Anyone know anything about the current crop of GPU's?

[Capt. Vulcan]

I've been out of the loop for a bit, so I've been doing some research in to the GPU market. I'm trying to decide between two GTS450 in Sli vs. one GTX 470. With some of the rebates going on, they actually end up being the same price. Looking at the benchmarks they look pretty similar also.

so what I'm wondering is whether it would be better to get the one single card even though it's older, vs. getting two of the newer lower model cards. Reviews say the GTS is one of the best cards to scale in sli mode, nearly doubling power when in Sli unlike earlier sli cards. But then in every benchmark it seems like the single 470 edges the gts' out. But still I'm worried that the newer cards are maybe made with better more efficient chips given the gts' have lower power consumption and stuff like that.

I dunno, I'm confused as to what to do. I don't think I'm at the point where I'm bottlenecked by my other hardware (Core 2 quad Q9450) so i'd like to upgrade my video card, I'm just not sure what to get. Anyone keeping up with this stuff?

 

[Lindley]

Personally I feel that SLI is largely unnecessary for most people. The single card is pretty damn cool and you're unlikely to expend its capabilities in any game for a few years anyway.

 

[STR]

^Yeah, SLI is only needed if you're going to be gaming in a res higher than 1080p. Graphics card requirements for games kinda plateaued with Crysis and haven't move that much beyond.

Once you get real-time ray-tracing, THEN you'll need uber cards again, but that's a ways off.