Is sli worth in with a evga 9800gtx+?

[rathana_v]

hi im new here and new to computers somewhat. a question i have is, is it necessary for me to run in sli mode with two evga 9800gtx+ graphics cards? or just having one is fine? is there really a great benefit to run sli or not with my setup? performance boost?

asus m2n sli deluxe motherboard
amd athlon 64 x2 2.81 ghz
2gigs of ram
evga 9800gtx+ 512mb
coolmax v600 psu
monitor- hp w2007 currently running at 1680 x 1050 resolution

 

[myseries]

you could... but with you mobo they would only use like 25% of their real power, as 2-way SLI on M2N-SLI only goes @ 8x and it is PCI-Express x16 1.0... check out a tougher card for the money of both, i guess it's a better idea...

 

[rathana_v]

so your saying my mobo isnt strong enough to handle sli mode?

 

[myseries]

no... it totally is... here i have a M2N-SLI with dual 9500's... for my experience i say that it is better to get the money you would spend with both and just buy a better one, like a GT250, in my case... SLI will work with you, but only at 8x PCI-Express x16 1.0, really bottlenecked

 

[nforce4max]

If the second 9800gtx+ can be had for cheap and you are able to get a better psu then go for it. If you encounter a cpu bottle neck upgrade later and continue to use the cards.

 

[rolli59]

A SLI although 8 x 8 is still going to be considerably faster than a single card. There are multiple benchmarks where the 8x8 and 16x16 configurations are compared on the web. The conclusion has always been that the speed difference is negligible. We are talking 9800GTX+ here it is not powerful enough to use up the bandwith of PCIe x16 1.0 slot more powerful cards don't even do that. Most benchmarks I have seen show little bottle necking until at x4 slots.
To put the facts straight GTS250 and 9800GTX+ are the same card with two different names and can even be in SLI together.

 

[rathana_v]

yea i believe my psu is lacking a bit...12v at 18amp i believe which isnt even a minimum requirement for the gtx+...but it seems like everythings running fine...what am i missing from not having the recommended requirements for the psu?...am i also gonna be able to run sli in that even though it has 3rails 18a 18a 15a?

 

[rolli59]

When they specify amps for the +12 volt rail they are meaning combined amps on all the +12 volt rails. That can be found by taking the total wattage for the +12 volt rail and divide by 12.