9262 perf increase with sli

Hey people-I've been following this forum for a couple months now, but only just registered. I'm not extremely computer savvy, but i'm not a moron either. So...I bought my 9262 with:

e6850 (sager guy told me its better than quad for gaming)
4 gb ram
2 x 160 gb HD RAID 0
1 8800 M GTX (just installed the second one a few days ago)
vista 64 bit ultimate


Anyway-without changing anything (no defrag, etc.) and with about 30 gb of programs installed, I received a 9450 on 3Dmark06 with 1 card.

With SLI I got a 12321

I figure I payed $3525 (with tax) for the comp with 1 card I then payed $710 (with tax) for the additional card.
This means that I 30.4 % performance increase for a 20.14% price increase.

Considering the amount of money we are spending on this computer model, I am happy with my decision to go SLI for a 30% perf increase.

Does anybody know the best methods to increase my 3Dmark score?

Also, I have not tried any OCing, and am a bit worried to (I have never done it before), but am considering it. How many years do you think it might take off my GPU's life?

 

You have to remember these are synthetic benchmarks. Try real results such as FPS in games such as Crysis, Assassin's Creed, CoD4, etc. . .

In my opinion, that a meager gain for $700 dollars, I still think SLi mainly benefits greatly at higher resolutions and that all in all; it's not worth it. But, hey, that's just my take. Get out and enjoy some games and not synthetic benchmarks!

 

yeah-I was rockin crysis on all high settings at 1650 x 1080 (i think 1080 is right), but I can't wait to try maxing everything with the higher res. I don't know how to get the framerate on crysis. I could download the demo, but haven't yet.

Now I kinda wish I got the quad-core because I am thinking of putting linux on this beast and doing some geophysical processing from home (i'm a geophysicist who loves games

Anybody here play company of heroes? I'm addicted

 

Try FRAPS to measure your FPS.

 

I get 12528 with 1 card and my oc'd quad.

I beg to differ about the q6600 now that it's overclocked to 3ghz and 1333mhz fsb it rocks!

you could try overclocking your gpu's

and for overclocking taking years off the cards life you can't tell...

it could die 2 years from now or in a week.

 

Entropy,

With SLI I got a 12321

That score isn't bad, but other scores I've seen for that configuration have been in the 12700-12800 range with Vista. It would help if you posted your individual 3DMark scores and not just the total.

Does anybody know the best methods to increase my 3Dmark score?

Short of overclocking the GPU or replacing the dual with a quad, installing XP would probably increase it the most, and finding the right video drivers might add a little as well.

 

Does anyone know why they charge so much for an 8800m? Is it the manufacturing process? The smaller demand that leads to higher pricing? It's a shame laptop GPU's cost as much as they do. Especially when comparing it to a desktop 8800GT for instance that can be acquired for just under $200 USD, which is incredible, and let's not forget the very affordable 3870 from ATI either.

PC Gaming could really explode in laptops if they could just find a way to mainstream the 8800m. I'm guessing it will probably take the 9800m to start decreasing the cost of the 8800m, unless it's just that costly.

 

Since the 8800M is the top dog of laptop video cards, it pulls the highest price. The top video card for laptops has always been around 500-700 dollars depending on the vendor selling it. I think some even charge a little more if it is a second card.

I got pretty much the same 3DMark06 scores as you entropy. I did get slightly higher scores (about a 400 point increase) from the newest drivers but stability seemed to suffer (error messages about display driver not responding when resuming from sleep mode and an occasional BSOD) so switched back to the stock ones.

Dexgo has done some crazy yet amazing things with his lappy. If you dare, you will be able to squeeze alot out of her following his lead.

 

how much do you think it cost nvidia to manufacture it?

 

wobble, do you have any numbers with 1 card vs 2 in any of your games? looking for cod4 fps.

 

ok I ran 3dmark06 again after installing a few more games on my comp and this is what i got:

Main test results
3DMark Score 12757 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 5978
SM 3.0 Score 6313
CPU Score 2602
Test Results
Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 49.43 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 50.2 FPS
CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.82 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 1.31 FPS
HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 66.51 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 59.75 FPS

I wanted to make this laptop last a few yrs-probly won't be getting new video cards for a while. So....I might OC a little, i'll have to teach myself. Anybody have a recommendation for the best webpage tutorial?

WOBBLE: I do have XP disks, but I wanted DX10. I don't care so much about the 3dmark score as I do about playing the actual games.

DEX: your scores are ridiculous. I'm gonna have to take some lessons.....

 

CoD4 max details 1900x1200 4x AA - 71fps average, with all non-AA ones pegging at the maximum 91 fps in game with fraps.

You can view the NON-SLI FPS rates i got in the review in my sig.

currently out of town so i won't be able to update all of my benchmarks yet but will probalby do so sometime next week.

 

I only have one card so all I can do is refer you to other scores I've seen for two cards.

I get 19fps in the Crysis benchmark (1900x1200 High) while CesOne, with two cards, gets 31fps.

Aryantes, with one card, got 38fps in COD4 at 1920x1200 4AA, and 54fps with AA=0. You can see his tests here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=211255

 

...........................

 

Dexgo: I thought that the processor was locked and that only the GPU could be OCed

Wobble: that's a good idea to wait to OC-I can play any game I want at max, so why bother now.

I remember reading on this forum about the different drivers for the 8800. I ended up just sticking with stock and when I got the new card, went with the stock SLI driver. has anybody definitively found a driver that actually works better and is stable? It seemed like many people just installed different drivers to no avail.

 

Sometimes new drivers help, sometimes they hurt, so it's quite unpredictable, and the only way to find out is to try them. A better driver only adds a few fps in games (upgrading to 174.82 got me only one more fps in Crysis), so, if your current driver is stable, you wouldn't be losing much by sitting tight.

 

well you thought wrong.

I have overclocked it via hardware Pin Mod to 3ghz and 1333mhz fsb.

not for the faint of heart.

 

I believe he has the E6850.

I wonder what that little piece of tape would do on that CPU!

 

no, he is allready 1333mhz and 3ghz.