Graphics Upgrade - Advise Needed

Mayfair

Mayfair

Mayfair

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Joined
17 Aug 2010
Posts
654
Location
Essex
Hello all,

My friend has called me stating he wants to upgrade his graphics card, He is thinking about getting 2x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 but is un-sure really what would be best as he hasnt gone SLI before, and has concerns regarding heat etc.

Just looking for advise really what would be the best option for him, He has around £500 budget to include a decent PSU too.

At the moment he will be gaming at 1680x1050 but he wants the head-room incase he decides to get a better monitor that supports 1920x1080. If he did upgrade to a new monitor at a later date he would want the card(s) to run at 1920x1080 at fully maxed with good fps. He mainly plays fps shooters example BFBC2 etc.

Here is his current system:

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 @ 4.0 ghz
Mobo: Asus P6X58D-E
Ram: Kingstone 6gb ddr3
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 295
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred

Thanks guys!
 
but is un-sure really what would be best as he hasnt gone SLI before, and has concerns regarding heat etc
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Aha, but he has - he's got a GTX 295 (dual GPU card with an internal SLI) :)

TBH, keep the GTX 295 - it has performance almost as good as a GTX 480 (though the minimums are lower and it is only DX10).

Is he finding the GTX 295 is not performing well enough?

Also, what is his current PSU? (you mention that budget includes a PSU upgrade).
 
cmndr_andi said:
Aha, but he has - he's got a GTX 295 (dual GPU card with an internal SLI) :)
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Very true :D

Is he finding the GTX 295 is not performing well enough?
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Yes he is complaining the GTX295 isnt performing well enough for his needs lol :D

Also, what is his current PSU? (you mention that budget includes a PSU upgrade).
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A very budget 1000w PSU that i have told him to change ASAP, also doesnt support SLI (only has 2x 6pin, I know he could use molex adaptors but it's a very budget PSU so i've advised him to upgrade it too)
 
Right - fair enough, get him a new PSU ASAP. Something like this would be excellent.

However, for the other point - he is finding a GTX 295 performs badly at 1680x1050? That card should be doing 100FPS+ in most games at that resolution. I suggest he maybe has a look at his own setup before buying a new GPU. It could possibly be a PSU problem - does he have the 8 pin PCIe power connection connected? It also could be drivers, so it would be well worth updating these (they often add new SLI profiles for new games - so a dual GPU card like the GTX 295 will get significant performance boosts by using these).
 
I'm struggling to see why hes unhappy with his gaming performance with his GTX295 AT 1680x1050!

I would struggle to see why he'd be unhappy with it at 1920x1200 as well if the truth be told.

He'd benefit far more from a monitor upgrade imo. 3x 23.6" monitors would be nice. Perhaps his current monitor refresh rates etc are below par which is why he believes his system is substandard.
Oh and whack in an SSD as well, he'd see far more noticable results than changing his graphics imo.
 
Is it possible he's only running half his 295 at the moment - i.e. not realising it's an SLI card and so not setting it up properly? Is that even possible, folks, I dunno myself!
 
cmndr_andi said:
Right - fair enough, get him a new PSU ASAP. Something like this would be excellent.
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Excellent as that was the first choice we both had,

cmndr_andi said:
However, for the other point - he is finding a GTX 295 performs badly at 1680x1050? That card should be doing 100FPS+ in most games at that resolution.
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I thought so too... But he said he is getting avg 35-60 FPS (he is one of these types that likes high numbers lol) I've also said he should keep the GTX295 but i think his heart is set on an upgrade. He said he wants DX11 support and a better card.

cmndr_andi said:
I suggest he maybe has a look at his own setup before buying a new GPU. It could possibly be a PSU problem - does he have the 8 pin PCIe power connection connected? It also could be drivers, so it would be well worth updating these (they often add new SLI profiles for new games - so a dual GPU card like the GTX 295 will get significant performance boosts by using these).
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Yes i've made sure he has both the 8pin and 6pin connected i got him to send me a picture of the connections connected, And he also said he is running the latest drivers.
 
As Liampope suggests, has he gone into Nvidia Control Panel and checked that "SLI" mode is enabled?

For both those games you mention he should be getting at least 60FPS considering his CPU, GPU and resolution.
 
cmndr_andi said:
As Liampope suggests, has he gone into Nvidia Control Panel and checked that "SLI" mode is enabled?
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Yes it's enabled and set for multi-GPU, I just made sure via remote
cmndr_andi said:
For both those games you mention he should be getting at least 60FPS considering his CPU, GPU and resolution.
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I thought so too, As i'm getting 50-60 FPS with my Gigabyte GTX 460 1gb on an intel i5 @ 4GHz

No idea tbh, What do you guys recommend as an upgrade option for his "needs" (lol) within budget
 
TBH, I wouldn't recommed an upgrade until we can find out why the performance isn't as expected - otherwise the new card will likely have the same issues.

First thing I would suggest is download GPU-Z and furmark. Load up GPU-Z to check the frequencies (the GPU cores should both run at 576MHz at stock) and run Furmark to put the card under full load - both to ensure the card is stable and to turn off any power saving features that clock down the card when under light load.
 
I agree he more likely has a problem - software or hardware. How fresh and spring clean is his windows install? Maybe one of the GPUs is not working?
 
hey am the guy that may is talking about well if i do all this and get the psu and graphic card then i have replaced gpu psu and mobo cus my mobo broke 1 week ago so it cant be anything else as i have buyed new parts
 
Ok, good to hear. Can I just confirm that you have the most recent Nvidia graphics drivers?

Also, when you find games are not performing well enough, how does this manifest? Which games in particular are not playing well enough?

Finally, would you be able to do the tests I suggested in Post#12? - they will be very helpful to yo (you will only need to run furmark for a few minutes).
 
i got latest drivers and in bfbc 2 and mafia 2 as i dont got any other game on the pc right now but i got the graphic on bfbc 2 x16 a16 u know

EDIT: I have to pop out, i will do them tests tomorrow and post the results. Thanks everyone who has helped regarding this issue i appreciate it
 
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Noo.. if he is so dogged, let him buy a pair of 1GB GTX460. It's really good choice, DX11 is a surplus over the GTX295. I'm really in doubt if all that suggestions to reinstall system or enable some option will make him happy as he probably decided to have DX11. So let it be :)

Heat is not a problem unless both GTXes have OTES (pushing hot air outside the case, not spreading into the case).
 
biuro74 said:
I'm really in doubt if all that suggestions to reinstall system or enable some option will make him happy
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I agree, I think his heart is set on an upgrade with DX11 etc, as you can probably tell :)

Do you guys think SLI'ing the two gigabyte GTX 460's would be the best option performance wise within this budget? and there wouldnt be a problem with the heat from both cards in his Antec 1200 case

cmndr_andi said:
would you be able to do the tests I suggested in Post#12?
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I will get him to do the test tomorrow morning and will post the results, as he's had to pop out.

Once again thanks everyone for this excellent support / advise :cool:
 
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