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Video Upgrade thoughts?

A

Axehandler

Gawd
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
635
I've got a 2600K SB on a Asus P8 Pro Board (oc'd to 4.7) I've been running an old 8800GT workhorse for about 4 years now and thought it was time to Upgrade...

Thinking of the future I was considering 2 x ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/768MD5 - on sale after rebate for $114.99 each... I'm running 1920x1200 and am considering getting a 2nd monitor in the future..

Also... upper "price" limit according to wify is 300$... Thoughts??

Axe
 
id consider a motherboard /processor upgrade first or you will be very cpu limited .
 
You'll have to forgive me. for some reason I was remembering back to my old P5E socket 775 board, it was about then that I was running an 8800.

Since your running P67 series MB I guess youd be fine with 2 460s.

Price wise Id go with a 570 GTX Galaxy has $15 bucks off right now can pick one up for around $320.

and then add another one used down the road when they come down in price a bit.
 
I thought about that - but again - limited to 300$... *(not a penny more).....

besides 460 sli will beat 570.... just no upgrade path :(

Axe
 
a 6950 would be a great choice, especially if you can unlock the shaders.
Also- you could try 2x6850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161348
its $150 each after MIR + shipping, but you could probably recoup the shipping costs by selling the second copy of Shogun that comes with that card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908
This is $155 after MIR, but like the other, sell the second copy (or both copies if you already have it) of Shogun, and you'll be under your $300 limit.
 
Thanks for the reply!

I was thinking of SLI/CF right away - but now I'm seriously leaning towards this 6950 2GB model - SHould give me more room to grow with Multi-Monitor and Future CF... and if I can unlock it...

Axe
 
needmorecarnitine said:
have you seen any reviews on GTX 460 SLi vs. 6950? That would be interesting


here is a comparison (uses GTX 460 1GB versions though):

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/314?vs=293
Click to expand...

Yea, the 460's SLI beat out a single 6950 (not by a lot thou)... But upgrade wise it's a dead end.. and 6950 CF beat out 460 SLI.

Also if I unlock the 6950 your a bit closer to the 460 SLI again.. and in 2 years you still have an upgrade path.

Price wise they are pretty close (460x2 vs 6950) paying just a bit more for the 460's and getting just a bit more power.. but again no real upgrade options...

And since I am moving from an old 8800GT.... either option will be a good jump :)

Axe
 
Have to get a reference board for the unlocking, it looks like visiontek, diamond multimedia, or that out of stock sapphire are the only reference cards left on newegg. Even then they are not guaranteed to unlock there is a risk that it might be unstable.
 
Axehandler said:
Yea, the 460's SLI beat out a single 6950 (not by a lot thou)... But upgrade wise it's a dead end.. and 6950 CF beat out 460 SLI.

Also if I unlock the 6950 your a bit closer to the 460 SLI again.. and in 2 years you still have an upgrade path.

Price wise they are pretty close (460x2 vs 6950) paying just a bit more for the 460's and getting just a bit more power.. but again no real upgrade options...

And since I am moving from an old 8800GT.... either option will be a good jump :)

Axe
Click to expand...


couple more points, you always have an upgrade option. Even with SLI, you just sell the old cards and buy new. Consider how many people respond to "Should I go dual video card" thread with just buy the new one cause its uses less power, runs cooler, etc.

Another point in favor of the SLI is that they usually overclock really well. They also suck a lot of power if overclocked well.

If it were me, I'd get the 6950 or just one GTX 460. I'm happy with my 768MB version at 1920x1080 as it works great with about 99.9% of the games out and still is OK with that .1% left over. (my sig is old. I'm on a 2500K now)
 
Well I bit... picked up a referance 6950 MSI card - $249 AR - single card should give me the power I need at the moment. with room to Grow!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions :)

Axe

P.S. - anyone need a Copy of FutureMark 11? this will be my 2nd copy when it arrives.
 
Grats on the 6950 2GB. It's a really good value for the money, especially if you can unlock. Let us know if your unlock was successful.
 
Nice choice. I just did the same and picked up probably the very last 2Gb Sapphire reference 6950 at Newegg.ca here in Canada.

By going with the 6950 2Gb reference, you're opening the maximum number of doors for expansion in the future. With that card, you can unlock to a 6970, drive a three monitor eyefinity setup with one card, and get either another 6950 2Gb reference card (if you can find one), or a 6970 (if you can't find a 6950 reference), or even go Tri-fire and pick up a 6990 to pair up with your unlocked 6950. And all your Cayman chips will have access to 2Gb of video ram - something you can't get at any price with Nvidia right now.
 
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I'd get the best single card I could afford right now. And you can sli or crossfire later on. And I wouldn't get two of the 5850's or the 5870's, they are great single cards, but, tend to be very buggy in crossfire.

The 6950 is probably the best bet right now. Or if you want to go the Nvidia route, maybe consider the 2GB 560Ti.

But again, either option would be a huge upgrade over what you have :)
 
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