MSI 7800GT SLI Investigation

[MikeC]

Many of us bought into the Pentium 4 processor at one time. I have a 3.4GHz Prescott that gets used on a daily basis. I recently upgraded the system and added an nForce4 SLI motherboard.

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7800gt_sli/images/card_top_s.jpg

Jonathan Martini had an opportunity to make a move to SLI on the Intel platform. Armed with MSI's P4 Diamond motherboard and a Pentium 4 processor, he gets to play around with a couple of GeForce 7800 GT graphics cards... :clap:

Check it out here:

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/msi_geforce_nx7800gt_sli/index.shtml

[superklye]

Just finished it...great write up, Jonathan...lots of information and it was good info, too. :) That being said, I'm still sticking with AMD. :p

The only things I noticed were a few spots on every page where apostrophes came in as a weird symbol, thanks to MS Word most likely. Otherwise, no complaints, reivisions or anything that I saw.

[OWA]

Nice review Jonathan. By the way, did you try overriding the SLI value for Far Cry? The default one never seems to help with my system either but overriding it does seem to work pretty well.

[Pixelsmack]

I loved this review because it showed me what my exact system at home would do with dual 7800GTs. Something I have been thinking about. I currently have a single BFG 6800GT.

The reason it's nice to know as it saves me from having to buy those cards and test it out!

I recently built a dual core AMD 4200 system with dual 7600GT cards in SLI and ran the same 3dmark test you had. That system's score was 9846!

So now I know that my 3.6ghz P4 (560j) and would be dual 7800GTs would get spanked.

[grimreefer]

I loved this review because it showed me what my exact system at home would do with dual 7800GTs. Something I have been thinking about. I currently have a single BFG 6800GT.

The reason it's nice to know as it saves me from having to buy those cards and test it out!

I recently built a dual core AMD 4200 system with dual 7600GT cards in SLI and ran the same 3dmark test you had. That system's score was 9846!

So now I know that my 3.6ghz P4 (560j) and would be dual 7800GTs would get spanked.
wow, ur either a retard or ur joking, or im underestimating the power of sli
since when can 2x7600gt score that high......

[Pixelsmack]

Neither. Do your research first.

The 7600GT is a new card that came out along side the new 7900GT. Don't let the numbers confuse you.

The *older* BFG 7800GT has a core clock of 425 and the *newer* BFG 7600GT has a core clock of 580.

Thus running two 7600GTs in SLI I got nearly a score of 10,000 in 3DMark. Same settings as his review as well.

7800GT SPECS: http://www.bfgtech.com/7800GT_256_PCIX.html

7600GT SPECS: http://www.bfgtech.com/7600GT_256_PCIX.html


And yes, running SLI is one way to not only equal the top end card offered but in some cases surpass it. It's just a matter of how you want to spend your $500. Of course you can run two 7900GTs in SLI and smoke the 7600GTs, etc.

But as the review shows it's not that easy. In most cases SLI is NOT really that much faster and you'd be better off with the top end single card. Only when running at those larger resolutions does the SLI advantage come in to play. In my situation I have an LCD with a native resolution of 1920x1200. So SLI is the way to go.

[grimreefer]

Neither. Do your research first.

The 7600GT is a new card that came out along side the new 7900GT. Don't let the numbers confuse you.

The *older* BFG 7800GT has a core clock of 425 and the *newer* BFG 7600GT has a core clock of 580.

Thus running two 7600GTs in SLI I got nearly a score of 10,000 in 3DMark. Same settings as his review as well.

7800GT SPECS: http://www.bfgtech.com/7800GT_256_PCIX.html

7600GT SPECS: http://www.bfgtech.com/7600GT_256_PCIX.html


And yes, running SLI is one way to not only equal the top end card offered but in some cases surpass it. It's just a matter of how you want to spend your $500. Of course you can run two 7900GTs in SLI and smoke the 7600GTs, etc.

But as the review shows it's not that easy. In most cases SLI is NOT really that much faster and you'd be better off with the top end single card. Only when running at those larger resolutions does the SLI advantage come in to play. In my situation I have an LCD with a native resolution of 1920x1200. So SLI is the way to go.wth, its still scoring higher than 7800gtx sli, and im pretty sure tahts faster than 7600gt sli, considering its only a bit slower than 7900gt sli.....yea, taht sounds confusing
yea, and im not impressed with the 7600gt's 12 pixel shaders, it cant be scoring that high, even with 550mhz core speed

[Pixelsmack]

AHHH!! BLAST!!!!!

I was using 3Dmark 2005!!!! DAAAAAMN!!

Sorry...move along...nothing to see here.

But hey, the 7600GT core clock is still faster than the 7800GT! ;)

[grimreefer]

AHHH!! BLAST!!!!!

I was using 3Dmark 2005!!!! DAAAAAMN!!

Sorry...move along...nothing to see here.

But hey, the 7600GT core clock is still faster than the 7800GT! ;)
7800gt looks faster from firingsquad's review

[grimreefer]

link:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7600_gt_performance/page14.asp

[JonathanM]

Nice review Jonathan. By the way, did you try overriding the SLI value for Far Cry? The default one never seems to help with my system either but overriding it does seem to work pretty well.

Nope I haven't tried overriding it. What has worked better for you?

[OWA]

Nope I haven't tried overriding it. What has worked better for you?
I'll have to check tonight. I don't remember offhand.

[wwjimbo1942]

Hi all I run MSI 7800GT in single mode (not SLI) I am a gamer(I Try) BF2, COD,CSS & good old MOHA. I can run all games now on high settings with out any problems. This card may not be the best that money can buy but it runs great.
I would recomend bumping the standard cooler and fit a artic cooler as the standard cooler is not up for the job, and like most of the new cards around, dumps all the heat to the front (not out the back) cooking the hard drive.After fitting the Artic Cooler Runs great.
I dont over clock as when I have In the past things always go wrong.

Win XP
AMD 3700
2 Gig Ram 3200
80 Gig Hard Drive
GA-K8N-SLI Board Nforce 4