460GTX sli in 780i mobo?

[Bozebo]

I've seen some great reviews of these new 460GTX models, and I am certainly impressed. Currently I have a q6600 in a P5N-T Deluxe 780i mobo with 4GB ddr2 1066 (downclocked, to err 920MHz atm, because I have 4 sticks) with 2 9800gt cards in sli.

I have been looking for an upgrade to my twin 9800GT cards (which only scale about 40% from the 2nd card at best). Until yesterday, I had my eyes set on the 5870 and I was happy with that decision. But two 460GTXs could be amazing (cheaper than 480, less heat, less noise, looks more awesome in the case AND peforms better! - in an i7 rig at least)

Tests of new multi gpu setups are always in new systems, I don't know how my setup will fair. I suppose it is possibly I will only get 40% scaling again, whereas 2 9800gt cards in a i7 system would scale 90%? (not likely, but I'm speculating). Would there be issues regarding my system being older? Would my cpu, ram or mobo limit the potential of these cards any more than it would limit the potential of a single high-end card?

Essentially, I don't want to be stuck without the performance that I should expect from the graphics. Would there be overall shortfalls due to my previous generation mobo/ram/cpu? (motherboard is capable of 2 pcie x16 lanes) Or is the scaling dependant on the gpu itself? Also, would they put bad strain on my motherboard, causing them to underperform?
I can push a 3.6GHz overclock out of my G0 if I get a better cooler and 2 sticks of ram instead of 4. My power supply is not an issue here, it's a 750W Corsair-TX.

I have always been expecting a gpu upgrade, but am I in a bad situation with regards to sli? If so, I might opt for a single 460GTX and perhaps upgrade mobo/cpu/ram later and buy a second 460, but by then there will be a more optimal choice for gpu/other hardware and the whole loop of hardware issues starts over again

edit:
I game at 1680x1050. And if I CPU bottleneck but still gain performance from the 2nd card in some games, I deem it worth it. As long as I don't cpu bottleneck at a low fps . Which I doubt.
Wonder what happens if I go with the 9800gt as physX :/ (tri pcie x16 mobo) edit again: soundcard fail

om nom nom...

edit:
Didn't put this in the graphics forum because my "general hardware" could be the overall discussion/issue

 

[biuro74]

I have been looking for an upgrade to my twin 9800GT cards in sli (which only scale about 40% from the 2nd card at best). Until yesterday, I had my eyes set on the 5870 and I was happy with that decision. But two 460GTXs could be amazing.

Err.. 40% looks like low GHz-ed CPU. I know it's 4 cores, but in majority of games still Ghz count.

Tests of new multi gpu setups are always in new systems, I don't know how my setup will fair. I suppose it is possibly I will only get 40% scaling again, whereas 2 9800gt cards in a i7 system would scale 90%? (not likely, but I'm speculating). Would there be issues regarding my system being older? Would my cpu, ram or mobo limit the potential of these cards any more than it would limit the potential of a single high-end card?

You never reach 90%, it's registered for 2x5770
But you are right - more powerful CPU (like 4 GHz+ i7) will do better scalling, especially in high resolutions (FullHD and more). If you play @ 1024x768 it's better to have single-GPU card.

Essentially, I don't want to be stuck without the performance that I should expect from the graphics. Would there be overall shortfalls due to my previous generation mobo/ram/cpu? (motherboard is capable of 2 pcie x16 lanes) Or is the scaling dependant on the gpu itself? Also, would they put bad strain on my motherboard, causing them to underperform?
I can push a 3.6GHz overclock out of my G0 if I get a better cooler and 2 sticks of ram instead of 4. My power supply is not an issue here, it's a 750W Corsair-TX.

I have always been expecting a gpu upgrade, but am I in a bad situation with regards to sli? If so, I might opt for a single 460GTX and perhaps upgrade mobo/cpu/ram later and buy a second 460, but by then there will be a more optimal choice for gpu/other hardware and the whole loop of hardware issues starts over again

If I were you, I'd choose the way you just said - to buy single GTX460 and change mobo with whole platform (i5/P55 is quite good, x8x8 is not a problem). I'd avoid spectacular issues with 4 memory sticks (and change it to DDR3 BTW). If you want to SLI - always begin with one single card, and buy second one, when performance drops. Otherwise you block your upgrading future

 

[Bozebo]

Err.. 40% looks like low GHz-ed CPU. I know it's 4 cores, but in majority of games still Ghz count.

That said, I havn't been seeing any cores maxed out in usage when testing what my system does with crysis. I seem to get the same frame rates of about upper 20s no matter what graphical options I choose (and checking cpu usage, still no 70% or more cores :S). That is why I am questioning my motherboard/ram. Since I made the move from 1280x1024 to 1680x1050 I have noted fps drops - my graphics are not up to scratch at the moment.

I understand that new graphics cards scale better than the old ones? But does that just confirm my fears that this is the case because the benchmarks are done with new mobo/cpu/ram when old tests were done with c2q. I was hoping the gpus were to blame and not the cpus If somebody stuck 2 9800GT cards in an i7 build, would they net better scaling?

But, would my understanding that sli puts much more pressure on the cpu be correct? Would 3.6GHz help? Or do I have to opt for i5/i7 to see good sli like you say.

I mean, a single 460gtx on my c2q is certainly a very nice gaming setup, just not as sick as 2x460s if it were not limited by the cpu
If I would have to get a 460 now and upgrade everything next year and get another 460 perhaps, my financially beneficial option would be to get a good single card and stick with my q6600 all the way until a full new rig, but by that point the i7/i5 generation would be coming to an end? So I would have to stick it out and not run games on max for a while longer, at which point in time I'd be leaving uni and whatnot.

If I cpu bottleneck but opt for achieving 60fps (ie, I can't bench at awesome fps because of sli) where the 2nd card is still contributing, that is the scenario I was hoping for that would mean 2x 460GTX is worthwhile on my current cpu. If I kept my q6600 and a single 460gtx but wasn't getting 60fps that would be hurtful, likewise if I had a 5870 instead. But would the extra cpu usage from going sli cause the cpu bottleneck for the actual game itself, whereas single card I would get higher fps due to that not happening? Basically I bought this rig at a bad time >_<, I needed a new one though.

(another) edit:
Also, still far too few games properly use quads. If they did actually use quads to their potential, would I not have this issue? That said, could it be that the extra load driver-side due to using sli is partially offloaded to the other 2 cores regardless of the game engine's attempt to use them - or does that just not happen in practice? I've really yet to see my 3rd and 4th core getting used while gaming Even in the "holy grail" bfbc2 (still only likes core 1 & 2 and a little bit of 3 due to the engine's xbox360 roots).

 

[Bozebo]

If the games are wanting to use 2 cores mostly, does that mean that extra cpu load due to sli will end up being offset on the other 2 cores?

Also, most of the 460 models seem to have jet sounding coolers >_<. Need to wait for more news on the evga and msi ones.

bump.