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Graphics card help!

Wiggins2011

Wiggins2011

Wiggins2011

Associate
Joined
5 Jul 2011
Posts
5
Hi everybody. I'm new to these forums so excuse any stupid questions from me!
I'm looking for some advice on the upgrading my current gfx card. Presently I have an Nvidia gtx 470 that was in my pc when I bought it.
I recently got a 3dtv (Panasonic vt30 plasma) and found out that Nvidia have a piece of software that will let me connect an Nvidia gfx card to this tv and enable 3d Vision. Having done a bit of research on it though, I discovered that when it is sued it will cause an approx 40% reduction in fps. My first thought was, I'm going to need a better gfx card! Only, when I started looking into it it became very complicated (doesn't it always).
I first started looking at the gtx 590, but the cost is a bit ridiculous at the moment. Then I looked at the gtx 580, but according to Nvidia's own benchmarks, the fps on average aren't much better than the gtx 470. Then I thought I'd source another gtx 470 and run it in sli. his seemed the most cost effective route. Then I realised that I don't have any spare PCI Express slots on my motherboard as it only has 2. One is taken with the current gtx 470 and the other is taken up by my Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio card.
Hmm, this left me in a qaundry. I really want to keep the sound card in as it has optical outputs so I can connect to my external amp/ speakers. But I also want to be able to enable 3d Vision and get a resonable fps on games ranging from all the usual suspects (Crysis/ Crysis 2 dx11 version/ Metro 2033 etc.) I looked into getting one of the external sound cards that Creative make, that connect via USB but still give you a good range of connections so that I could free up the second PCI slot and run another gtx 470 in SLI. I can't find any decent reviews on that though and assume that connecting a sound card by USB is going to start draining a fair amount of the systems resources which I want to be focussing on getting the best fps instead.
Then I discovered there was no SLI bridge connector in the box for the motherboard anyway (an MSI NF750-G55). Which borught me back to the expensive gtx 590. But then I started to wonder if I had a good enough PSU to run it. It's a CoolerMaster 850watt SILENT PRO. Nvidia recommend anything over 700 watts, but I've also read anything from 800 watts upto 1000 watts is better. Considering the rest of the system also consists of a AMD Phenom(TM) II X4 965 Black Edition Quad-Core cpu and 8GB PC12800 DDR3/1600mhz Dual Channel Memory what are my best options for upgrading?
Any advice appreciated.
 
Looking at your Mobo you have 2 PCIex16 slots, the big blue ones. But you also have 2 PCIex1 slots, the small black ones. (1 each above the blue slots)

Your sound card should fit into those black PCIex1 slots, it doesn;t need to be using up the full size blue one. This would then free up the slot for a 2nd card.

Your cheapest solution would then be to just get a 2nd GTX 470 and run in SLI. You should be able to pick up an SLI bridge for a pound or two.

Just check out reviews on how well 470 SLI runs 3D games at your resolution, which will be 1920 x 1080 I guess since it's on a TV.

I run 2 x GTX470's on a 850W PSU fine
 
Cheers Freakbro. I'd convinced myself that the sound card was PCI Express for some reason. Having had a tinker in the case I now realise that is not the case! As you say, I can easily shift the sound card to the right of the motherboard making room for another gtx 470. Works out a damn site more cost effective than a £600 new gfx card!
I'm having a look for benchmarks for the gtx 470 sli on 3D stuff next. As you say, it will be at 1920 X 1080 resolution.
Thanks again!
 
One other quation Freakbro- how much extra noise and heat is produced with the two 470's? At the moment I've only got a watercooled cpu with Akasa fans blowing the air out of the case. The pump of the watercooler has packed in though and I'm in the process of replacing it with a Be Quiet Dark Rock cpu cooler and taking all the watercooling equipment out. I got fed up of the short lifetime of the cooling systems and the constant maintenance is a bit beyond my capabilities.
 
Wiggins2011 said:
Cheers Freakbro. I'd convinced myself that the sound card was PCI Express for some reason. Having had a tinker in the case I now realise that is not the case! As you say, I can easily shift the sound card to the right of the motherboard making room for another gtx 470. Works out a damn site more cost effective than a £600 new gfx card!
I'm having a look for benchmarks for the gtx 470 sli on 3D stuff next. As you say, it will be at 1920 X 1080 resolution.
Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I think your sound card is PCI Express, just its PCI-E x1 (which are the small black slots) not PCI-E x16 (the big blue ones), but it can be used in either slot.

You then have the older PCI slots, that are white and medium length....gets confusing doesn't :p

Anyway, glad to have helped and I hope you find a reasonable cost solution :)
 
Wiggins2011 said:
One other quation Freakbro- how much extra noise and heat is produced with the two 470's? At the moment I've only got a watercooled cpu with Akasa fans blowing the air out of the case. The pump of the watercooler has packed in though and I'm in the process of replacing it with a Be Quiet Dark Rock cpu cooler and taking all the watercooling equipment out. I got fed up of the short lifetime of the cooling systems and the constant maintenance is a bit beyond my capabilities.
Click to expand...

Cooling is the issue for sure, iirc the gap between the 2 blue slots on your mobo seemed fairly good (though hard to tell really).

What generally happens is the bottom card blocks off the air intake of the top card, thus starving it of cool air and the top card ends up running quite a bit hotter....anywhere from 10-20*, depending on your overall case air flow etc.

It's a problem I have struggled with and not found the best solution for yet - apart from Water, which like you, I dont want the hassle with.

My top card runs at ~83* on a normal temperature day while gaming, so the fan is pretty loud tbh (using afterburner for custom fan profile)
 
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