GTX260 SLI, what can it handle?
By
je_saist,
Posted on: 2010-10-04 14:57 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
IIRC, CoX is not able take advantage of multiple GPU setups. However, that is a really good price on the 260. I would probably do it but with the realization you probably won't get a lot of improvement in THIS game from it. Of course that assumes the rest of your system can handle the cards without bottlenecking.
Ooops, OK so I was watching TV and it suddenly hit me what I had said. For some reason I read 260 and my brain registered 460. So given that, nope would not do it. Sorry for the mix up.
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Is this true? Can anyone confirm this for sure? If this is the case then I will probably just pass on it. I know a lot of charts and comparisons show 2 260s outperforming the 280 series cards and even competing with the 295 in some games. So will I see the large difference I am hoping for or should I just pass?
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Originally Posted by Stelios
IIRC, CoX is not able take advantage of multiple GPU setups.
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just do a search for SLI or Crossfire against my name.|
Originally Posted by Strike_Hawk
Is this true? Can anyone confirm this for sure? If this is the case then I will probably just pass on it. I know a lot of charts and comparisons show 2 260s outperforming the 280 series cards and even competing with the 295 in some games. So will I see the large difference I am hoping for or should I just pass?
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Yes. it is confirmed that multi-gpu setups do not affect CoH under default conditions. It is possible to modify driver settings with 3rd party tools and force alternate-frame-rendering, but such techniques often expose memory leaks and run the risk of corrupting in-use data.
In other words, go screwing around with the drivers and be prepared to deal with blue-screen crashes.
Now, as to whether or not Multi-GPU is worth it largely depends on the game.
Is it worth it with the 2xx series of Nvidia GPU's? Oh hell no. Unless you are buying one of the heavily discounted BFG graphics cards a GTX 260 will generally start around the $200 mark. Remember, BFG is shut down and if there is anything wrong with the graphics card, there is no one you can turn to, and almost all BFG product sales are final with no returns, so don't count on shipping the card back for a refund.
Also you need to keep in mind that Nvidia's SLI program is extremely strict. SLI does not work across different vendors graphics cards unless you use third party / hacked drivers (read above about risking system damage). So if you have an EVGA, you need to buy an identical EVGA card for SLI to work as advertised. If you have a PNY, you need to buy another PNY card.
The problem here is that the $200 price point will be getting you RadeonHD 5830's or Geforce GTX 460's... and either one of these cards in single-rendering modes have no problems blowing SLI'd GTX 260's, or single card 285's, out of the water.
So basically, to get an identical card to a GTX 260 you already bought, unless you bought a BFG, you'd be paying as much money as it would take for less performance than a brand new card.
So no, it's not worth it under any conditions.
If you read the bottom of the first page of my PC buying thread people have helped me with understanding SLI (and top of 2nd page iirc). They said yes CoH doesn't support SLI, but a legitimate driversource has a betaversion available that is running SLI with CoH, and will soon be available as the fullyreleased driver.
10 50's To Date! Check out Titan Sentinel; it got my CoH presence synced online
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The thing is I have a chance to get this card for $75. I agree I would not pay any more than $100 for this one, but considering the opportunity, that's what makes this a tricky scenario. |
Originally Posted by je_saist
Now, as to whether or not Multi-GPU is worth it largely depends on the game. Is it worth it with the 2xx series of Nvidia GPU's? Oh hell no. Unless you are buying one of the heavily discounted BFG graphics cards a GTX 260 will generally start around the $200 mark. The problem here is that the $200 price point will be getting you RadeonHD 5830's or Geforce GTX 460's... and either one of these cards in single-rendering modes have no problems blowing SLI'd GTX 260's, or single card 285's, out of the water. So basically, to get an identical card to a GTX 260 you already bought, unless you bought a BFG, you'd be paying as much money as it would take for less performance than a brand new card. So no, it's not worth it under any conditions. |
After reading all of the thoughts however, I think I will probably end up holding off on this card, unless of course the price difference changes anyone's mind.
So, any last thoughts before I go ahead and NOT pull the trigger? A last piece of advice would confirm it for me. And thanks for all the input!
Somewhere along my CoH Boards help travels I was given this Hierarchy of video cards at Toms Hardware, it puts the GTX 260 in the same comparison-tier as the GTX 460, which in my thread they suggested I setup 2 of with SLI and would be able to max Ultramode at your exact resolution of 1920x1080.
So according to that hierarchy chart and the members here if you are comfortable installing the simple driver to allow CoH to use SLI you should be able to get Max Ultra Mode settings at 1920x1080 like you want with this card you found.
If I missed something or a speed or quality of something is different making me wrong I'm sure someone who participated in that conversation in my thread will swoop in and correct me lol.
10 50's To Date! Check out Titan Sentinel; it got my CoH presence synced online
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This is what I had thought also. So what's the recommendation, get the GTX 260, install the SLI driver and max it, or don't bother? If I knew for sure I could max ultra mode at my resolution, I would pull the trigger without hesitation.
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Originally Posted by Psychic Guardian
Somewhere along my CoH Boards help travels I was given this Hierarchy of video cards at Toms Hardware, it puts the GTX 260 in the same comparison-tier as the GTX 460, which in my thread they suggested I setup 2 of with SLI and would be able to max Ultramode at your exact resolution of 1920x1080.
So according to that hierarchy chart and the members here if you are comfortable installing the simple driver to allow CoH to use SLI you should be able to get Max Ultra Mode settings at 1920x1080 like you want with this card you found. If I missed something or a speed or quality of something is different making me wrong I'm sure someone who participated in that conversation in my thread will swoop in and correct me lol. |
Bump. Anyone have any input? I would appreciate it.
Just like the title says, I am looking into buying another GTX 260 core 216 to go with one I already have. What kind of performance increase can I expect with this addition? Can this setup run max ultra mode (or come close)? Thanks in advance.
I will mention as of now I get ~30fps on medium ultra mode settings.
Also using a core2quad q6600 at 3.2 ghz, and 4GB pc6400 RAM.
*EDIT*
I should also mention, I USED to be running this game on 1440x900 nearly maxed, but I just recently bought 2 new monitors. Now I am running at 1920x1080 and the same settings at that resolution drop me to less than 30 fps.
So my question remains, can gtx 260s in SLI max out, or come close to maxing out ultra mode at 1920x1080? I have a chance to get another 260 for about $75, and am wondering if I should pull the trigger, or buy some more months of CoH gametime instead.