SLI and how does it work.

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For all you PC junkies. I am a bit outta touch with PC's. I still have my trusty P4 3.2 Ghz with my Good ol Gforce 5800 fx. Now I realise lots has changed in 2 years since I upgraded and now i want to take the next step to a Dual Core Chip Some Decent DDR2 Maybe 2 gig or so and a mid range Gfx card.

I was looking at this.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...spx?ProductID=2511&ProductName=GV-NX86S256H-B

They are not badly priced and I would rather have PCI X as AGP is going going gone.

Now for my question .... Do you need 2 of the same cards to run in SLI mode. Do games support it now days ?

G.Spot
 
You will need two of the same cards as far as I know. Most new games should support it.

You need to decide if you really need it. Do you play that many high end games.
 
I have not played games in ages. I would like to get back into it though and not have to worry which game I can or can't play. I hate jerky graphics.
 
With SLI you need two identical screen cards, what it does the one screen card will handle you top part of the screen and the other one will use the bottom part so the graphics and performance is out of this world,

BUT

There is always that BUT

You need two graphics card that are identical and they MUST support SLI and then you need a motherboard that are compatible with the two cards.

It will cost you an arm and a leg,

If you go with Gigabyte you will never look back, IMO there is no better than Gigabyte, Been dealing and using Gigabyte for 8 years now.

Where are you located, I can hook you up with everything you need.
 
Trust me.... When you try and get back into those games... your GF is just gonna kick your ass for spending more time with your PC than her. Then SLI will be a waste of money.... MASA doesn't need SLI !!!!!
 
Or let me put it in a very simple way,

It is like having two Bubble King skimmers on you system, and it is skimming like there is no tomorrow :p :p
 
Without any technicalities, SLI is basically using 2 graphics cards at a time to increase performance. No Tom you do not need 2 monitors for it but you could connect up to 4 monitors to those 2 graphics cards.

Also do not get confused between PCI X (PCI eXtended) and PCI-E (PCI Express). PCI-E is what you're looking for and yes AGP is looooong gone.

Games definitely do support SLI but in a lot of cases it doesn't provide any performance benefit (although it's not any worse). My opinion is that SLI is only ever worth it if you have two top end graphics cards because a single card that costs the same as an SLI mobo and 2 SLI graphics cards will basically always outperform 2 lower end PCI cards.

One possible benefit though is that you can get an SLI mobo now, and the best graphics card your budget allows, and then at a later stage maybe pick up a second card cheap... Also they originally had to be the exact same card but with the newer drivers you can have say an Asus 8800GTX and a gigabyte 8800GTX. If they have different clock speeds they will both run at the lower clock.

The 8600GTS is really not that great. It is slower than some 7 series cards. The 8800GTS 320MB is far better. After that the 8800GTS 640MB, the 8800GTX and the 8800GTX Ultra.

To further explain my opinion about SLI, if you have like R1500, what's better, a reeftek or 3 jebos?
 
Eish! Ek verstaan nie sorry. How does the second graphics card help then? Does it co-process the graphics and the monitor just gets fed from one card??
 
Pretty much so Tom.

The cards share the load. But the image is sent to one monitor.
 
Well in terms of "bang for buck" I'd definitely get the 8800GTS 320MB which you can find for just under 3k. Otherwise there's always the 8800 Ultra for only R9500 or so :p

Yes Tom that is correct. When you run the card's in SLI the motherboard obviously has to support SLI but you also connect the cards together at the top with a little "bridge".
 
