Sli 9800GTX+ 512mg, good idea? 86 bucks.

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NEvitus

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Well, I got all excited last night when I saw a 9800GTX+ on ebay for sale for only 31 dollars and 11 dollars S/H. I thought, oh yeah, and I placed a max bid of $100 USD because I figured, if I could save $60 instead of purchasing a 6850, I would. Sli is better right? Well... now I'm looking into it(yes I know, I should have did this before, but I can still return it) and it seems like it might have been a bad idea... poor judgement on my part. Anyhow, ended up paying 86 bucks + 11 in s/(total $97).

My current build which I will be adding it to if it's a good idea is:

AMD Athlon 64x2 5200+ 2.7ghz
9800 GTX+ 512mb
550w psu
4gigs of ram.
Windows 7, 64 bit.

Also, current mobo only supports up to a Phenom II x4 965 at best.

All in all, I expect to upgrade to:
FX 4100, 750w psu

Basically:

A- Was it a good idea?
B- If so, can I get by with my current build?
C- Should I just go ahead and upgrade now?

Money is an issue, I have only around 500 as a budget. Yes I realize it'll cost around 260 to upgrade to Zambezi build alone. Mobo, CPU, and Ram. So I've technically already spent 360 dollars without even grabbing a new PSU.
 

vitornob

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About the CPU:
As per these articles (Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: February 2012 and Picking A Sub-$200 Gaming CPU: FX, An APU, Or A Pentium?). You should spend your money in an Intel rig. For games it's simply better.

About the PSU:
750w? What's that for?
I do have a 750w, but I use to run a i7-2600k with SLI GTX 460. You don't need that PSU at all (unless you planning future upgrades)
Mostly important: do NOT, I repeat, do NOT buy a PSU without posting here about it. PSU mighty turn an awful or a terrific buy. It's all about manufacturer, 12v rail distribution, amperage.

Which games you want to play? Which are the other usage to PC?
 

bucknutty

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I would not get a new AMD chip. The performace per dollar ratio is just to low when compared to the intel chips.

As far as the SLI 9800gtxs go, I think you will be dissappointed with the performace you will get. I am on my third SLI setup and its always a challenge and never works out as well as you think it will. The only reason I still mess with it is for the 3 screen surround. Once you spend the time and money to get a 5760x1080 resolution in game working its hard to go back.

If your up for the challange and you want to learn about multi GPU and you think of it as a hobby then the 100 bucks on the 9800gtx is money well spent. How ever if you wanted the most stable computer with the best 3d performance you should have gone with a newer single card.

As Vitornob pointed out there is also a PSU concern with the 2 9800gtx those cards could pull around 170 watt each, and they are offten labeled as requiring a PSU with atleast 24 amps on the 12 volt. If you double that and think 50 amps now your in the area of a higher end more expensive PSU.
 

sunnk

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it would be good to buy an amd phenom ii x4 965 be instead of fx 4100 as a cpu the 965be has the better gaming and overall performance the fx is good for office work not for gaming and no need to cost more on mobo so you will get an better cpu without costing more for mobo.:)

for gpu you will get an hd 6770 or hd 6850 at a lower price with good performance.:)
 

NEvitus

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Hmmm...

Well, I heard my current PSU is not that great; in fact border line cpu suicide. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028 but I have had no problems with it so far. PSU calculator states that I only use 300w currently, so I assume that's why.

I forgot to mention my resolution, 1440x900 .

As for the purpose of my rig... well, 100% gaming. Of course I will use it for internet purposes, but I doubt that matters performance-wise.

From what I can understand, for a budget gaming system, I should buy a HD 6870 and its performance should be better than SLI GTX+. I'm just wondering if I do that, if my CPU will bottleneck the GPU. If it does, I'll have to upgrade my CPU... which... amounts to either a Phenom II 965 or trying to get a new build(a.k.a. New Mobo, CPU, Ram in addition to the new GPU)

As far as the GTX9800 goes, I got in contact with the seller and he said he will refund if I want; from reading these posts I shall return it. Minus the 11 dollars S/h he already bought, which is a small price to pay for an otherwise large mistake.

Edit: I think my Mobo can't even sli... not sure, Asus M3n78 Pro
 

NEvitus

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it's no not a SLi motherboard but does have the nVidia chipset.
the 965BE is the sweet spot in choices as the FX- Bulldozer falls short.
and to do FX-Bulldozer then of course it's time for new hardware.
also that resolution is childish, you need 1080P..
get the HD 6870 and 965BE.

the 965BE and the HD 6870 you can take with you for the new build by getting an AM3+ motherboard later this year or whenever.
because if you don't have so a BIOS update for that motherboard will allow it to run ans Phenom II chip, ANY.
4GB of DDR2 1066MHz or 8GB is better but odds are you have DDR2 800MHz instead and that's not too bad.

it doesn't matter but some people are anal about such things, your motherboard being a nForce motherboard (nVidia)
some people might want a nVIdia graphics card, totally up to you because either will work..

I like this. It appeals to me in minimizing costs and keeping as much of my current build as I can. I'll look into nVidia for the simple fact that I have a nforce motherboard. Might as well make it as compatible as possible. I assume a 560 is equivalent to a 6870? I am also going to assume, since you didn't mention it, that my PSU is ok since it's survived so far. I'm going to restart my comp and check my memory now. I have a feeling you are correct in thinking I have 800mhz.

Also... could someone explain PhysX and using my old GTX+ as a Physx card? I am extremely noobish in this department if you can't tell.
 

NEvitus

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I have 2 Crucial Balistix 800mzh 4-4-4-12 2gig sticks in my system.

I've already updated my Bios to handle a Phenom II x4, so I will look into that. Not sure if it can handle an x6, I didn't see that here: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM2Plus/M3N78_PRO/#CPUS All I can see is x4 being the max, a 965 to be exact.

I'm going to look into the 560 Ti. Do you know anything about Hybrid sli for Physx?

As for my RAM... i have a silly question I have been wondering about... I have a Dual Channel Mobo, but I currently have 2x2gig sticks stuck in the same channel. Is this optimal? Or should I move on over to the second channel?
 

bucknutty

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use cpuz to see what the ram is currently running at. Normaly to run dual channel with 2 sticks you use every other ram slot. So it looks like a stick of ram an empty slot a stick of ram and an empty.

Of course all boards are different. Chances are in every day things and games you will not see a difference between single and dual channel.
 
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