Would SLI be worth it at all for me?

[ElementXsoftwarE]

Ok fellow hardware junkies. I've sorta gotten out of the loop in the past few years about SLI. After my hiatus from windows and PC gaming for the past few months, I came to realize that I do actually like to play PC games still. So, I built myself the following machine so I had something decent to play games on:

Intel Core 2 duo E6550 CPU
4 gigs DDR2
256 meg XFX 8800 GT Alpha Dog
Vista 32 bit
22" LCD @ 1680x1050

Now, I know that I need 64 bit vista to get my full 4 gigs of ram, but that's another question ;)

What I actually want to know is if SLI would help enough to justify spending the extra $200 on a second 8800 GT? Would having 512 total video memory help quite a bit?

The reason I'm asking is because the first game I loaded on this rig was Crysis. Crysis doesn't work in DX 10 mode very well, but it plays quite well in DX 9 mode and high detail settings. However, whenever those monster things freeze stuff, the FPS slows to a crawl, even in DX 9, until I get out of the frozen area. I'm pretty sure later in the game you are mostly in frozen stuff, so I'd hate for the game not to run at all when I get there. I don't know if the extra card will help that significantly or not.

And, unrelated to the title, are drivers stable enough now for vista 64 bit that I could convert to that, get my full 4 gigs of ram, and still have games and software run well? The only articles I seem to be able to find about vista 64 are from last year, so they are not up to date with the current state of things.

I'd appreciate some input. I can't seem to find quite what I'm looking for in searching around, and I've just paid far too little attention to this stuff for the past couple of years to be at all "in the know".

I didn't expect this system to play Crysis at max settings, but the fact that it plays how it does worries me a bit. This system does play everything else I've tried so far quite well though, so it's just Crysis at this time.

[Goldaar]

If there are drivers for all your devices in x64, I would say go for it, you wont see a performance hit, and will be able to address all 4 gigs of ram. As for the SLI question, it depends on how much you really want out of your gaming experience. The larger frame buffer will help with the frozen parts of the game, so tossing in another gt can't be a bad idea. I do not, however, know for certain if the current x664 drivers support SLI (anyone chime in please). I think with the 2 GT's in SLI you will be running near the max of the in-game settings (DX10 mode is pointless for now, as per [H] so I would just stick with the dx9 mode).

[ElementXsoftwarE]

Originally Posted by Goldaar

I think with the 2 GT's in SLI you will be running near the max of the in-game settings (DX10 mode is pointless for now, as per [H] so I would just stick with the dx9 mode).

In looking around online, I came to that conclusion as well. There is almost no visual difference between 9 and 10, at least not enough for the performance hit you take in 10.

The other thing I wasn't sure about, and forgot to put in the original post, was if my CPU has enough power to push 2 GT's, or if I would be CPU limited.

[Ra\/eN]

Originally Posted by ElementXsoftwarE

In looking around online, I came to that conclusion as well. There is almost no visual difference between 9 and 10, at least not enough for the performance hit you take in 10.
The other thing I wasn't sure about, and forgot to put in the original post, was if my CPU has enough power to push 2 GT's, or if I would be CPU limited.

Hmm try save for a quad core..q6600... the E6550 2.33GHz, 4MB Cache is just a touch below the min specs
* Windows XP/Vista
* 2.8 GHz or faster (XP) or 3.2 GHz or faster (Vista) Processor
* 1.0 GB RAM (XP) or 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
* 256MB Video Card
* 12GB Free Hard Drive space
* DirectX 9.0c compatible Sound Card
the card u have is a choke point btw, so yes sli would be optimal..
8800 GT 256MB
Stream Processors 112
Texture Address / Filtering 56 / 56
ROPs 16
Core Clock 600MHz+
Memory Clock 1.4GHz - 1.6GHz
Frame Buffer 256MB
The other things is power supply.. what type do you have

[ElementXsoftwarE]

I've got a 700 watt thermaltake modular supply, so it should be fine. I know my GPU and CPU are not the greatest, but my objective was to get something cheap that would still be able to play games fairly well. I like PC gaming, but I simply don't have the money to spend $2000 a year on a new rig like I used to.

[pF.TK]

I believe those cpu requirements are single core, you have a C2D, so you should be well above the minimums for the game.

[ElementXsoftwarE]

Originally Posted by pF.TK

I believe those cpu requirements are single core, you have a C2D, so you should be well above the minimums for the game.

I'm going to guess they are as well based on this site: http://www.crysis-online.com/Informa...0Requirements/

For min it says Intel Core 2.0 GHz, and under recommended, it leaves it open to any Core 2 Duo.

[Ra\/eN]

Originally Posted by ElementXsoftwarE

I'm going to guess they are as well based on this site: http://www.crysis-online.com/Informa...0Requirements/
For min it says Intel Core 2.0 GHz, and under recommended, it leaves it open to any Core 2 Duo.

Yes i know, but on most test beds the best run was with a q66, I know that 2k is excessive but with this processor you should be ok for a while as it is currently mid to low range..
when u look at the [edit=gamespot] forums for crysis.... this si what comes up
Recommended System Requirements:
OS--Windows XP / Vista
Processor--Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.2GHz
Memory--2GB RAM
GPU--NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS/640 or similar
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/cr...ml?sid=6180628

[VoOdoO]

Well, the real question is ... are you going to be playing Crysis that much? Crysis does like to humble systems, but with the exception of maybe Unreal Tournament 3, I can't think of any other games that won't run just fine on that setup. There is no doubt that 2 8800 GT's in SLI is impressive, but are you honestly going to be using that power? What monitor do you have; high resolution gaming?

[ElementXsoftwarE]

Originally Posted by VoOdoO

...There is no doubt that 2 8800 GT's in SLI is impressive, but are you honestly going to be using that power? What monitor do you have; high resolution gaming?

I've got a 22" ViewSonic widescreen @1680x1050. One thing I've yet to try, but will be soon, is my 32" LCD TV @ 1360x768, since that's real close to 1024x768 I imagine the performance would be similar.

It's not so much that I am going to get another card, I just wanted to know for future reference if I would see any benefit from it or not.

I greatly appreciate all of your input thus far, it has been helpful.

[jonnoS]

Long run, the second card will be good, but I think just one 8800 GT is fine for 1680x1050.

Off topic, does 32bit Vista see 4GB of ram?

[ElementXsoftwarE]

Originally Posted by jonnoS

Off topic, does 32bit Vista see 4GB of ram?

No, and I was aware of that before getting it. However, DDR2 is getting so darn cheap that 4 gigs for $100 was too good to pass up, even if I can't use all 4 gigs right away.

[pF.TK]

ya, my 4gb shows up as 3.2gb, depends on the motherboard and resources set aside...