SLI: A tax on the uninformed
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 1:54 am
Im sure by now you have thought at some point about buying an SLI board and two nVidia graphics cards. You have gone to lanparties and seen SLI rigs, read reviews going over SLI, and you want it. You want it because its big, its bad, and it sounds cool... o and it also costs a hell of alot of $$ so you can brag about it.
Well guess what, SLI is a waste of $$ and im going to prove it to you. Im not doing this because i cant afford it, belive me, i really thought about running down to compusa and buying two 7800GT's and two 6800GT's just to write this up, I am doing this because I am sick of marketing telling you that you need SLI so your e-penis will be large.
I know this thread is going to tick allot of people off, mostly those who refuse to realize that they got had, but deal with it. It happens to us all, i have some $1200 speakers that are worth only $250, i got had. It happens to us all, and marketing people know this, thats their job.
So now for the crux of the argument.
So its 8mths ago and you want to go SLI rather than buy 6800 Ultras (since they are $450) you get two 6800GT's for around $600. You then get an SLI board which at the time costs around $175 (were getting the cheap on as you just spent $600 on GFX cards) So you go home hook up your system to your 19" CRT and fire up Farcry, Halflife2, CS:S, and Doom3. The graphics are amazing and you feel like god.
So what did this really get you.
MOBO - 175
GFX --- 600
Cost -- 800 (shipping and maybe some tax)
Projected 3D Mark 05 score: 8500 depending on OC (1gb Ram A64 3500+)
Right now your thinking, well its not 8mths ago any longer so i could do it much cheaper now.
MOBO - 100
GFX --- 475
Cost -- 600 (damn that shipping)
no change in 3D Mark....
So not bad right only $600 for the basic set up right. Well guess what you over paid, and here is why. If you were to right now go and buy a decent motherboard and 7800GT you would pay alot less and get the same experience.
MOBO - 75
GFX --- 300
Cost -- 400 (im so killing that fedex guy for taxing my ass)
Projected 3D Mark 05: 8200 (same memory same CPU)
So your paying $200, and thats just an estimate, for maybe 300 3Dmarks... we still have not taken into consideration overclocking of the CPU and graphics. I should mention that if you want to get the most out of your SLI system you need TWO water blocks or heatsinks to cool your cards so thats another $100 just to match the OC from one 7800GT.
Are you starting to see my argument? Well guess what Im not done yet, you still have that pesky 19" CRT to deal with... Guess what its kinda old so it only displays up to 1280x1024. The fact is that almost any decent graphics card can run every game you play (except fear, and i will get into that too) at this resolution with all the eye candy turned up. I used to run HL2, NFS:UG, Farcry and Doom3 at 1920x1200 with most, if not all eye candy at max on a X800XL which can be had for $250. Now i have a X800GTO2 and with OC there is not a single game that i cant max out on my monitor. The point im trying to make here is that unless you have a 20" wide screen monitor or larger SLI WILL HAVE NO EFFECT on in game settings.
I know some of you will bring up Fear... well im sorry but that game is so taxing on GFX cards because of the crappy programing. HL2 had amazing graphics when it came out and it was VERY playable with even a mid to low end graphics card. Fear on the other hand is unplayable with anything less than a X1800/7800 class card. Thats BAD programing, not a reason to pay out your ears for more graphics cards.
Now lets get to the other counter argument... but i want the best now so why not two 7800GT's. Guess what in 6-8mths there is going to be a new card coming out from nVidia that will cost $300 and will preform as well as two 7800GT's. Your asking how do i know this? Well if you look at the graphics market for the last, say, 5 years they have basically doubled performance ever 12mths. So why in gods name would you spend twice as much money now when you could just sell your current graphics card and upgrade in a few mths for 1/2 the cost of going SLI.
The only reason you would EVER go SLI is if your a hardcore bench marker. Thats it SLI offers NO improvement for gaming except in the extreme cases and trust me YOUR NOT ONE OF THEM. SLI is a marketing gimmick that is designed to get as much money out of you as it can. Their weapon in this is information. The dont want you to know that SLI offers nothing, thats why when they send out GFX cards to review sites they always send two... what review site is going to get two cards and not show the best, their life blood is based on readers and readers want to read about the best.
