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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
Hello all,
For the past year or so I have been running an 8800 GTX and have liked it. The only problem I ever had was in one game (Star Wars Republic Commando - had to disable bump mapping) and it was a known issue. I have been tempted by the benchmarks of the 9800 GX2 cards but one little thing that I can't find much information on is bugging me. Some folks have mentioned certain compatability problems with SLI and older games. Can anyone elaborate on that? I don't want to get a slight increase in performance on newer games just to cause problems with older ones. Everyone in my family plays older games like Quake 2, the original Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, and many others. If anyone can list any cons to an SLI based setup I would be grateful. If there are many known issues I might just wait until they release the next generation of cards and go that route. Many thanks, Bryan |
#2
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
"Bryan" wrote in message ... Hello all, For the past year or so I have been running an 8800 GTX and have liked it. The only problem I ever had was in one game (Star Wars Republic Commando - had to disable bump mapping) and it was a known issue. I have been tempted by the benchmarks of the 9800 GX2 cards but one little thing that I can't find much information on is bugging me. Some folks have mentioned certain compatability problems with SLI and older games. Can anyone elaborate on that? I don't want to get a slight increase in performance on newer games just to cause problems with older ones. Everyone in my family plays older games like Quake 2, the original Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, and many others. If anyone can list any cons to an SLI based setup I would be grateful. If there are many known issues I might just wait until they release the next generation of cards and go that route. It is a waste of money to go out and switch an 8800GTX or Ultra to a 9800 GX2. The difference is simply not worth the money. I've seen guys in my local n/g selling 8800GTX 768Mb units for $275 to $300. If you must, grab one of these and SLI it with your existing 8800GTX. It'll outperform the 9800 GX2 http://magicboxlive.blogspot.com/200...00-gtx-vs.html |
#3
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
It is a waste of money to go out and switch an 8800GTX or Ultra to a 9800 GX2. The difference is simply not worth the money. I've seen guys in my local n/g selling 8800GTX 768Mb units for $275 to $300. If you must, grab one of these and SLI it with your existing 8800GTX. It'll outperform the 9800 GX2 http://magicboxlive.blogspot.com/200...00-gtx-vs.html Thank you for that link, I will read it over. The main reason I was interested in the 9800 GX2 was because I am running an Intel 975 chipset board that I am very happy with (Asus P5W DH Deluxe) and do not want to swap out, so dual 8800 GTX cards are not really an option. If there was an Nvidia SLI board with similar features I might consider it, but this board wasn't cheap, so as you say the upgrade may be more money than it's worth. If I do decide to go SLI, what are the drawbacks? I don't use dual monitors, but I have heard of folks having to toggle SLI mode on and off. Is that just done to enable dual displays? If I have a single monitor could SLI stay enabled all the time? Thanks again, all relplies are appreciated. |
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
Thank you for that link, I will read it over. The main reason I was
interested in the 9800 GX2 was because I am running an Intel 975 chipset board that I am very happy with (Asus P5W DH Deluxe) and do not want to swap out, so dual 8800 GTX cards are not really an option. If there was an Nvidia SLI board with similar features I might consider it, but this board wasn't cheap, so as you say the upgrade may be more money than it's worth. Be carefull Bryan i changed my 8800gtx with an 9800gx2 on a Asus P5W DH DELUXE as i could not run true SLI on this mobo. But the gx2 would not work with the mobo, on boot i got garbled grafiphs as soon a windows started - i updated to latest mobo bios, but i didnt help. I ended up buying a new Asus Striker II Formula mobo based on nvidia 780i chipset. Happy now with the Gx2 - feels a lot faster than the single 8800gts. Cant say about compability for older games, i havent tried, but the little program called nhancer http://www.nhancer.com/ will let u turn off 1 of the cards if u want. 1 more thing - note that instead of the 8800gtx 2 6pins power connectors the gx2 have 1 6pin + 1 8pin - i bet your psu dont have an 8pin. I was not able to get an adaptor and ended up buying a new psu aswell . Rgds Dorph |
#5
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
Be carefull Bryan i changed my 8800gtx with an 9800gx2 on a Asus P5W DH DELUXE as i could not run true SLI on this mobo. But the gx2 would not work with the mobo, on boot i got garbled grafiphs as soon a windows started - i updated to latest mobo bios, but i didnt help. I ended up buying a new Asus Striker II Formula mobo based on nvidia 780i chipset. Happy now with the Gx2 - feels a lot faster than the single 8800gts. Cant say about compability for older games, i havent tried, but the little program called nhancer http://www.nhancer.com/ will let u turn off 1 of the cards if u want. 1 more thing - note that instead of the 8800gtx 2 6pins power connectors the gx2 have 1 6pin + 1 8pin - i bet your psu dont have an 8pin. I was not able to get an adaptor and ended up buying a new psu aswell . Rgds Dorph Thank you very much for that information Dorph. Experiences like this are what I was hoping to hear about. I