GTX 280 vs. GTX260 SLI

[mdale13]

I am currently building a new rig for gaming and 3D work. I am pretty set on the parts I am getting, but I had a question about the video card. I am considering either a single GTX280 or SLI GTX260. Which would offer better performance? I know that some games do not support SLI, so in those cases the 280 would be better, but how much of an issue would this be?

In case it has any bearing, here are the rest of the specs;

ASUS P6T MoBo
Intel i7 920
OZC Gold 2x3GB DDR3 1600
WD Raptor 150GB
Antec 1200 Case
Antec 1000w PSU
ASUS Dual 1080p 23"

And sort of off topic, but if I get the P6T, which runs DDR3 1337, will it OC DDR3 1600? Will that make my system unstable? Should I just get a MoBo that supports 1600? I am planning on upgrading to 12GB this fall if that matters at all.

 

[invisik]

sli gtx260 would outperform a gtx280 by a decent margin. Most new intensive games support sli so scaling isnt a issue and older games even if they dont scale a single gtx260 would be plenty.

As for the memory question some boards tend to overclock better then others same goes for the memory modules. It could overclock that far with or without stability.

 

[mdale13]

thats a good point about older games being the ones that dont support SLI. the only old games id play would be battle for middle earth II, oblivion, and warcraftIII. i guess id be all set thanks a lot!

 

[mdale13]

also, i forgot to mention, i do heavy application work. i often have photoshop, maya/3Dsmax and zbrush all open at the same time, working with large scenes, high res modles and 4k texture maps. do you think id benefit from 12gb of RAM?

 

[invisik]

6gb of memory is plenty im sure 12gb will help to some extent but it might not be worth it.. Start off with 6gb overclock your cpu and if your not getting the work done fast enough, then plan too upgrade. Enjoy the gtx260 sli runs everything maxed out.

 

[mdale13]

thanks alot mate