[Woomera]

ok i got my pc upgraded last month to K8N PRO SLI & pixelview 6600.and now i wanna buy a new 6600.
i just wanted to know if there is any problem cause ive been using this one for about 2 month and the other one will be new.
does brands matter(pixelview,leadtek...).
anything i should know or keep in mind before doing this?
thanks.

[Vitalix]

I don't have SLI (just one card) but from what I've heard it's best to get the identical card (same model number and stepping) if available. If not available, I hear the next most importnat items are that the GPUs and memory size and type match.

[nmX.Memnoch]

Vitalix is correct. It's best to get the another identical card if at all possible. But, with the latest ForceWare drivers the card manufacturers can be different as long as everything about the cards is the same (i.e. you have two 6600 based cards instead of one 6600 and one 6600GT).

[Jeremy]

Even with the GeForce 7800 GTX X2 in SLI, you're only getting another 15-25 FPS in high resolutions. But, like they say, it's not all about frame rate anymore. However, how many games are designed to reep the benefits of SLI? IMHO, as of this point in time, it's not worth it. Hell, I can get 50-60 FPS in HL2 with everything on high, AA disabled at 1280x1024 with my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.
I just got my GeForce 6800GS!!! Man it is HUGE. it's like.... 3/4 the size of a keyboard. It's really heavy. I think I'm going to have to stretch some cables/wires in my case to fit it in there, lol.

[nmX.Memnoch]

Jeremy, on Jan 13 2006, 10:59 AM, said:

AA disabled

The key words.

Enabling AA greatly improves the gaming experience. Once you start playing with AA enabled you start to realize just how distracting those jaggies really are...

If I can increase my antialiasing and anisotropic filtering settings without losing framerate then I'm definitely going to do it. Getting an SLI setup allows you to do that. It's really sad that people are still hung up on frames per second. The only games that mattered on are Quake III and most games based on that engine...and this is only because higher frame rates would allow you to strafe jump faster. In any other game sustaining 40FPS or higher isn't going to make any difference.

This post has been edited by nmX.Memnoch: 13 January 2006 - 03:57 PM

[suryad]

I hate jaggies. But when I played HL2 @ 1920 x 1200 on my laptop there were no jaggies at that high of a resolution. At least I didnt notice any. I had AF enabled to 4 x and no AA cause honestly it didnt seem like I needed it. But I do agree in a lot of games the boon of SLI besides the extra fps is the more important fact of running insane AA and AF modes resulting in higher IQ. That is the most important function I think...to make the games look insanely good. That siad howeve seems to be that ATI's crossfire implementation does a better job with IQ than does SLI.

[glent]

Yep two identical cards is best but make your PSU is powerful enough

[Woomera]

psu? and whats that?

[glent]

Power supply and extra graphics card will draw more power from it

[Vitalix]

I think many on this board will attest: don't skimp on the PSU! Especially with SLI. Otherwise your machine will get weird and reboot, freeze, and behave oddly periodically, with nothing in event viewer and playing the catch the bug game will prove almost impossible until you upgrade the power supply and *POOF* everything runs normal.
I've been there, learned the hard way...

[glent]

same here, im now using the PSU in my sig and i'll never use a cheap PSU ever again.

[puntoMX]

Okay, WAIT A MINUTE!, on what resolution are we playing these games?

If you just play it on 1024*768 or 1280*1024 then why get the other 6600? For example, if you can sell the 6600 card for 80 US$ and the other 6600 will cost you 140US$ that’s 220US$ together. That comes close to a 6800GS that you can tweak over a 500MHz GPU and 1200 MEM, running almost as fast as a 6800Ultra, kicking a** of a 6600 SLI any time!

And what I have to say about AA: AA at max is nice, but I never use it on my TFT screens, I don’t even notice it when I play Q4 or Battlefield 2 .

EDIT: Forgot some thing, a good PSU will cost you 50US$ and up, so 220 plus 50 will be 270US$, there you go, you can buy a 6800GS ...

This post has been edited by puntoMX: 15 January 2006 - 12:46 PM

[suryad]

punto does have a point.

[ripken204]

ya, you should definetly consider selling the 6600. a 6800gs/gt or even better, a 7800gt would help out much more. if you are worried about the money then just go sli but you will have much more performance if you get a 6800.

[nmX.Memnoch]

puntoMX, on Jan 15 2006, 12:45 PM, said:

a good PSU will cost you 50US$ and up

Double that. A good PSU will cost $100US and up. Especially if you're looking for something that's SLI certified.

[puntoMX]

6600 in SLi isn´t so hungry , but yes, 100 bucks would be more likely but there are some options close to 50 bucks too...

[suryad]

I say if you are going to keep the hardware around for a while, then spend as much as you can to get the choicest parts.

[Woomera]

ok i read all youre openions.about the psu i agree with you,but about the cost diffrence between 6600 sli and 6800 or even 7800 i gotta tell you somethin.
of course 7800 is so so so much better than 6600 gt sli according to the benchmarks but this is our problem in here(iran).we cant use credit cards to buy from internet ,most of the shopping sites dont even support iran.
and about the prices,here they are a little unusual,actualy i bought the second 6600 and each one only for about 100$ it means 200$ for both(pixelview 6600 256 le),and at the same time 6800(not gt) will cost me about 370$.so i think you all got the point.

ok now that im using the sli there is a problem,my secnt graphic card is very very close to my asus tv card and its temprature is 10 degree more than the first one.will this make any problem for me?
thank you all.

[nmX.Memnoch]

It could under load. Can you move the TV card?

[Woomera]

no,actualy there is only two slot of pci exactly under the second pcie and i have one modem and one tv card.
it really gonna make a problem for me?