8800 GTS 320mb crossfire

[Cloudster]

hi all,

a mate of mine wants to crossfire his geforce 8800 320mb graphics card ... he knows even less than what i do about hardware so he asked me to help him out.

now from what i understand is ... all i have to do is get another identical cardd? (does the card have to be identical?) and then set it up next to where his current card is and there should be some kind of attachment which kinda bridges the two cards right?

if anyone can assist in this regard i'd appreciate it... my main questions are:

1. do i need to get an identical card to x-fire his current setup

2. where can i get the abovementioned card at the best price

and

3. what is the exact procedure for x-firing him up once we have all the hardware?

thanks

 

[Chris_H]

Nvidia = SLI, ATI = Crossfire. The Nvidia cards must be SLI ready and identical. You motherboard obviously must also support it and will have more than one graphics slot. To Run in SLI you will have to use a little board that plugs into the top of both cards. You usually get this board with a motherboard that is SLI ready. After the cards are fixed and bridged with the board you can boot up and in windows you will get an option under your nvidia control panel that allows you to enable SLI. If SLI is enabled you can't run a monitor on the second card.

 

[Zenbaas]

As is almost always the case I can see this whole scenario working out cheaper by just buying a new GFX card.

I reckon if you can find an identical card then second hand might be your best bet.

 

[cerebus]

It is cheaper and better performance to sell it and buy a new card with the surplus.

 

[dracolusus]

It is cheaper and better performance to sell it and buy a new card with the surplus.

+1

SLI is just for bragging rights, cause the price / performance ratio is not worth it at all. Get a 9800GT 1GB, or something similar.

 

[Cloudster]

thanks for your responses... so you guys reckon a 9800GT would work out better? what kinda pricing am i looking for that?

cause he already has one card and will just be getting another? i'm sure he wont pay alot for the second card as it's quite an old model now?

 

[cerebus]

Firstly it's difficult to get a 2ndhand 320, and yes they are still way overpriced new for some reason. He could sell his for say R7-800 maybe more if he's VERY lucky, take the 1k or whatever that he was going to spend and buy a gts250. Performance is quite a bit better than sli'd 8800 320's for the same money.

 

[dracolusus]

what he said

 

[Chris_H]

+1

SLI is just for bragging rights, cause the price / performance ratio is not worth it at all. Get a 9800GT 1GB, or something similar.

I don't agree. You are able to get SLI to perform just as well (if not better) than the latest card in the series and cost cheaper. It all depends on how lucky you are and the specials out there