, even tho it would cost 50-100 more

SLI speed

yes CM12 I would rather the 7800 as well, then add another later on....but the 6600GTs are my only choice for review...we shall see how it all goes over the next few weeks re games out now and incoming...

BTW first test last night was 3DM 05 - Asus 6800GT (A8V/A64 3500+/2 gig giel ram) ran 4200 marks, SLI Gigabyte 6600GTs (A8N-SLI/A64 3500+/2 gig giel ram) clocked up 6500...so not a bad start....we shall see if it equates to real world results

Cheers

the other problem with SLI, its similar to Dual Channel Ram.
as in, you have to buy the grapics cards extremely similar. as in same model same brand or it wont work... finding that same model 68gt wont be so easy in a year.

yes very true...makes it much more fun buying 2 cards at once....yeah!!

must say the A8N -SLI appears to be much stronger as a MoBo than the A8V i had before it...Nforce4 chipset is great!

The company I am testing for has a couple of 6800 SLIs in stock so I may try them to guage how much increase (if any) you get from 6600 GT to 6800

althogh the Antec 430W has been ok but probably wont do the 6800s so may need to up that psu as well....

cheers

I read some reviews pitting a 7800GT 7800GTX and 6800GT-SLi cards against each other. More often than not the SLi 6800GT's came out on top by a 15-30% margin.

Hi EB,

yes I have seen some similar reviews online, although as mentioned by CM12 some games real world dont seem to utilize the config well...we shall see

saw some reviews yesterday running tests at 1600x1280 with 4/16 enabled...serious stress testing and seemed to be where the SLI came to the party most...

if nothing else.. 2 in the case looks good....

cheers