By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
TheRealMafoo on 21 March 2008
Edit Thread
Biggerboat said:
TheRealMafoo said:
@Biggerboat

Here is something most people on this site will disagree with, but I will throw my 2 cents in.

If you buy your computer with one video card, and are happy with it, you will never buy a second. First off (unless something is new that I don't know about), you will have to buy the exact same one (XpertVision GeForce 8800 GT 512MB in your case). Second, the delta between what you have and what two videos cards provide in real gaming is small. Unless you are an extreme personality that freaks out as soon as you can't turn every on, by the time you get annoyed enough to make the investment, a better option will be out there (like a card that's the same price but as fast as two of yours with more features (DX 11 or something).


I understand where you're coming from though I kinda disagree on the impotance of 2x the power. For instance if that wasn't a significant gulf then why not save myself a lot of dough and just settle for a 8600? The 9600gts are supposed to work very well in SLI, a step from pretty much any othe nvidia card out there, that's why I'm kind of sold on the idea. I'm also going to be doing some 3d stuff next year in college so want the option of beefing my setup up. I do share your concern that I could find it hard to track down another Xpertvision card and will give it some thought. I'm going to be running xp so the appearance of new DXs doesn't really figure in my reasoning.

It may be a moot point anyway, as if the mobo I'm looking at doesn't support 2x16 performance or I can't get bumped up to the 700w OCZ PSU for free then I'll be reverting to a single card setup. 


That's why I prefaced it with "If you buy your computer with one video card, and are happy with it". I did what you are doing twice. Setup my PC so I could slap another video card in it when I was ready for SLI fun. The problem is, in real world scenarios, once you have that setup; you end up being happy with the performance for a long time. Yes, games will play better with two cards, but it will look great with one, and when you say to yourself “Do I want to spend $300 for a few frames per seconds, or a few extra settings?” I always found other ways to spend that money to better my Rig.

It only cost you a little more to position yourself for the upgrade, so I am not trying to encourage you not to, I am just saying that there is a good chance that you won’t end up doing it.

Gaming rigs are hobbies to a lot of people who run SLI. Having SLI is the fun (like Sqrl). It’s cool to run benchmarks and see how quick your system is, but when it comes to real world practicality, one card usually does the trick. What causes me to upgrade most of the time, is when cards add features, so visual effects that otherwise have no possibility to be seen on your current GPU are implemented in games, I look for a new card.