Dual 8800 GTS 320 SLI vs GTX 260/275

[erichlund]

My wife and I each have an 8800 GTS 320 in our computers, and I want to start slowly upgrading, but we're on a pretty tight budget. I'm thinking of either GTX 260 or GTX 275, but, for now only getting one. Which will give the better performance, the dual 8800s in SLI, or either the 260 or 275.

Hers is a Pentium D (3.? mhz) with 2mb ram . I have a Core 2 Duo 2.66mhz, also with 2mb. We play WOW together. Since I have the processor advantage, I want to balance that by giving her the better video.

Eventually, we'll switch both MBs to core I7, but probably not until next year.

 

[tastelikecrab]

iirc 96 + 96 shaders vs 216 vs 240

and SLI doesnt scale 100% so, my guess is the GTX 260 (216) or the GTX 275 should offer better performance. you might want to look for a few benchmarks though. esp wow specific ones.

i'm not sure how accurate this is but i heard that WoW uses CPU a lot over the GPU.

96 + 96 = 192 shaders. thats the same as the old GTX 260, so putting the second 8800 GTS at around 80% gain you get roughly the performance of 172 shaders and 640MB of RAM

that is less than an old GTX 260 (192 shaders) with 896MB... A new GTX 260/216 (216 shaders) or the GTX 275 should easily beat the 8800 GTS SLI... this is speculation so you may want to look up a few benches. still i feel fairly confident the GTX 260 and the 275 should mop up the floor with the 8800 GTS SLI

EDIT: i'm not sure how smart it is to use a GTX 260/275 with the slower processor. The processor may bottle neck the card preventing you from deriving maximum benefit out of the GTX 260/275.

If i were you, i'd put the better card with the better processor. either way, 8800 GTS SLI and GTX 260/275 will both play WoW very very well at very high resolutions.

i know u can max out WoW at 1440x900 on a lowly 8700M GT (with a slight overclock), as I've tried that. if wow is lagging in ur systems u may want to consider a fresh format + reinstall of hte OS and software OR just clean out ur hard disks of unwanted data and use some good registry cleaners/defragmenters/compacters... i Norton Systemworks every few weeks and it keeps my system running as fast as it would after a fresh reintsall.

 

[erichlund]

Thanks. I suspect you are correct.

Actually, we've been getting good performance in WOW, especially since I upgraded her machine to 2mb. Before that, she was getting lots of stutter and lag. My system has been fine, except I had to dump the wireless KB/mouse.