Will SLI give me better FPS While gaming ?

[kegga62]

As of right now I am running one PNY Nvidia 550 Ti GPU. My question is, If I bought another one and ran them in SLI would I get better FPS while gaming. I know I should have bought a better GPU but money was tight and still is. Also should I upgrade my CPU. The newest game I have is Call of duty Black ops. The game I play the most is Nascar Racing 2003 Season with all new Mods and tracks. I'm looking to improve FPS playing that game.

My Computer is as of 10/13/11

Motherboard is: ASUS, M2N32-SLI, Deluxe
AMD Socket, AM2+/AM2
NVIDIA nforce 590 SLI
2xPCI-E x16 Slot,Nvidia SLI Support, At Fullx16x16 Speed
Dual Channel DDR2 800/667/533 Memory/Ram
Bios updated 5/3/11 to 5002

CPU/Prossesor is: AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core Processor 6400+
P/S is a: Xfinity 600 Watt. ATX SLI ready

Ram/Memory is:
Total Memory is : 3070MB
4 sticks total
2 sticks are: 1024MB,667mhz(speed) 64bit
2 sticks are: 512MB,667mhz(speed) 64bit

2 Hard Drives:
Maxtor S TM3200820AS SCSI
WDC WD32 00AAKS-00B3A

DVD/CD Drives:
TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U USB

Grafix Card:
PNY Nvida 550Ti

Sound Blaster Sound card

Monitor is: ASUS 24" HD Running in 1920x1080px32

 

[samuelspark]

Most definitely you would have to replace your PSU as Xfinity is a Tier 4 brand which will cause fireworks in your computer when you try to SLI with it. And SLI definitely would increase your FPS by about 80% - 100%.

 

[kegga62]

I've ran SLI since I built this PC. I was running 2 PNY Nvidia 9800 GTX in SLI. Then bought 2 of the PNY 550Ti but got rid of one. My Power supply is SLI ready. And I did have both 550 Ti's running once but I was trying to upgrade my CPU to a AMD Phenom ll x4 940 and things wern't running correctly. So I went back to my old 64x2 CPU and by the time I got everything running right. I sold the other 550 Ti.

 

[kegga62]

But maybe I should look into a bigger P/S

 

[toneekay]

Did you have enough amps on your 12v rail on that power supply?

Also, when you upgraded processors, did you reformat and reinstall the OS? You would've gotten so much better performance running those two 550s on the 940 cpu than the older dual core.

 

[dalmvern]

I just checked and that PSU only provides 456W on the 12V rails. Definitely need a better PSU.

 

[Djentleman]

Psu and cpu upgrade. And then you wont get any bottle necking.

 

[toneekay]

He needs the PSU upgrade to run that stronger processor and 550's in SLI.

 

[kegga62]

Will this work ?
Kingwin ABT-1050MM Maximum Power 1050-Watt Power Supply - ATX, 1050W, 140mm Fan, Crossfire/SLI Compatible. $109.99
AMD Athlon II X4 605e Quad Core Processor $139.99
and another PNY GeForce GTX 550 Ti both running in SLI $131.99
Sorry, PNY GeForce GTX 550 Ti is the card I already have.

 

[LongLiveRock1974]

That power supply is way overkill. I'd be fine with a 700watt.

 

[dalmvern]

That PSU is better, but now you are overpowering your machine and wasting energy. You will be fine with an 850W, even a 750W as long as they are quality units. Make sure the PSU is providing enough power on the 12V rails, not the just the overall power output.

 

[atsports]

I would look at newegg for better prices as the prices you quoted are insanely high...
You dont need a 1050 watt power supply. A 650+ from a quality brand (80 plus certified) will work fine judging by your system. I would wait about 3 weeks before you purchase a cpu as prices will fall because of the zambezi release. I would look into a Phenom II x4 3.0 black edition, a decent power supply, and if you dont mind used parts, I have an evga gtx 275 superclocked i would part with for $100 bucks. Or you could look on ebay. Prices for last generation's cards are falling and some of them you can find new. A gtx 275 or equivilent will do you just fine. It is much faster than both those gtx 550's in SLI, and wont heat up your case as much. Shop around. I prefer newegg.

 

[Djentleman]

Yup a good solid 750watt psu will do you just fine. Also the way you find out how many watts are coming out of your 12v rail to power your Cpu and gpu. Is with this simple little equation; VOLTS*AMPS=WATTS. Find that out and you know how much is coming out of that 12v rail.

 

[samuelspark]

Kingwin is a bunch of junk. 700w ocz MODXSTREAM pro would suffice. Only $60 with MIR

 

[kegga62]

Thanks guys.

 

[kegga62]

Here's what I've come up with.
From newwegg:
P/S OCZ ModXstreem Pro 700W $89.99
The only compatable CPU I could find for my motherboard is:
AMD Phenom llx4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz $109.99
GPU: PNY VCGGTX550TXPB GeForce GTX 550 Ti $149.99 Matches the GPU I have. Total Cost $349.97
From Tigerdirect,
P/S Thermaltake TPX-775M Toughpower XT
775W-ATX, 80 plus bronze, SLI Certified $69.99
CPU: AMD Athlon llx4 605e $139.99
GPU: PNY VCGGTX550TXPB GeForce GTX 550 Ti $131.99
Total Cost $341.97

Out of these two list. Which one is the better CPU ? Tigerdirect has more compatable CPU's for my mobo. Newegg only had that one that I could find.

