Recommend SLI cards for a socket 939 build?

J

JohnWest

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Completing an old dream build so I can play WoW and some older games with my younger brother.

Can anyone recommend video cards for this purpose? Would like to spend 125-200 total on the cards and they mus be nvidia as I am using a nforce chipset.

Thanks
 
It really doesn't matter what GPU you throw into the rig for WoW. Just about any single GPU will be able to run the game at max graphic settings especially with the cpu you have. WoW is very CPU dependent so you're going to be severely limited on that processor.

I would probably suggest just getting something like a single 650ti or an HD7770. Either one of those cards are going to be more than enough for anything you're going to throw at them, and are going to be held up by the cpu. You could probably even look for something a tad cheaper then that.
 
it is silly to SLI cards in that price range and a single card is the common sense choice. also socket 939 is pretty vague so you need to list actual cpu as that can make a massive difference.
 
Socket 939 days were 2004-2006. The Geforce 8 series started at the end of 2006 with the launch of the 8800GTX, so I'll use that as a reference for the video cards you would have been looking at in your old dream build back in the day.

The GTX 650 is around $95-$110 on newegg. It's about twice as fast as an 8800GTX, meaning a single GTX 650 will do better than 8800GTX SLI.

The GTX 650 Ti is around $135-$150 on newegg. It's about 2.5 times as fast as an 8800GTX.

The GTX 660 starts at around $215 on newegg, so it slightly out of your budget. It's well over four times as fast as an 8800GTX.

Cards that cost half as much as the GTX 650 to run in SLI are really shitty cards that are not worth your time.

I am skeptical that any 939 CPU won't bottleneck anything more than a single GTX 650.
 
GTX560TI vs GTX650 benches

Man, the gtx 650 gets rolled. I didn't think the 650 was that bad, but wow :D

Edit: OP, that 560TI for $130 is about as good as you're going to get bang for the buck.
 
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Wow. Not even close. Thanks for the heads up. Let me pm this guy.

Also decided to go x2 for the dual core. It's been awhile so I forgot the offered it.
 
I have a functioning 939 system sitting here 5 feet from me. Has been unplugged for two years, don't know what to do with it. It has:
Asus A8N-SLI Premium board
4200+ processor (dual core)
8800 GTS 640MB GPU
ram, DVD, Mascool CPU cooler

seeing this thread brought back memories. I used to play RTCW on that rig quite a lot.
 
One of my sisters still has a S939 A64 3500+ single core rig I gave her a while back.

It's still rather snappy for a WinXP box :D
 
Is there really that big a jump between the old 939s and today's stuff for games?

Not like I'll abandon my quest. I'm gonna do a build on this lanparty board if it's the last thing I do.

RTCW was titties. Flamethrowing a full bunker was one of my most satisfying gaming experiences ever.
 
JohnWest said:
Is there really that big a jump between the old 939s and today's stuff for games?
Click to expand...
Yes. When I ditched my 3500+ for an E8400, my framerate in Assassin's Creed more than quadrupled. And it's nearly five years old... Even the E8400 would choke on most modern games.

I may be wrong here, but honestly, I'd be surprised if a 3500+ could even handle WoW after eight years of engine upgrades. If you're set on sticking with the 939, you can probably pick up a second-hand 4800+ for $20.
 
Funny that you mention it, I still think WoW looks like piss. Was never impressed by the engine but it has that crack-like quality.
 
Not like I'll abandon my quest. I'm gonna do a build on this lanparty board if it's the last thing I do.
Click to expand...

You're like a templar of 2005 technology. How much RAM is in your rig? What's your monitor?

I'm squeezing, stretching out what I can from 2008 tech, but my thrift is waning.
 
I can kind of understand the OP's intention, however, 939 is not quite old enough to be retro-cool. Retro-cool, is Commodore Amiga, C64, Atari, Apple II. 939 is kind of sad at the moment. Put the board in your closet for another 5 years or so then go back to it. For now grab used x4 955/combo for about $100 and 8GB DDR 3 for about $25 and call it a day.
 
JohnWest said:
Is there really that big a jump between the old 939s and today's stuff for games?
Click to expand...

You mentioned World of Warcraft. WoW loves the CPU more than any other component. I was running a Q9650 @ 4.4Ghz which in itself was not a slow CPU but moving to a 2500K @ 5Ghz was like night and day.

Also, look at how WoW scales with the CPU:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-directx-11-performance,2793-9.html

It doesn't benefit greatly past 2 cores, but it certainly DOES benefit from that 2nd core.

If you're married to your 939 setup, then IMO you should just go with a single card for now, like a 560ti, and see if you can score a cheap 939 Athlon x2. Going from a single-core to a dual core will do 10x more for WoW than throwing more GPU power at a CPU bottleneck will.
 
Okay thanks so much for the head's up Rice.

Yeah, it's not retro cool. It's when I went to college and ran out of money to pursue my hobby.

I'm gonna watercool it with all the stuff I saved and finally set up the CoolerMaster case I modded and soundproofed etc etc.

My real problem now is finding 4 matched Gigs of a decent DDR.

I've found a couple 2x1gig but this board is picky about it's timings, I remember reading that much.

If you know anyone who has the good stuff lying about I'd pay for it.
 
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