SLI Performance?

[DeathDealer34]

Right now I'm playing on a single 8600gt, and I get anywhere from 60 fps on small dm maps to 30ish on crowded warfare maps. What kind of fps boost should I expect if I get a second 8600gt and run them in sli?

I've heard some games sli barely does anything, and I've heard other games sli give almost double framerates, how does it perform in UT3?

[DeathDealer34]

shameless bump.

[sekazi]

From what I have read SLI really only provides a 10 to 20% FPS boost.

[Hickeroar]

If you can successfully get it set up and you've got decent CPU horsepower:

UT3 generally has trouble with SLI in traditional modes. Some users have even reported LOWER framerates using SLI in UT3.

HOWEVER: There's a new SLI mode (i believe it's in the latest 169.09 beta drivers) called "AFR3" which is alternate frame rendering. One GPU renders one whole frame and the second renders the next. One user reported an almost 100% increase in speed using this SLI mode in UT3. You'll need those latest beta drivers and the nHancer utility to enable the SLI mode.

I'd give it a try... :-P

[Nocman]

under Vista i got no increase in fps but under XP i got almost 60% more fps
with a Core 2 Quad 6600 using 169.09 drivers.

[Hickeroar]

Vista + SLI haven't agreed on much since launch. SLI didn't work AT ALL for a couple months there and it's been a battle for SLI users ever since.

[Ultron]

SLI can provide up to an 80% boost in some situations, though the average should be less than 50%.

[NakhtiUT3]

Vista + SLI haven't agreed on much since launch. SLI didn't work AT ALL for a couple months there and it's been a battle for SLI users ever since.

So basically what you are saying is that Vista users are just SOL? That can't be true ... SLI is instrumental for high end gaming and Vista has been promoted as the PC OS for high end gaming. I just find it hard to believe people are seeing a difference in XP and none in Vista. I have my framerate capped at 60 so it doesn't affect me ... I get that fps with SLI disabled anyway. But still if it supposed to work then I would expect better drivers will be along at some point in the near future.

Now that Crysis is out as well hopefully the driver devs will really get cracking on something that really works as advertised. I really want to start getting some real use out of my SLI setup. I didn't pay $278 extra dollars just to say I have an SLI setup ... I want to see it in action working or else I might as well just sell my extra gpu.