SLi...

[Sawell]

Is it worth it? Is there honestly a x1.9 performance boost?

I've just bought and built (can't believe I actually did it first time) a biiiig upgrade on my computay, here's the spec:



It's already a pretty good pc, but I’ve heard great things about SLi... just want to know if it's worth another 300 for an identical 7800GTX?

Also, part of my new spec'd pc was a couple of twin 1GB corsairs... I don't really understand the latency ****, but I've been told that you shouldn't stick with the factory settings, and should tweak them? Is this true?

One last thing, by no means am I really interested in overclocking my 4800+, because it's already a brilliant cpu... and it seems that the software will have to pull it's game up before I can see dual core performance at it's peak! But for future reference, you can see there my CPU temp, I have a pretty good case (click here for spec ) and that's the temperature I get, that includes the standard heat sync, 4 fans (2 rear, 1 top, 1 front). How much would I need to drop the temp to take it up a little? (I must stress atm I have no intention of doing it, I like my warranty... it's purely out of curiosity). The case I bought promotes liquid cooling... but to me that just seems a little daunting, has anyone used it and had really positive results? Liquid and electricity, whaaaat?!!

EDIT: As you can tell by the time at which I posted this, I may have got the pc built... but it took a ****ing long amount of time

 

[i-AboD]

imo, best to stick with the factory settings for the stick definetly. not too sure bout the g card.

I asked urban about the liquid colling ojnce he sed its bad very vad and he hooked me up with a thermal sink instead

 

[Sawell]

Here are some pics of the case in action:






As you can see I need to buy some cable ties and sort out how the case looks a bit there are 10 slots at the front, can fit 4 SATA drives, and might do if the prices ever drop.

You can see on the last pic there are 4 round holes and an attachment bit on the back for using a liquid cooling kit, so the case has definitely been designed for it.

 

[¤]´)÷¤--§îr Äürøñ--¤÷(`[¤]

Sawell, you should've researched your card before you bought it.

You won't see a major boost, as you'll be limited by some other factor*. You'll also be paying twice as much for under twice the performance. And it will only work in games with a SLI profile.

Up to you. But SLI can only use 16 pipelines of your graphics card, aparently. Which means spending big monies on a 7800GTX might not have been the wisest manuevre.

 

[Sawell]

Sawell, you should've researched your card before you bought it.

You won't see a major boost, as you'll be limited by some other factor*. You'll also be paying twice as much for under twice the performance. And it will only work in games with a SLI profile.

Up to you. But SLI can only use 16 pipelines of your graphics card, aparently. Which means spending big monies on a 7800GTX might not have been the wisest manuevre.

That's cool, I just won't do it then :P saves me the money.

 

[¤]´)÷¤--§îr Äürøñ--¤÷(`[¤]

That's cool, I just won't do it then :P saves me the money.

If you've got even a shred of intelligence, you'll put your system away for a month, RMA that 7800GTX, and get a X1800XT.

The X1800XT is a far superior card, even though supply is pretty scarse atm.

 

[urbanfox]

In general, unless you got a monitor that can dispay 1600x1200+ (rules out 19" LCD's and below) then SLI is worthless.

Concerning your actual card, SLI would net the difference between playable and not playable on HIGH resolutions with all the eye candy turned up, assuming you have a good 19"+ CRT monitor.

Concerning actually buying another GTX right now, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO (handtyped, no copy and paste, meant for emphasis.

Why? Because on the 7th (i.e. tomorrow) the 7800 GTX 512MB card comes out. Forget the extra 256MB, THIS CARD HAS INCREDIBLE MEMORY BANDWIDTH. While the word is 1800 (the stock GTX 256MB is 1200...) I am personally guessing 1600+ with 1.1ns ram and this isn't even the next G80.

What does this mean for YOU? The price of the normal 256MB GTX should drop a lot in the next 30 days, and even MORE so when it comes to the crazed Christmas holiday, ESPECIALLY since supposedly the available supply of the 512's are extremely high.

If I were you, I would sell my current GTX or return it if you can and buy the 512 GTX or wait until Christmas time to get another GTX 256 for a lot lower price. This is all assuming you got a good 19"+ CRT monitor and do NOT plan on getting an LCD.

 

[Sawell]

In general, unless you got a monitor that can dispay 1600x1200+ (rules out 19" LCD's and below) then SLI is worthless.

Concerning your actual card, SLI would net the difference between playable and not playable on HIGH resolutions with all the eye candy turned up, assuming you have a good 19"+ CRT monitor.

Concerning actually buying another GTX right now, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO (handtyped, no copy and paste, meant for emphasis.

