Building a new 8800GTS SLI set up for MINSWEEPER!

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Endrithius

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
180
Just kidding - but I am serious about the 8800GTS set up.

I already have 1 GTS 320 so I am going to invest the few bucks and get the other one. I play games like BF2142 - Rainbow 6 Vegas and GRAW as well as some CNC3 and SupCom.

I am hoping to get it put into the SLi contest. All eVGA parts - Mobo and cards.

My question is this - I have a GTS320 Superclocked - which I overclock anyway - so do I have to buy another GTS320 SC or can I buy a GTS320 and just make sure they are running the same clocks *i.e. gpu and mem speeds*?
 
the evga's superclocked vid cards are just bios overclocked, nothing pretty fancy, u just have to make sure that your vid cards are running at the same speed
 
IMO, sell that 320 and get a GTX instead.

But yes, you can pair up any two GTS 320 cards. Just if you get a regular one and pair it with a SC, you may end up having to use less than your SC cards potential.
 
ZacharyS said:
IMO, sell that 320 and get a GTX instead.

But yes, you can pair up any two GTS 320 cards. Just if you get a regular one and pair it with a SC, you may end up having to use less than your SC cards potential.
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I had a GTX - took it back - I only run 1680x1050 - I didn't see a huge performance decrease - yes I saw some I will admit but not enough for me to have spend the extra 300 bucks at the time.

thx guys
 
I find it odd your trying to SLI a card with a low amount of memory. SLI helps with high resolutions with full AA and AF. The reason you sold your GTX was because it was not needed for the resolution you play at. And lastly...the extra 300 for the GTX wasnt worth it, but the extra 300 for another 320 GTS is? You realize youll probably see the same, if any benefits as you would have with the GTX? On top of that, you get all the complications of SLI, ie some games being optimized for it, some not, etc vs the single GTX that would work flawlessly?
 
nissanztt90 said:
I find it odd your trying to SLI a card with a low amount of memory. SLI helps with high resolutions with full AA and AF. The reason you sold your GTX was because it was not needed for the resolution you play at. And lastly...the extra 300 for the GTX wasnt worth it, but the extra 300 for another 320 GTS is? You realize youll probably see the same, if any benefits as you would have with the GTX? On top of that, you get all the complications of SLI, ie some games being optimized for it, some not, etc vs the single GTX that would work flawlessly?
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QFT. If you want to go SLI, you would want to do it at a higher resolution where a single card cant handle that res. You are limited with only 320mb of memory, which will not be good for high resoultion. For 1680x1050, I would have personally went with a GTS 640...
 
Okay - first off - I didn't go with the 640 and I didnt go with a GTX ultimately - so I have my 320 to deal with. I realize a lot of people apparently dont like this card - but I have nothing but good things to say about it. I experience slow down in VERY few games - the only game I can think of right now that I see any real slowdown (i.e. below 30fps) is R6Vegas and SOMETIMES GRAW.

More than anything I am building an SLi machine mainly because I want to get in the SLIZone contest every month. Call me stupid or whatever but it's my choice.

Don't think I am pissed - I am not - I just don't want people to flame me.
 
Speaking from personal experience with SLI TWICE, if you're running lower than 1920*1200, SLI or crossfire is just a waste of money that adds heat and takes more power to run. Plus there's the whole even at 1680*1050 320mb cards are held back by their amount of vram problem...

Don't you just need an SLI ready rig to enter? You should be able to enter now with a 680i board.
 
For one thing, nobody is flaming you, and I don't think anyone said you were stupid. Stop drawing conclusions. We're simply trying to get you the best performance for your money. We've already answered your question, so if you want to go SLI, buy another 320. But if you want the best performance for your money with the least headache (and heat, power consumption, etc), the GTX is a much wiser decision.

The GTS 320 is a very capable card, and I don't think anyone here has anything against it, but at your resolution, that 320MB is already getting pushed to the limit, and as games continue on, texture sizes probably aren't going to decrease. So, if you go SLI, sure you have increased graphical processing power, but you don't get any more VRAM, which means that the main purpose of SLI, running games at insanely high resolutions with everything maxed, won't be seen. In other words, the 320 is pretty much "adequate" for todays games, but in the future, it may not be. If you aren't planning to upgrade for a while after this, you may want to consider future performance as well as current performance.

This is all just my opinion, I'm trying to get you the best for your money. If you feel so strongly about the contest, by all means by another 320.
 
When did you buy your card? You could explore the Step-Up Program option with evga, trade in your current 320 for a 640. Then just buy another one to go SLI. I think you can do this within a 90 day period of your purchase.

If not, to answer your original question, if you want to run stable at your current overclocked speeds, the only gaurantee is to buy another Superclocked GTS. Else you can try a regular GTS and pray you can maintain the overclock. But any mix of any kind of GTS would work, you'd just have to match their speeds.
 
I think I am right at the end of my 90 day - I will get with eVGA today and find out. My problem with getting a GTX is - I will have to sell off my 320 for maybe around 220 ish at used prices - then drop the 550 on the video card - so im still spending around 300~ on the video card but if I plan to go SLi on that one in the future - I am almost positive that I will have to purchase a new psu.

