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Rogue74
Little Foot
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 114
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 Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:23 pm Post subject: SLI'd GTX 285OC - overkill for my system? |
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I had a problem with one of my SLI'd BFG Tech 8800GTX cards and sent it in for repair or replacement. So what I got back was a GTX 285OC card. When I asked about SLI they said to send in the other 8800GTX and they'd replace it too. So from the little I've read, one GTX285 is a tiny bit faster than two SLI'd 8800GTX cards. So would SLI'd GTX285 cards be overkill for my system? Here's my setup, which is about two years old:
Intel Core2 Duo QX6700
4GB RAM
BFG Tech nForce 680i SLI mobo |
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tugboat_2
Klamath
Joined: 27 Feb 2009
Posts: 229
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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Says damn, ya gotta love good warranties. Sorry off topic I know.
Seems like if the consensous is overkill, you have almost half the cost of a game killer system. |
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Quakindude
Million Club [PC]
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Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 6466
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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What is your monitor size/resolution and what games are you playing? Is your CPU overclocked?
No way to answer that without those questions being answered. But unless you have larger than 1920x1200, it's probably gonna be overkill. However, you could always direct that extra power to our Folding@Home team as a new team member!! |
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Rogue74
Little Foot
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 114
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm using a 24" widescreen monitor at 1440x900. Anything bigger and everything looks too small. The CPU isn't overclocked. |
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Gailim
Million Club 2+ [PC]
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Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 5077
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Rogue74 wrote: | | I'm using a 24" widescreen monitor at 1440x900. Anything bigger and everything looks too small. The CPU isn't overclocked. |
at 1440x900 ONE 285 is ridiculous overkill. two is just wasting power (unless you fold on them)
you know, you can increase the res in your games without increasing it on your desktop. at 1920x1200 those cards will shine |
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Rogue74
Little Foot
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 114
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| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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I always thought you had to run the same resolution as the desktop... 
So is one GTX285 equivalent to two 8800GTX cards? If so then I'd be good with just the one. I'm not sure what real benefit I would get with faster graphics cards, but an older CPU. |
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Spartacus
Northwood
Joined: 28 Mar 2009
Posts: 3417
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| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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| A QX6700 is still plenty speedy if you've overclocked it. |
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daveyd
Coppermine
Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 637
Location: Guam
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| Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:40 am Post subject: |
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| I'd do some research to get a definitive answer. Check to see if the memory throughput on your motherboard is capable of addressing the full bandwidth of the two GPU's combined. |
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Quakindude
Million Club [PC]
Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 6466
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| Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Rogue74 wrote: | I always thought you had to run the same resolution as the desktop...
So is one GTX285 equivalent to two 8800GTX cards? If so then I'd be good with just the one. I'm not sure what real benefit I would get with faster graphics cards, but an older CPU. |
So your 24" screen has a native resolution of 1920x1200 correct? And you simply use 1440x900 for viewing issues? If so, and it must be because I don't know of a single 24" monitor for a desktop that uses 1440x900, use the 1920x1200 native resolution in your games like Gailum mentioned. Your eyes will thank you as you've really been missing out on some eye candy by running your games so low.
I wouldn't say a single 285 is faster than two 8800GTX in SLI.
But at 1920x1200, it's damned close. 
But a SINGLE 285, as mentioned, is overkill at 1440x900. But if you put your games to play at the default screen res of 1920x1200, a single GTX 285 can be pushed pretty hard. In Crysis you'll see about 32 FPS on Very High without any eye-happy stuff turned on. Once you start cranking up the details like MSAA and CSAA, you can bring a single 285 to its knees.
I would say that if you play your games, still don't know what games you're into, at 1920x1200 and crank up the details, two 285's could be justified. Your CPU needs to be slightly overclocked for playing todays games though. That CPU isn't gonna get you the same through put and FPS as a newer CPU would.
So my suggestion is this. If you're happy with your current CPU, get a single GTX285 and keep settings at high with a slight bump on eye-candy like MSAA and CSAA. Play around with the settings to see what playable frame rates you get. Since you've been gaming at 1440x900, this will look like a massive improvement alone.
What I would personally do is this. Buy one 285 and then, save the $$$ from the other 285, and save to add another couple hundred to it, to upgrade your mobo/cpu/ram. That 680i is long in the tooth and Intel boards now have SLI on board which is a hell of a lot better than any Nvidia based mobo solution IMO. Get yourself a new mobo, the new i5 Intel CPU and a nice set of DDR3 ram. Then SLI some GTX 285's and have the whole backbone of your computer to feed those cards! |
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Rogue74
Little Foot
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 114
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| Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks. I usually upgrade every two years, but the economy didn't help this year! I haven't really seen any issues with the CPU being too slow yet. I can still play pretty much anything with the settings on high, which surprises me. Of course, when I upgrade to Windows 7, and use DX10/11 it will probably show its age. |
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