TechRadar Verdict
Simply not worth the effort - performance isn't good enough, and doubling up doesn't help
Pros
- +
G8x architecture still strong
Cons
- -
No way around its poor performance
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
This was a set-up we tried out of curiosity. There's going to be a lot of PCs sold with low-end 8500GT cards in, which we've already established aren't very good for gaming.
Rather than add-in another 100 pound-plus board, though, is SLI a good upgrade route? If you put in another low cost 8500 - and our second board came courtesy of Point of View - do you have a decent gaming rig, which can be passively, and therefore quietly cooled?
In a word, no. With the exception of Oblivion - which once again shows how efficient the G8x architecture is - none of the benchmarks got much better with the extra card in place. Indeed, Prey actually got a lot worse. If you buy a PC with a single 8500 in, forget pairing it with another, and consider something else.
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
Tech.co.uk was the former name of TechRadar.com. Its staff were at the forefront of the digital publishing revolution, and spearheaded the move to bring consumer technology journalism to its natural home – online. Many of the current TechRadar staff started life a Tech.co.uk staff writer, covering everything from the emerging smartphone market to the evolving market of personal computers. Think of it as the building blocks of the TechRadar you love today.