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Upgrade to SLi 7600 GTs in 3 yr old system for gaming

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Upgrade to SLi 7600 GTs in 3 yr old system for gaming

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Camperjoe   05-15-2009 at 11:15:39 PM

Hello All,
Just discoverd this forum, appears to have a good community involvement so here's my inquiry; I would like to upgrade the video cards but having ignored the progress of video cards for a few years am not sure which way to go.
I run 7600 GTs in SLI with an AMD 64 X2 2.0 GHZ CPU on an ASUS M2N SlI Deluxe board with 2 GB Corsiar Mem, 500 W Antec PSU.
I borrowed my son's 9800 GTX+ cards and, wow. But my PSU couldn't take that kind of abuse for long.
So what do you suggest that is somewhere in between? I would rather not upgrade PSU but could if need necessary.
I use dual LCD screens (22", 19') and play NASCAR, GTR, GT Legends, DOOM3 MOH and COD series and Red Orchestra type games.
Thanks in advance for any feedback

Camperjoe

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Bronze Graphics badge Bluescreendeath   05-15-2009 at 11:26:12 PM
- 0 +

A 500watt PSU shouldn't have had any problems with a single 9800GTX.

How many amps on 12v rails does it have?

------------------------------ i7 920, E5300
GTX260, HD4870, HD4830
 Reply to Bluescreendeath
frozenlead   05-15-2009 at 11:32:30 PM
- 0 +

He said 9800GTX cards, which one would guess means he got two, and that's where the trouble came from - but he should be more clear on whether or not he actually has dual cards.

But, I agree, if the 500w PSU is struggling with a 9800GTX, something's amiss.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Sager NP5793 | T8100 2.1GHz | 4GB DDR2-667 | 8800mGTX 512MB | 320GB 5400rpm | 1920x1200 17", 24" | Win 7 x64
 Reply to frozenlead
Camperjoe   05-15-2009 at 11:46:08 PM
- 0 +

frozenlead wrote :

He said 9800GTX cards, which one would guess means he got two, and that's where the trouble came from - but he should be more clear on whether or not he actually has dual cards.

But, I agree, if the 500w PSU is struggling with a 9800GTX, something's amiss.



Sorry, just leaving work so can't repsond to voltage or amperage inquiries.

Thank you for the speedy and thoughtfull replies. Something my be amiss. Yes that's 2 9800GTX+ cards. Returned cards to my sone andbought 2 9800GTX+ cards locally. Installed easily enough and actually ran very well for maybe 3-5 hrs Sunday night. Come Monday decided to return one card because it had arrived minus connecting cables, turns out I didn't need them but decided to return it anyway. Installed replacement card and no go. A long beep followed by 2 short beeps.
With help from my son the gaming PC guru PC was brought back to life with SLI 7600 GT cards back in place. Now the specs for the 9800GTX+ stated minimum PSU 450 W but even with just one 9800GTX+ card installed it was a no go.
So now back to 7600GTs for the time being. Been great cards but had noticed drop in fps with larger screens, up from 19" and 17" LCDs and MOH Airborne was truly playable with those 9800GTX+ cards

Reply to Camperjoe
Bronze Graphics badge Bluescreendeath   05-16-2009 at 12:02:57 AM
- 0 +

For two 9800GTXs, yeh, you need a better PSU. I suggest a quality 650-700+watt PSU.

------------------------------ i7 920, E5300
GTX260, HD4870, HD4830
 Reply to Bluescreendeath
frozenlead   05-16-2009 at 12:04:28 AM
- 0 +

So you had two, they worked fine, then you replaced one, it didn't work, and you went back to the pair of 7600s?

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Sager NP5793 | T8100 2.1GHz | 4GB DDR2-667 | 8800mGTX 512MB | 320GB 5400rpm | 1920x1200 17", 24" | Win 7 x64
 Reply to frozenlead
rolli59   05-16-2009 at 12:08:39 AM
- 0 +

With the X2 at 2.0ghz two 9800GTX is more than one needs, people are even talking about bottleneck with one card.

Reply to rolli59
Camperjoe   05-16-2009 at 03:42:02 AM
- 0 +

frozenlead wrote :

So you had two, they worked fine, then you replaced one, it didn't work, and you went back to the pair of 7600s?



That is correct. Put my 2 7600 GT cards back in till I figure which way to go with a video card upgrade.
I figure to get another year or two out of this set up so I'm not wanting to invest a lot but I'm noticing a drop in frame rates moving to native resolution for the 22" LCD and I was hoping to get better frame rates all round in Far Cry 2 MOH Airborne and racing/flight sims
What about a 9800GT w/512 MB singular or SLI? Seems a bit tamer and not so power hungry as the 9800GTX+ but, in your opinion, will it be a worthwhile and noticeable improvement over my SLI 7600 GTs assuming I stick with 500 W PSU?
If I get the larger PSU, say 650 W... where do you think the threshold would be for CPU bottleneck holding back perfomance?
Lastly is bottleneck at the CPU 'bad' for the processor or merely a way of describing a perrfomance limit?

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