Rory O' great PC person and Supermoo here is what I wanted to get. Does it meet your stamp of approval ?
GFx
Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 8800GTS GPU, 320MB 320Bit, Dual DVI+HDTV, DirectX 10
Processor
Intel® Boxed Core2™Duo E4300 Processor - 1.80GHz Dual Core, Socket 775, 2MB, 800MHz FSB, 65nm, 64-Bit Ready, 3 Year
MB
GIGABYTE® "S Series" iG965 & ICH8 Express Chipset - Socket LGA775 @ FSB1066 - For Celeron™D, Pentium®, Pentium®D & Core™2 2x PCI Express (1 x16 , 1 x1), 2x PCI, 4x DDR2-800, 6x SATA2 RAID, 1x ATA100, 10x USB 2.0, 2x IEEE1394, Gigabit, Intel GMA X3000 Graphics Durability Series - Solid Capacitors, 8 Channel High Definition Audio, Features Gigabyte SAFE & SMART, Virtual Dual BIOS Support
Ram
Corsair® TwinX™ XMS™ Matched Memory Pair - 2x 512MB Modules - DDR2-800 - 6-Layer, Heat Spreader, CL 4-4-4-12, Retail Dual Module Pack, Integrated Heat Spreader, Low Latency, Factory Rated & Tested - Intel Approved

HDD
Seagate® Barracuda™ 7200.10 Series - 250GB Serial ATA II (SATA2) Plus - Serial ATA 300 (3Gbps) With 16MB Cache @ 7200RPM
 
I think you might find the 1 GB of ram coming up a little short. If it's budget issue then consider 1 1GB stick now and another one later. You can get matched 2GB (1+1) kits for about R1200 now. Which is awesome considering how much I paid for my DDR400 :/

Other than that the only thing I can think of is why get a motherboard with integrated graphics if you're getting a "proper" graphics card. The rest of the specs for it looks fine though.
 
Very nice system, But if you have to extra cash, rather go with the Dual Core. and get yourself a proper case !!!! Don't go cheap with your case and PSU !!!!!!

Get yourself a case like this

PC001.jpg


PC002.jpg


PC003.jpg


After sorting out the wires

PCC002.jpg
 
Nice handprints on the front of the case psycho :p

I made the mistake of getting a nice shiny black case. The moment you pull the cover off all the dust in the room relocates to your case ;)

Definitely agree on the PSU, crappy PSU's are the cause of a lot of trouble.

That is a dual core CPU. For sure I'd go better (like an E6650) if I had the money etc but then wouldn't we all.
 
I have a nice case, Just need to get a 500w PSU.

I would like a Intel® Boxed Core2™Extreme X6800 Processor - 2.93GHz Dual Core, Socket 775, 4MB, 1066MHz FSB, 65nm, 64-Bit Ready, 3 Year
but the cost ex vat on that is R7710


Psycho that is a dual core chip I listed. I was looking at the price list and I would rather get the E6320. Faster FSB and it is only R300 more and it has 2meg more of cache.

So here is the list Again.. Thanks for all the help guys.

CPU
Intel® Boxed Core2™Duo E6320 Processor - 1.86GHz Dual Core, Socket 775, 4MB, 1066MHz FSB, 65nm, 64-Bit Ready, 3 Year

MB
GIGABYTE® "S Series" iP965 & ICH8 Express Chipset - Socket LGA775 @ FSB1333 - For Pentium®, Pentium®D & Core™2 4x PCI Express Slots (1 x16 , 3 x1), 3x PCI, 4x DDR2-800 (Dual), 6x SATA2, 1x ATA100, 10x USB 2.0, SPDIF Port, Marvel Gigabit LAN
Durability 2 Series - All Solid Capacitors, 8 Channel High Definition Audio, Features Gigabyte SPEED, SMART & SAFE Technology.

Same Gfx Card

The memory - Decided to go transcend. Can get two 1 gig DDR2 800s instead at almost the same price as the Corsair.
 
Sorry Sorry I read you post to quickly, That is the smallest CPU in die Dual Core range

You can't go wrong with 2 GIG DDR2 800, they are lightning fast, I have 2 gig aswell

I have this one
Intel® Boxed Core2™2.66GHz Dual Core, Socket 775, 4MB, 1066MHz FSB

Rory, I should have taken the silver case, every spec of dust you see on it.
 
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