So I'm having some thoughts about updating a 6 year old PC. There are no major issues I can see other than clearly "old" components especially in technology terms. Below I'll copy/paste the CPUID .txt file. Really I'm thinking about just adding another 460GTX and running SLI. A few questions I have about that though. I've never done an SLI set up before and am not sure where to begin. I understand I plug it in to the next available PCI-e port, bridge the 2 GPU's, and add power.
I know my PC is old but it runs great and at some point in the future I'll probably buy a nice laptop and keep this desktop as a general PC instead of my gaming machine. I figure a $2000 laptop connected to a 1080p monitor over HDMI would AT LEAST match the power of my current PC so spending 100 bucks on a second GPU to last another 6-12 months is fairly reasonable. If there are any other relatively cheap MAJOR upgrades, I'm open to suggestion though. However I WOULD still like to have the GPU questions answered in case I do end up going that route. Thanks in advance for any help provided!
I want to upgrade.
Here are my specs:
MOBO -
Northbridge NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI SPP rev. A2
Southbridge NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP rev. A2
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 8192 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 395.9 MHz (11:13)
CAS# latency (CL) 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 5
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 5
Cycle Time (tRAS) 18
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 22
Command Rate (CR) 2T
CPU -
Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 4 (max 4)
Number of threads 4 (max 4)
Name Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Codename Kentsfield
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 775 LGA (0x4)
CPUID 6.F.7
Extended CPUID 6.F
Core Stepping B3
Technology 65 nm
Core Speed 3015.1 MHz
Multiplier x FSB 9.0 x 335.0 MHz
Rated Bus speed 1340.0 MHz
Stock frequency 2400 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, EM64T, VT-x
L1 Data cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 x 4096 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
FID range 6.0x - 9.0x
Max VID 1.300 V
# of P-States 0
PSU -
Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply GeForce GTX 480 Certified
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153054
Video Card -
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX460 SE
Revision A1
1 GB DDR5
OC'd -
800 MHz clock, 1000 MHz Memory, and 1600 MHz Shader
Factory -
648 MHz clock, 850 MHz Memory, and 1296 MHz Shader
Here are my questions about SLI:
1. The current GPU is plugged into 2 of the 3 available 3v connectors on my PSU. Which connectors on the PSU would I place the new GTX into?
2. I know I need to tell my mobo to boot SLI but I have never tried to set it up before in the BIOS and am unsure how exactly to do so.
3. Will I need to overclock the second GTX to exactly the same specs as the first? I used Afterburner to OC the GPU, the CPU is OC'd through BIOS, and will Afterburner recognize both GPU's or will it apply the settings to both automatically?
4. Anything else I may have missed?
I know my PC is old but it runs great and at some point in the future I'll probably buy a nice laptop and keep this desktop as a general PC instead of my gaming machine. I figure a $2000 laptop connected to a 1080p monitor over HDMI would AT LEAST match the power of my current PC so spending 100 bucks on a second GPU to last another 6-12 months is fairly reasonable. If there are any other relatively cheap MAJOR upgrades, I'm open to suggestion though. However I WOULD still like to have the GPU questions answered in case I do end up going that route. Thanks in advance for any help provided!
I want to upgrade.
Here are my specs:
MOBO -
Northbridge NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI SPP rev. A2
Southbridge NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP rev. A2
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 8192 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 395.9 MHz (11:13)
CAS# latency (CL) 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 5
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 5
Cycle Time (tRAS) 18
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 22
Command Rate (CR) 2T
CPU -
Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 4 (max 4)
Number of threads 4 (max 4)
Name Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Codename Kentsfield
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 775 LGA (0x4)
CPUID 6.F.7
Extended CPUID 6.F
Core Stepping B3
Technology 65 nm
Core Speed 3015.1 MHz
Multiplier x FSB 9.0 x 335.0 MHz
Rated Bus speed 1340.0 MHz
Stock frequency 2400 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, EM64T, VT-x
L1 Data cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 x 4096 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
FID range 6.0x - 9.0x
Max VID 1.300 V
# of P-States 0
PSU -
Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply GeForce GTX 480 Certified
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153054
Video Card -
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX460 SE
Revision A1
1 GB DDR5
OC'd -
800 MHz clock, 1000 MHz Memory, and 1600 MHz Shader
Factory -
648 MHz clock, 850 MHz Memory, and 1296 MHz Shader
Here are my questions about SLI:
1. The current GPU is plugged into 2 of the 3 available 3v connectors on my PSU. Which connectors on the PSU would I place the new GTX into?
2. I know I need to tell my mobo to boot SLI but I have never tried to set it up before in the BIOS and am unsure how exactly to do so.
3. Will I need to overclock the second GTX to exactly the same specs as the first? I used Afterburner to OC the GPU, the CPU is OC'd through BIOS, and will Afterburner recognize both GPU's or will it apply the settings to both automatically?
4. Anything else I may have missed?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram