Did I make a mistake?

[plasma-visuals]

So my 9800GT broke, pop pop bang bang gone.

Time to upgrade because my PC is not only used for play but primarily for work.
I've had a good run with NVIDIA over the years and so I only look at the NVIDIA side of things.

I end up buying the Asus GTX 560TI DirectCU II OC'd to 900Mhz, as my friend has one and it seems great. And so far so good its been able to run everything I want in really good detail.

However I bought my motherboard years back and I run a LGA1156 i5-750. The motherboard I have is the Asus P7P556 . At the time I skimped on the pro edition as it seemed unessicary. This means I don't have SLI support, but I do have Crossfire. I don't want to change my CPU and getting hold of a SLI LGA1156 mobo is almost impossible or ridiculously expensive.

So, did I make a mistake in rushing to get the GTX 560ti??
Should I have got an equivalent from AMD so that I could in the future just go for the CrossFire option??
What is the equivalent of an OC'd GTX 560ti??

I also read that certain motherboards wont take too much gpu memory. Does this apply to CrossFire aswell.
For example if your motherboard only supports 2GB of GPU Ram and you have CrossFire 2GB Gpu's (4 total) will it work?


TLDR: Should I have got an AMD for Crossfire Instead of GTX 560ti??

 

[geekapproved]

There's no such thing as a motherboard that won't take too much gpu memory. lol

Did you make a mistake? Well that depends on your want's and needs.

i5-750 is way too slow for Crossfire equivelent of 560ti's in SLI, so you would need to overclock a lot for that anyways.

I think what you bought is a pretty good match for your cpu. An equivalent would be the 6950 1GB, which is discontinued and replaced with the faster 7850 2GB.

 

[Sunius]

I don't think you'd end up SLIing GTX 560 Ti in the future, because in a year for the same $200 you'll be able to buy a much stronger card. Also, GTX 560 Ti is a decent card. You didn't go wrong .

Next year Intel will be launching the Haswell platform, so you might want to upgrade the CPU with a motherboard then.

Also, motherboards have no GPU RAM limits, no idea where you read that from.

Lastly, when you SLI or Crossfire, the memory isn't added up. 2 GB + 2 GB is still 2 GB.

Hope I helped .

 

[plasma-visuals]

My 9800GT lasted me forever, 7 years or something.

I bought the GTX 560 under the impression that it would have the same staying power.

Does SLI add life to the cards, how much big a diffrence does it make to performance?

Maybe you could link me to some SLI vs Single GPU charts?

If they are releasing a new line then I think I will save up and wait for a large upgrade instead then, and keep my 560. That way if I feel its worth upgrading I can get an SLI board.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Sunius]

It increases the performance by around 50% on games that scale bad and up to 90% on games that scale very good (like battlefield 3).

Check this out:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_SLI/

 

[geofelt]

To answer your questions:

1) No, you did not make a mistake. As you say, you are pleased with the performance.

2) When the time comes to do a graphics upgrade, assuming that your motherboard/cpu still serves you, just sell the GTX560ti and replace it with the next best thing. Even if your motherboard were sli capable, I would still recommend a single great card when it will do the job. Some games do not take advantage of dual cards, and you will avoid any microstuttering issues.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

3) Motherboards have no connection to graphics card memory(VRAM)

 

[plasma-visuals]

Did I mention I run 2x 1920x1080 monitors?

 

[geofelt]

Did I mention I run 2x 1920x1080 monitors?

No problem.
Usually a game is directed to the primary monitor.
The secondary monitor will have relatively static stuff that takes little graphics power to maintain.
If you plan on triple monitor gaming, then I would still go with a stronger single card that isupports triple monitors such as the GTX670.

 

[plasma-visuals]

Ok this is all great info.

Food for thought.

Think im gunna keep my 560ti then, save up for next years new chipsets + an SLI and consider for the future.

Been looking at those charts and I am impressed with the performance increases.

If I can get an identical 560ti on the cheap >£100, would it be worth it? Just to keep it about till I get the SLI?

Thanks all!

 

[geofelt]

Ok this is all great info.

Food for thought.

Think im gunna keep my 560ti then, save up for next years new chipsets + an SLI and consider for the future.

Been looking at those charts and I am impressed with the performance increases.

If I can get an identical 560ti on the cheap >£100, would it be worth it? Just to keep it about till I get the SLI?

Thanks all!

In a month, when the GTX660 and GTX650 come out, the gtx560ti will be a step closer to outdated.
In a year or two, the next generation of kepler and the amd 8xxx series will bring even better price performance.
With technology, it is wise to buy what you need today, and no more.
Tomorrow will bring even better deals.

