PC hardware: Should I get a new graphics card, or a 2nd and use SLI?
Should I get a new graphics card, or a 2nd and use SLI?
by sjmanikt - 5/28/08 7:41 PMHowdy all,
I have a decent low-end system (AMD X2 dual-core 3600+ CPU, 3GB of RAM, with an nVidia GeForce 8500GT graphics card). I'd like to get a little more horsepower out of it for gaming, and I was wondering, would I be better off getting a new graphics card, a second graphics card and spreading the load via SLI, or upgrading my CPU?
Where's the best bang-for-buck? I can pick up a second GeForce 8500GT for pretty cheap now, but I don't know much about SLI and how it'd stack up against simply getting a newer, faster card.
Another option (and one that I'm likely to undertake in the next month) would be upgrading the CPU to a higher end AMD X2 processor, for around $100.
Opinions? What do you guys think?
Have you looked at the GPU comparison over at Tomshardware ?
by VAPCMD - 5/28/08 8:12 PM In reply to: Should I get a new graphics card, or a 2nd and use SLI? by sjmaniktLot of good info over there under the GPU charts.
VAPCMD
yup.
by sjmanikt - 5/28/08 10:34 PM In reply to: Have you looked at the GPU comparison over at Tomshardware ? by VAPCMDI have, but this kind of comparo isn't really something that Tomshardware has done. I'm trying to figure out which will get me more gain for my dollar--upgrading the GPU, or buying a new one and pairing it to my "old" 8500GT.
I can get a pretty good handle on upgrading the CPU, and what sort of performance gains I can expect from their reviews. But I haven't seen anything about whether SLI is a bigger benefit than using a single faster newer card. There's a chart for what kind of performance gains you get with SLI compared to other cards with SLI, but nothing about what kind of gains you'd get from one card to two cards.
From the sound of things on the forum, you should be running a dual processor setup around 2.5 GHz to get the max out of an 8-series GeForce card. That's one thing.
The other issue is, THW updates their charts, so there's not a lot of info on the 8500GT left on the site that I can find. There's plenty about the 8600, and what a POS it is (surprising to me, because I kind of love my 8500GT--it's been stable and done a pretty decent job with games like Dawn of War and FarCry with max detail.
how much do you have to spend?
by ramarc - 5/29/08 6:10 AM In reply to: Should I get a new graphics card, or a 2nd and use SLI? by sjmanikta new video card will help the most but your cpu is also pretty low-end also.
dual 8500gt cards will still be anemic by today's standards and won't outperform a single 8600gts. http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2184&page=11
the 8600gts has been replaced by the 8800gs. it's 50% faster than the 8600gts but the same price.
8800gs/384, $130 before $30 rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150275
an x2 5000+ should be your next step.
x2 5000+, $88: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194
thanks!
by sjmanikt - 5/29/08 7:00 AM In reply to: how much do you have to spend? by ramarcI can spend as much as I want, but I'm more interested in hitting the sweet-spot intersection of price and performance.
So a new CPU it is, followed by a new graphics card at some point. Thanks for the links and the advice!
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
