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Mixing Nvidia Cards

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  • Nvidia
  • Gtx
  • Graphics
  • Product
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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March 5, 2012 5:39:11 AM

Hello,

I currently have 2 GTX 460 (768mb) running in SLI, however, when playing SWTOR I have found using 1 card in some areas results in better FPS and less screen jitter.
So more often than not, i have SLI disabled, and I use the 2nd card as dedicated phys x.... i have no idea if this is even doing anything though...

I have been thinking of buying a single GTX 570 with 2.5GB memory.
(is there anything new coming out that it might be worth waiting a month or so that prices may drop on the 570)?

On a side note, I have always been partial to Nvidia, so I do not believe I will consider AMD.

Now my question:
I saw this briefly mentioned from another thread and it sparked an idea...
Id it possible to run 1 GTX 470 using this as dedicated Phys X and add the GTX 570 as my main card?

Is there any advantage to do doing this ? Will I see any improvement in FPS?
I am not sure what Phys X does...

I have read that A single 570 card is slightly slower than running 2 460 in SLI, but since I have the 768 versions and plan to get 2.5GB on 1 card, i am hoping they will at least be equal...

The rest of my system:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775
8 GB ram
WD 1tb caviar Black HD
750 watt Corsair PS
Visa 64 bit
Resolution 1650 x 1050

I intend to use the 2nd GTX 460 on another system.

Thanks everyone for your input :) 

More about : mixing nvidia cards

March 5, 2012 6:46:58 AM

A 7870 will match a GTX570 at lower power use for a lot lower price. Kepler will come out soon too so def wait. But you should consider AMD cards too they are quite good. No physx but barely any games use it. swtor doesn't. and a 470 is massive overkill for a dedicated physx card. you'd be better off selling it, you really don't need a dedicated physx card.

As for the jitter may be microstutter. Also SLI and crossfire can have game issues. are you on the latest drivers? there may be a fix if you Google around to avoid having to replace them.
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March 5, 2012 6:47:32 AM

The reason why you are getting lower fps, is because you have your q9550 at stock clocks which is bottlenecking the dual gpu setup. Overclock it and then it will perform much better.
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March 5, 2012 7:14:47 AM

I have 460's 1GB SLI'd w/ no problems. O/C'ed even. no problems but I don't play SWTOR or BF3. As for SLI'ed 460's clocked up, I can go toe to toe witha 570.
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March 5, 2012 12:15:01 PM

amuffin said:
The reason why you are getting lower fps, is because you have your q9550 at stock clocks which is bottlenecking the dual gpu setup. Overclock it and then it will perform much better.


I have a ASUS P5ND MB
I have tried to OC it using the built in OC feature 5%, 10%, 15% 20%
I can only get the 5% to run stable, windows locks when I set it higher.

I will do some searches this after noon on manually OC'ing it and hopefully achieve some more stable results.

@ everyone:
If my Q9550 is just too slow to keep up:
How much improvement would I hope to see if upgraded to an I5 or I7?
If I choose I7 do I go 1155 or 2011 chipset?

I could budget myself ~ $1k
but I really want to stay as cheap as I can. If OCing the CPU is all need, will 3.4 GHZ from 2.83GHZ really make that much of a difference?

My main objective is to get SWOTR running smooth with graphics maxed
Currently when raiding the 8 mans it is playable, but there are times when lots of AoE drops my FPS to single digits.
And moving around on the Imperial Fleet the game stutters when driving my speeder.
I would also like to increase the load times, currently it can take up to 1 min or more to load into a new zone.


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March 5, 2012 12:40:34 PM

get yourself an i5 2500k, coolermaster hyper 212 evo and asrock z68 gen3 extreme3, those 3 are best bang for your buck nowadays

is the ram you're using atm ddr2 or ddr3?

edit: nvm, just checked your mobo's specs and it supports ddr2

you'll need to replace the ram too

with a pair of 4gb corsair vengeance ddr3 1600mhz 1.5v it would net at around ~435$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

also idk if you have oem or retail vista (you can't reuse oem licence on new rig), but i'd suggest getting win7 x64 home premium
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March 5, 2012 1:16:18 PM

If you install Vista without the key, it gives you a trial period.
Ironically, you can then re-install it again and it allows you to input your original key.

I haven't used ASROCK before, are they as good as ASUS?
I have been using ASUS for years now without problems.

I have built about 16 computers at my work and all have ASUS in them as well....

Will I really see a noticeable speed difference going from the Q9550 to an I5?

And I assume you think my GTX 460's will be fine.

Thanks for all the info you linked :) 


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March 5, 2012 1:38:58 PM

2500k will steamroll your old c2q, have no doubt about it

asrock is basically spin-off of asus, the quality of components they're making is equal so that's nothing to be worried about

i think the only difference is that asus provides better support for the price premium

one thing to note is that in many benchmarks i've personally seen, asrock's boards would almost always be the fastest ones out of competing brands such as gigabyte, msi, asus, etc. (by a slight margin but still something to think about)

they also always seem to give more features for less $$ compared to others

and yes 460 sli is very nice indeed, it's a shame they're only 768mb though
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March 5, 2012 6:32:37 PM

I am still not sold on the ASROCK...well not 100%, but after reading through tons of Reviews on NewEgg... maybe ASUS isn't as good as it once was.

That said, if I go with Overclocking my Q9550, do you think the performance will be noticeable?
Sometimes SWTOR runs perfectly fine, but there are areas and circumstances when the FPS get into the teens... and the game stutters.

I am a bit new to the OC game... not to say I haven't tried, just not with much success. So I would rather not take a chance breaking something if in the end I am right back where I started.


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