SLI Mode for Video Cards

Valdez123

Valdez123

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Jul 19, 2009
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23
Hello everyone!

I've been saving up money from working recently. And what I was planning to do with the money is getting 3 nVidia GeForce 295 (or higher if something comes out) and a new power supply to properly support them. Obviously i was going to use a Three-way SLI. And yes, My motherboard is SLI ready, and my computer is fully capable of it. I was wondering though, I've heard people say SLI mode is glitchy or has 'microlag'. I've read about SLI on Wikipedia and noticed that there were two types of SLI calculation. One was glitchy and the other wasn't. Being wikipedia I'm not sure if it was telling the truth. So I'd like to know, is SLI glitchy when running games or anything? And also, is it worth it?

Thanks,
Valdez
 
From my experience with SLI, in some games, it does "Stutter" a bit at times. For example, in FEAR 2, it happens pretty often and sometimes in Fallout 3. But in Mass Effect, Dead Space, Assassin Creed, etc, I don't have any issues.

On a unrelated note, it will also be much louder.
 
wow 3 GTX 295............i dont really think those will scale well though..........thats essentially 6 GPU's. You should google tri-sli 295 and see if there are any benchmarks. Supposedly SLI scales the best and for ATI tri-fire scales the best.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=126352
According to this a tri-sli 285 is about on par with a SLI 295 so im just gonna guess that the tri-sli 295 is going to be faster but not by much.

If you dont need the cards yet i would personally wait for the new Nvidia cards to come out in like early 2010? i mean because ur spending about wat $1,500 bucks on just graphics cards? i would wait for the new ones to come out.

Do u really need a tri-sli 295?
 
PewPewBangBang said:
If you dont need the cards yet i would personally wait for the new Nvidia cards to come out in like early 2010? i mean because ur spending about wat $1,500 bucks on just graphics cards? i would wait for the new ones to come out.

Do u really need a tri-sli 295?
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Very good point. And no, he definitely doesn't need 3 of them. Even if he was running at 2560x1600 I think 3 of them would be a bit much.

I thinking his nerd level is Over 9,000 and he just wants to do it cause he can. If that's the case then...More power to ya pimp!
 
lol......yea i mean unless you were running 3 seperate monitors or something then i can see the reason but if your using one or even 2 then Crosffire 4870x2 or 2 gtx 295 is more than enough
 
Ok from what I have now read I have a new plan. I will wait for the new cards to come out first. Plus, It will take me that long to get up to 1,500 Dollars anyway. And yes TheEnd you are correct, I'm doing it because I can, and I'm planning on running my compy on a HD widescreen TV someday when I can get one. I'm a comp enthusiast. I want the best of the best. :D
 
You can't run three 295's in SLI. There is no such thing as hexa-SLi. You can run either 2 295's or 3 285's. 3 285's will be the better performer. Since there are 2 GPUs on the 295, running 2 of them gives you quad SLi which is the most there are drivers for at this time.
 
You can't run three 295's in SLI. There is no such thing as hexa-SLi. You can run either 2 295's or 3 285's. 3 285's will be the better performer. Since there are 2 GPUs on the 295, running 2 of them gives you quad SLi which is the most there are drivers for at this time.
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I think hes right, i remember hearing about that somewhere, but i still think tri-sli 295's is still possible. I still dont believe there will be anywhere over 5% or 10% performance gains by adding that third GTX 295. Im gonna guess its just about 5% increase in performance on most games, probably like 2-5 will take advantage of 3 295's. Your essentially running 6 GPU's or HEX.

*Edit
Found proof it isnt possible well atleast these people say it isnt.
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=765480
The highest is Quad SLI for the 295's or essentially 2x295 and only 3x285 can be possible.
 
PewPewBangBang said:
I think hes right, i remember hearing about that somewhere, but i still think tri-sli 295's is still possible. I still dont believe there will be anywhere over 5% or 10% performance gains by adding that third GTX 295. Im gonna guess its just about 5% increase in performance on most games, probably like 2-5 will take advantage of 3 295's. Your essentially running 6 GPU's or HEX.

