Was Sli worth it?


Back_Blast

 

Posted

Hey all, long time player, long time forum lurker.

A few months back I bought myself a second 260 GTX Nvidia graphics card in the hopes that CoH would be sli capable by the time Issue 17 rolled out. So far, I haven't anything that would get my hopes up. I went Sli because it was the cheaper option at the time for my current rig that supports a sli configuration. So far...I see a very small performance increase.

Now, this wasn't intended to be a rant, so I apologize if that is what it sounds like, but my question I guess is this: Was Sli worth it?

Here are a few more questions:

Should I attempt to sell these two cards and go for a newer 400 series nvidia card?

Does anyone know if this game will be gain sli support in the future?

How do my current cards compare to a single 400 class Gtx? (As in, are both my cards together less, equal, or greater performance wise?)

Thanks for any answered questions.



50's (Only most important)
Zuraq (53 EM/SR Brute)
Stagmalite (50 Granite/Fire TanK)
(Couple of other's I don't care about.)

 

Posted

... buying another GTX 260 was a bad move to begin with... but honestly. Right now buying ANY Nvidia card is a bad idea.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...14&postcount=4
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...36&postcount=6
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2877563
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...5&postcount=14

At this point I got bored of searching through my previous posts for the relevant bits.

Look, here's the short version. Nvidia GTX 200 series cards are way over-priced for their feature support and performance, and they are end-of-lifed. The series has been such a collective disaster for Nvidia that their top tier partners have either started producing ATI cards (XFX), or left the market altogether (BFG). As of right now, Nvidia only has one Top Tier Partner left (EVGA), and even they've been muting the possibility of ATi cards in the coming months.

Nvidia's GTX 400 cards are not as over-priced for their feature support and performance as their GTX 200 cousins, but they are blazing hot and have massive power-requirements.

If you bought and Nvidia card after the RadeonHD 57xx and 58xx series launched: You. Got. Ripped. Off.

If you buy one now:You. Are. Getting. Ripped. Off.

Period, stop, end of story.

***

Now, since you've already made the purchase, not a whole lot you can do. Yes, the RadeonHD 5850 can blow past SLI'd GTX 260's without even thinking about it, and if you really want to spend another $300... that's the way to go.

***

That being said, I just told somebody with a RadeonHD 4870x2 to hold off and not buy new cards although they were looking at upgrading: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=224002

Television (the developer) has a couple of multi-gpu modes active on the test server. One of the known modes does offer excellent acceleration on SLI'd cards. My own GTS 250 Triple SLI setup can push 1680*1050 with all Ultra Mode settings maxed and maintain 20~25fps atop an Athlon64 6000 and a Core 2 Duo @ 2.67ghz.

It's been indicated there is more headroom to be gained in Multi-gpu modes, and as of right now, both Nvidia's and ATi's drivers are incredibly immature at accelerating fast-pass rendering in multi-gpu configurations.

So, I really wouldn't advise you to go out and spend more money now.


 

Posted

Thanks for the advice Je_saist. My only issue is that I have an EVGA Mother board designed for Nvidia cards...unless Radeon Cards can fit into that, I don't think I could slot a new card even if I was able to afford one at the moment.



50's (Only most important)
Zuraq (53 EM/SR Brute)
Stagmalite (50 Granite/Fire TanK)
(Couple of other's I don't care about.)

 

Posted

A slot is a slot. A board that can run a PCIe Nvidia card can run a PCIe ATI card. "Designed for Nvidia," I'm betting, means nothing more than that it has built in SLI support. It may not even mean that if you're having to use the SLI cable to connect the cards.

Edit: To answer the title question, I have never seen a case where SLI or Crossfire was worth the money.


Be well, people of CoH.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba View Post
A slot is a slot. A board that can run a PCIe Nvidia card can run a PCIe ATI card. "Designed for Nvidia," I'm betting, means nothing more than that it has built in SLI support. It may not even mean that if you're having to use the SLI cable to connect the cards.

Edit: To answer the title question, I have never seen a case where SLI or Crossfire was worth the money.
Alright...thanks for the tip Bill Z Bubba. Might start saving up.

Can anyone reccomend a particular brand? If anyone has any ideas, could I get a direct link to Newegg?



50's (Only most important)
Zuraq (53 EM/SR Brute)
Stagmalite (50 Granite/Fire TanK)
(Couple of other's I don't care about.)

 

Posted

Personally, I'm a fan of XFX. They make quality stuff and that lifetime warranty isn't bad either. As for a specific model, what's the budget? What are you willing to spend?


It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by je_saist View Post
... buying another GTX 260 was a bad move to begin with... but honestly. Right now buying ANY Nvidia card is a bad idea.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...14&postcount=4
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...36&postcount=6
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2877563
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...5&postcount=14

At this point I got bored of searching through my previous posts for the relevant bits.

Look, here's the short version. Nvidia GTX 200 series cards are way over-priced for their feature support and performance, and they are end-of-lifed. The series has been such a collective disaster for Nvidia that their top tier partners have either started producing ATI cards (XFX), or left the market altogether (BFG). As of right now, Nvidia only has one Top Tier Partner left (EVGA), and even they've been muting the possibility of ATi cards in the coming months.

Nvidia's GTX 400 cards are not as over-priced for their feature support and performance as their GTX 200 cousins, but they are blazing hot and have massive power-requirements.

If you bought and Nvidia card after the RadeonHD 57xx and 58xx series launched: You. Got. Ripped. Off.

If you buy one now:You. Are. Getting. Ripped. Off.

Period, stop, end of story.

***

Now, since you've already made the purchase, not a whole lot you can do. Yes, the RadeonHD 5850 can blow past SLI'd GTX 260's without even thinking about it, and if you really want to spend another $300... that's the way to go.

***

That being said, I just told somebody with a RadeonHD 4870x2 to hold off and not buy new cards although they were looking at upgrading: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=224002

Television (the developer) has a couple of multi-gpu modes active on the test server. One of the known modes does offer excellent acceleration on SLI'd cards. My own GTS 250 Triple SLI setup can push 1680*1050 with all Ultra Mode settings maxed and maintain 20~25fps atop an Athlon64 6000 and a Core 2 Duo @ 2.67ghz.

It's been indicated there is more headroom to be gained in Multi-gpu modes, and as of right now, both Nvidia's and ATi's drivers are incredibly immature at accelerating fast-pass rendering in multi-gpu configurations.

So, I really wouldn't advise you to go out and spend more money now.

wow ati fan much? lol the 200 line for nvidia was extermley successful and it was not until ATI produced the 5XXX line that they could beat Nvidia (beat ..the 4870/90 and x2 were comparable but had their own issues).

historically coh never ran well with ati - and never (and even with ultra mode) does not support sli crossfire. It is up to the vendor to create a profile to get sli in a fashion..

COH was one of the few games to support physix but only the original card from what I understand (which was really just an 8600 with no video out)...

I bought 2x 260gtx's and have them in sli on my main gaming system - they cost me about 120 each on sale. 260gtx sli will stomp all over a 5850...a 5870 will come close and beat it in some games....I know this because I also own a 5870 in my second system downstairs. Sure is supports DX11..I play my DX 11 games all the....oh wait.

bottom line is - if all you play is COH and are happy the fail to support the latest high end features like SLI and Crossfire..and you don't want to play on more than one monitor then by all means - sell your 260's and get a 5870 ( best single bang for your buck right now).