Opinion: Two 8600 GT > One 8800 GT?

[SnakeCharmer]

Let's take 2 8600 GT video cards versus 1 8800 GT. 

Is an 8800 GT/GTS/GTX  t h a t  much better than an 8600 GT/GTS/GTX?

[rattran]

Yes, the 8800 line is that much better than the 8600.

<edit> A link to Charts!

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140&p=8

[SnakeCharmer]

How would two 8600 GT's fair against one 8800 GT?  That's the question I'm asking.

[Trippy]

How would two 8600 GT's fair against one 8800 GT?  That's the question I'm asking.

Very poorly.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_sli2007.html

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

Note that the 8800 GT in the above charts is OC'd from NVIDIA's reference model (600 MHz Core, 1500 MHz Shader).

[rattran]

SLI isn't a straight doubling of performance, and the 8800gt is double the performance of an 8600gt. I think it would make much more sense at this point to go for a single 8800gts512 than to add a second 8600anything. Plus, you can always add a second 8800gts in the future if you need it.

[SnakeCharmer]

That's what I was thinking from all the research I'd done.  Just wanted affirmation from those that know better than me.

Thanks!

[Lt.Dan]

Plus there is a limited set of mobos that support SLI (Crossfire is far more common) and they are either expensive or have more limited features that you could see on a single 775 mobo.

[Venkman]

SLI isn't a straight doubling of performance, and the 8800gt is double the performance of an 8600gt. I think it would make much more sense at this point to go for a single 8800gts512 than to add a second 8600anything. Plus, you can always add a second 8800gts in the future if you need it.

That's pretty much how I configured my rig. I started with a single 8800gts640, but on a mobo that supports SLI if I want to pick up another one down the road. So far everything I've played that I enjoy I've been able to max out no problem (and I didn't actually enjoy Crysis enough to try and unlock the Very High settings).