2x8600gts vs 1x7900gt

Wavey

Evening all,
Got my 2 new XFX 8600GTS's last week. They were to replace my 1 7900GT.

I have to say I am disappointed.
No improvement on Crysis whatsoever.
Slight improvement on COD 4.
And BF2 is actually worse. It plays fine for a a hour or so but then the FPS drops drastically.

Has anyone else bought these cards to run in SLI?

Am I missing something or are they just ****?

Will return them tomorrow.

FYI Stay away!!

Wavey

DanGerMus

Are they 512 or 256 models. Either way they are at the low end of mid range. Money would be better spent on a single 8800gts or gt 512mb or 8800gtx768mb or 9800gtx. for same money. I think the setup you might have been looking for was 8800GT in sli
Maybe these though you'd be spending 40-60 quid more
http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4RW6&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=8800gt&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

Wavey

Thanks for the reply DanGerMus.

I bought these based on a Toms Hardware benchmark chart. But obviously not all 8600gts's are the same. They are the 256 models.

Do you have any experience, good or bad, of EVGA?

Wavey

Sqaull20

This german crowd have the 8800gt for €114

http://www.comsun.de/shop/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=123_164_171&products_id=284

Two of them for €228 + €29 shipping is a bargain..

http://www.comsun.de/shop/catalog/shipping.php

TerrorFirmer

Pity you didn't ask before you bought, 8600GTS Sli is a waste of money - a single 512MB GTs would pulverize them and costs 190 inc delivery from Elara.

However, they should definitely be a big improvement over a single 7900GT, that's for sure, so perhaps you need to try newer drivers?

but regardless I would definitely return them.

Wavey

Thanks for the replies lads.

Would the card that Sqaull20 mentions above be as good as say this card from Komplett?
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=342385

The plan would be to buy 2.

Thanks,
Wavey.

TerrorFirmer

Slightly better as its factory clocked higher but barely worth a ten euro difference, let alone an entire 100 quid.

Why the need to go Sli though? A single 8800GT is way - emphasis on the way - faster then 7900GT, if you're coming from an old gen single card why do you suddenly need 2 newer gen cards?

This, for example, is 180 euro and can run any game at max settings on a 22" and below monitor. (save, maybe, Crysis, but that's hardly a good starting point)

Wavey

I was really using Crysis as my benchmark.
Would love to play it on high settings.

Just tried to regiter with that german site but they wont accept visa or paypal, only Iban mony transfer.
Balls to that!

This may sound like a pretty dumb question but, Does adding in a second card in SLI actually double your existing graphics power?

thanks,

Wavey.

TerrorFirmer

Depending on the game, yeah it's got the potential to, but generally speaking you'd be looking at an increase ranging more from 30-60%. Though Sli scaling has improved immensely over the last while, in Call of Duty 4 for example the performance does literally double.

Have a read of this review to give you a good idea.

Sqaull20

Honestly I wouldnt bother with Sli, only do it if you have a 24" or bigger monitor...

Crysis was made to sell video cards and no single card can play it at high detail...

I would get a 8800gs for €90 which will play Cod4, Battlefield and every other game besides Crysis at high settings perfectly, it will also play Crysis at medium settings fine..

No point getting a few cards when only one game needs it, by November Crysis will run like butter on a €200 card, it would cost €600 for similar performance now

Below is a good chart for video card performance



8800gs €91

http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4XZC&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=8800gs&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

Wavey

An Update,

I returned the 8600's and got 2 512mb 8800GT's instead.
"Optimal Settings" in Crysis are, you guessed it, Medium. WTF???
Same result with or without SLI.

2Gig OCZ Ram
AMD 64 Dual core 4600+
150Gig Raptor HD
Windows XP 64bit. DX9c

Any further advice lads?
Or is Crysis a lost cause?

thanks,
Wavey.

skuzzb

Medium is pretty good going to be fair! Crysis was designed to be a a system killer. Wait untill June 19th and you be able to buy one card that can play it on full settings including AA. It will cost you bout 500-600 quid tho!

Your processor might be a bit lacking but as far as I know crysis isnt a cpu hog......if I was you I wouldnt spend any more money just to be able to play one game at top settings. 2x8800gt is a beast of a set up for every other game out there!!!

*note.....just saw your running xp so you wont reach highest settings as your not in DX10 mode.....also xp64 might be causing some SLI issues, im not sure if the nVidia drivers are the best for 64bit....

TerrorFirmer

Sounds pretty normal to me. I have a Quad and at 3Ghz with 8800GTS Sli - much faster then 8800GT sli - I only get 30fps at 1680x1050 on 'very high', and in order to get 50-60fps I have to play at 1680x1050 'high' with post processing and shadows set to medium.

The Real B-man

Wavey wrote: »

An Update,

I returned the 8600's and got 2 512mb 8800GT's instead.
"Optimal Settings" in Crysis are, you guessed it, Medium. WTF???
Same result with or without SLI.

2Gig OCZ Ram
AMD 64 Dual core 4600+
150Gig Raptor HD
Windows XP 64bit. DX9c

Any further advice lads?
Or is Crysis a lost cause?

thanks,
Wavey.

Don't bother with mid range cards in SLI get a decent single card.

Einstein

skuzzb wrote: »

Medium is pretty good going to be fair! Crysis was designed to be a a system killer. Wait untill June 19th and you be able to buy one card that can play it on full settings including AA. It will cost you bout 500-600 quid tho!

soz to bump an older thread, just wondering what card ur talkin about skuzz?

builldin a new pc for delivery in July, and am interested in decent graphics, and not the sli route.

thx

AlmightyCushion

Einstein wrote: »

soz to bump an older thread, just wondering what card ur talkin about skuzz?

builldin a new pc for delivery in July, and am interested in decent graphics, and not the sli route.

thx

Probably the gtx280 from nVidia. There is a thread here (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055313929) about it. It doesn't seem to be as good as it was meant to be.