Hi, Not sure this is the best place to ask but couldnt find anywhere more suitable.
Looking to upgrade shortly and just wondering how best to decide between GFX cards.
Main problem being using 1 or 2?
AMD cards as the example as i prefer using them,
Would say 1x 5870 be better than 2x 5770's - or how big is the difference? is there any definable way to decide? Or is price the best indicator? (e.g 2x £150 beats 1x £250)
Many Thanks
Seems some folks have been having problems with running two cards (SLI and crossfire). You may want to wait for a patch that specifically says these are supported before trying two cards.Originally Posted by GimmeAKitKat
SLI works fine as long as you do a little grunt work in setting up the system for it.
Example post below with SLI enabled in one of my current saves.
SLI Enabled
I intentionally left the artifact squares to show the only significant bug I have found so far.. and it is fixed simply by zooming in and scrolling up to reload the textures. It will not reproduce until reload and most of the time not even then.
Oddly enough though the game uses near 100% load when zoomed in.. but barely cracks 18% when zoomed out. Not figured that out yet.
My Personal Experience
Yes seems SLI is a waste if thinking about this particular game.
Also remember to be sure to have enough space and air flow in box before installing 2 cards SLI. If You use the standard short SLI connection/cord they will be so close on top of each other that the top card's fan will suck the heat from the lower and Your system will shut down alot as the GPU gets overheated. Dont trust PC store sellers that says "this small box/casing is enough" etc. Make sure You have like 4 slots for graphic cards so You can place one at the top slot and the other at the bottom using a longer SLI cord to connect them.
In fact most games I enjoy dont seem to make use of SLI much. Im not into those 1st person shooters or car games etc.
Still I used to have 2x512 GeForce 9800GT in my machine since I bought it almost 2 years ago. Took out one card since it always got too hot and didnt do much use in the games I play anyway other than heat up.
Tried putting 2 cards back in for Civ V but same thing. Could run the game with both SLI activated and deactivated but didnt do anything really, except heat up GPU until system shut down.
Im sure its useful if You play games that are made to make use of SLI.
I'm thinking of going upgrade on graphic card soon too. Havent made my mind up if to go 2x SLI or 1x yet. If I go 2x with SLI I will either get a bigger box/casing with loads of fans and a longer SLI cord/connection so I can place one card at the top slot the other at the lowest so they are not tight close together.
your's sincerely !!!
Lord Funk/Holy Order of Dragons/HOD MMO RPG Guild (since 1997)
Main Section: http://hod-home.guildlaunch.com
LoTRO Section: (few in Guild Play LoTRO anymore since they ruined PvP for Freeps) http://hod-lotro.guildlaunch.com
Star Trek Online/STO Section: http://hod-fleet.guildlaunch.com
Last edited by Lord Funk; 10-02-2010 at 09:40 AM. Reason: The usual sloppy typos and probably missed a few more.
Unfortunately my motherboard's two PCI-e slots are right next to each other. I've just started running SLI and so far no problems with overheading or shutdown. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I ran the game with Nvidia's SLI visual 'on' and based on the feedback bar the GPUs seem to be load balancing as they should.
This required the latest Nvidia beta drivers and a separate download of the SLI CIV V profile.
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