knew that I would have to change the power supply no matter which way I went (my 650 watt PSU is not certified to power two 8800 GTX cards, and I knew about the eight pin connector on the 9800 GX2). From what you have said I think I will shy away from the 9800 GX2 for now unless I find any more detailed info regarding the compatability between that card and my board. Speaking of your Striker II Formula board, what RAM did you decide to use? I have four one gig sticks of Kingston HyperX 800 MHz memory that I am using now. For the 1066 MHz bus CPU I am using now (QX6700 Core 2 Extreme Kentsfield) this memory has worked fine. The one advantage I could see to upgrading the motherboard would be compatability with the newer 1333 MHz bus CPUs. Maybe that would convince me to spend over $500 (motherboard and PSU) just so I could swap out a or add a video card. If I did that though, I would probably just pick up another 8800 GTX since the board would run SLI. Thanks again for all the info. I really appreciate it. If anyone else has any experiences that they want to add I would be greatful to hear them. Bryan |
#6
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
Speaking of your Striker II Formula board, what RAM did you decide to
use? I already had 4 sticks 1gb corsair XMS2 pc6400 in the P5W DH so those are the ones in my Striker II aswell. If i had to buy new RAM i would have chosen an mobo based on the newest nvidia chipset 790i and then DDR3 RAM. Dorph |
#7
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
"Bryan" wrote in message
news [...] are what I was hoping to hear about. I knew that I would have to change the power supply no matter which way I went (my 650 watt PSU is not certified to power two 8800 GTX cards, Your system would have to be unusually heavily loaded for any decent 650W PSU to have difficulties with 8800GTX SLI. Together they only draw peak 24.2A in 3D mode. Don't be fooled by Nvidia's greatly exaggerated PSU requirements. They're just trying to protect themselves. |
#8
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
are what I was hoping to hear about. I knew that I would have to change the power supply no matter which way I went (my 650 watt PSU is not certified to power two 8800 GTX cards, Your system would have to be unusually heavily loaded for any decent 650W PSU to have difficulties with 8800GTX SLI. Together they only draw peak 24.2A in 3D mode. Don't be fooled by Nvidia's greatly exaggerated PSU requirements. They're just trying to protect themselves. DRS, if Power (wattage) is equal to voltage times current, then 24.2A X 12V comes to 290.4 watts per card. However I have seen reviews stating that the cards draw 165W each, so I'm not sure what to think. I do know that the power rating of a PSU is devided amongst several different output rails, so I can see where someone might get in trouble just taking into account the total wattage of a PSU. I am always in need of spare parts for projects here and there, so if I can't find out for sure if my Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W can't handle the load I don't mind buying another PSU. |
#9
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
"Bryan" wrote in message
are what I was hoping to hear about. I knew that I would have to change the power supply no matter which way I went (my 650 watt PSU is not certified to power two 8800 GTX cards, Your system would have to be unusually heavily loaded for any decent 650W PSU to have difficulties with 8800GTX SLI. Together they only draw peak 24.2A in 3D mode. Don't be fooled by Nvidia's greatly exaggerated PSU requirements. They're just trying to protect themselves. DRS, if Power (wattage) is equal to voltage times current, then 24.2A X 12V comes to 290.4 watts per card. However I have seen reviews stating that the cards draw 165W each, so I'm not sure what to think. 24.2A for 8800GTX SLI equals 12.1A per card, or 145W each. I do know that the power rating of a PSU is devided amongst several different output rails, so I can see where someone might get in trouble just taking into account the total wattage of a PSU. Older PSUs tend to a different 3.3v/5v/12v balance to newer ones and often lack sufficient 12v capacity full stop, but what you say about individual rail capacity is also true. I am always in need of spare parts for projects here and there, so if I can't find out for sure if my Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W can't handle the load I don't mind buying another PSU. Annoyingly, Antec don't give the TP3's real 12v capacity. Each 12v rail is a nominal capacity of 19A but you'll never get 19A on all three rails simultaneously (12v * 57A = 684W). I still wouldn't be unduly concerned. 8800GTX SLI was demonstrated to run on a (brand new) 500W PSU early in the piece. |
#10
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9800 GX2 question (any known SLI issues)
DRS wrote:
Annoyingly, Antec don't give the TP3's real 12v capacity. Each 12v rail is a nominal capacity of 19A but you'll never get 19A on all three rails simultaneously (12v * 57A = 684W). I still wouldn't be unduly concerned. 8800GTX SLI was demonstrated to run on a (brand new) 500W PSU early in the piece. In small print, under the table, it says 12V @ 52A for the three rails combined. Which means, the other rails would be very lightly loaded, for that to work. A more realistic number, would be to take 650W, subtract representative loading caused by the other rails, and divide the result by 12V. Maybe somewhere in the 40-45 amp range or so. And that is assuming the thing will run up to 650W total, without popping. http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...371-001-14.jpg Paul |
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