All Change - now Dual 280GTX's not Dual 4870's

nope nvidia are still forcing use to use there crap chipsets for SLI

 

333 watts is the power draw for the whole system including cpu mobo ram etc...

 

But not Dual 4870's, i see where you are going with this though, thanks

 

Im pretty sure the SLi is nvidia only tech, which means you're limited to nforce boards or skulltrail and the skulltrail board only works because it has nvidia PCIe switches on it.

Generally graphics card reviews that show power usage show the power use of the whole test system as its very difficult to measure what the cards using itself.

Moriquendi

 

Dual GTX280s won't work on Skulltrail

 

ive been thinking about getting a pair of 4870's but a bit concerned about power usage so have been reading up on it, now if i read right the 4870 is higher on idle but the gtx280 will be higher on full load so it could be a case of horses for courses. as i have a crossfire board ati is my only option for dual cards but im more concerned about there heat output and i think i will wait it out to see if there are any coming with better cooling, at the moment a pair of 4850's look a sound buy

 

Wrong:

"Skulltrail is currently the only platform to support SLI on chipsets not designed by NVIDIA. It achieves this by including two NVIDIA nForce 100 MCP chips. The implementation of SLI supports Quad SLI technology, which is achieved through the use of two dual-GPU graphics cards from NVIDIA, including the GeForce 9800 GX2. This gives a total of 4 Graphics Processors. Owners of Skulltrail systems can also make use of up to four ATI graphics cards using ATI CrossFireX technology, making SkullTrail the only platform to support both SLI and CrossFire multi-GPU technologies." - Wikipedia

 

for dual gtx280, you'll be pushing with a Corsair Hx620w. get the Corsair Hx1000w or Tx750w will be fine

 

i don't think the HX620 will do two 280GTXs

personally, i if i was him i would wait for the X2 and see what happens.

nearing 2k for graphics cards is not worth it tbh.

 

We're talking in pounds here so its more like £650 for two GTX280s not 2k.

Moriquendi

 

Skulltrail isn't an option at that price, are we talking 780i and 790i as the options for SLi? 790i seems hugely expensive, even more than the 680i was when that was first out!

 

That's because the chipset alone costs >$100 (at least when it was launched)

Nvidia doesn't care how many they sell, it's an e-peen product

 

Hey Mother-Gooser,

Guru3d used the 680i to test their 280GTX's, seemed to work well for them:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-280-sli-triple-review-test/

Good luck

 

Why is skulltrial not an option? If he's got £3000 to spend it should be possible. You dont have to put the ridiculously expensive QX9775 processors in it, you can have £300 xeons, or £200 xeons if you prefer, itll still be FAR more than is required, plus the little beasties overclock very well.

Moriquendi

 

Ah yes, forgot to mention he's also making a low power download box in that as well (aroudn £400 for that). I'll have a word and see what he thinks.

I wouldn't wish 680i on anybody now that there are other alternatives though lol, 780i will do the job me thinks?!

 

tbh skull trail is a top end e-peen board for gamers, or a serioud board for people who need SLI Quadros and 8 cores of Xeon love.

you've also got to consider the amount it will cost to run this machine, when you pay an electric bill you'll realise it hurts paying out alot for a machine that drinks electricity!

 

well i read that in another part of the forums , i beleive it was the cosmos skulltrail project log june MOTM, his sponsor told him that, and besides your source is wikipedia maybe i should go change it, noob.

 

Chillax mate!, no need to be like that, the guy posted info he though was accurate, it may be or it may not be, either way please keep it civil.

Skulltrail should still be do-able for £2600 depending on whether he wants new screens and stuff too.

Moriquendi

 

Yeh he does wan't a screen, the Dell 24", can't blame him can you? We settled on the 780i chipset, probably the Striker II Formular, seems to be much better than the original striker from what I have read.

 

yea my bad, i just get annoyed when ppl say i'm wrong from bad sources (i automaticly fail the class if i use wikipedia as a source for its paper.)