whats better?

G

gimilthedwarf

n00b
Joined
Dec 30, 2002
Messages
54
What would be faster:

two evga geforce 7600gs 512mb pci-e cards running sli

or

one xfx geforce 8600gts 256mb pci-e card

which setup will be faster?
 
any reasons why? My thoughts are that even though i'm going to a faster card i'm dropping down to a single card instead of sli and going from a combined 1 gb of video memory to 256mb. Am i just being ignorant and not realizing how much of an upgrade the faster card is?
 
gimilthedwarf said:
any reasons why? My thoughts are that even though i'm going to a faster card i'm dropping down to a single card instead of sli and going from a combined 1 gb of video memory to 256mb. Am i just being ignorant and not realizing how much of an upgrade the faster card is?
Click to expand...

In sli you would still have 512mb of memory if i remember. Also not all games take advantage of sli. If they do take advantage of sli, you might run into driver and game issues. If no issues you still dont get double the fps or power of the 2 cards.

If budget is an issue you might think about the ati 3850.
 
actually id prolly go w/ neither of them tbh

theres better options like 3850 for more $

x1950

7950 gt
 
the 512 buffer on the 7600's are largely irrelevant because the gpu isn't powerful enough to put them to use. if you can afford a 8600gts 256, you can afford an ati 3850 256. the latter card puts the nvidia to shame.
 
The 8600 isn't that much faster than the 7600 from what I've seen, so I would stick with the 7600GS in SLI - you aren't going to really gain any performance by switching to a single 8600GT. Switchingto a 3850, however, would net some major performance gains.
 
The 2nd option. I read also that the 2 x 7600gs in SLI does not gain any or much performance. However, I agree also with Vixer. You might as well get at least an HD 3850. It's good to know you have added leeway in adjusting the settings when you need it. A 3850 for under $200 is not a bad deal.
 
Price isn't really an issue for me - I own all three cards already so the advice to go buy a different card rather then the ones I'm asking about really isn't an option.

I have been running the two 7600's in sli in my machiene and then my buddy's computer died and he gave the parts out of it (where i got the 8600). So now i own two 7600's and one 8600. I play supreme commander and WoW pretty regularly so that is what matters as far as taking advantage of sli goes.

So back to my origional question: which would be faster?
The advice I've gotten so far is one vote for the 7600's in sli and one vote for the 8600.

Thanks for the help so far!

EDIT: posts were posted while i typed mine - I'm going to read then now.
 
gimilthedwarf said:
Price isn't really an issue for me - I own all three cards already so the advice to go buy a different card rather then the ones I'm asking about really isn't an option.

I have been running the two 7600's in sli in my machiene and then my buddy's computer died and he gave the parts out of it (where i got the 8600). So now i own two 7600's and one 8600. I play supreme commander and WoW pretty regularly so that is what matters as far as taking advantage of sli goes.

So back to my origional question: which would be faster?
The advice I've gotten so far is one vote for the 7600's in sli and one vote for the 8600.

Thanks for the help so far!

EDIT: posts were posted while i typed mine - I'm going to read then now.
Click to expand...

If your not gonna be playing any of the newer games really then prob either one. Maybe benchmark each setup in the games you play and see which is smoother?
 
So after reading the new posts it seems that most people are saying that I should use the 8600 and not run sli. If I run the 8600 in non-sli mode, can i put the 7600 in my other pci-e slot and run my second moniter off that? Would i cause my 8600 to lose too much preformance from not having all 16 channels going to it?
 
Buy a 3850.

Yea yea, it's from ATI, but at that price and that performance, I don't know why you would ever goof around with midrange cards.
 
As I said earlier I already own all three cards, two 7600's and one 8600, so I am not going to go out and buy the 3850.
 
The 8600GT is really not very fast. It's barely faster than a 7600GT. It could very well be that your SLI setup is faster. Why don't you try benchmarking the two setups?
 
Benchmarking seems to be what it is going to come down to.

Back to one of my earlier posts though. If you are running two pci-e cards not in sli mode (each card running a different monitor) how much of a preformance hit will you take by splitting up the 16 channels into 2 sets of 8?
 
gimilthedwarf said:
So after reading the new posts it seems that most people are saying that I should use the 8600 and not run sli. If I run the 8600 in non-sli mode, can i put the 7600 in my other pci-e slot and run my second moniter off that? Would i cause my 8600 to lose too much preformance from not having all 16 channels going to it?
Click to expand...

Isn't your 8600 a dual-head card...?
 
Well if you can't have a 3850, use a single 8600GT.

Go sell all three cards and buy a 3850 ;)
 
kllrnohj said:
Isn't your 8600 a dual-head card...?
Click to expand...

Yes it is, but I own all three cards already, so i guess my question should have been: If I want to run two monitors, would i get better preformance out of running my main monitor on the 8600 and my secondary monitor on the 7600 or would it be better to run both monitors off the 8600?
 
gimilthedwarf said:
Yes it is, but I own all three cards already, so i guess my question should have been: If I want to run two monitors, would i get better preformance out of running my main monitor on the 8600 and my secondary monitor on the 7600 or would it be better to run both monitors off the 8600?
Click to expand...

I don't think it will matter in terms of performance, but it is certainly less hassle and takes less power to just run them off of one card.
 
thanks a lot for everyone's help. Everyone here always responds quickly and is very polite. I asked this same question at the sli zone forums and was told that my origional question of:

What would be faster:

two evga geforce 7600gs 512mb pci-e cards running sli

or

one xfx geforce 8600gts 256mb pci-e card

recieved a moderator response of "This post does not deal with SLI, please refrane from posting non SLI related questions on our forums. This thread has been locked."

Thanks again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top