Hey guys,
As my thread topic itself says..
CrossFire vs. SLi = ? winner?
Which board to go for accordingly? budget 10k max. Obv.. board should be a OC’r and should do CF or SLi @ Full Speeds
Already on evga 8800gt KO 512mb gfx card
Thanks in Advance..
Its not easy to compare like this, it depends on many other factors.
Lets put it like this -
Multi GPU solution is better ??
Depends on
Resolution U play (If U can maintain minimum FPS above 30FPS, U will probabbly never face microslutters)
Choice of GPU (Higher buffer preffered)
Games U play (Some games r poorly coded for Multi GPUs)
Chipset supporting CF vs Chipset supporting SLi
Answer based on Intel CPUs, Intel chipset r better in stability.
What abt scaling
eg. 8800GT in SLi wont give U 2x boost, normally its 1.7x if game is optimized for multi GPUs.
Do U reccommend Multi GPU
Yes, when there is no higher SINGLE faster GPU eg. If U already have GTX 280, and need more power or already have GPU which is not worthy to sell @ 1/2 price and U can fetch another 1 @ decent price.
If u already have an 8800gt then better get a evga 750i ftw via kmd for 11 to 12k and later add another 8800gt as prices r falling read somewhere that 4850 in cf sucks is it so??
Nopes, ATI HD 4XXX series scales best, 4850/70 CF/X2 > 9800GX2 G92 SLi > 3870X2 R670 CF
@ Sidhu..
I have 22" LCD… so obv i’d like to have games @ Max Reso ie. 1680x1050.
I do got your point on Multi-Threaded games…
I’d also like to have better OC’ing capabilities for my E8400…
…not getting SLi or CF :-s or Single Powerfull nVidia or Powerfull single Ati ??
So you saying if i want gaming @ max reso of my screen ie. 1680x1050 then i need to think abt CF?
2ndly even if am doing SLi, i wont be buying the board and another 8800gt 2gether.. i’ll be getting the card later on… so pricing burden is not really that high..
SLI scales better than CF. But nVidia chipset boards that support SLI are not as stable or problem free as boards based on Intel chipsets. Also note that for Multi GPU, CPU becomes a limiting factor and you will not see the scaling unless you have a Quad @ 3.6GHz or Duo @ 4 GHz.
Why is that ? as any graphical level of detail, a use of CPU should remain the same. Yes it can provide a upper cap on FPS, but that should be hardly a concern except for 3dmark bragging rights…
So what i understand is..you are signaling towards Intel Chipset oriented mobo and go for CF???
I suggest sell the 8800GT (7k)+ add in the 10k you have reserved for your board and get a HD 4870 .. you will be able to play all games on your monitor with all the eye candy turned ON !
No multi gpu problem.
You don’t have to wait to upgrade your gfx sub-system.
For this resolution get HD4870 or GTX260. Any of these cards is sufficient for this res and will easily serve you for over an year.
HD4870 is more future proof due to its massive shader power and computational power, Dx10.1, and better AA/AF handling.
But GTX260 runs a little cooler, has better game support due to TWIMTBP, and will support Physx and cuda.
Finally, it all boils down to what kind of prices you are getting. In India HD 4870 is cheaper but if you go by KMD route both may cost almost same. Also it comes down to your preference for the company. Whether you prefer RED or GREEN 
If you want some more power, get GTX280. But this card does not really justify its cost or power requirements for the kind of performance that it provides.
+1 Yep i agree with morgoth
Get 4870 re!
at a 22inch resolution, a single 4870 is enough
and with a single card, you cant go wrong with scaling issues and such problems
go for any intel chipset board (maybe the p5q-pro) with dual pci-e slots as when the prices fall further, you can get another 4870 and crossfire it
Well in that scenario my current Abit IX38 QuadGT Is already there..
On P5Q-Pro.. it will limit my CF @ 8X. If i do CF on my current system will run full @ 16x 
^^ congo buddy a 4870 and flaunt it … 
How about just switching to 4850 from 8800GT KO 512mb for now ?? 4870 is a bit expensive atm …btw.. Google do say that 4850 is better than 8800gt in many ways but also it says if you are on 8800gt then there is no such reason to switch to 4850 
What to do?
then how abt addin onemore 8800gt in SLi i am nt sure bt i think 8800gt in sli >= 4850?? wats say ??? 
buddy, am on X38 (IX38 QuadGT)..which is not Sli..i can only do CF.
8800GT x 2 (sli) = 4870 and not 4850
and if am not wrong…4850 x 2 (CF) = GF 260…correct me if am wrong ??
Dint notice u had X38 board then add a 4850 fot time being
areu damn sure 8800GT x 2 (sli) = 4870 and not 4850 .. 
4850 x 2 (CF) = GTX 260… this sounds to be true