Anyone know how well SLI-ing 8800gs 384mb (or the larger memory one) would perform?
As good as SLI-ing a pair of 9600gt?

Hello....

Well, If you already have an 8800GS, SLI'n another GS would make more sense than SLI'n 9600GT (total cost is more).

No. 8800gs is significantly slower than 9600gt, which costs only slightly more. It's not the best bang for the buck. If you have the money, it's better to sli a pair of 8800gt. It'll give you a longer useful lifetime before having to upgrade.

Essentially it would.

A 8800gs tends to be slower when AA is used though and not so much in raw performance. You are probably better off SLI 2 9600gt instead.

Actually it isn't significantly slower.

Check out my review in the thread. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ew-benches

But you're only comparing it to 8600gt, which is a pretty bad card.

Anyway, the performance gap between 8800gs and 9600gt or 8800gt increases as resolution, AA, and AF increases, which is when it matters. There is no real difference between 50 and 65fps, but a big difference between 20 and 35fps, as one is playable, the other isn't.

9600GT would already highly outperform one 8800GS 384Mb. It goes the same in terms of two for two. However, the 8800GS 768Mb has substantially higher clock speeds and memory. It would probably be closer to a 9600GT, but would also still be held back by the bandwidth. Counting in SLI, the GeForce 9 series handles multiple cards better than the GeForce 8 series, so it gives you more performance. Pretty much, SLI 9600GT would be the better performer. Even single card, the 9600 GT would still perform better. If it didn't in any case, it could probably be overclocked so that it would perform better.

You should try comparing my results with dozens of reviews of 9600gt out there on the web.

37fps @ high quality in Crysis isn't exactly slower than 9600gt.

8800gs and 9600gt is in equal footing with raw performance at stock settings and 9600gt edges out with AA because of extra 128mb ram and bandwidth. When 8800gs is overclocked however it performs more like a 8800gt raw performance which 9600gt can't even get close to. These 2 cards are different. One does better at pushing raw performance and the other does better with AA.

@marvelous2 11
the comparison you provided above were speculated much before the actual release of 9600gt and were wrong. It was faster. Its about 10-15% faster than 8800gs.

No that's how exactly how it performs. Some games 9600gt wins but some games 8800gs wins. PConline is a Chinese website who get their hardware first because all the toys you have now are from China.

The first benchmark is actually a review.

I would so gladly compare results with anyone with a 9600gt.

marvelous, don't worry there always seems to be sooo many newbs, and I have nothing to do with them...

the difference between the 8800gs isn't that much from a 9600gt...for cris sakes there are sooo many reviews out there, just go to any good site, and check it...

besides check on newegg.com the lowest price for a good 8800gs is $110 after MIR, the lowest price for a good 9600gt is $144 after MIr...

the $34 rarely would justify the performance difference, since it is quite small...

and that card would only be good for either slower games, or lower resolutions, as soon as you hit higher resolutions, then both cards would be quite gay to use anyways...

Kk, there aint many reviews of the 8800gs, and they don't offer SLI benchmarks.
Yet, I am quite convinced right now that generation-9 cards are more suitable.

I would think that if you already had one GS, it would be best to get another (atleast in terms of cost/performance gains). As you can see in Marvelous's review, the GS is a damn fine card. Especially if you OC it a little bit.

But, if you are looking to buy two new cards (i.e. you don't own one GS already), then my feeling is two 8800 GT's or two 9600 GT's would be better, only due to the 512 ram on them. Not a huge difference, only an extra 128 mb, but that can be helpful at higher resolutions. And just FYI, the series 9 cards are just series 8 cards, rebadged.