And here's my other statement - I upgrade my video cards every year. Always have - probably always will - I bought the 320 in Feb or March - I am hoping the 8900's are out by the end/begining of this year/next year - and if they come out sooner - then I could stand to wait on the next gen (I am sure nVidia will go with something other than the 9000 since ATI already took that one and ran with it).

So my question becomes this - will it be worth spending the money for the new card - the wait to get my money back to sell the old one - then dropping ANOTHER 550 on a card that I am just going to turn around and replace in 8 or 9 months anyway? Or do you guys honestly just think I should stick with what I have?
 
Well, just a thought. But I have an issue with thinking you would need to replace an 8800 GTS 640 meg or the 8800GTX 768 meg card 8-9 months from now,.


Both of those cards should keep you going easily for a year and a half or maybe even 2 years before replacement is necessary.

So no need to jump the gun and replace them earlier than necessary..
 
It's more of a personal need than anything else. Every year I drop about 1.5 k into my machine - so its not really a NEED more as its a personal need lol.
 
You would be far better served by going to a 8800GTS 640MB card or an 8800GTX/8800Ultra rather than sinking money into another 320MB 8800GTS. You will get better performance without the complications of SLI as many here have already stated.
 
If you can do the eVGA step-up, you will get the full price you paid for your 320, towards todays current price of the 640 or GTX as listed on eVGA's website. It really is a cool deal to do.

The points people are making about the amount of video ram you have is pretty valid. Who knows what will happen when Unreal 3 engine games start appearing (GRAW might already be one of those) and the next gen id engine. I still run a 7900GTX with 512mb ram and it's pretty good even in games like stalker and fear. I think if I had a 7900 with only 256mb ram the performance would not be adequate and I would be looking at replacing it.

Since you said you do video upgrades once a year, what you could possibly plan out, is doing a step-up now to a 640 or GTX. Then in 1 year take a look at the prices of the same card. Quite possibly they could be below $250 (or not if ATI doesn't get it's shit together). Then your one year away upgrade could be to simply add another matching card. This seems like the best plan. Likely in a year alot of the issues with SLI and various games and Vista will be resolved, if not all of the issues. Going SLI now you will have to brace yourself for games that do not utilize it or gain any real benefit.
 
A number of posts have already stated, quite correctly, that getting another GTS 320 card for SLI is a waste of money for all practical purposes.

In my (similar) opinion with the current 8800 cards, SLI is only worth it if A) you have two GTX cards and B) you're gaming at a resolution of 1900x1200 or higher. Buying a second GTS 320 or 640 card only comes with drawbacks, especially when gaming at resolution below 1900x1200. These drawbacks are A) more stress on the PSU, B) a hotter running system with less cooling capacity and airflow and C) the possibility for driver issues due to SLI's complex nature. Furthermore, keep in mind that a single GTX has shown to be faster than two GTS 320s (and two GTS 640s in some cases) in SLI.

You've stated that you want SLI for other reasons, which is fine... too each his or her own :) As stated above, we're replying to give you what we believe is the most practical advice we can. You're fortunate that you have a good steady source of funds to spend on hardware every year, which is awesome. Even still, it makes sense to spend whatever funds you have in the best way possible, which is why many of us think buying SLI is a waste.

If you feel that your single 320 won't serve you well over the next year, my recommendation is to wait until the ATI 2900XTs are out, and either buy one of those or a competitively priced (if all goes well) 8800 GTS 640 meg. Either one has the texture memory to last a year if not more. If you buy SLI now and want to keep a SLI setup down the road, your graphic card replacement costs double, as you would need to buy two replacement cards. If you have any desire to stay on the bleeding edge, you'd probably look to buy two of the best cards available, which if prices stay where they are, will costs over $1000. To me, that's not worth it. Save money now, and then perhaps spend more next year upgrading to a new Yorkfield or Agena/Phenom system.

Good luck with your decision,

Mark.
 
Well guys - and Mark - it pains me to hear that I am outside of my 90 day step up program. :( But I guess that brings me to another question - since I only run 1680x1050 and I do not plan to upgrade to a 24 or a 30 inch any time soon - and I already see post 30FPS framerates in all games I play EXCEPT for Rainbow6 Vegas (with all settings maxed) and GRAW) (even oblivion doesn't slow down to often) - is it really a good idea for me to drop the 400~ on a 640 or should I just wait?

I am not going to build the SLI set up - which in all honesty makes this eVGA 680i board kinda useless - but hey whatever - plans change - so there ya have it :)
 
Endrithius said:
Well guys - and Mark - it pains me to hear that I am outside of my 90 day step up program. :( But I guess that brings me to another question - since I only run 1680x1050 and I do not plan to upgrade to a 24 or a 30 inch any time soon - and I already see post 30FPS framerates in all games I play EXCEPT for Rainbow6 Vegas (with all settings maxed) and GRAW) (even oblivion doesn't slow down to often) - is it really a good idea for me to drop the 400~ on a 640 or should I just wait?

I am not going to build the SLI set up - which in all honesty makes this eVGA 680i board kinda useless - but hey whatever - plans change - so there ya have it :)
Click to expand...

You could always sell the 320MB and buy a 640MB card. Sell the old card to offset the cost of the new card.
 
Whoever said they were getting slowdowns with R6:vegas, I have no idea what they are talking about, mine runs SMOOTH.
 
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