8800 Ultra Sli still a viable option?

[schnitzel]

Hanging on to the old Ultra; seen some pretty cheap ones out there.

Is Ultra Sli still competetive? If so for how long would you guess?
Have to upgrade PSU as well. :p

[Radiator]

Yep , the 8800 Ultra is still a good card in modern terms... about the same as a HD 4850 more or less .
And yep , it most definitely is a viable option ... if you don't mind the GTX280-like power consumption and heat ( yeah a bit lower power consumption but not tons lower , a SLi setup will still eat atleast 400W by itself , without the rest of the system ) .

[Headfoot]

Ultra SLI will still eat games and spit them out. It will also eat power and spit out heat!

But seriously if it's cheap enough its viable. Also, even if you can't use it for graphics, hanging on to it as the PhysX processor, should that take off, is an option.

[schnitzel]

The 8800 Ultra for around $200 and PSU (at least $100)

For $300 - Ultra Sli is better than latest cards?

[Radiator]

Yes , a SLi setup of two 8800 Ultras will be faster , than anything (exept the HD 4870 X2)... even a GTX280 .

[schnitzel]

Thx for info.

thought it over. Probably will hold off on second Ultra.
One Ultra alone plays everything I want pretty well still.

When a game comes around it cant handle There will probably be something new out there for $300 that is better than Ultra SLi.

was temptiong though

[Radiator]

At that price it's worth it , though . You will probably be able to run even Crysis at very high at a decent resolution with that SLi setup .

[Headfoot]

I bet you these things will hit eBay in a flood once something comes along that performs at least 30% better at the same price point. It seems 30% is a point where the moderate enthusiast will switch cards. This isn't based in any study though, just a hunch of mine. ;)

[Radiator]

Well , I doubt these cards will flood eBay , considering there aren't very many to begin with .
The 8800 Ultras first came out at a 850 USD price point , as I recall ( correct me , if I am mistaken ) .

[schnitzel]

got the bug again, but for some reason I thought it would take 750 W for sli, it takes 900.

so I looked at newegg for PSU - itll take at least $150 for PSU upgrade, porbably more.

I'm looking at 350+, not bad considering the first Ultra was $500, but not good considering 8800 GTX architecture is pretty old.

[Stangcharger]

got the bug again, but for some reason I thought it would take 750 W for sli, it takes 900.

so I looked at newegg for PSU - itll take at least $150 for PSU upgrade, porbably more.

I'm looking at 350+, not bad considering the first Ultra was $500, but not good considering 8800 GTX architecture is pretty old.

two 8800 ultras need 900w or better? that seems high to me. but i havent done research on that.

[Radiator]

got the bug again, but for some reason I thought it would take 750 W for sli, it takes 900.

so I looked at newegg for PSU - itll take at least $150 for PSU upgrade, porbably more.

I'm looking at 350+, not bad considering the first Ultra was $500, but not good considering 8800 GTX architecture is pretty old.

That 8800 Ultra SLi setup should work with a good quality 750W .

[Headfoot]

Yeah you wont need 900. I ran two 8800 GTS's on a 550w. So an Ultra uses more power but not tons more power. 750w will be great.


Here's a performance chart saying where you sit with an Ultra SLI. As you can tell its still very respectable. (Still isn't faster than a GTX 280 though, except at 1920x1200 with AA turned on. Which is very impressive)
Make sure you check the "Sum of benchmarks" categories, as that is a composite and is the most accurate. Included is a 4870 Crossfire which should emulate the 4870X2, except slightly slower.

Toms Hardware comparison charts at 1920x1200 (http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/compare,800.html?prod%5B2116%5D=on&prod%5B2062%5D=on&prod%5B2113%5D=on&prod%5B2076%5D=on&prod%5B2060%5D=on)