JJBro One said:
I wouldnt know wether to buy single gpu or sli. Which one do u recommend? This is my first build.
Well some people do not like SLI/Crossfire because not EVERY single game utilizes it very well or drivers are not up to snuff with certain games. When I build my first rig, I went with a single GPU solution, then adopted the SLI solution about 2 months later. While I did have some issues, I quickly learned how to deal with them and now, I really cant imagine going back to a single GPU due to the performance you gain.
Now granted as the next gen of GPU's come out, we may see a very powerfull single GPU and anyone can tell you that if there was a choice of single or SLI/Crossfire setup most would go with a single GPU, but that is if *ONLY* that single GPU can get the results you want.
For me, there is not a single GPU available that can max everygame that is out or at least the ones that I am interested. When you start adding 8xaa, 16AF, long draw distances etc. that all takes horsepower. Right now the best single GPU you can get is a GTX-580 in my opinion.
Here is what you need to ask yourself:
1) What resolution am I going to be playing at?
2) Is 30 FPS good enough or do you demand 60FPS?
3) Is turning on all the bells and whistles in the graphics options something that you want to be able to do?
4) How much do you want to spend?
To me, being a fucking demanding prick that I am, I want to be able to max out my frame rate at 60 and have every option under the sun turned on to get the most pristine image quality out of my games. The only way to do that was for me to go with a SLI setup with 2 580's. Hell, I've thought of 3xSLI, but as it stands, my current rig has been able to handle everything with very few exceptions (Witcher 2 in Ubersampling).
At the end of the day, if there was a single GPU solution that could do Withcher 2 at 1080p, 60fps rock solid and in Uber Sampling mode, I would be all over it like flies on shit, white on rice etc. You get the picture.
Sorry if I caused you to think about more shit, but that is what this thread is here for. If I did not listen to some of the guys/girls here, I would of ended up with a much less powerful rig than I have now and alot of it has been doing alot of reading, asking questions and getting feedback.
There is alot to consider when building a new rig, alot of questions that you may not know of because it is your first time. I would take it slow, read everything you can and then begin to build what you want on Newegg, save it or email it to your box and then just tweak the hell out of your shopping cart until you are happy with what you will have.
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