Socket 775 with Gtx 460 SLI??

M

MatttyB

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Sep 16, 2010
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Hey everyone,

I'm currently running the Asus p5k pro motherboard which is crossfire only, however I really, really, really want to upgrade to a gtx 460 sli configuration over my single ati 4870 setup now.

Would upgrading to a socket 775 650/680/780i nvidia chipset SLI ATX Mainboard be a good option for this? I might be able to order it from a few different places if I'm lucky. Please bare in mind that I don't want to upgrade to an i5/i7 unless I absolutely HAVE too.

The way I see it, most games don't use quad core yet, so I can't really justify buying a whole new rig. Getting this motherboard would allow me to keep the existing dual core (E8400 @ 3 gigahertz) cpu + the 4 gig DDR 2 memory. I may have to get a new power supply though, however the one I have now is strong enough. (Coolermaster 650 Real Power Pro) – this PS only has 2x 6 pin PCIe connectors though, but apparently you can get molex converters or something?? worst case scenario can always purchase a new PS ;-)

Please share your thoughts.

Thanks.
 
once i realized how long the wait would be for 6-8 core intel processors i got a used 780i and a used 260 to sli, now im hunkered down for the wait
 
I have a very similar setup, E8400 (running 3.2 now, but its stable at 3.6), with 4GB DDR2, running a eVGA 780i SLI FTW, and a single recently added GTX 460. I think you would find that with the E8400 your going to be close to cpu limited with a single GTX 460, let alone 2. Not sure 650 watts would be sufficient for SLI either, unless your only looking to run one or two drives.

A new power supply is fine going forward, but picking up any 775 motherboards at this point is putting money into a dead end. I'd say save your money that you might spend on a 775 SLI motherboard and either pick up a single 460 or even go up to a 470 (if you get a new power supply with an 8pin), or wait for the 6000 series, and plan on upgrading to i7 or Sandy Bridge down the road.
 
If you are going to upgrade, don't half ass it. Go with a i5/7 setup. Its fairly affordable if you sell your old hardware.
 
If Civ 5 is any indication of the future of DX11 titles and performance, it may be worth a few extra buks to puck up an i5/i7, or even an i3, if you are on a tight budget.

Most games may not yet take advantage of more than two cores, but the core optimizations on these new CPU's also make a difference.

Take a look at the CPU charts for Civ 5. Even the core i3-540 beats the E8500.


If you are looking at getting a new motherboard either way, you might as well switch to LGA1156 and with ~$100 on a low end i3, you'll still be faster than your existing CPU, and will also have an easy path to future upgrades, rather than getting a new motherboard with what essentially is an obsolete socket.

It just seems to me that spending money on an LGA 775 motherboard today is a waste of money.
 
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1) Do you live near a MicroCenter?

2) I would NOT recommend an SLI GTX 460 setup for a socket 775 system.
 
IRSmurf said:
1) Do you live near a MicroCenter?

2) I would NOT recommend an SLI GTX 460 setup for a socket 775 system.
Click to expand...

My feeling is it would be CPU limited to the point where you may not get any better performance out of a SLI GTX460 than out of a single GTX460...

...but I could be wrong...
 
Not going to get a decent 775 chipset with SLI that will also overclock. For 775, you should be going P45 chipset and nothing else at this point.

Like others said, don't go half-ass. If you want SLI, go i5/i7
 
MatttyB said:
Hey everyone,

I'm currently running the Asus p5k pro motherboard which is crossfire only, however I really, really, really want to upgrade to a gtx 460 sli configuration over my single ati 4870 setup now.

Would upgrading to a socket 775 650/680/780i nvidia chipset SLI ATX Mainboard be a good option for this? I might be able to order it from a few different places if I'm lucky. Please bare in mind that I don't want to upgrade to an i5/i7 unless I absolutely HAVE too.

The way I see it, most games don't use quad core yet, so I can't really justify buying a whole new rig. Getting this motherboard would allow me to keep the existing dual core (E8400 @ 3 gigahertz) cpu + the 4 gig DDR 2 memory. I may have to get a new power supply though, however the one I have now is strong enough. (Coolermaster 650 Real Power Pro) – this PS only has 2x 6 pin PCIe connectors though, but apparently you can get molex converters or something?? worst case scenario can always purchase a new PS ;-)

Please share your thoughts.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Your statement has holes all over it.

