• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Is there any point in going to sli

ANN1H1LAT0R

ANN1H1LAT0R

ANN1H1LAT0R

Associate
Joined
19 Oct 2011
Posts
426
I currently have this system:

Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth P67 B3 Rev
CPU: Core i5 2500K
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H60
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz
PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro 1000W
Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 580 OC Twin FrozR II 1536MB
Sound Card: Asus Xonar D2X 7.1
HDD: OCZ Agility 3 120Gig
Case: Coolermaster HAF 912

Now Im struggling to overclock the CPU currently which I will post for help in the CPU section in a few minutes. Anyway Im thinking of adding another GTX 580 to the system and was wondering if I will see any benefit or will my CPU be a limiting factor.

Also to go SLi Id need to remove the sound card and go onboard with my sound ( I use the Razer Charcharis headset mainly).

Any opinions appreciated :)
 
What res do you game at and what games do you play? TBH, if your current card isn't struggling with anything, then there's no real point getting another.
 
I currently game at 1680x1050 (however I do use 3d vision 75% of the time ish) and I play games like BF3, Skyrim, and have started playing Metro 2033. Now BF3 runs great on Ultra (non 3d vision) with the fps never dropping below 50 and Skyrim also runs perfectly maxed out (non 3d vision again) Metro 2033 however is another story. I maxed out all settings and all directx 11 settings and although it was playable it was a little laggy on the mouse so although not jerky the fps were dropping below an accepatble level.

Games will only become better and demand more from a system so I dont want to be at a point where I cant find my card for a matched sli system (overclockers for instance dont list the card anymore :( )
 
Last edited:
I would hazard a guess that either you have a driver issue or some other software fault. I remember running Metro on my GTX295 maxed out at 1920x1080 with no issues. That card should be able to master anything at 1680x1050, I know my GTX295 could and the 580s probably much better.
 
Dont forget though that Metro 2033 uses massive amounts of tesselation and other demanding directx 11 features that the gtx295 wouldnt even be able to try as it was only direct x 10.1 compatible so I dont think its a driver issue at all
 
Metro plays like crap because it is poorly coded, just google "metro benchmark" to get a look at the kind of gear you need to get awesime fps whilst maxed out.

At 1680x1050, 1 gtx580 is massive overkill tbh, I would consider a monitor upgrade first.
 
Its not massive overkill. Remember I use Nvidia 3dvision and so I need a decent gpu to render the right amount of frames smoothly and when your talking newer games like BF3 and Skyrim with everything on max you need more horsepower as it were si id say its far from overkill. If I went to a 1900x1080 monitor Id certainly see a major drop in frames using 3d vision in these kinds of games id imagine
 
ThePengu1n said:
Metro plays like crap because it is poorly coded, just google "metro benchmark" to get a look at the kind of gear you need to get awesime fps whilst maxed out.

At 1680x1050, 1 gtx580 is massive overkill tbh, I would consider a monitor upgrade first.
Click to expand...
Poorly coded? On high-max settings it will take as much gpu power as you can throw at it and it looks very impressive. Only the witcher 2 on max can out candy it from what I've seen.
I've seen tri sli 3gb 580's play it and all 3 were at max gpu usage.

A poorly coded game would be crysis 2 with the dx11/HR packs, where it puts heavy focus of tessellation on concrete blocks that don't need it and water, even if it's not visible 99% of the time.

1680x1050 isn't overkill as the OP uses 3d. However either op's cpu clock has to go up or you should go for a 1080p 3d display. In order to pump a fluid amount of fps you should get that 2500k up to 4.0 at least, 4.3-5 shouldn't be too much effort.

If you need to push 120fps you need to have a good balance of gpu and cpu power.
The lower your res the more cpu dependant you are.
The high your res the more gpu dependant you are.
 
ANN1H1LAT0R said:
Now Im struggling to overclock the CPU currently which I will post for help in the CPU section in a few minutes.
Click to expand...
I noticed in your other thread you where trying to overclock striaght to 4.5GHZ

You need to try 4.2 to 4.4ghz....
As overclocking the sandybridge cpu's above 4.4ghz starts to get harder
 
Last edited:
your CPU will not bottleneck GTX580 SLI, at your resolution 1.5gb or VRAM should be fine on everything except possibly Metro if you are trying to run high AA, yes you will see a good boost to frame rate in all the games you mention, particularly with 3D vision enabled

I doubt you would notice much difference between the onboard sound and the xonar tbh, particularly for games, if you were doing sound editing it might be different but then you wouldn't be using a xonar anyway
 
Ah good. Just need to find a matching MSI card now then and OC my CPU. Been trying for ages and now have the info I need to get it stable but didnt realise 4.5 or more has increased difficulty. I thought it could easily achieve 4.5 + as ive seen many 4.8's achieved here lol. Ill try 4.4Ghz and sli 580's then
 
ANN1H1LAT0R said:
Been trying for ages and now have the info I need to get it stable but didnt realise 4.5 or more has increased difficulty. I thought it could easily achieve 4.5 + as ive seen many 4.8's achieved here lol. Ill try 4.4Ghz and sli 580's then
Click to expand...
I myself find once you start going higher then 4.4Ghz or around that figure ,
Then you need to start playing with the line voltage settings (volt drop) and checking for high voltage & temp levels very closely in windows..
 
OP, it is quite simple really - SLI will give you a huge increase in FPS. While it is not 100%, it is normally in the 60-80% range.

At your res, 3D Vision wise, you will probably see a difference, but tbh 1680x1050...you may be better waiting for the next good single GPU as your money will go a lot further than if you buy another 580 now.
 
Metro played well for me in 3D Vision at 1080P, I had to lower a couple of settings but it looked utterly incredible in places. The Witcher 2 also looked amazing. If you want to play at 1650 i'd imagine you'd be able to max pretty much everything out there in 3D in SLI, although i'd upgrade to 1080P personally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom