GTS 250 SLI with a PII X4 955 or 4890 with a PII X3 720?

[jjbtexas]

should i add another GTS 250 and upgrade to a 955

or

upgrade to a 4890 and keep the PII x3 720 i already have?

money is not an issue

 

[Helloworld_98]

if it's for playing games stick with the 720 and get a 4890, get the new powercolor one which is clocked at 950 and 1100mhz with non-reference cooler if you can.

 

[geofelt]

should i add another GTS 250 and upgrade to a 955

or

upgrade to a 4890 and keep the PII x3 720 i already have?

money is not an issue

If money is not an issue, do both.

Assuming the upgrade is for games, how about selling the GTS250, and using the proceeds to pay for a better single vga card in addition to the cpu upgrade.
I like a fast single card over sli if possible.

For the question you asked, I like option 2 better.

 

[photonboy]

Are you certain your motherboard supports SLI?

If so, I'd add another GTS 250, keep the X3 720, and my next upgrade would be the entire computer.

My only other recommendation would be to hold off and get a next-gen NVidia or ATI 40nm when they come out that performs better than the HD4890.

Either method you recommend involves throwing away a fairly good part which seems a waste to me. Your methods provide very small gains for the money. Anyway, you have my recommendation.

Games that better support SLI will of course work better. I think my solution is the best bang for the buck with nearly every game that needs it.

 

[jjbtexas]

the board defnately supports sli, the parts won't go to waste but will move on to another computer

 

[Helloworld_98]

@photonboy, yeah but the high end 40nm come out at the end of the year and I don't think he wants to wait 6-7 months for a gfx card.

 

[photonboy]

Do this:
Open Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) and monitor CPU usage (set to LOW update speed). then run a demanding game for 5 minutes close it out then look at your CPU usage.

If none of your cores/threads reached 100% then you where limited by your GPU so adding a faster CPU and keeping the same GPU will offer no performance increase.

If at least one of the threads are maxed out your probably CPU limited.

So test a handful of your most demanding games and use this technique to guide you.

 

[jjbtexas]

thats a pretty good idea, just wish i had seen it before i ordered the parts

just to clarify i am moving the gts 250 to my other computer that currently has a 2600xt, my friends come over all the time and we play together so its always nice to have a good second computer in the room in case one of them can't bring theirs