Geforce gtx 275 thinking about going sli

[sirgrotius]

i recently built a mid-range system (i.e., around 1500 w/ monitor) and went with the gtx 275. i've been happy so far, but my large monitor resolution (1900 x 1200) is pushing the card a bit, in games such as empire: total war. it's not as silky smooth, as i'd like.

i'm thinking about selling off my 275 and going with a higher-end model (i'll lose some money in this process, no doubt), or going sli with two 275 (my motherboard is made for it). i'm a little concerned after reading the faq, however, and seeing my vram will still be limited to one of the 275's which is 876 ram, or whatever that number is (can't remember!)

here's a baseline on my computer:

intel i7 920
6 gb ram
nvidia geforce gtx 275
24" widescreen lg lcd
gigabyte ud4p mobo
750 watt psu
windows 7 64-bit

etc.

everything's up to date in terms of drivers.

thanks in advance for any tips.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Before you go further with this idea, how much are you overclocking the i7 and RAM to see if helps your framerates?

 

[sirgrotius]

zero overclocking

 

[hundredislandsboy]

At your CPU stock speed, it's the bottleneck and the GTX 275 isn't being pushed to deliver it's full muscle.

Running 2 GTX 275s in SLI might also require you to upgrade your PSU. Your 750 watt might just be enough (not knowing your PSUs amps, how many drives, fans you have plugged in).

Before you decide, try a small overclock of your CPU, RAM, and GPU, to see if it gives you the performance gain you are looking for.

 

[coozie7]

Wargames of that type tend to be heavy on the CPU, so check for and apply any patches there are first.

Do the usual cleanup: Check for running programs/processes and disable or uninstall as required. Run a virus/malware/spyware sweep in Safe Mode (some of the little darlings can hide from a sweep in normal operation).

Check the detail settings of the games: Shadows and AA can quickly bring even the most massively powerful PC to its knees if used unwisely.

 

[sirgrotius]

thanks for the tips guys. my mobo came with some software called "easy tune" which should be an easy way to give a modest jump to my cpu, etc, and i think i can disable a couple superfluous eye candy components.

interestingly, it's really only the water that gets choppy. land battles are smooth.

 

[Amg]

yeah try to overclock the CPU/ram just a little before doing that, however the I7 is a very powerfull cpu. SO it might just be fine, just.

 

[ehanger]

His 750w psu will probably be fine. I have a Corsair TX 750w w/ 60A on a single 12V rail with 2 275's in SLI and it runs great.