Finally going SB

seekdestroy · 26 Feb 2011 at 00:18

Well finally decided to upgrade from my E8400 to SB!

Is this set up good?

I got a Noctua NH-D14, so dont need cpu cooler. got GTX 460 already and an SSD.
Also currently using corsaior 650W PSU, guessing this will still be enough?

How is the motherboard?

Wasn't sure on the RAM, wanted to upgrade from (4gb atm) to 8gb. I notice quite often I'm using 3.5gb+ so I'm thinking it would be stupid to go for 4gb again if its gna have to last 3+ years.

thoughts?

seekdestroy · 26 Feb 2011 at 11:33

Hmmm, I know I couldn't decide between 2500k and 2600k. Isn't the biggest difference the lack of HT?

where is HT used? in games? I do abit of 3d work, but mostly programming and games. I do the often video transcoding. Is it work the extra money?

Does the 2500k reach the same speeds as the 2600k?

I'm always abit weary of SLI. Is there really that much of an improvement? Or would just selling my current GTX460 and getting a GTX560 be better? Or would the SLI out perform it.
Also, I have a 3D monitor and do play some games in 3D. Will SLI or 1 single card be better at 3D?

My PSU only has 2x 8pin pci-e connectors. Guessing I would have to use molex converter thing?

seekdestroy · 26 Feb 2011 at 11:51

Ok a bit of research answered my question about SLI, would be quite an improvement, not double but just under. Also still an increase in 3D vision, and SLI is supported by 3D vision. and a SLI GTX460 beats GTX560 and GTX570.

Another quick question, about SLI, does the ram size on each card have to match? Does anything other than the model have to match? Atm I got a Palit 2gb GTX460.

seekdestroy · 26 Feb 2011 at 22:47

Ok, thanks for your replies, yeah I'll go with the 2500k. Just checked noctua website and gskill ripsawx ram is compatible!

Now I'll have to find a 2gb gtx460 from somewhere, I suppose there's no rush for sli though!

Oh btw, why did you recommend the msi board over the Asus? Just wanted to know the reasons!

seekdestroy · 27 Feb 2011 at 09:15

Yeah I heard about the b3 chipset. So the current problem only affects ports 2-5 on sata 2 and none of the new sata 3 ports are affected. So if I plug my 2 drives into port 0 & 1 it will be fine?

I was gna buy it today cus all the parts are on this week only offer!

seekdestroy · 27 Feb 2011 at 13:36

Just found this:

In an SLI configuration, cards can be of mixed manufacturers, card model names, BIOS revisions or clock speeds. However, they must be of the same GPU series (e.g. 8600, 8800) and GPU model name (e.g. GT, GTS, GTX).[15] There are rare exceptions for "mixed SLI" configurations on some cards that only have a matching core codename (e.g. G70, G73, G80, etc.), but this is otherwise not possible, and only happens when two matched cards differ only very slightly, an example being a differing amount of video memory, stream processors, or clockspeed. In this case, the slower/lesser card becomes dominant, and the other card matches. Another exception is the GTS 250, which can SLI with the 9800 GTX+, as the GTS 250 GPU is a rebadged 9800 GTX+ GPU.

Would this mean that if I did get a 1GB GTX 460 it would SLI just use the 1gb card, as it has the same stream proccessors

seekdestroy · 27 Feb 2011 at 13:52

Bit more research and I found it was possible using CoolBits to have SLI for GTX265 1GB and GTX265 2GB. Ofcourse the 2gb version would go down to 1GB. I'm wondering If it worth just looking around for a 2GB version.

seekdestroy · 27 Feb 2011 at 15:56

Just put an order through for the 2500k, the Asus P8P67 Pro and the G.Skill 8GB ram. But just saw on the mobo that is got 2x pci-e sockets but says (16x/1x ,8x/8x) Does that mean in SLI each card will only get a 8x lane speed?

Will this affect the SLI configuration much? I'm going to wait abit and see how my single GTX 460 does anyway.