GTX 550 Ti SLI ($?)

[Void_Viking]

Working on a budget gaming rig for a friend.

As a noobie builder, I bought a GTS 250 for 25$ to put into this rig... Needless to say it was a derp move.

 

But now I'm looking to swap it out. I have a friend who has 2 working GTX 550 Ti's that he ran in SLI.

 

TLDR

Theoretically, if you were to be in my position, how much would you pay for these cards?

[Nexxus]

nothing because SLI is stupid unless you are running top tier cards

 

Also if you are so strapped for cash you would pay $25 for a graphics card I have to wonder if your motherboard is even SLi compatible, or your psu can power 2 cards reliably. 

[Void_Viking]

2 minutes ago, Nexxus said:

Also if you are so strapped for cash you would pay $25 for a graphics card I have to wonder if your motherboard is even SLi compatible, or your psu can power 2 cards reliably. 

Not something I have to worry about. I made sure of that at least.

[Enderman]

$5-10

[Nexxus]

Just now, Void_Viking said:

Not something I have to worry about. I made sure of that at least.

in anycase, as someone who literally just got off SLI yesterday for a 1070. SLIing low end cards makes no sense, for the cost of 2 cards you can have 1 more powerful and consistent card. SLI will sometimes work great and you will get an 80ish% boost in FPS. other times you will get 30% ...or 10% or 0 and in rare cases the game will actually run worse.

these inconsistency will not exist on a single more powerful card,

quite literally the only reason I can think for SLIing a low end card is if you REALLY want some optional physx effects. but being how few games have optional physx effects. this is a dumb reason.

Unless you are SLIing a X70 X80 X80ti or Titan...its a total waste. of money, power and generate more heat output then a single more powerful solution.

[Void_Viking]

8 minutes ago, Nexxus said:

in anycase, as someone who literally just got off SLI yesterday for a 1070. SLIing low end cards makes no sense, for the cost of 2 cards you can have 1 more powerful and consistent card. SLI will sometimes work great and you will get an 80ish% boost in FPS. other times you will get 30% ...or 10% or 0 and in rare cases the game will actually run worse.

these inconsistency will not exist on a single more powerful card,

quite literally the only reason I can think for SLIing a low end card is if you REALLY want some optional physx effects. but being how few games have optional physx effects. this is a dumb reason.

Unless you are SLIing a X70 X80 X80ti or Titan...its a total waste. of money, power and generate more heat output then a single more powerful solution.

I suppose you are correct. Valid points. 

I'm just trying to get this thing to play CS:GO/LoL and such at decent playable frames, for as low price as possible.

 

As is now, I'm without a CPU cooler and GPU.

 

The board is an XFX x58i, with a  i7 920 OC'd at a 950 level. 

 

So if you have any recommendations for GPU's that would fit this well, I'd much appreciate the help. 

[Mi26]

i would rather get a single card with that amount of $$ which will perform better  

[PRTI]

I would honestly get a used 6970,GTX 580,7970,GTX 680

[Brian McKee]

Jeeze that card is worse than my 6850 and that thing struggles as it is.

 

If he intends to just play stuff like league/CS GO then my 6850 crushes those.

I pull about 250 FPS on League and I see other people pulling 100-200 on CS GO (I don't own/play CS GO so I can't confirm).

 

It can also pull playable/good framerates on triple a titles from even a couple years ago, like battlefield 4.

 

Just don't expect it to play fallout 4 at anything above 40 FPS...