Which is better? A Geforce 8600 GTS XXX card or 2 Geforce 8600 GT cards in SLI mode?

Question

Since I cant really afford the 8800 cards yet.

Answer 1

sli config. two cards are better than one.

Answer 2

The 8600GTS is about 24% faster than the 8600GT.

One 8800GTS card probably beats two 8600GTS cards.

SLI Scalable Link Interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface

FRAPS (Frames per second) higher is faster
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
NVIDIA 8600GT ($89) FRAPS= 43.1
NVIDIA 8600GTS ($133) FRAPS= 53.6
NVIDIA 8800GTS ($269) FRAPS=102.2
NVIDIA 8800Ultra ($549) FRAPS=116.9
NVIDIA 9800GTX FRAPS=200+?
9800GTX to be released November 2007

Prices per
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069609641+1305520548+106791921&name=GeForce+8+series

This November Nvidia will release 9800 Series
http://www.hypedhardware.com/2007/08/14/nvidia-to-launch-9800-series-gpus-in-november/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nvidia-9800-Series-Coming-Soon-62786.shtml

This November 2007 PCI Express 2.0 will be released.
The buss will be twice as fast as the PCI Express used in todays computers.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/244487-28-express-standard-ready
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For NVIDIA power requirements refer to
http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=256-P2-N761-AR&pwindow=specs&family=23
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How to Buy a Power Supply
http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-a-Power-Supply

NVIDIA SLI Certified Power Supplies
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

If you buy a power supply NVIDIA SLI certified for the 8800Ultra it should work with anything.

ATI Radeon Crossfire Certified Power Supplies
http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/buildyourown2.html

Diamond Video Cards Certified Power Supplies
http://www.diamondmm.com/certified.php
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Graphics card gaming performance charts:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=399&type=expert&pid=1
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1595&Itemid=40&limit=1&limitstart=2

CPU gaming performance charts: Rendering time
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

CPU Benchmarks
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/index.php