*Edit
Found proof it isnt possible well atleast these people say it isnt.
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=765480
The highest is Quad SLI for the 295's or essentially 2x295 and only 3x285 can be possible.
Click to expand...

It's impossible. You can run 3 in one PC, but you can't use the third for games or anything like that. You could use the third for folding@home 24/7 though.
 
yup exactly wat they said in the forum lol or you can use it as a physx card or something haha..............maybe you should save that money and buy that HD TV you wanted so badly? You should actually just get like a 30in monitor instead but thats only if your using it for computer, ive tried putting my computer on like a 42 inch and the icons and such are wayyyy to small....everything is shrunk but it might just be the TV
 
Actually, you couldn't use the third as a PhysX card either. There are issues with trying to use the same card as your primary card for dedicated PhysX. It would have to be 2x295 in SLi and 1 285 for PhysX for best performance.
 
ati can Quad Fire with any card :P but it dont scale as well as tri-fire so basically most beast setup would be 4x4890 or 3x4890......or 4870x2 CF or 4870x2 + 4870

I cant wait till 5870x2 comes out....want that badly or a 5890x2
 
dude.... you don't need 3 of those... you don't even need 1. You're crazy xD If you wanna SLI those bad boys you can only do 2 of them. Just get yourself a gtx 260 black edition or a 4890 and you're set. Don't waste your money on 295's. Even with a 9800gtx you will run all your games on max settings with high frame rates. I use a 9800gt and I get awesome frames on everything max in counter strike and team fortress.
 
RustyPwns! dude.... you don't need 3 of those... you don't even need 1. You're crazy xD If you wanna SLI those bad boys you can only do 2 of them. Just get yourself a gtx 260 black edition or a 4890 and you're set. Don't waste your money on 295's. Even with a 9800gtx you will run all your games on max settings with high frame rates. I use a 9800gt and I get awesome frames on everything max in counter strike and team fortress.
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lol hes an enthusiast, he wants the best as he has said before so hes gonna go for the best.

Anad you are getting max on counter-strike and team fortress.........not other games. Counter-strike and team fortress dont relatively stress the GPU as games like far cry and crysis. And idk wat resolutions but a 9800gtx+ surely wont get you max on 1920x1080 and up on most games except for CS and such. SLI gtx 295 will probably get him 70 FPS on crysis maxed which is amazing or more but thats because crysis is nvidia friendly.
 
I've seen people run 3 295's. 2 in SLI and the third for PhysX. The problem with that is, the third 295 is wasted as a dedicated PhysX card. You would be better off running 2 295's + a 275 for Physx. A PhysX card doesn't have to be that powerful, though. I have an 8800GT for my PhysX and it runs games that support it just fine.

*edit* I forgot to address your actual question. Microstuttering is a hit or miss kind of deal from what I've seen. Some people will have it running 1 295. Some can run quad SLI and not have problems with it. I've never noticed it with my rig, but I'm only running a single 295. From what I hear, Windows 7 is supposed to be better with SLI.
 
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Any dedicated PhysX card isn't needed at all really.
If your maxing on the Nvidia side the best to do is 3 x GTX 285 + 1 x 9800 GT for PhysX.
 
Vader said:
Any dedicated PhysX card isn't needed at all really.
If your maxing on the Nvidia side the best to do is 3 x GTX 285 + 1 x 9800 GT for PhysX.
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no mobo has 4 pci-e slots* os it'd have to be 2 x 285 +1 x 9800gt




*that are useable for sli or come on a consumer mother board
 
reflex99 said:
no mobo has 4 pci-e slots* os it'd have to be 2 x 285 +1 x 9800gt




*that are useable for sli or come on a consumer mother board
Click to expand...

EVGA X58 Classified does. Supports 3 dual slot cards in tri-sli and a single slot Physx card.
 
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