Undecided on the GTX 460

[slvr42]

Hi-

I am looking to update my graphics card this week.

Primarily will be playing Starcraft II in 1680 X 1050 but will be upgrading to a 24 inch monitor and gaming @ 1920 X 1080. Custom in game settings but I would like the card to be able to run @ ultra for the campaign.

The card or crads I get will be going in to the new gaming rig I'm building with the following specs.

Processor: Intel Core I5-2500k Sandy Bridge LGA 1155 Socket
MoBo: LGA 1155 P67 2 x16 PCIe ASUS P67/68
Dual 16x lanes
GPU: 2 Nvidia GTX 460* 1gb
8 Gig of ram expandable to 16
700w power supply
2x1 terrabyte Samsung Spinpoint F3
32 gig ssd OCZ Vertex 2 60 GB

To keep cost down I'm looking at picking up 2 of the evga 460 SE's Newegg has them for 100 dollars a piece after mail in rebate. For 200 dollars I can put two of them in SLI and get pretty decent performance. I will be software overclocking the cards slightly. I have read lots of negative reviews of the SE cards but for $100 a piece they seem like a really good deal. I'm pretty set on Nvidia since I primarily will be playing StarCraft. What does everyone think?

 

[cuecuemore]

The 460 SE is a good card and it will run SC2 for you with no problems (especially in SLI) Keep in mind that you can only get the rebate on one of them.

Quick edit: You can grab the regular one for $100 after rebate and instead of getting another of the same model @ $140, grab the Superclocked one for $115:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130597

 

[slvr42]

Should I just spend the extra 15 and get two SuperClocked ones? Or can I only get the rebate on one of those as well?

Also will having two cards with different clock speeds have any adverse effects?

 

[cuecuemore]

You can only get the rebate on one of each model, regardless of which model. What I would do if I were you is run the SC as your top card and underclock it; then if you can live with higher temps you can move the clocks up. (Over/underclocking your video is a 17 second process.)

 

[slvr42]

Run as top card, ie the one that would get less airflow?

I can live with the heat since I have my tower in a makeshift cooling case.

Either way I should definitely try to match clock speeds on the two cards?

 

[cuecuemore]

Yes, the one that gets less air, that's why I would underclock it to start out with. Do try to match the clock speeds, though, insofar as I have observed, it's not the biggest deal if you don't. I have two GTX 460s with very different factory clocks, and I've accidentally run games with them both at their respective defaults with no ill effects. The reason for this is that every time you enable SLI (which you typically have to do after a driver update) the clocks are reset.

 

[slvr42]

Awesome! Thanks Much!

 

[The_OGS]

I run a single GTX460 1GB now, not enough, not really.
But I'd go up to a higher level single-vidcard, wanting the performance at all times (not whether or not there's been a Crossfire Profile created).
Do you really want 2 vidcards? It can be a pain in the butt...
But you can't argue with the value I guess, $200 bucks won't go far when you're looking at 1 x GTX560 ti for that price.
Yeah I bet 2 x GTX460 would kick its butt,
Regards

 

[slvr42]

Best answer selected by slvr42.