Biggest Performance Boost?

[Jarrod]

Ok, so imagine these are the specs of my PC:

i5 2500k
Gigabyte Z68AP-D3
GTX 460 1GB Factory OC
8GB DDR3 1600Mhz 9-9-9-9-24

Which out of the following, will give me the biggest performance boost:

CPU Watercooler - To OC the CPU.
Another 8GB of the same RAM.


On a side note;
Would putting another GTX 460 1GB in there for SLI make that much of a difference?

Thanks in advance!

 

[stulid]

You can use the stock Intel cooler to do a easy 4GHz.

Would putting another GTX 460 1GB in there for SLI make that much of a difference?

Do you use this PC for games? if so, then yes,

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/180?vs=181

 

[Jarrod]

Yes I'll use it for gaming, but, doesn't the game have to support SLI for SLI to be useful?

 

[Moothead2]

SSD is the biggest general performance increase these days. Ram would be pointless and you can OC that CPU quite a bit on a 30 pound cooler.

 

[Jarrod]

Already using a SSD boot drive. I was going to get the Antec H20 Kuhler... not sure though.

 

[stulid]

Yes I'll use it for gaming, but, doesn't the game have to support SLI for SLI to be useful?

A lot of it is down to the driver and whether it has an SLI profile for a game, the list of games support by SLI is huge and always getting bigger.
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_game.html

 

[fowler002]

hmm I see stulid hasn't pointed out that the motherboard doesn't support sli, if you want sli then you want the z68xp-ud3 which is £110

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-368-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

oh and I'd imagine that the 560ti or 6950 2gb would give you a boost

 

[Jarrod]

560ti is not much faster than the GTX 460 when overclocked... so I won't be making that upgrade. Also I thought that any motherboard can run SLi with some sort of 'hack'?

 

[Surveyor]

560ti is not much faster than the GTX 460 when overclocked... so I won't be making that upgrade.

I think you've got that wrong, you're probably thinking of the GTX 560 (no Ti).

A GTX 560Ti offers significantly better performance than a GTX 460.

Even an overclocked GTX 460 isn't going to come that close and then a GTX 560Ti can be overclocked as well.

Also I thought that any motherboard can run SLi with some sort of 'hack'?

Why take the chance of using a hack?

Also the Gigsbyte Z68AP-D3 runs it's PCI-E slots at x16/x4 so there's a potential bottleneck there.

Much better to get a x8/x8 board certified for SLI.

 

[Jarrod]

Ah didn't think about the PCI-E slots themselves, thanks for pointing them out!

But, GTX 460 vs 560Ti: http://*****.net/tech/reviews/graphics/28691-nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-vs-gtx-460-1gb-clocks/?page=2

Not spending £180 for 4-6 more fps. I might choose to purchase this SSD after all.

 

[fowler002]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-009-CR would be better

 

[Surveyor]

Ah didn't think about the PCI-E slots themselves, thanks for pointing them out!

But, GTX 460 vs 560Ti: link skiped

Not spending £180 for 4-6 more fps. I might choose to purchase this SSD after all.

Sorry, you must have linked to a blocked site so I can't see it.

Check out the benchmarks in the Guru3D review from this page onwards.

On average the GTX 560Ti produces around 37% higher frame rates than a GTX 460.

 

[seb500]

More RAM will result in more of it being used by the OS, no?

 

[Surveyor]

More RAM will result in more of it being used by the OS, no?

Sorry, I don't get the point you're trying to make.

 

[Domi]

If your gaming and already on an SSD as you are then your only "significant" upgrade is graphics card.

Selling a 460 will give a decent return lets go low and say £80-100 add to that what you would spend on something else and you might get a decent graphics upgrade.

For example at £250 your in to GTX570 and not far off GTX580s. As a gamer thats a significant jump in power.