Need an opinion on upgrades

[immortalpenguin9]

I am soon to be upgrading my pc and just want a few opinions, so far im thinking of getting an AMD 8 core 8350 with another 6970 (already have one) and a 650TI for physx. Now I know its quite a bit to run but 1. is this a good idea and 2. will a 750w psu be able to run all of this. Also would it be better to just get one much better video card and sell the 6970 i already have.

 

[Dupontrocks11]

Well I assume you already have an AM3+ board, so I guess the 8350 would be the best way to go. A 750w should be able to run two 6970 but not an additional 650Ti.

What you can do though, is enable Physx using the CPU for the computations. While this puts additional strain on the CPU, I think an overclocked 8350 should be able to run it quite well. I'll see if I can find the article on how to do this.

Edit: Ehh can't find a tutorial. It's in the November issue of Maximum PC, but I'm sure it's online somewhere.

 

[immortalpenguin9]

well im actually getting a new am3+ board(currently have a FM1 board) and it has 2 16x pcie and 1 8x pcie so i think it could be done right?

 

[Onus]

If you don't have the board yet, performance in games will be better with an Intel setup for the same price overall.
I've never done it, but I understand it is possible to play driver games to get PhysX to work on an nVidia card even if there are one or more AMD graphics card in the system (normally nVidia disables PhysX support if it detects an AMD card).

 

[Dupontrocks11]

If you don't have the board yet, go Intel. A 3570k walks up and down every game on the market today. And while you are able to make one card do Physx, it's relatively messy and I would imagine even more frustrating when dealing with Crossfire.

 

[immortalpenguin9]

well im not really an intel fan, but i have about 400 to spend on the motherboard and cpu so any suggestions, the amd setup i want is at about 365

 

[Dupontrocks11]

Wow, you have a lot to work with. Do you happen to have a microcenter near you? You can pick up an i5-3570k and an ASRock Extreme 4 there for around $260 which is a damn good price. The rest of that can be put into your upgrades.

 

[immortalpenguin9]

Nah i live in northwest new jersey, not much of anything but wal marts and bad malls lol

 

[Dupontrocks11]

You could still pick up the same deal although it would be around $350. Even if it's an hour drive, I seriously suggest browsing their site. They are a loss retailer, which means that they sell things below market value in order to get you to come to the stores. As long as you can ignore the barrage of salesmen, you can get some great deals.

 

[immortalpenguin9]

Really if i go intel I want a motherboard that is gunna last, support 32gigs of ram or more and be able to at least 3 way crossfire

 

[Dupontrocks11]

ASRock Extreme 4:

~Will last: Check
~Supports 32 gigs of RAM: (While unnecessary) Check
~Supports 3 way crossfire: No, but really, by the time you can afford to get 3 video cards, it will be time to upgrade the architecture. After you add another 6970 to your machine, there isn't really a path you can take. Once those stop working well, you are going to want to upgrade to the Radeon 8900 series.

 

[immortalpenguin9]

well i honestly could get 3 cards tomorrow, im just not trying to go too crazy. I really want to know though would it be worth getting another 6970 or just selling mine and looking into maybe a 7950 or 7970. I can get another 6970 for 175 and i know the 79xx go from 300 up into around the mid 400s, so if i sold my card for about 150 i could deffinetely get a 7970 and stay in budget

 

[immortalpenguin9]

alright decided to go intel, now I like the motherboard you picked out and may go with that, not sure yet, now video card wise...i like amd but nvidia ive never had a problem with either. Im thinkin of just another 6970 for now, im not looking to go crazy so for 175 i think it would be a huge jump, also i could upgrade my ram and maybe pick up a ssd for the price i would pay for a higher end nvidia or amd

 

[immortalpenguin9]

Best answer selected by Immortalpenguin9.

 

[Dupontrocks11]

Right now, definitely grab another 6970, because two of those in crossfire are still really good. If you are looking to upgrade to an SSD, take a look at this month's best SSD article.