SLI or new card?

[cc130doc]

Hello all,

So one year ago i bought the following system with the intent to SLI the gtx 460 with a second card. Can I, and is it worth it?

I was looking at the power supply and i don't think it will be able to power a second card. So am i better to upgrade to a new video card altogether? The monitor upgrade is the driving force behind this, I'm still using a 6 year old BenQ 19”, so maybe i don't need to upgrade at all. It works but it's not HD or anything.

So do i need to upgrade at all? The MoBo has an on-board video chip set and I was also thinking of using it as, I think it's call videoFX? I remember it being talked about before i bought this set-up.

Any additional info would be appreciated

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week

BUDGET RANGE: $200-300 Canadian Before rebates

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (e.g.: Gaming new starwars MM, mass effect 3

CURRENT GPU: MSI N460GTX Hawk GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

POWER SUPPLY: Rosewill Green Series RG700-S12 700W Continuous @40°C,80 PLUS Certified,Single 12V Rail,Active PFC"Compatible with Core i7, ...


OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:

CPU, AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX445WFGMBOX

MoBo, - MSI NF980-G65 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

memory - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

Country: Canada

PARTS PREFERENCES: No preference

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Hope so

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Will be upgrading to this as well this week Asus VE228H 21.5" Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor w/Speakers ASCR 10,000,000:1

 

[inzone]

Well your power supply will support the two video cards if you decide to get another GTX 460. The two 460's in Sli would be all you need to play those games and if you are running Win 64 bit you could get another set of G.Skill ram to give you 8 gb because ram is so cheap right now it is a good time to take advantage of it , but only if you are running Win 64 bit.

 

[inzone]

Of course your budget does allow you to pick up this card ; EVGA 02G-P3-1568-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683.

It's a 2 gb card that is $279.99 with a $10 rebate and a free game (Free Batman Arkham game w/ purchase) a $49.99 value. What you would end up doing with the two cards is the 460 could be dedicated to physix and use the 56oTi for the main graphics. Just a thought....

 

[swifty_morgan]

so, you're using a 19" monitor. And the native resolution is what, 1024x768 ?........... you should have no need to sli that 460. I'd save my money and add to it and upgrade my entire system when the time comes.

 

[kyle382]

sure arkham is really good...for a game about a comic book, but it is still pretty boring imo.

having a 460 purely dedicated to physx seems a bit overkill....especially since the 560 could easily handle that also. If you really want to max out settings on newer games for about a year or 2 then i think two 460's would be great. If you want a more future proof solution then sell the 460 and get one 570 or 580 if you can afford it.

If your power supply can handle it (use newggs psu calculator) I would just get another 460. They are only $120 tops and selling graphics cards requires effort...I know EVGA lets you trade in your old card for a newer one, maybe msi does something like that. Also worth noting that upgrading from a 460 to a 560 or a 570 will show very little performance increase.

 

[kyle382]

agree with morgan that an upgrade may not be necessary at all. starwars mmo graphics look comparable to star trek online, which came out in 2009 and can run fairly high settings with a 9800gtx lol. ME3 will be prettier for sure, but your 460 is just fine.

 

[farrengottu]

starwars old republic has very low requirements. ive been beta testing on my radeon 5770 and with max settings its smooth everywhere. your card is 60-80% more powerful than mine. so your fine there.
mass effect 3 will have better graphics than 2 did but not much better. if lowering shadows, AA and AF to mid setting is ok with you then you dont really need a graphics upgrade. but if your like me then you want one anyways.
inzone's advise is on the money for the gpu but i personally would get that processor upgraded first. on newegg.ca you can get a phenom II 955 black for $115, which should get you around 30% more performance in games.
source
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-2010/Gaming-Left-4-Dead-2,Marque_fbrandx32,2433.html
and between 5% and 50% for everything else.
you can even ebay your old processor for $40 making the upgrade quite cheap at that point.

 

[inzone]

so, you're using a 19" monitor. And the native resolution is what, 1024x768 ?........... you should have no need to sli that 460. I'd save my money and add to it and upgrade my entire system when the time comes.

He did say he was upgrading the Monitor this week , to a 21.5" HD Led Hdmi Asus VE228H.

 

[inzone]

sure arkham is really good...for a game about a comic book, but it is still pretty boring imo.

having a 460 purely dedicated to physx seems a bit overkill....especially since the 560 could easily handle that also. If you really want to max out settings on newer games for about a year or 2 then i think two 460's would be great. If you want a more future proof solution then sell the 460 and get one 570 or 580 if you can afford it.

If your power supply can handle it (use newggs psu calculator) I would just get another 460. They are only $120 tops and selling graphics cards requires effort...I know EVGA lets you trade in your old card for a newer one, maybe msi does something like that. Also worth noting that upgrading from a 460 to a 560 or a 570 will show very little performance increase.

The program you are refering to is the Evga step up and it is only good for 90 days after you purchase one of thier video cards. You can't trade in a Msi card to Evga.

 

[cc130doc]

Sorry real life is busy,

So the consensuses seems to be keep the card i have and not upgrade it? Do something else? Not sure about the processor upgrade. I think I'll wait until i do a few system upgrade then. maybe early next year. Just to be sure though the 460 will handle the new monitor resolution requirements right?

Charles

 

[cc130doc]

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