Lenne

Yeah I notice there is a lot of crap on Vista 64bit that doesn't like to work..

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AtheniaOnline, FFrepublic, AnimeOnline, soompi, solid07, Anipike.... Same Lenne

know1

I was under the impression that running sli would prohibit use of dual monitors.

The OP noted Vista 64 already. I was just making the observation that most users will never need 4gigs of ram, let alone 8. But, yes, I agree that more is typically better. The only question is when is "more" just for the sake of saying you have more?

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Lenne

Well my cpu cooler makes it a pain to get near the ram slots its pretty big! I read about it and the reason I chose this one was because it cools the mobo, ram and cpu! The reason I am using 8gb of ram is so it isn't a pain if I want to do it later.. Also since I spent so much already buying the extra RAM wasn't a big deal!

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AtheniaOnline, FFrepublic, AnimeOnline, soompi, solid07, Anipike.... Same Lenne

Remagine

-SLI only works on one monitor at a time unless you use a Matrox TripleHead2Go, which splits up one output to three screens. Even still, the maximum resolution is 3840x1024.
-You can drive up to four displays on two Nvidia cards with SLI disabled.
-You can use three video cards, run two for SLI, and have a third one (PCIe or PCI) drive two more displays, if you want. In this scenario, you're best off if you use a card that uses different drivers (e.g. ATI) so as to avoid conflicts. This method has given mixed results (some work, some don't).

So it really depends on what you use youre computer for, if you're not satisfied with gaming across a single screen then its a no go. But since you can disable sli through software with a phew clicks.. If you dont mind clicking a phew things off before you start youre game it can be a great benefit, and when clicked back on, you can still use dual-screen for things like photoshop, 3dsmax etc. the only drawback is that one of youre gpu's would be idling when dual screen is on. (by the looks of the photo's the monitors were pretty far apart)

basicly whats more important to him? a home entertainment system or being able to play gpu intensive apps flawlessly?(on a single screen unless you want to spend more extra money)

Lenne

So I'm guessing that SLI disables the double monitor feature... I guess I'll just have to try and get one 9900 gtx..

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AtheniaOnline, FFrepublic, AnimeOnline, soompi, solid07, Anipike.... Same Lenne

Kool2bchilln

gl with vista 64-bit, from what i've only heard, it has trouble using drivers that aren't signed (even rejecting them). Even problems with the drivers that ARE signed.
And note that problems you have with certain programs are likely to only get updates/fixes for 32-bit
ect.

It's just overall better to NOT screw yourself over with the complexities and built-in hard-to-fix screwups, even if you do have the power =//

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Inderagamono

warrchief

If your going to game with that rig, Get Two 8800s to play games on max.

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Oh I see what you did there.

LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumble
For most systems, a SLI pair of 880GTX would be a waste of power and $$$. Running at 1080P, you can play all but the bleeding edge graphics games at Max settings. And if you want bleeding edge graphics at that resolution, you'd be better off maximizing your CPU speed, and RAM size & speed first. (And even then, the next generation of graphics cards are only a month or two away, which may be a cheaper performance upgrade route...)

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warrchief

Yeah i agree, but i want the Sharpest graphics, and ill fork the money over for a SLI pair off 8800's. I got all the speed, ram. That i need, and a 42 inch tv to act my screen.

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Oh I see what you did there.

know1

That is a tricky road there. What you want to get is relative to what you have. Most systems actually see a better performance increase with a higher end graphics card, but that is assuming that "most systems" contain at least a 2.4-2.6 ghz CPU, min spec. Tom's hardware actually just ran a story on this exact question, and their results did sway towards a graphics card purchase for the best overall performance increase, but only if your rig had at lease a 2.4ghz chip or a overclocked E2160 as a minimum spec. That was, according to their reports, because anything lower could not feed a high end graphics card fast enough--thus becoming a bottleneck. At the same time, they were saying that geforce 6 & 7 series should no longer be in any consideration for gaming (they said that more or less. I'm taking liberties in paraphrasing). In my opinion, anything less than an 8600 is a joke with some of the newer games.

In any case, there is a lot to be said about properly tuning your rig. I've seen people get great performance out of mid-level components by simply matching 1:1 clock speeds with FSB and ram. Instead of trying to get 1200 ram sticks, just get 800 and match 1:1 FSB @ a lower multiplier on a stock 2.4ghz chip. Just remember to get a good heatsink.

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