I am going SLI, just because I need to verify that I can watercool both cards with exsisting hardware, or find out what i need to design to do it. I am going SLI because I have to. If it were up to me, I would wait for a few months to let the tech. mature. And the costs are outrageous right now. This last weekend you could buy (if you were lucky enough to find them) 6800 Ultra PCI-x cards for $670-$690 each. But just a few days later, they are now $850 to $999 each..... WTF!!! 2K for just vid cards.... I just ordered 4 6800 GT cards and 2 6800 Ultras.... that was a big freakin check just for some video cards. Made me sick to my stomach to write that check. Hell the 6800 GT are $450 each. The bleeding edge of Technology cuts, and it cuts deep.

Then you drop $250-300 for a good Sli mobo. So now you have 2 small pieces of the pie. Still have to get the proc, ram, hdd, optical, sound card. Last time I checked they still aren't giving them away.

How can the everyday user justify this expense just to run doom3, Hl2, and just a few other games at 10-40% better fps, when you can already play them a very good speeds now???

Ok, rant off

I just wanted to add one more bit into this pile . . .

*produces wooden soapbox from seemingly nowhere . . . And that's all the detail about THAT that I'll give . . . and steps up*

My ONLY gripe about the tech as it stands right now is that they half the PCI E 16 pipeline for the cards when you go into SLI mode . . . I understand that there's going to be a HUGE level of complication added if you were to add 16 more pipe so each slot was 16x . . . but it just seems to me that the benefits would surely outweight the cons . . . Esp since the splitting of bandwidth is only allowing for two massively powerful cards to give an avg increase in total power (based on the benchmarks I've seen) of about 50% . . .

But if quibbling over 25-50 fps when you're already in the 100+ zone is ALL I can come up with as a con (Beyond the obvious pricing and availability issues), it looks pretty good to me, over all.

*steps off soapbox and sets it on fire*

Quote: Originally Posted by drougnor add 16 more pipe so each slot was 16x . . .

I believe it was Anandtech who tested this by putting some tape over individual channels. They found that there wasn't a single FPS difference in any benchmark between 16x and 8x in single card mode. Something like 1 FPS in Doom 3 between 16x and 4x in both SLI Mode and Single Mode. ~10% difference between 16x and 2x... basically even 1 lane of PCI-Express is so insanely fast that it'll be years before even 2 cards in SLI mode can begin to eat up the bandwidth given to you by 16 PCI Express Lanes. And by then, they'll have replaced PCI Express with something 10 times as fast.

Quote: Originally Posted by MaTtsPc Looks bad A$$, But a lil to much $$ right now for me atleast. Waiting a while before jumping in and not knowing how deep the water is! ... OFF TOPIC! BUT "With my max overclock and a 560 core to my X/800 XT????" I hope thats not overclocked? I have just the pro and running at 615/600! Matt

Well Matt if you got any sugestions on how to improve my overclock feel free. Its a ASUS X/800 XT PCI-E card and its stoct at 500/500. I "can" run it with modified cooling at 563 core and 530ish ram.

I have not tried omega drivers yet. I am runing rad linker for my overclock. If you got any info please PM me and we can take this some were else.

I posted this here as to see if anyone else including you had an suggestions.

Everyone here already knows I have an SLI setup, infact I have two, if Scan-Line Interleave counts

To much cash I think, sure you'll get a performance boost but our eyes and minds have not evolved to a point where we could actually use SLI except for benchmarking.

Supposedly the economic benefit is that if you by a SLI board and one video card now, when you need more video power as the system grows old, you can just drop in a second identical card for cheap, and get a nice boost, extending the life of your initial purchase.
But everyone knows this is strictly a Benchmarking toy, because by the time your system is that old that it needs a second 6800Ultra, it will probably be a doorstop anyways.

The only affordable SLI cards (IF 360$ is affordable!)would be a couple 6600GT OC's, and it still wouldn't be as fast as a single 6800 GT.
A pair of PCI express 6800GT's will set you back a 850$ currently! I'm afriad to see how much the 6800 Ultras would be for PCI!
(Ok I looked, how about a cool 1250$+ )

Sorry about the weird font size, I dunno what the hell happened, and I can't fix it...I'll be damned if I rewrite the post though!)

$589.52 each

http://www.markonecomputers.com/dept..._id=20-008-001

Quote: Originally Posted by Redigieren $589.52 each http://www.markonecomputers.com/dept..._id=20-008-001

Nice find, but they are out of stock

everywhere that actually has them are jacking up the price to $850 or more.... Around here anyway.

NCIX has some for 650, but i didn't jump on them then 2 days later up to $850....

AHA! But I will soon have a review up on a newer offering from nvidia inthe 6800 package. Beefier than a 6600GT but not at much as a 6800GT or Ultra.

I have 2 Leadtek PX6800 TDH cards inbound for testing. These cards will sell for about $330 - $350. Each card has 12 pipelines vs the 16 on the other 6800 models. Combine the two ($660 for both cards vs a single PCIe 6800 Ultra which is about $620 for a single card). So, then you have 24 pipelines, 8 more than the single 6800 ultra! Should provide soem sweet numbers.

I am interested to see if you can tinker around to create your own profiles like [H] described. If not, then it would be hard to justify buying an SLI setup since it only supports a very limited amount of games right now.

Drougner makes a good point; one card upgrade to a 6800GT will give you a huge boost in numbers, but add a second and you will only get a 50% increase in theory. The bandwidth is still the limiting factor.

I always want the best, but can only afford the OK. Such is the case with SLI. I may get a board in the future that supports two kick ass vid cards, but will probably not be able to max it out.

I'm passing on it. $200 for motherboard, plus $200/+ per video card? I can't afford that.

Fortunately,(or not) I can afford at least one. Just odered a BFG 6800 Ultra OC to plug into my Asus A8N-Sli board. Can't wait. As soon as I can scrape some more coin together....BAM....another one will arrive at my door an be lovingly installed. Obviously, I have no real life so I do this!!! OZZIE RULZ!!!

I plan to close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears and sing "LALALALALA" until it goes away.

Makes for good uprgradability (SLI mobo and one card, then get a second later on...), but it looks like the dual GPU cards are doing better than SLI already. I'm an ATI man myself, but yeah, seems exsessive to me. Not enough of a performance advantage yet to justify the extra price and heat. Bah, PCIE isn't even utilizing the avalible bandwidth yet. Long story short, wake me when theres an AIW X800 256MB.

Ok, since the public poll on the front page didn't work for me, I had to vote inside the forum page in case anyone is having the "Foreign HOSTS rejected" or whatever error.

I voted I may give it a go later.

As is, I hardly have enough money for one card, let alone two. These several hundred dollar fees are taking a toll. What happened to a good card costing 200 bucks?

ORB whores thats what happend. Its all ORB's fault for making people want spend so much. (knows from experience)

Quote: Originally Posted by CPU Killer Nice find, but they are out of stock everywhere that actually has them are jacking up the price to $850 or more.... Around here anyway. NCIX has some for 650, but i didn't jump on them then 2 days later up to $850....

i bought mine at monarch computer, for about 475 a piece

I voted that I would sell a kidney for it, that said, anybody on the market for a kidney.... I want SLI so bad, I amsaving up for a new A64 system as soon as I get my new laptop for college, so I should have SLI by the end of the summer, hopefully sooner. I totaly think it is worth it. The fact that 2 6600GT's out perform 1 6800 ULtra for hundreds less in price, is motive right there.