GTX260 (216) 3 Way SLI, worth it?

[gonesy]

Hi all,

I was considering running 3 x GTX260’s in 3 Way SLI but will it be worth it? What will I gain? At the moment I am running an EVGA 260 and a Zotac 260 both core 216 although the EVGA is 65nm and the Zotac is 55nm. The 3rd card would also be the 55nm type possibly an XFX 260 Black Edition.

I have a 1kw Corsair PSU and am running an E8600 CPU at 4MHz on air with temps around 40deg. Is this CPU and PSU up to running 3 GPU’s?

Like I said at the start would it be worth adding the 3rd card?

If you need any more information please ask.

All advice, as usual, greatly appreciated

Many thanks

 

[wh3resmycar]

Like I said at the start would it be worth adding the 3rd card?

nay.. sell your 2 cards and psu and go get a 2 5870s + a hx750w.

 

[FallenSniper]

I do believe that it would be a waste...

 

[one-shot]

Keep your current setup and be happy. I have a similar setup and can play any game(except Crysis and STALKER:CS) maxed out. We need to know what motherboard you have to determine if you have enough PCIe bandwidth to support a third card. Your CPU would limit the potential even more so than it does with 2 GPUs compared to an i7. Stick with what you have until it doesn't run the games you play.

 

[apache_lives]

4MHz cpu ey?

 

[Mousemonkey]

nay.. sell your 2 cards and psu and go get a 2 5870s + a hx750w.

As the OP has an E8xxx series CPU wouldn't this suggestion of yours not require a motherboard change as well? [:mousemonkey]

Seriously, let's try and keep it a bit sensible.

 

[wh3resmycar]

As the OP has an E8xxx series CPU wouldn't this suggestion of yours not require a motherboard change as well?

Seriously, let's try and keep it a bit sensible.

will do.

1. sell that 780i/790i (tri-sli right?)
2. get a p45 that can do xfire
3. do what i just said on my first post.

sorry if im forcing him to sell his old stuff, as it is the most sensible thing to do than to waste money on a tri-sli setup at this point.

 

[obsidian86]

grab sli gtx 285 when nvidia release their next gen

 

[one-shot]

Where is my car, you're asking him to sell his perfectly fine board and GPUs. Then sell them for a huge loss. Then purchase new equipment for only a marginal increase in performance? If anything a CPU upgrade would benefit him more that a new GPU as he will be CPU limited.

 

[FallenSniper]

Well anyone with a CPU running at 4 MHz could definitely go for an upgrade.

 

[JofaMang]

Hell, a single 5870 would beat out his twin SLi, and would be achievable, heh. But the question was about how much benefit from a 3rd card, to which I can't imagine there would be a huge gain with that CPU and the scaling efficiencies of SLi.

 

[one-shot]

Well anyone with a CPU running at 4 MHz could definitely go for an upgrade.

haha. I think when a CPU is running at 4MHz, we can call it a bottleneck.

 

[nforce4max]

Well this thread got trolled, well done. Any way staying with what you got is not a bad idea but overclocking your cpu further will help with out spending any $$$$. See if you can get to 4~4.25GHZ with out any instability or high volts. If not see if you can track down another 260 but cheap like on newegg since there is one for $130-150 right now.

 

[azconnie]

The third GPU is pointless. It's just a bragging thing. The performence gain, while nearly 200% with 2 cards, is only +60-70 for the third. Stay where you are for now. Since you already have a 790i I would wait till the end of November and price check the Fermis (this is the projected release date) then if you like them, wait until January to buy (prices drop in January because everybody is broke).

 

[nforce4max]

The third GPU is pointless. It's just a bragging thing. The performence gain, while nearly 200% with 2 cards, is only +60-70 for the third. Stay where you are for now. Since you already have a 790i I would wait till the end of November and price check the Fermis (this is the projected release date) then if you like them, wait until January to buy (prices drop in January because everybody is broke).

You're right about the price drops but they may come sooner than most think. Retain sales during this holiday season are going to be a blood bath for the chain stores since most are barely getting by as it is much less buying new toys.

 

[wh3resmycar]

Where is my car, you're asking him to sell his perfectly fine board and GPUs. Then sell them for a huge loss. Then purchase new equipment for only a marginal increase in performance? If anything a CPU upgrade would benefit him more that a new GPU as he will be CPU limited.

are you dumb? in 3 months time 3 gtx260s would be harder to dispose of than 2 gtx260 right now. that would result on a bigger loss.

and considering the 5700s would be out by then, nobody would bother getting an old gtx260 even if its ~100$.

geez, were you born yesterday?

 

[azconnie]

are you dumb? in 3 months time 3 gtx260s would be harder to dispose of than 2 gtx260 right now. that would result on a bigger loss.

and considering the 5700s would be out by then, nobody would bother getting an old gtx260 even if its ~100$.

geez, were you born yesterday?

Dispose of? Why not just stick them on a 750i with a core 2 someting in a cheap case ans sell as a intro level gamer (built to order of course, even I'm not that yee-haw).

 

[gonesy]

Thanks for all the replys and yea I did make a boob, CPU at 4GHz not Mhz, duh! My MoBo is a Striker II Formula 780i and I gather that from the responses the 3 way SLI thing is a total waste of money etc etc. 5700's are being mentioned, are these a new wave of GPU's from Nvidia? Any benefit over the 260's?

I also have a Q6700 CPU would that be any better than the E8600 for gaming?

Thanks again

Thanks

 

[skolpo]

the 57xx series are future ATI cards. If you want to crossfire ATI cards, you'll need a new mobo. Stick to SLI'ing, but as other said, I highly do not recommend TRI SLI'ing GTX260s especially at a time when they are vulnerable to significant price drops. Sell your two GTX 260's and pick up a GTX 285 if you can. Although one GTX 285 is not as strong as two GTX260s, you'll be able to SLI that GTX 285 later in the future and get a much improved performance that is equivalent or better than three GTX 260s.

 

[gonesy]

Ok thanks. Is the E8600 CPU up to running these 260's? Or should I substitute it for the Q6700? I have 3GB of 1066MHz OCZ Reaper Ram as well, if that makes any difference?

I guess overall just stick with what I got. But an answer to the CPU question would be appreciated.

Many Thanks

 

[skolpo]

OC'ed to 4ghz. You're fine.