Upgrading 8800GT $200-$300 Budget

[Scout11]

First off Sorry, Its my first post here and just trying to follow the format given to ask this type of question. So here goes:

Purchase Date: This week ASAP
Usage: Regularly DCS: A10C, occasionally IL2 1946, FSX, SH4, Watching Movies
Current GPU and PSU: EVGA 01G-P3-N816-AR GeForce 8800GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3; CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
Other System Specs: CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q6700 2.66GHz Mobo: ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX
Website: Newegg, Tiger Direct
Country: USA
Parts Preference: Nvidia EVGA
Overlocking: Maybe, very interested in the superclocked cards
SLI: Maybe at a later time
Monitor Res: 1680x1050
Comments: Mostly interested in and looking for advice for the 460-470 series cards cause the 480's are kinda out of my price range

Again if I am posting in the wrong place or wrong way, please forgive me. I'm just looking for help.

Thanks

 

[rolli59]

Fastest GTX460 1GB around.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130575 plenty for your resolution.

 

[Scout11]

What about the 470's? They have more processor cores but less MHz? It just makes me more confused.

 

[chumly]

I suggest 2 450's in SLI. $10 off, with a $30 MIR makes the cards $89 each. Only needs a 600W PSU.
Link

You have to order them seperately from Newegg with that promo code, though, otherwise it only applies to the one card.

This config kills a 470.

 

[ochho87]

Fastest GTX460 1GB around.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130575 plenty for your resolution.

^

I agree with that statement.

At your resolution, anything more than an overclocked 460 GTX 1GB is overkill. And also that card is a factory-overclocked card meaning you don't even need to take any risks if you are not familiar with overclocking.
(Just FYI with EVGA cards "FTW" is faster than "Superclocked" is faster than "OC", so this is the fastest one around).

Yes, you can get better performance for cheaper with let's say the 450s SLI as stated above, but there are a couple of things you need to consider:

1) Upgrade path. If you get a single card solution right now, you can add a 2nd one in SLI in a year or two and you will be set for quite a while.

2) I am no expert, but the word is some games do not scale well with SLI .. especially at lower resolutions. So, again a single card solution seems the better option.

 

[chumly]

2) I am no expert, but the word is some games do not scale well with SLI .. especially at lower resolutions. So, again a single card solution seems the better option.

Well, here is a list of multiple games tested: here

The ONLY game it's not scaling well with seems to be battlefield bad company 2. It's still doing better at his resolution than a 460. Once again, it is cheaper than a 460, and his setup shoulda already handle the cards without changing anything else.

And here's a few more games tested as well with the same results. I want to know where people are getting this idea that this isn't a good idea from. Link here.

 

[Mousemonkey]

^

I agree with that statement.

At your resolution, anything more than an overclocked 460 GTX 1GB is overkill. And also that card is a factory-overclocked card meaning you don't even need to take any risks if you are not familiar with overclocking.
(Just FYI with EVGA cards "FTW" is faster than "Superclocked" is faster than "OC", so this is the fastest one around).

Yes, you can get better performance for cheaper with let's say the 450s SLI as stated above, but there are a couple of things you need to consider:

1) Upgrade path. If you get a single card solution right now, you can add a 2nd one in SLI in a year or two and you will be set for quite a while.

2) I am no expert, but the word is some games do not scale well with SLI .. especially at lower resolutions. So, again a single card solution seems the better option.

By lower resolutions you would be talking 10 x 7 and lower, 12 x10 is better and allows for max eyecandy but will normally run into CPU issues and 16 x 10 and higher is where dual cards start to work really well in my experience.

 

[chumly]

I guess from what I was recommended in another thread, I still believe you can get the most bang for the buck from the SLi 450's. I think your config is going to need another MB, though, from what I'm reading the board you have doesn't have PCIe 2.0. I understand that it is backwards compatible (I may be wrong?), but you won't be taking full advantage of your new card(s), whichever you choose.

 

[Scout11]

Damm you guys are killing me, I was just about to pull the trigger on two GTX 460's FTX's and SLI them, then I saw this. And I checked also on the mobo and from the info I'm seeing also from the discription on newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142) and the writing on the mobo say PCIex16 on both slots I'm guessing its not 2.0 right? I think thats right but Im not sure.

What you guys think will happen if I SLI two 460's FTX's and all I have is PCIex16?

Another question, if I do SLI those two cards, with a 750W PSU, will I be ok or do I have to go bigger? Cause the cards recommend 450w minimum.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Damm you guys are killing me, I was just about to pull the trigger on two GTX 460's FTX's and SLI them, then I saw this. And I checked also on the mobo and from the info I'm seeing also from the discription on newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142) and the writing on the mobo say PCIex16 on both slots I'm guessing its not 2.0 right? I think thats right but Im not sure.

What you guys think will happen if I SLI two 460's FTX's and all I have is PCIex16?

Don't get mixed up with the PCIe slots. PCIE 2.0 is a specification, both PCIe 1.0 and 2.0 are x16, the bandwidth of PCIe 1.0 will not reduce the performance of your chosen cards by any noticeable amount.

 

[Mousemonkey]

The GTX460's use between 140w and 160w depending on OC, so a 600w PSU would run a pair in SLi.

 

[Scout11]

Cool deal, so I should be ok?
That got me scared for a while there. I just cant do all that replacing right now, cause if I would have to get a new mobo I might as well upgrade CPU RAM and that gets pricey at mach speed.

I know its probably overkill but I just don't want to have FPS problems. I want to run the game at full settings and I dont want issues cause I shorted myself on the GPU. Plus I'm hopeing that this investment will last me quite awhile.

 

[chumly]

Either way I think with an upgrade like this to your video, your processor is going to be your bottleneck.

 

[Scout11]

Yeah Im sure it will. How bad we talking?

 

[jyjjy]

SLIed GTX 460s is massive overkill for your resolution and will be limited by your CPU. As you can see on the chart ct1615 provided above a reference GTX 460 1gb is already approximately twice as powerful as your current card(8800GT = 9800GT.) The FTW card is overclocked by 26% on top of that so it should be close to 2.5 times as fast as the 8800GT. At the very least get one first instead of two at once and see if you even need the second card. If you ever do actually need something more powerful you can add another card.
Whatever card/s you end up getting you should overclock your processor.

 

[Tamz_msc]

jyjjy is correct.The GTX 460 1GB is ideal for 1680x1050.

 

[rolli59]

^+1 A single card will handle it fine. Crysis here at 32.2 FPS http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Point_Of_View/GeForce_GTX_460_TGT_Beast/11.html

 

[Scout11]

Guys, Thank you so much, I took everyones advice and went with one 460 FTW. What a good first experience here. I really dont want to pick a best answer cause they were all very helpful and I appreciate all the advice and information.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Mousemonkey]

Guys, Thank you so much, I took everyones advice and went with one 460 FTW. What a good first experience here. I really dont want to pick a best answer cause they were all very helpful and I appreciate all the advice and information.

Thanks!!!!

I would have thought picking the BA would be easy considering your purchase.

 

[Scout11]

Best answer selected by Scout11.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey