8000 series SLI why so much bad cred?

I currently run the 'below' spec and before picking it up for cheap I read about the 8700m GT sli and 99% of the posts gave it bad reviews bad feedback and pretty much topped anything over it!

I was previously running a similiar set up 2.4ghz, 4gb ram and a HD 4650 and I dont get what all the fuss is about because so far since I have been using SLI with Physx running every game I tried that would stutter like crazy on my old setup has been tripled in frames and settings by the SLI setup. Is this because of newer drivers maybe?

My idle temps are 67oc and it never goes above 79 at full load, I can run Metro on high with perfectly playable frame rate and my setup achieved near 2000 benchmark with FF14 running SLI.

I understand that they are accustomed to melt eventually but considering my temps run lower than my old card and everything I have thrown at it so far doesnt I would enjoy hearing an unbiased view that doesnt say any single similiar card will beat it because I disagree!

 

8700M got a bad rep because it was billed as a high-end card when in reality it wasn't.

 

I think they are great! but yes i would like 9800gtx sli in my lappy or better still a Alienware m17x

 

another reason was that really it died as much as the 8600M GT in toshiba and dell systems..

 

whats ur 3dmark vantage score?

 

A friend of mine had 2 8700GTs in sli and it was a terrible combination. The drivers were terrible for ages, even fewer games at the time supported it than desktop sli. They potentially had the 8 series fault. They were limited by a 128bit bus. In fact its really hard to justify their existence. My argument would be that a user would be better off coughing up a bit of extra money and get a single 8800 card.

 

A single 8800M GTX proved to be faster than 8700M in SLI. Even the 8800M GTS was preferable, and that is why the 8700Ms were considered a mediocre option.

SLI'd 128-bit, GDDR3 chips w/ 32-shaders are a waste of space. Disagree, or don't, but understand that it's true.

 

I was very happy with SLI 8600GT's I had in my Toshiba, so I understand where you are coming from, they were pretty good! And your's are only gonna be better than that... as long as you are happy and willing to tweak a little bit, life is good! Enjoy!

Mine did very good in benchmarks and games, have fun and push them hard!

 

See this is were my downfall is i rarely overclock and when i do i dont use 80nm GPU's! Can you recommend a good tool to do this with? I get good performance from the stock clocks 675/1250/800 I was gonna leave it as it is!

My current temps with full Physx and SLI running high and top resolution is 82/83oc and idles around 70.

 

I wouldn't overclock the 8700m because of their faults.

But if you are going to OC, I would suggest using nvidia system tools and run atitool to scan for artifacts.

Here is how high you need to go for 10k in 3dmark06:
DanXbix's 10863 marks 3Dmark 2006 run with 2x GeForce 8700M GT @ 730/948MHz

 

I had those 8700 running in SLI before purchasing the 8800 SLI;
I still have got them actually as spare;

All I can say is that I had an amazing improvement with the upgrade with all games;
Was like buying a porsche 911 when you have a Volkswagen Golf;

Well for sure you can still playing games and you'r much better than the mainstream set up (9600gt) with games that supports SLI;

that's my 2 cents;

 

When the 8800 was still to be released the 8700M SLI setup actually proved to be quite good, having very high SLI efficiency.

 

I can't remember; how much was the 8700M SLI priced, upon first release? I know it was brand new, back when I bought a Vostro 1500 w/ 8600M GT.

 

I finally got round to running this got 3dmark Vantage 1280x1024 - 3424

 

i see, u beat me by 600 points Shows that 8700 SLI is still ok for gaming since my laptop takes in new games very well

 

Is that just the GPU, or the overall? I'm interested in the GPU only...

 

That was the overall score 3Dmark.

Separate scores where GPU: 3211 CPU 4601

3DMark06 Im hitting 8912 and Overclocking CPU 9212

Should keep me going a while till the G73 drops in price!

Saying that though I was always very impressed with my HD3650 in my old lappy, I used to be a Geforce man when I had desktops but since I turned away from the dark side this is the first Nvidia ive had an im quite impressed however when you run this baby with a single GPU the card shows its age! Luckily though as the new drivers and profiles make every game I play run in SLI or I can use Frame Rendering 2 between cards. For instance Operation Flash on a single GPU I barely got 10fps on high settings but chucking on frame rendering I jump upto 35-40 since SLI does not agree with it.

I was thinking bout upgrading my Acer 6920G to your HD4650 or the 70 if I hadnt manage to blag the G70 spanking new for so cheap. I am use to having a steady 40oc Idle on my ATI though and barely top 60 at load this thing idles at 60 and reaches 75-80 under load. Clearly it wont last forever!

 

lol u should have waited a while.. u could have got a G73.. at $750-900 refurbished.. I literally own u... P8300 in Vantage

 

Mind if I ask what drivers you were using for the 3Dmark 06 run on your Toshiba Satellite A500D Satyrion?

 

8800 series is really good. Just installed my X9000 today and overclocked it right away to 3.8GHz.

At 3.8GHz I got a 3D Mark 06 score of 16586. Will give Vantage a try later and see what I get there.

 

thats awesome!

can u guide me in how to safely overvolt and clock my X9000 once i get it by the end of the month?

 

Some scores for reference, the 8000 series are definitely not bad and do still pack a punch, for example, my 8800m GTX's on SLi overclocked to 650 MHz Core, 1,050 MHz Memory and 1,650 MHz Shaders:

3DMark 2006 - 14,015 Total.

3DMark Vantage (With PhysX). - P12401 Total, 10,416 GPU, 28,959 CPU.

3DMark Vantage (Without PhysX) - P10431 Total, 10,264 GPU, 10,966 CPU.

GPU-Z Verification.

Scores without Overclock at Factory Settings:

3DMark 2006 - 12,761 Total.

3DMark Vantage (With PhysX) - P9463 Total, 7,812 GPU, 25,873 CPU.

3DMark Vantage (Without PhysX) - P8402 Total, 7,842 GPU, 10,853 CPU.

For being 3-year old cards, they still do pack quite a big punch, all of the tests except for the factory-settings 3DMark 2006 one which was conducted in 2009 were all conducted in 2008. (I do not currently have 3DMark 2006 or Vantage installed.)

I will replace my laptop (a Sager NP9262) with a Sager NP8120 soon.

 

Satyrion yes of course. I want it to run at 4Ghz, though I will have to wait for the AS5 compound to kick in for real. For now 3.8GHz, pretty good for a notebook eh?

 

Satyrion in Vantage I get with PhysX disabled 8871 total Vantage score.

 

thats awesome

am so excited to get my X900 and 8800GTX

 

Magnus, what is your Vantage GPU score, with a single overclocked 8800M GTX enabled?

 

Im in the UK so no chance at that price I stay away from Refurbed too!

I will never have the latest and greatest because I do not earn enough to afford it! I quite enjoy having old skool stuff its quite satisfying seeing what it can do with new games and gives me more reason to tinker with it!

 

Kevin I will run a vantage run later today with SLI disabled.

 

With the CPU overclocked to 4GHz I get a 3D Mark 06 score of 17303.