Crossfire or SLI Whats better for gaming

L

Lestang

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 2, 2005
Messages
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Crossfire or SLI Whats better for gaming. I got NWN2 and CoH for Christmas. I also play stuff like Titan Quest and CoD2. I play Guild Wars a bit too. Crossfire or SLI is the question.
 
Depends on the cards you use in crossfire/sli.

Really, using two cards isn't worth the cost in most cases, unless you run at some massive resolutions or have lots of money to throw around. You don't get 2x the performance with 2 cards.

Anyway, right now the Nvidia 8 series is the best, ATI should be releasing their new cards within a (few) month(s).

Edit: Also forgot to mention, depends on your mobo which you can use.
Edit2: Realized you posted this in mb forums not graphics so disregard the first edit =P
 
It really depends on the cards you're using. Obviously 7600GT's in SLI aren't going to outperform X1950's in CF. I've run both CF and SLI. I've found SLI to be a little easier to setup.

Off topic...my experience:
I've also found that it's better to buy one more powerful single card than trying to monkey with two cards. My rationale is that you don't get double the performance, yet you're paying double the price. I swapped out my X1900's in CF for a single 8800GTX...more or less an equal trade money wise. I think I'm better off with the single 8800GTX. While some games that are more driver optimized for dual cards might perform better (e.g. Oblivion), others that aren't given as much attention in the driver phase of things perform better with single cards.
 
Depends on the type of cards to. Some Nvidia cards in SLI mode don't do much benefit or performance gain in SLI mode and not worth the extra cost. The gain you get is so small that you won't notice it as much. SLI is still more commonly used and easier to setup than Crossfire. ATI is best as a single graphics card performer as a high end ATI card can match certain Nvidia cards in SLI mode. The Nvidia 8800GTX however, is the fastest single card right now until ATI unveils the R600 card. At the rate of how performance graphics cards is going, a single card seems pretty suitable for most people. Also, you want to make sure your CPU/MOBO/Memory is up to par in keeping up with an SLI or Crossfire setup.
 
No one seems to mention it, so i'll go ahead :

Remember the POWER needed for both cases! You need at least 750W+ just to be in the safe zone!

Thanks!

I am still checking on R600, time will tell.
 
of course it depends on the performance of the card etc. etc.
HOWEVER
whatever the fan boys say the performance differences are usually quite small.
HOWEVER
SLI is usually better, as they release driver updates with SLI profiles faster, and yes I know you can make them yourself, but still, and right now, in the enthusiast segment you still have to use that bloody dongle.

In the end it comes down to power, noise and IQ (which NVIDIA is now better on)

I would go SLI, due to better driver support, but that is just my opinion
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P/S right now 8800gtx is by far and away the best out there, and tho r600 is coming out in a bit, nvdiia will release 8850/8900 at the same time in order to get a bit of oneupmanship so...
f
 
I have 2 DVD drives, 3 HDD's, a couple fans on a fan speed controller, an X-Fi Fatality, and a VFT display. I used to have dual X1900's in Crossfire, and now I have a single 8800GTX. I run it all with a 520W OCZ Powerstream with a single 12V rail :) (had the PSU for the past two years). So you might be ok, but then again, you might not depending on your other components. As long as your PSU can overcome the surge from pressing power to turn on your system, you're usually ok.
 
If you have the cash, get as much as you can, dual 8800 GTX's in SLi rule and will continue to rule well after next year. SLi is the way to go.
 
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