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SLI Monitor Question

Post Date: 2008-07-11
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ArmourBrad View Drop Down
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Posts: 80 		  Quote ArmourBrad Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: SLI Monitor Question
    Posted: 11 Jul 2008 at 11:55am

I understand that essentially, SLI "really shines" when you're sporting some larger size monitors (22"+) or dual monitors.

for example lets use the 280's
Does this mean the image/fps of 2 cards in SLI on a 24" LCD would be BETTER than only 1 card on a 17" monitor?
 
or
 
If you're sporting a large monitor, SLI would be better than one card, but the difference would be negliable between solo and SLI cards on a smaller monitor?
 
sorry if this sounds confusing, but you guys (and gals) appear to know whats up.
 
Also, is the GPU solely responsible for frames per/sec or is it a merry combination between the whole rig. (ie: should more wieght be placed on cpu/gpu/ram/mobo/clocking etc.)
 
guh, getting so close to my purchase date...sooo many hypothetical builds.
 
anyone know the roundabout date on nahalem?
 
pienso que eres muchas preguntas diferentes, pero estoy interesado en matando todos los "noobs"
 
 
bjt
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Jul 2008 at 12:14pm
Mainly, at smaller resolutions, the framerate of one card or two will be the same. What SLI and Crossfire (or was that xfire SkyR? LOL) allow for is a much larger resolution before the performance begins to degrade, and a slower curve in terms of FPS loss as the resolutions continue to climb. For simplicity's sake, SLI/Crossfire on a 22" monitor = single card performance on a 17" monitor. This is not always true, as with a good profile for a game in a driver, the two cards will increase framerate at all resolutions above 800x600.
 
The CPU feeds the frames to the graphics cards to render. The RAM has to be able to feed the CPU's L2 cache fast enough that the CPU doesn't run out of things to do while the GPU is waiting for more information. RAM speeds higher than 667MHz are quite capable of feeding the CPU fast enough to accomplish this. Higher RAM speeds than 800MHz are simply used in overclocking the CPU, they are not neccesary in terms of bandwidth for the current generation of CPU.
 
 The graphics cards are primarily responsible for your framerates. For a gaming computer, you want to place more emphasis on the GPU's. Obviously, you want to make sure the CPU is not going to be a bottleneck, so selecting a dual or quad core processor at or above 2.8GHz is adviseable. This will get you 98% of the available performance from your graphics cards. Games that put addition load on the CPU such as advanced physics models will run better with CPU speeds over 3GHz. Games that support multi threading will run best on quadcores. 
 
Nehelam is Q1 of 2009 the last I heard.


Edited by Tyler Lowe - 11 Jul 2008 at 12:15pm
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Kliebor2 View Drop Down
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Posts: 659 		  Quote Kliebor2 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Jul 2008 at 12:58pm
I can say from experience with dual 9800 GTX on a 22" samsung monitor on any high end games I notice a huge difference using SLI or not.

Conan drops 10-20 FPS when I disable SLI... I run 58 average with 75 peak FPS in SLI and drop to mid fourties average and high fifties peak with a single GPU.

I would say SLI has a definite impact on 22" gaming if you intend to play higher system requirement games.

Dave
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skyR View Drop Down
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Posts: 2220 		  Quote skyR Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Jul 2008 at 1:26pm
You can't have more than one monitor with SLI enabled.
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star.
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ArmourBrad View Drop Down
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Posts: 80 		  Quote ArmourBrad Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Jul 2008 at 1:37pm
thanks for your help
 
I'm running a HP w1907 (WS 19")
 
I'm thinking about just getting one sa-weeeeet ATI card this comming august with a total rig pricepoint of 3500. (maybe one of those 280 killeing ati 4870X2's ) and then SLI'ing if/when necessary and when the cost goes down.
 
sounds about right? right?
 
go bears
bjt
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Kliebor2 View Drop Down
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Posts: 659 		  Quote Kliebor2 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Jul 2008 at 1:50pm
Also you can't SLI an ATI Card... CrossFire dude :)

Dave
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ArmourBrad View Drop Down
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Posts: 80 		  Quote ArmourBrad Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Jul 2008 at 2:15pm
pffft. semantics....
 
SLIing = two+ video cards of any type
Crossfiring = two+ video cards of any type
 
ATI = red video card
GeForce = green videocard
 
ATI+Geforce =Chrismas SLIFire Spectacular
 
not to mention the negligible differences between a Zenith-wooden-framed-knob-dialed-TV and some Hi Def wannabe copycat
 
 
there. Have I made my semantics point?


Edited by ArmourBrad - 11 Jul 2008 at 2:16pm
bjt
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Kliebor2 View Drop Down
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Posts: 659 		  Quote Kliebor2 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Jul 2008 at 2:38pm
It is semantics until some boob gets two 4850s to upgrade his video on a 780i mobo and is upset when it does not work :)

Dave
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ArmourBrad View Drop Down
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Posts: 80 		  Quote ArmourBrad Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Jul 2008 at 7:56am
ok dave well done....
I really do appreciate this forum's member's attention to detail. I bet those chumps at the alienware forums xfire thier ram slots and water cool their power supply and overclock their flash drives and put toast in their cd drives and.... ok i've gone off on a tangent...here's another!
 
you'd have to admit, the bears are like 50x better than the Arizona cardnials.
 
THEY WERE WHO THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE!
YOU WANNA CROWN THEIR Censored THEN CROWN EM!
WE LET THEM OFF THE HOOK!
 
(try that one on for size sports fans)Approve
 
PS. once my buy date shows up, i'll run it past the "gang" for official tweaking. Until then, it's smart-Censored comments while I'm hard at work or obsessing about motherboards.
 
pps. when does my status change from newibe, I feel so...irrevalent.
 
bjt
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Kliebor2 View Drop Down
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Posts: 659 		  Quote Kliebor2 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Jul 2008 at 8:43am
I think it is at 50 posts and then 100 or 150 to get to senior... I think :)
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ArmourBrad View Drop Down
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Posts: 80 		  Quote ArmourBrad Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Jul 2008 at 2:17pm
I'd better get busy!

Edited by ArmourBrad - 12 Jul 2008 at 2:17pm
bjt
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