SLI worth it for FS?

[haskell 298]

Hi guys, In the process of building a new FS rig (seemingly a recurring side hobby in FS!)As I look at video cards, I was planning on keeping my EVGA 7900GS 256M cards. I have 2 in SLI configuration. My understanding (after buying the "double" hype of SLI) is that unless the software is written to utilize SLI it really has no effect. Looking at motherboards I have been restricting it to SLI boards, planning on keeping my current cards. However, the Asus board I am looking at is SLI with DDR2 memory. The Intel board I was looking at is not SLI but handles DDR3 RAM. My question... how valuable is SLI for FS? I only fly FS9 at the moment and probably will stick around. I have tried FSX but just can't run it on my current rig. I guess I would probably try it if it would run on the new rig, but have a TON of FS9 addons so I will be flying it for at least a while. I would like to SMOKE FS9 and enjoy FSX if possible. So... recommendations? Upgrade to a bigger SINGLE video card (8800GT?) and go with the DDR3 mobo? Get an SLI board and keep the dual cards? Is SLI utilized in FSX at all? Will DDR3 make a noticable difference?Here is the system I am looking at building...ASUS P5N-D SLI MotherboardIntel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16G Dual-Core ProcessorCORSAIR 4G DDR3 RAMSeagate Barracuda 7200RPM SATA 500GB Hard DriveWindows XP Pro (I have Vista Home as well)Thoughts? Thanks again for all the insight on this forum! Eddie

[Guest tcable]

Everything I've seen says no, SLI is of no benefit in FS.

[Guest Shalomar]

I remember one post a while back claiming a 50 percent increase in FPS with SLI in FSX, but only with Vista 64. Otherwise, no.Best Regards, Donald T. :-wave(__/).................................(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination.

[greggerm 312]

> My understanding (after buying the "double" hype of SLI) is that unless the software is written to utilize SLI it really has no effect. In a literal sense, that is actually an incorrect assumption. SLI/Crossfire is not a software-level, or software-called feature when running with dual cards. It is purely a driver/hardware level system which chops up the video requests. There is no software on the planet which is specifically written for SLI... (that wouldn't also run on a single card) In a figurative sense though, there is some merit to the thought. Some games are very dependent upon the 3D acceleration capabilities of your system. First-person shooters come straight to mind as being very dependent on your accelerator. These GPU-bound games will almost certainly benefit from SLI, as they will gobble up the other processor and still have a hunger for more. Flightsims are far more bound to your CPU. Granted, they DO use a significant portion of your GPU, but not for the core processing of the game geometry and such. SLI in flightsim may allow you to increase your graphics card processing settings without any FPS penalties, but it is unlikely that SLI will actually improve your FPS performance. You could increase the AA and AS settings, or perhaps move up to the highest of quality filters - thus improving your overall image quality because you're video system will have increased headroom to do the calculations. There is a caveat though - it has been reported that SLI performance was actually slower on some folks MSFS rigs. By all means it was a minority, and others have reported back an improvement. The vast majority though find it makes "no appreciable change" in FPS, but it gives them headroom to improve antialiasing and AS settings. If you do any other gaming aside from simulations, I'd recommend keeping the SLI setup - if anything, you can always slap in a single (or two) big-honkin DX10 graphics card(s) in the future if you want... but with twin 7900's, you should get similar performance to a single 8800GT, but without the cost! :)Good luck,-Greg(Ideally, spend a few extra bucks on a SLI-DDR3 board today instead of a new video card. You'll get continued satisfactory performance with your cards today, AND the motherboard room to grow tomorrow)

[haskell 298]

Thanks! I ended up going with the EVGA 750i FTW which is an SLI board. I only installed one of the 7900s and decided I needed to upgrade. I have a 9800GT ready to pop in this weekend. Overall I have been pleased with the system although plagued with CTDs on FSX. I read a lot of posts that say that is a recurring problem with the 7900 cards. So we'll see how it works with the 9800GT. At worst, it is a smoking system for FS9 and has room to grow with another 9800 in SLI. Thanks, Eddie