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Gudgey

Gudgey

Gudgey

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Joined
15 Jan 2013
Posts
12
Hi Guys

I currently have the following system:

Asus P6T Deluxe X58 motherboard
Intel Corei7 920 @380Mhz
Corsair 3GB (3x1GB) DDR3 1600
CORSAIR HX 700W MODULAR PSU
1792MB XFX GTX295 DDR3 graphics card
1TB SAMSUNG SATA2 HD103UJ 32MB HDD
Windows Vista Home Premium

Now, when you've finished laughing at the 3GB of Ram and Vista parts, I'd like your opinion's please :)

This system is over three and a half yrs old (apart from the PSU which was replaced about a year ago) and although it's getting a bit long in the tooth, still runs today's games acceptably on a single 24" monitor.

But, I figure it's time to bring it reasonably up to date by replacing some of the parts with the following:

1x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X NVIDIA Graphics Card - 2GB
1x Corsair Memory Dominator GT 12GB DDR3 2000 Mhz CAS 9 DHX XMP Triple Channel (3x 4GB)
Win 7 64 bit

What I really would like to do is to run this with three 24" widescreen monitors using Nvidia's surround thingy, do you think that this is possible with what I have/propose to buy?

I haven't considered upgrading the motherboard and CPU, as from what I've read the i7 920 is quite well thought of, even today.

And finally, I've been thinking about buying two 670's and running them in SLI mode, but I'm a big flight simmer (as well as gamer) and I hear that FSX and DCS A-10 gain nothing from the second card?

Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions.

Gudgey
 
First off I would exchange Vista for Windows 7, used to have Vista and hated the bloody thing. Drivers for Vista are also harder to come by than ones for Windows 7.

If you going to be using 3 monitors at a high res you will want 3GB VRAM really. 3 7950's would be better than 2 670's and the price difference isnt that much.

Unless things have changed much though I think FSX works a lot better on nvidia so you may need to SLI 4GB 670's.
 
Looks like you've still got some good hardware, personally, I'd do something like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £335.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £44.99
Total : £572.32 (includes shipping : £9.50).



For the 3D, you'll need some 3D Monitors as well as the Vision Kit. You could do with running 2x670 in SLI for great performance, which would amount to something like this:

YOUR BASKET
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £335.99 (£671.98)
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £44.99
Total : £908.30 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Also, make sure you install x64 bit OS so you can have more than 3.5gb RAM.

Hope this helps!

EDIT:

Based on your requirements & what Bacon has suggested:

YOUR BASKET
2 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 680 EX OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £419.99 (£839.98)
3 x Benq XL2420T 24" TRUE 120Hz 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red £319.99 (£959.97)
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.99
1 x NVIDIA 3D Vision Kit with Duke Nukem Forever £59.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9T3K2/8X) £44.99
Total : £2,114.21 (includes shipping : £24.45).

 
Last edited:
Hey guys, thanks for such a quick response.

I think I'll go with a single card, and definitely Win7 64-bit. I can buy the two other monitors for less than the price of a second card! And I'm pleased to see you suggested a SSD Snips, will that improve game performance as well as Windows?

Just one thing regarding the RAM, I think with this motherboard you have to fill all three slots, so its 3GB, 6GB 12GB etc.

Do they do a single 670 with 4GB?

Thanks again.
 
Gudgey said:
Hey guys, thanks for such a quick response.

I think I'll go with a single card, and definitely Win7 64-bit. I can buy the two other monitors for less than the price of a second card! And I'm pleased to see you suggested a SSD Snips, will that improve game performance as well as Windows?

Just one thing regarding the RAM, I think with this motherboard you have to fill all three slots, so its 3GB, 6GB 12GB etc.

Do they do a single 670 with 4GB?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Using an SSD would greatly improve generals tasks of the OS, if installed on the SSD, and games would load quicker too. Windows can boot in 10-15 seconds providing you get a good drive and firmware is up-to-date. If you can push for a 256, then great, but dont go below a 64gb, you'll only have about 10gb ish spare once Windows, Win Updated & Service packs are installed.

You can Windows 7 HP should be more than enough unless you need more than 16GB RAM. It's limited to 16bb on the x64 version and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the 4gb 670, very nice cards.
 
I like the look of the Gigabyte card with the three fans. My GTX295 blows like a jet engine sometimes!

I've not heard of EVGA, any good?

And do Inot need a motherboard with a PCI express 3.0 controller?

So much information out there....
 
Okay, this is what I've decided on:

2x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X NVIDIA Graphics Card - 2GB
1x Corsair Memory Dominator GT 12GB DDR3 2000 Mhz CAS 9 DHX XMP Triple Channel (3x 4GB
1x 128GB Plextor PX-128M5S M5S SATA 6.0Gb/s SSD
1x Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM Operating System
2x Asus VS247H 24" Full HD LED Monitor with HDMI & DVI Slim Profile
1x ScanFX TS743A Triple Monitor Desk Stand 15-24" Ideal For Multi Screen Gaming/Eyefinity & Scalable! *New Design*

I'm gonna order this afternoon/evening, so please shout if you see any problems with any of this and my existing stuff?
 
One last question please:

1x Nvidia Geforce 670 4GB
or
2x Nvidia Geforce 670 2GB in SLI

Keep in mind this is for 3x 24" screens.
 
Gudgey said:
One last question please:

1x Nvidia Geforce 670 4GB
or
2x Nvidia Geforce 670 2GB in SLI

Keep in mind this is for 3x 24" screens.
Click to expand...

You'll be far better with SLI if you have 3 screens.

An alternative to 2x670 in SLI would be a 690. Personally, I'd go with the 2x670's.
 
SLI it is!

Just out of interest, do the two cards still use the little chip thing that phyically bridges them?
And if so, do the cards come with one?
 
snips86x said:
Would that even work or is it that fact they are single modules, it would be picked up as triple channel RAM?
Click to expand...

There's no such thing as dual/triple channel RAM. There's such a thing as dual-and triple- channel memory controllers (ie using two/three controllers to access two/three sticks of RAM faster), but the RAM is the same.

The only difference in buying in a "dual/triple channel" kit is that the modules are identical and are supposedly binned in the shop so that you get two/three which are very closely matched. Tolerances are so tight nowadays that if you buy two from the same brand, model and batch, they'll be virtually identical anyway and will work just as well as a "dual/triple channel" branded set.
 
The GTX295 isn't exactly a slouch!

I would personally grab 6GB of RAM, an SSD with W7/W8 on it, and be done with it.

Also you might want to increase the clock speed of the 920 from 380MHz ;) that might bottleneck :D
 
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