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wanting to SLI two Geforce 7900 GTX's (each 512 megs)? opinions?

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InterlinkModule

InterlinkModule

Technical User
Sep 13, 2005
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US
I plan to buy an identical eVGA Geforce 7900 GTX w/ 512 megs GDDR3 to SLI my AMD system. My mainboard is the dual stacked heatpipe fanless chipset ASUS SLI A8N32-SLI. I'm also going to liquid cool both with a dual CoolerMaster internal sealed liqiud cooling system. Price wise and perforance wise, is this a good investment next to upgrading to the Geforce 8800 with 720 megs? I have a 430 watt Antec Truepower II power supply. What are everyone's opinions? I can much easier afford the second 7900 and liquid cooler and much quicker, rather than saving for the 8800.....

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Blink for a second and we can all loose where we are in this ever moving market place, I will explain...

Firstly your Antec 430watt TruepowerII just isn't going to reliably power two 7900GTX's in SLi so if you decide to buy the second 7900GTX and watercooling you will need to add the cost of a quality 600watt plus PSU.

Secondly there has been a bit of a shift in the market with the introduction of the NEW G92 cored 8800 GPU's

Now I haven't got any specific figures for you so I'm guestimating a little BUT.... I reckon ONE NEW 512mb 8800GT will outperform your two 7900GTX's or very close! and of course the 8800GT is DX10 compatible.
The reason I mention the G92 8800GT is that it's performance is not far off an older 8800GTX but costs around 40%, things have certainly moved on..
So now do the figures... one 512mb 8800GT at $260 or
One 7900GTX/with watercooling kit AND power supply.
How does it stack?
If the budget allows there is even the slightly faster GTS version of the G92 core.
And of course a multitude of factory OC'd 8800GT and GTS's
But you can pick up a 512mb 8800GT for under $260
And you won't need to buy a new PSU as these cards run on the newer smaller die which uses less power and produces less heat.
Martin



On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep
 
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paparazi

Agreed most definitely especially to the statement "Blink for a second and we can all lose where we are in this ever moving market place"

I agree with your recommendations 100%, and add that the possibility still exists to add a second 8800 GT in SLI if the mainboard supports it, without the need for water-cooling.

InterlinkModule:

Water-cooling is for serious overclockers. It adds complexity to the system and mainstream machines don't really need it.

Of course, it looks wicked, so if you wanted it for that reason go ahead[smile]

Tony

"...an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind" - M.L. King
 
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You quoted the 512 meg 8800GT at $260. May I ask where this was? I do 99% of my shopping at newegg.com. I found this there and may opt for it: eVGA 640-P2-N829-AR GeForce 8800GTS SSC 640MB for $309. It has 100% positive reviews and has over 100 megs of more ram. What do you and the other kind people who replied think? It's easily affordable for me....

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My bad, I didn't even see your newegg link. :) How does that one compare in your opinion to the 640 meg model I mentioned?

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Okay, did some looking. For $260 I get 112 "stream processors". The $309 640 meg model has 96. The core clock is 600mhz for the $260 version. The $309 is 576mhz. But the higher priced model has over 100 more megs and it's 320 bit instead of 256 bit. I'm picking one or the other and going with a single vid card config and air cooled. I want games like Need for Speed: Carbon and others to run at full graphics, the highest possible settings, with little to no lag. What is everyone's choice if you had the money for either one? Thanks. :)

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The 8800GT is the smartest buy out there. It has the new smaller core and DirectX10.1 support (I think), plus HDCP on both DVI outputs, something the others can't offer. I would not hesitate to choose the GT over the GTS, but the 8800GTX or Ultra are the hottest and fastest cards available and are better than the GT.

I think the GT will do the job just fine.

Tony

"...an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind" - M.L. King
 
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InterlinkModule
The 320 and 640mb versions of the 8800GTS are based on the older core so in answer to your specific question: the new 512mb version of the GT with G92 core will blow the more expensive but older 640mb version of the GTS out the water.
If you want a GTS then you need to be looking at one based on the newer G92 core (they are all 512mb ATM)
This looks a good buy, factory overclocked Gigabyte with 700mhz core (650 is standard)

FAO the GTS 512's have two slot coolers GT's are one.
The real excitment is that you will be buying a card that is about as fast as the old 8800GTX but at several hundred dollars less money.
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep
 
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Infact you can read between the lines here....
Effectively the new GT/GTS has made the difference in performance when compared to the GTX and Ultra so slim that these far more expensive products are a no brainer.
So two things will happen:
Old GTX's and Ultra's will fall in price and...
Enter new GTX based on the G92 core (I'm guessing with 1gig of memory) followed later on by an Ultra version.
In the meantime Nvidia are relying on uniformed punters to buy up their overpriced models. I bet there is going to be a few annoyed retailers and customers for that matter but then thats how the cookie crumbles.
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep
 
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I greatly appreciate the myriad of information here! I think I'm gonna go for the eVGA 8800GT 512MB which fits my budget and I can easily go for an SLI at some point. :)

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I think that is a very good choice given the price/performance and that it has the one slot cooling better suited to SLi.
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep
 
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Yes agreed. I honestly didn't think there were any 8800GT's with single slot cooling. That was a major factor in my decision.

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