Upgrade question, and gtx 275 for physx?

[atsports]

Current system
Phenom II x3 (unlocked to x4 @ 3.1)
gtx 275
4gb ocz amd edition ram ddr3 1600
700 thermaltake power supply
asus m4a79 xtd evo motherboard am3 AMD® 790X / SB750 Chipset

I plan on upgrading to a GTX 460 with a phenom II quad core overclocked. Should i even upgrade or just buy a used GTX 275 and get a sli motherboard? Im on a budget. have the necessary cooling with a cooler master 690 (6 120mm fans). also want to upgrade the ram from 4gb ddr3 1600 to 8gb.

my question is should i use my old evga gtx 275 superclocked as a dedicated physx card? I hate to have it go to waste as i have barely used it for a year.

my second question is should i also upgrade the motherboard and power supply?

 

[benski]

Are you playing something that makes you think you need an upgrade? The 275 isn't a good choice for a physx card because it uses too much power, 33w at idle, which is all it will be doing most of the time. The 460 is barely an upgrade, it's like 5% faster so not worth the trouble.

 

[renz496]

^+1

if you really want noticeable performance upgrade at least go for GTX570 but you need to OC you cpu a bit to reduce/eliminate the bottleneck effect. about the physx stuff GTX570 alone should be able to handle graphic and physx processing with acceptable performance. if you're insist on dedicated physx processing just pick something like GT240. but for me it is better to go for GTX570 in SLI (but your going to need better processor for that no doubt) rather than GTX570 + dedicated physx card. just my opinion though

 

[wa1]

^+2

 

[monsta]

^+3

 

[inzone]

Depeding on what you can get the second 275 for a new MB for what you have is about $93;

ASUS M4N75TD AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131637

This might be the cheapest way for you to go and you can keep your power supply and use the 275 you have in sli. When the decision is to be made , you are the one paying and it's going to be what you want to do. It is also going to depend on your budget. We can only give you suggestions and different setups.

 

[benski]

I would enjoy what you have and see what's available towards the end of the year.