Please dont fall for the marketing hype, dont waste your $$ on SLI or crossfire. If you want to prove me wrong or argue go for it, im always open to new evidence. Better yet, send me two 6800GT's and two 7800GT's i will bench and test return my results along with the cards.
ok, flame on
Well guess what, SLI is a waste of $$ and im going to prove it to you. Im not doing this because i cant afford it, belive me, i really thought about running down to compusa and buying two 7800GT's and two 6800GT's just to write this up, I am doing this because I am sick of marketing telling you that you need SLI so your e-penis will be large.
I know this thread is going to tick allot of people off, mostly those who refuse to realize that they got had, but deal with it. It happens to us all, i have some $1200 speakers that are worth only $250, i got had. It happens to us all, and marketing people know this, thats their job.
So now for the crux of the argument.
So its 8mths ago and you want to go SLI rather than buy 6800 Ultras (since they are $450) you get two 6800GT's for around $600. You then get an SLI board which at the time costs around $175 (were getting the cheap on as you just spent $600 on GFX cards) So you go home hook up your system to your 19" CRT and fire up Farcry, Halflife2, CS:S, and Doom3. The graphics are amazing and you feel like god.
So what did this really get you.
MOBO - 175
GFX --- 600
Cost -- 800 (shipping and maybe some tax)
Projected 3D Mark 05 score: 8500 depending on OC (1gb Ram A64 3500+)
Right now your thinking, well its not 8mths ago any longer so i could do it much cheaper now.
MOBO - 100
GFX --- 475
Cost -- 600 (damn that shipping)
no change in 3D Mark....
So not bad right only $600 for the basic set up right. Well guess what you over paid, and here is why. If you were to right now go and buy a decent motherboard and 7800GT you would pay alot less and get the same experience.
MOBO - 75
GFX --- 300
Cost -- 400 (im so killing that fedex guy for taxing my ass)
Projected 3D Mark 05: 8200 (same memory same CPU)
So your paying $200, and thats just an estimate, for maybe 300 3Dmarks... we still have not taken into consideration overclocking of the CPU and graphics. I should mention that if you want to get the most out of your SLI system you need TWO water blocks or heatsinks to cool your cards so thats another $100 just to match the OC from one 7800GT.
Are you starting to see my argument? Well guess what Im not done yet, you still have that pesky 19" CRT to deal with... Guess what its kinda old so it only displays up to 1280x1024. The fact is that almost any decent graphics card can run every game you play (except fear, and i will get into that too) at this resolution with all the eye candy turned up. I used to run HL2, NFS:UG, Farcry and Doom3 at 1920x1200 with most, if not all eye candy at max on a X800XL which can be had for $250. Now i have a X800GTO2 and with OC there is not a single game that i cant max out on my monitor. The point im trying to make here is that unless you have a 20" wide screen monitor or larger SLI WILL HAVE NO EFFECT on in game settings.
I know some of you will bring up Fear... well im sorry but that game is so taxing on GFX cards because of the crappy programing. HL2 had amazing graphics when it came out and it was VERY playable with even a mid to low end graphics card. Fear on the other hand is unplayable with anything less than a X1800/7800 class card. Thats BAD programing, not a reason to pay out your ears for more graphics cards.
Now lets get to the other counter argument... but i want the best now so why not two 7800GT's. Guess what in 6-8mths there is going to be a new card coming out from nVidia that will cost $300 and will preform as well as two 7800GT's. Your asking how do i know this? Well if you look at the graphics market for the last, say, 5 years they have basically doubled performance ever 12mths. So why in gods name would you spend twice as much money now when you could just sell your current graphics card and upgrade in a few mths for 1/2 the cost of going SLI.
The only reason you would EVER go SLI is if your a hardcore bench marker. Thats it SLI offers NO improvement for gaming except in the extreme cases and trust me YOUR NOT ONE OF THEM. SLI is a marketing gimmick that is designed to get as much money out of you as it can. Their weapon in this is information. The dont want you to know that SLI offers nothing, thats why when they send out GFX cards to review sites they always send two... what review site is going to get two cards and not show the best, their life blood is based on readers and readers want to read about the best.
Please dont fall for the marketing hype, dont waste your $$ on SLI or crossfire. If you want to prove me wrong or argue go for it, im always open to new evidence. Better yet, send me two 6800GT's and two 7800GT's i will bench and test return my results along with the cards.
ok, flame on