I've been thinking of getting a nice gigabyte board, a intel 3.0 ghz dual core, 1 8800gt, and some ram, and a case, and a monitor, and it would be my first real build. (ive upgraded pcs before, but never actually built one.) then i thought to myself, well, if i got a board with sli capabilities, i could always upgrade to 2 8800gt's in the future. the question is, is it worth it to lay down that extra cash and get an sli board? and if I do, whats the best budget sli board on the market? keep it mind, I wont be overclocking at all.
Well, speaking from experience, you should not put 2 low end cards in SLI thinking that it'll beat a high end one. It just doesn't work like that, it doesn't multiply the performance. What SLI, Scale link interfacing does is basically having both your cards spit out renderings so it's quicker and your cards will take less of a beating since it's sharing the work. I do suggest putting the 8800GT in SLI though, it's worth it. Most motherboards on the market now have 2 PCIe slots so it's not that hard to find one.
XFX 680i LT is the way to go. 2 PCIe ports but not 2.0
XFX 680i should be more than enough for you.
or if you get the new 45nm from intel 3.0 ghz i think that's the E8400 model...i suggest getting the ASUS P5N-D 750i SLI or EVGA 750i FTW... i have the ASUS and runing ok with no problems..even overclocked my E8200 from 2.66 to 3.4 with 1.28 V on air...all i'm saying is that ASUS P5N-D is a great motherboard and you wont have any problems...and it has pci-e 2.0 and when you do SLI they oth work at 16x
sli is a waste if you either sli low end cards or if you buy 1 card and expect to sli when down the road its easier to get more performance buy just buying a new card...
but also might i say, dont buy the 8800gt, the HD4850 dominates the 8800gt, 8800gts, and also beats the 9800gtx. plus its the same price as the 8800gt
If you don't want to spend more money upgrading , try get the AMD 780G Mobo.
The 780G Mobo comes with a intergrated graphic chipset that will performance almost the same as the HD3450.
AMD 780G Mobo
HD3870X2
Good choice.
if you're an nvidia fanboy definately. if you're an ati fanboy try and get a 790fx mobo they're great, have crossfirex and they are fairly cheap.
After building my rig I can tell you I wish I had gone sli (or crosfire in my case) you'll get tired of the performance of one GPU quick when you see what 2 can do you'll want to get a second as soon as you can, plus its better for your gpu to share a load rather than have to push itself to achieve a less than perfect frame rate for some special effects in the background and AA (anti aliasing) REALLY benefits from more ram and dual gpu's
the 4870 right now is the card to get. in the 200 dollar range the 9800gtx and the 4850 are competitively priced and preforming with the 4850 coming out on top in most games.
i have the Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4L, it has 2 PCI-e 16x, though when using SLI, they're only 8x, though Logan said in his video review of a 650i SLI mobo that there is little performance difference between 8x SLI and 16x SLI, like 1-2fps.
How much money are you able to dish out on your graphics card and mother board purchase?
The thing I would do at the moment is purchase the Asus Rampage Formula motherboard and get a 4870. The thing is that this motherboard is just rock stable and as you mentioned that this is your first build: this mobo is the way to go especially as it has the LCD poster that gives error messages if something has gone wrong at boot or during gameplay.
Personal Experience:
Used this mobo for my first build and would not believe how great it was. My first boot was a failure: the system booted up but would give nothing on screen, whilst the LCD poster was giving me a CMOS ERR message. I then checked up on the internet on what to do if I got a CMOS ERR, this error required me to take out the battery off of the motherboard (looks like a big clock battery). I had to keep it out for an hour or so and then put it back in, after this incident my system has worked liek a dream ever since.
I seriously would have been clueless about what I should do without this LCD poster, it is a real nice thing to have as a first time builder. It saves a lot of hours ;)
Why only one 4870 you ask?
Well the 4870X2 is just around the corner, and as many know that Crossfire setup supports different gpus unlike the SLI system, i.e. you could use a 3870 and a 3850 on a Xfire mobo, but you could not use a 9800GTX and a 9600GSO on the same mobo properly.
So get the 4870 for starters and once the 4870X2 comes out, get that, it will give you a nice performance boost. Also do not forget that the a Xfire set up scales better than a SLI set up.
I hope that this helped you a bit,
Best regards,
Carebox
P.S. Mobo is allowed to cost a lot, it is the backbone of your system :)
you have brought back an old topic, sir. but just because your post was so detailed ill keep it going. erm, thats a lot of expensive stuff. i mean, how much is the x2 going to cost?
The 4870s I suggested, not a must to be honest, you could go with a 3850/3870/3870X2 also.
NewEgg Prices for ATi 3xxx Cards(Cheapest chosen):
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103051]3850[/url] for $ 100
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125086]3870[/url] for $ 130
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121247]3870X2[/url] for $ 290
NewEgg Prices for ATi 4xxx Cards(Cheapest chosen):
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747]4850[/url] for $ 195 (bunch to choose from for the same price)
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131113]4870[/url] for $ 305, $ 5 cheaper than all the others.
4870X2 Price yet to be determined, rumours say $ 499 but could fluctuate.
I would personally suggest going with at least the 3870, it is still a quite a good card. If you bought 1 x 4870, I honestly doubt that you would need to get a new or an extra GPU. The Extra GPU is always nice, but not necessary ;) One 4870 will be plenty for low resolution[max 1680x1050 for good gameplay].
Make your pick, just trying to help you out over here ;)
Best regards,
Carebox
This thread has been made a long time ago. thread numero tres.
Thanks for your input, carebox, but the thread is 4 months old lol.
this is the oldest thread on RTW Forums
thank you care box for your care in helping people but damn this is 5 months old lol
does the care box have a care bear inside? it only seems fit that it does!
wow this is on the main page again? but yeah hopefully you know what you want know
2 9800gtx's (+) beats one gtx 280 tho....
And 2 9600gt,8800gt,9800gt beats 9800gtx hard.
lol looks like everyone keeps comin back to my old post ;)