To SLI or not to SLI that is the question!!!

[NMEBowen]

Alot of people seem to be making a big deal about 60 Frames per second lately i can totally understand this but there is many things to take into concideration First.

I have made a large post about V-Sync but the general overview is as most people use 60 hz monitors anything over 60 frames isnt noticable on these monitors and vsync needs to be enabled to stop screen tearing. If your using a 60hz monitor and your single card is anywhere near this framerate say 50 FPS v-sync can be disabled but when you sli your frame rate will add another 70% of this but V-sync needs to be enabled to prevent said tearing dropping your frame rate back down to 60. Are these 10 frames worth the price of a second graphics card? i think not. If you have a sli`d computer your going to need a 120hz monitor minimum 140hz preferable if running 680`s plus this is only on a single monitor, surround drops your frames rates again as the resolution straines your cards even more.

The jist of this post is you dont need to sli unless you run a 3d monitor or have 3 screens, if your running a single screen at 60hz Sli is only a waste of money.

 

[Grimezy]

I only plan to SLI when my 670 starts to struggle with the latest games! Finally downloaded Fraps last night for the first time to see what all the fuss was about with monitoring FPS rather than just playing the game and adjusting if it's not running properly. Anyway I had to turn it off after 5 minutes. It was driving me mad. I was watching the dam counter more than the game and everytime I spun the camera round I cringed as it dropped from 60-70 quickly down to 40 for a millisecond.

My philosophy is, if you can play the game in high quality and you can't feel anything wrong with it, then why bother! If your games jolting all over the shop, then check what your fps is so you can ask for advice on how to improve or what the problem might be. And even then most people would just turn the settings down a bit before whacking another graphics card in there.

 

[NMEBowen]

Grimezy thats totally fine to sli when your fps drops but when you have say 2x680 on a single 60hz screen with the games that are currently out, you havent really improved your fps that much so you just wasted £400+ is all im saying.
when i had my 2 580`s i used to play dirt 2 with vsync on and my frames were constantly 120 which was really nice but now im down to 1 card i can play dirt 2 with vsync off and still get 110frames it never drops below 70 frames and you cant really tell the difference without a comparison! sorry you can tell the difference i dont have a jet engine in my pc pumping out noise, heat and eating my electric for fun....