Problems with Twin Video Cards in Crossfire or SLI?

[Bruv119]

I had two Evga 8800 GTS 512's in SLI for a few days.  As someone said, I couldn't enable vsync (XP Pro) and, while I was getting about 280 fps in the game, the screen tearing was so annoying I pulled the second card and RMA'd it.  Now I'm back to my single 8800 GTS running a steady 59 fps (monitor refresh rate) with everything turned up except shadows and soft shadows.  I can hold my fps with shadows on but not with soft shadows.  I can't stand the look without soft shadows so I just turn both off.

If it were me I'd buy the best single card you can get within your budget and forget about Crossfire/SLI.  The best graphics card benchmark charts are at www.tomshardware.com.  They chart both single card and Crossfire/SLI configurations.

I pulled out my 640mb 8800 gTS today and your spot on.  I could run the game with everything on except shadows and smooth shadow.  In a busy area low on the deck it would start slowing up.

Now i have a 5850 and it just  :rocks 4ooo smooth shadows everything maxed.  I've had my machine for 3 years and this card will give me another 2 hopefully. 

[Bino]

Many thanks, all!   

Since I will have both the O/S and PSU to handle them, I'm leaning toward a Crossfire pair of 5770s ($330) as they are faster than either a single 5850 ($300) or a single 5870 ($400).  And unlike a 4890, the 5770 supports the latest DX and shader versions.

[Spikes]

Nice!

I've been tooling with the idea of getting myself another 5770...just wondering how good it would work since my mobo only has 1 PCIex16 slot, the other is a PCIex8 slot...they say it will conform to PCIe 2.0...Also if my PSU will run two cards.