I would absolutely not buy a 775 platform at this point in time. It's completely dead.

As for 460SLI, it's a great performance combo for the cost. Do you plan on running a resolution that takes advantage of that (at least 1920x1080)?

As for the quad core argument, that's almost completely untrue now days. Sure, two years ago I would accept that, but not anymore. As a matter of fact, take a look at this over at Toms where they recently put up a test of cpu utilization. Almost all games fully utilize 3 cores now at least. They do show that with a quadcore, OCing generally shows very little in performance boost since there's already breathing room.

Another hole I see in your statement is that even if you have already convinced yourself that a dual core is all you need for gaming, why not buy an 1156 platform and get a dual core i5? At least that way you can upgrade to a quad core i5 in the future when you come around.

On top of all that, the CPU overhead for SLI is pretty rough on 775 platform. If you get 60-70% FPS boost in SLI on the 775 platform, you're lucky. Benchmarks have shown nearly a 80-110% (yes, more than double) the performance of the cards when you run SLI on a core i7.

I just can't see or justify spending similar dollars on 775 when you can get i5 for the same money, considering clock for clock, i5 is 25% faster.

Good luck.
 
Of course you will be bottlenecked, but no one can say with mathematical precision to what extent. Maybe 25 to 40% less scaling efficiency than i5/i7 in certain games, maybe nothing at all in other games.
 
MatttyB said:
Please share your thoughts.
Click to expand...

MattyB, basically I think you're going about this all wrong. First of all, like others have said, it makes no sense to throw money at a Socket 775 motherboard in 2010. Now, if you plan was to upgrade from the E8400 to a quad, that would make sense, but buying a new Socket 775 platform is crazy.

Second, buying another Socket 775 mobo just so you can SLI budget video cards with an old dual-core CPU also seems like a waste of time. I feel SLI is an option for power users who want next-gen performance now. I've never understood why anyone would SLI budget cards. You could grab a GTX 470 or HD 5850/70 right now, overclock, and not worry about SLI. Both cards will play any game out there at more than respectable resolutions.

My last thought is, if you have your mind made up on this plan, which seems to happen a lot in this forum, you should be pushing your E8400 to 4 GHz. That's kind of why the E8400 is famous. You're wasting it at 3 GHz.

Wrapping it up, I would stick with your E8400 and overclock it, or grab a quad, and then pick up a single GPU in the $300 - $400 range depending on what you would have spent on the 460s. This will result in a considerable upgrade over a HD 4870.
 
bigdogchris said:
dollars on 775 when you can get i5 for the same money, considering clock for clock, i5 is 25% faster.

Good luck.
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I think the OP was planning on using his existing CPU to save money though.

Yes, he can likely get an LGA1156 for the same price as he would get an LGA775 board, but he would still be spending more money to get a CPU.

That being said, even if he doesn't have the cash for a i5, even the lowly core i3 kicks an E8400 in the pants clock for clock, and can be had for $100 or just under.
 
Zarathustra[H];1036272485 said:
It would be silly to spend any money on a board today that does not have DX11 support...
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maybe...but you'd only pay $100, probably less for a second 4870, and you'd get greater performance than a GTX 460. Why spend another $200+ on a GPU to put in that rig when a decent upgrade can be had for the incremental cost of only $100. the idea that DX11 support alone is worth $100+ is a bit of a stretch.

The whole rig needs a re-work before pouring a bunch of money in. I'd only upgrade if you really wanted or needed to stretch that E8400 out as long as possible
 
MatttyB said:
Would upgrading to a socket 775 650/680/780i nvidia chipset SLI ATX Mainboard be a good option for this? I might be able to order it from a few different places if I'm lucky. Please bare in mind that I don't want to upgrade to an i5/i7 unless I absolutely HAVE too.
Click to expand...