Why? Because on the 7th (i.e. tomorrow) the 7800 GTX 512MB card comes out. Forget the extra 256MB, THIS CARD HAS INCREDIBLE MEMORY BANDWIDTH. While the word is 1800 (the stock GTX 256MB is 1200...) I am personally guessing 1600+ with 1.1ns ram and this isn't even the next G80.

What does this mean for YOU? The price of the normal 256MB GTX should drop a lot in the next 30 days, and even MORE so when it comes to the crazed Christmas holiday, ESPECIALLY since supposedly the available supply of the 512's are extremely high.

If I were you, I would sell my current GTX or return it if you can and buy the 512 GTX or wait until Christmas time to get another GTX 256 for a lot lower price. This is all assuming you got a good 19"+ CRT monitor and do NOT plan on getting an LCD.

Cheers for the advice bud, i'll think about it.. only problem is i'll have to use onboard graphics for a while If I were to sell it, so I might just have to lump + regret it.

Any words on liquid cooling?

 

[urbanfox]

Cheers for the advice bud, i'll think about it.. only problem is i'll have to use onboard graphics for a while If I were to sell it, so I might just have to lump + regret it.

Any words on liquid cooling?

The water cooling featured in those case pic's performs worse than a good air cooling setup. The difference between a really good water cooling setup and a great air cooling setup relating to overclocking would only be probably another 100mhz for the huge price difference, not worth it IMO.

Lucky for you the new A64's (including the X2) get some pretty good clocks on stock voltage or a little higher which helps with heat a lot.

What current CPU cooler do you have?

 

[Sawell]

The water cooling featured in those case pic's performs worse than a good air cooling setup. The difference between a really good water cooling setup and a great air cooling setup relating to overclocking would only be probably another 100mhz for the huge price difference, not worth it IMO.

Lucky for you the new A64's (including the X2) get some pretty good clocks on stock voltage or a little higher which helps with heat a lot.

What current CPU cooler do you have?

Factory :X don't diss me, auron already has. (I.e. just the standard heat sync, i've made no other effort apart from that).

 

[urbanfox]

There's no need to really unless you're going to overclock. Hell, I used the stock heatsink with a modified fan/mounting for a couple months on one of my main machines.

 

[¤]´)÷¤--§îr Äürøñ--¤÷(`[¤]

There's no need to really unless you're going to overclock. Hell, I used the stock heatsink with a modified fan/mounting for a couple months on one of my main machines.

He spends over £400 on a processor, and neglects to spend another £20 on getting it a decent cooling solution?

That boy needs to be seriously wounded.

 

[Sawell]

He spends over £400 on a processor, and neglects to spend another £20 on getting it a decent cooling solution?

That boy needs to be seriously wounded.

It's just a fan thing that goes round and round ~_~.

What's wrong with 37 degrees

 

[Zidio]

id rather use a case form, 1998 :P with 1 gb HDD and 56mb of ram ty :P cpu 0.5ghz hitting it up talk about company / gaming pc this 1 pwns

 

[Sawell]

BTW

Is there a way to see how many watts my pc is eating up? I erm want to add 4 300gb SATA HDD's to my computer (and i'm gonna do that before I get a DVDRW [auron :P MWAH]) and I need to know if my 525W PSU can handle my stuff.

 

[urbanfox]

He spends over £400 on a processor, and neglects to spend another £20 on getting it a decent cooling solution?

That boy needs to be seriously wounded.

His temps are great though, so meh

BTW

Is there a way to see how many watts my pc is eating up? I erm want to add 4 300gb SATA HDD's to my computer (and i'm gonna do that before I get a DVDRW [auron :P MWAH]) and I need to know if my 525W PSU can handle my stuff.

Who made it, what model.

 

[urbanfox]

Bah ****ing nvidia, the 7th was the surprise 7800 GS launch, not the 7800 GTX 512 (supposedly next monday -.-)

 

[Sawell]

Who made it, what model.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?HYP-525PSU

The guy at NT suggested it, as I know **** all about PSU's.. I wasn't even aware I should buy a new one :P

 

[¤]´)÷¤--§îr Äürøñ--¤÷(`[¤]

I wouldn't consider the 512mb GTX to be a serious card.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27492

Any foolish company who thinks $649 for a home graphics card is a wise idea, clearly needs to be shot. Repeatedly.

--

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/
--

 

[urbanfox]

The power supply is good.

The card comes out @ 650, but then again all the cards come out high and go a heck of a lot lower. (GTX 256 came out as 600, now 430~) not to mention incredibly better clocks. Either way it's going to eventually lower the GTX 256 prices.