New card for sli, with mobo upgrade, or new single card?

[etxzombie]

I am looking to upgrade my video card because my single EVGA GTX 560 Ti just isnt cutting it anymore. I either want to get a second 560 Ti, or buy a new card altogether. If I get a second card, I need to upgrade my motherboard as well, as I am currently using a Gigabyte Micro-ATX board. This micro-ATX boards suits my needs perfectly for the time being, but It doesn't have the space to add a second card. Sure the PCI-e slot is there, but I'm talking about actual space. everything is kinda crammed into a little bitty space with not much left to spare. SO here are my options:

Asus Sabertooth board

+

EVGA GTX 560 Ti

(There are several different models of this card, apparently 1Gb and 2Gb. Does it matter which one I get? Mine is 01G-P3-1561-AR and is 1Gb of GDDR5, would I be able to utilize SLI with the 2Gb version of this card? Is that even possible?)



My other options are to just by a new single card. Are there any suggestions? Maybe GTX 670 FTW? Give me ideas, cause I'm about to make some serious GPU upgrades, and wanna get the best for my buck.

Also, any suggestions as to where to get a good price on custom 200 m fan grill? Anywhere else other than MNPCtech? Not to rule them out, but I am looking for different designs than what they keep in stock.

 

[babernet_1]

No, for SLI the cards need to be the same. With the 2G card SLI may not even work, but at a minimum, the extra ram would be ignored.

I'd recommend going to a new board. The best deals now are the Nvidia 670 & AMD 7950. Just today on newegg Gigabyte's 670 dropped to $330, a true bargain. In the meanwhile, AMD 7950's can be had for as low as $290, but a decent one more in the low $300's. Me? I'd go for that smoking Gigabyte:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423
GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

 

[etxzombie]

is there any signifigant difference in the gigabyte card you listed, and the EVGA one in listed in the original post? The EVGA one has a slightly higher clock ( not by much ). is there any real noticable differences between the two brands, other than the $100 price difference?

 

[babernet_1]

is there any signifigant difference in the gigabyte card you listed, and the EVGA one in listed in the original post? The EVGA one has a slightly higher clock ( not by much ). is there any real noticable differences between the two brands, other than the $100 price difference?

Any difference worth $100? No. About the only advantage the EVGA has is that it appears to exhaust all the air out the back of your case, a small advantage. The Gigabyte has far better cooling, but, it dumps all the air in your case so you need to be sure your case is well ventilated.