Be warned that if if you go the nForce route, you'd also be giving up stability - big time. That's because the nForce chipsets are, for the most part, really crappy in terms of stability at even slightly overclocked speeds. And stability at even stock speed is no better than mediocre. Plus, you'd also have to put up with data corruption via the SATA ports.

And that's not to mention that I would not put much if any money on a Socket LGA 775 platform at this point: Almost everything that's related to that platform (namely the motherboard and CPU, and often DDR2 memory) is priced significantly higher than what any of those parts are currently worth in terms of performance-to-price ratio.
 
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Activate: AMD said:
maybe...but you'd only pay $100, probably less for a second 4870, and you'd get greater performance than a GTX 460. Why spend another $200+ on a GPU to put in that rig when a decent upgrade can be had for the incremental cost of only $100. the idea that DX11 support alone is worth $100+ is a bit of a stretch.

The whole rig needs a re-work before pouring a bunch of money in. I'd only upgrade if you really wanted or needed to stretch that E8400 out as long as possible
Click to expand...

Take Civ 5 as an example. It is one of the first games that really takes advantage of DX11 big time rather than just running a few tesselation improvements and effects like most games these days.

benchmarks show that DX11 boards which have the same performance as their DX10.1 counterparts in DX10 or 9 titles, have a 50-60% framerate increase in Civ 5.

For some whacked reason my copy and paste isn't working on my work computer right now, but I'll post a link in a bit, but the gist is that in Civ 5, even a low end GTS450 outperforms a Radeon HD 4790. (they didn't test the 4770)

If this holds true for future DX11 titles, then I would not waste any money on anything not DX11 today.
 
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idk i paid 60 bucks for my MB used and another 75 for a used 260, then i overclocked my quad to 4ghz on said 775 board and i am not wanting for performance one little bit, later next year ill be going with 2 dx11 cards in sli and there will be no cpu bottleneck after i sold my old MB this upgrade cost me a grand tottal of 100 bucks........
 
Zarathustra[H];1036272485 said:
It would be silly to spend any money on a board today that does not have DX11 support...
Click to expand...

That is you. I can live without DX11 for the time being.:rolleyes:
 
E4g1e said:
Be warned that if if you go the nForce route, you'd also be giving up stability - big time. That's because the nForce chipsets are, for the most part, really crappy in terms of stability at even slightly overclocked speeds. And stability at even stock speed is no better than mediocre. Plus, you'd also have to put up with data corruption via the SATA ports.
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How are nForce chipsets "really crappy" even at slightly overclocked speeds? Please explain since I really haven't had any issues running my 780i mobo HIGHLY overclocked with Wolfdales and Yorkfields.

Data corruption via the SATA ports? I don't recall my hard drives ever getting corrupted and I've had nVidia chipset mobos from 680i days. Are you talking about data corruption issues from 4-5 years ago that got fixed?

Granted, Intel boards have usually performed better in terms of overclocking, but I know plenty of folks who were successful in getting stable overclocks with their nForce mobos.

I see a lot of FUD on this thread regarding LGA 775 platforms and nVidia chipsets.
 
hdnut said:
How are nForce chipsets "really crappy" even at slightly overclocked speeds? Please explain since I really haven't had any issues running my 780i mobo HIGHLY overclocked with Wolfdales and Yorkfields.

Data corruption via the SATA ports? I don't recall my hard drives ever getting corrupted and I've had nVidia chipset mobos from 680i days. Are you talking about data corruption issues from 4-5 years ago that got fixed?

Granted, Intel boards have usually performed better in terms of overclocking, but I know plenty of folks who were successful in getting stable overclocks with their nForce mobos.

I see a lot of FUD on this thread regarding LGA 775 platforms and nVidia chipsets.
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Alot of the nvidia chipsets were hit and miss. The 680i chipset sucked and sucked big time, I had the Asus P5NE-SLI with the 750i chipset and that sucked big time as well.
 
I'll never make the mistake of buying an Nvidia chipset motherboard again. Oh wait, they don't make em anymore.

My 680i LT was a nightmare. The 750 I owned was better. I still think Intel chipsets are by far the best. The native SLI/Xfire support they have now was one of the best moves Intel has made lately.
 
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