Here is my canned rant on planning for dual cards:
Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX560 or 6870 can give you great performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX560ti or 6950 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single 7970 or GTX680 is about as good as it gets.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, then sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards.

b) The costs for a single card are lower.
You require a less expensive motherboard; no need for sli/cf or multiple pci-e slots.
Even a ITX motherboard will do.

Your psu costs are less.
A GTX560ti needs a 450w psu, even a GTX580 only needs a 600w psu.
When you add another card to the mix, plan on adding 150-200w to your psu requirements.
A single more modern 28nm card like a 7970 or GTX680 needs only 550W.
Even the strongest GTX690 only needs 650w.

Case cooling becomes more of an issue with dual cards.
That means a more expensive case with more and stronger fans.
You will also look at more noise.

c) Dual cards do not always render their half of the display in sync, causing microstuttering. It is an annoying effect.
The benefit of higher benchmark fps can be offset, particularly with lower tier cards.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

d) dual card support is dependent on the driver. Not all games can benefit from dual cards.

e) cf/sli up front reduces your option to get another card for an upgrade. Not that I suggest you plan for that.
It will often be the case that replacing your current card with a newer gen card will offer a better upgrade path.

 

[plasma-visuals]

Hi, thanks for the informative reply.

I see what your saying. In a years time the 560ti might be completely outdated by something even cheaper than what it is now.

I've just read the microstuttering thread. I see its not so bad with the SLI as compared to the CrossFire but I can understand why it would get annoying.

So in short, for my purposes getting a dual card may be more detrimental that usefull.

I guess maybe I should instead look into saving that money and purchasing something more usefull?

I have a 650W Corsair PSU, I guess that would need to be updated with SLI.

I have an NZXT Phantom Case, so cooling isn't really a big issue as it seems very good and I get pretty awesome temps with it.

Maybe I should think of getting a better cooler for the mean time being?
Maybe something like the Corsair H100 Liquid Cooler? And overclock my processor so I get some more life out of that till I replace it? + the cooler will be transferable to whatever CPU I choose to upgrade?

 

[geofelt]

Your Corsair 650w psu is an excellent one.
It can run a card as good as a $1000 GTX690.
Future graphics cards will need even less power.

As to a cpu cooler, I do not much like the all-in-one coolers.
They are expensive, noisy, and have more points of failure. And... in a well ventilated case, they are no more effective than a decent air cooler.

If you are using the Intel stock cooler,then by all means buy an aftermarket cooler.
It need not be expensive. $30 will buy you an excellent cm hyper212.
The larger 120mm fan will keep your cpu cooler and quieter, allowing for a better overclock.
Coolers today come with mounting kits for different motherboard socket types.
In the case of the cm hyper212, the same kit mounts on 1155 and 1156 sockets. The next gen Intel haswell cpu's will use a different 1150 socket, but I think it will still be the same size so current 1155/56 coolers should still fit.

 

[plasma-visuals]

The reason is suggested the all in one liquid is because of how neat it looks.

I'm BIG on the way the inside looks as a I have a side panel for my phantom and have spent a lot of time on the cable management and keeping it all clean and functioning.

Big blocky heatsinks are really not my thing and I see the liquid series as an amazing trade off as they are so neat and compact. It also means no possibility of overhanging on the RAM, and especially with the H100 it can be mounted in the roof and I wont even be able to see it from my window.

Are they really that unreliable?

Sound isn't that big a deal I don't sleep with my PC on and when its on I normally have music through speakers or headphones. And of course all the fans in my phantom are hooked up to the fan control so when its idle I can turn it all down with a simple flick of the switch.

The H100 seems to cover almost all the sockets so I'm guessing it will be fine on future ones too then?

 

[geofelt]

Let me ask. Will you mount the radiator so that it draws in cool air from the outside?
That is good for cooling the cpu, but all that hot air now affects the motherboard and graphics card supply of cooling air.

If you mount it to use the case air, it will not be as effective.

Aesthetics is an issue that only YOU can decide.

If I wanted something for looks, I might pick a Zalman cooler like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118046

 

[plasma-visuals]

well the two 120's i'd probably have pulling air in, so the hot air would go into the case.

I would then probably switch the back 120 and the two HDD 120's to take the air out. Although I'm not sure if this would conflict with the front 140.

Tricky call.

And I really don't like any of the lumps of metal!

 

[plasma-visuals]

I meant 200's in the top sentence, not 120's.

 

[geekapproved]

Like I said, you wouldn't be able to do SLI/Xfire regardless.......your cpu is too slow unless you overclocked.

Save your money for a new system when the 560ti no longer serves you.