 

[toneekay]

The 945 should work fine with no problems... This is just me personally but, I've had had experiences with the OCZ power supplies. My brother had the 700w modular and I had the 600w modular; both failed within a years time.

If you can afford it, try looking for a Corsair psu, as they're really built tough!

 

[kegga62]

So I could get the AMD Phenom llx4 945 from newegg and get the rest from Tigerdirect. The P/S I looked at were all pretty pricy. Do you have any thoughts on the Thermaltake TPX-775M Toughpower XT 775W-ATX, 80 plus bronze, SLI Certified $69.99

 

[kegga62]

Like I said my power supply has always done me fine: Ultra Xfinity 600 Watt. ATX SLI ready. This is the first time I'm not running two GPU's in SLI. But if I upgrade my CPU From a Dual Core to a Quad core and run 2 PNY VCGGTX550TXPB GeForce GTX 550 Ti in SLI. I should upgrade my P/S ? I'm going to have to buy it piece by piece. I should probably buy the P/S first. Then The Quad Core CPU and get that up and running then the GPU if I still need it.

 

[toneekay]

I would get the CPU first, then reformat/reinstall the OS fresh from the beginning. If you're still having the problems you had before like with the other quad core you tried installing, then it may be a problem with cpu/mobo compatibility. But if everything works, then I'd grab the cards for SLI.

I'm not too sure about your PSU, but if what's said above is true about your psu only putting out 450w on the 12v rails, then it's possible that that's holding you back from using the cards effectively and may require you to upgrade to something more suitable.

 

[toneekay]

I have an EVGA GTX 550 Ti for sale if you're interested as well. It's guaranteed to work... Also similar to the PNY card you have now. (Just throwing it out there just in case you don't want to spend more money on top of what you already have to purchase)

Link: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/102381-8-evga-shipped

 

[kegga62]

Thank you. What would you want for the EVGA GTX 550 Ti and could I run the two together PNY GeForce GTX 550 Ti + EVGA GTX 550 Ti in SLI ?
The last time I upgraded to a Quad CPU I didn't reinstall my OS. All I did was update the bios. That's problably why I had problems.
The AMD Phenom llx4 945 is supported by my Mobo. I'll have to check and see what bios and maybe update that. But besides that it should be an easy update. I just don't really know how to do it step by step. I just checked and the bios as far as I know is what I'm running now. 5002 How would I check what bios I'm running again ?

 

[jjb8675309]

No no no ocz and kingwinn are crap, modular leds do not make a good psu :lol:

as long as they are both 550tis the manufacturer does not matter,

just because its some form of 80+ it does not mean much, just that its efficient but not that it delivers the specs that it promises, go with a nice XFX, Antec, Corsair, or Seasonic

go to your bios and check version


for a cpu get a 955 for about $110, much better choice.. then
get a quality psu from a reliable manufacturer

lol and to all the people that say you need a 750w or more to run 550ti sli, you have no clue, you could run 550ti sli on a quality 500W unit, you can run gtx 560ti on a quality 650w unit...

conversely you cannot run anything on a crappy $100 dollar, 1000w psu, there is something wrong with that equation if its too good to be true, it probably is

a single gtx 550ti card will draw 118W, about 10 or less amps, which is basically nothing for a decent 500-600W unit to produce, hell I have a 650 W XFX unit that produces 52 AMPs on a 12v rail and ran dual 6870s no problem to give you a comparison of what a good psu can do vs a crappy one

you need to get your bios upgraded with an older chip and then install a 955, get a new psu, then get a secong 550ti:

for the money Id get something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

then you will be good to run higher combinations of sli cards in future builds, plus its only like 10 bucks more then the tx650w model right now, ive heard that some TT psus are decent but for me I with what I trust and has proven to work over the years...

if you value your components then this is what I think you should do... in the end maybe a mobo/ram upgrade will be in order as well.. but being that ram is cheap only the first thing will be ultimately costly but if you went with a 955 you could carry it over to a 990(Fx) board and run sli with a 955 on board as the cpu being the BD is looking quite sorry for gaming I think that would be the best option in the long run

for some reason the Phenom II 955 is not coming up on newegg but with a bios upgrade you should have no problems running that cpu on your current mobo but overclocking capabilities may be limited which is partly why I suggest moving to a newer am3+ board in the future when money is not as tight

 

[toneekay]

Wow, JJB just pretty much covered everything lol.

Kegga, if you're interested in the video card I have for sale, check out the link posted above (it's my FS thread).

 

[jjb8675309]

lol thanks I felt like there was a fair deal of misinformation/assumption being spread and wouldn't want the OP to get the wrong idea is all Im curious to see what he says back... this thread feels like dejavu of a thread that was going around a while back...