Want a new SLI mobo but do I upgrade CPU?

sys4096

sys4096

sys4096

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8 Dec 2010
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20
Oh no not another of those threads!

I have a GA-EX58-U3DR, i7-950 and two GTX 470s in SLI
Problem - GTXs are up against each other in this MB (Furmark >105C) so
fans on high and noise the minute you give them ANY work to do.

Now I am tempted to just replace the motherboard for one with good SLI spacing - I can get a second hand P6T Deluxe V2 for around £100 but part of me says why not put that £100 towards LGA2011 instead!

Further research tells me that really I'm getting no benefit from LGA2011 (my home PC is gaming purely) and that an i7-2700k + mobo with good SLI spacing would be a better investment, especially seeing this weeks 2700k offer here.

Alternatively I could lose the 470s and grab a 580 or maybe 590 as I have about £500 in budget but could stretch a bit.

I really would appreciate any thoughts on this folks!
 
For gaming? you don't even need i7-2700k. You'd be fine with an i5.

You would need new RAM, as your current is triple channel, but the stuff is cheap anyway...

So I'd suggest:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £145.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.98
Total : £365.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).




Saying that, to be honest, your current CPU is hardly going to limit you on gaming... and there's an absolutely cracking deal on X58 Mobos at the moment.

So long as you can cope with the colour scheme, maybe try:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte X58A-OC Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £149.99
Total : £160.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).



To be honest in your position, I'd go for the second option. i7 950 there's no point upgrading unless you wait for Ivy. The Gigabyte board is effectively a £250 board for £150.. which is the same price as a decent SLI SB board anyway...

Maybe get the Gigabyte, and just use it to tie you over until Ivy comes out when it might be worth upgrading your CPU (really doubt it for gaming). On the other hand, get the Gigabyte board and just keep saving so when the next gen GPUs come out you can get a nice SLI set up of them....

kd
 
Last edited:
Wow that is a blistering deal on the Motherboard, I hadn't seen that one, very nice spacing on the x16 slots and great potential to overclock my existing CPU. thank you very much for pointing that one out to me.

Just read the reviews and it's sold me on it, ordered!

My wallet hates this website though, I realised this MB also gives me 6G sata ports so I had to take up the this week deal on the 120GB vertex, I have an old OCZ and I then noticed an extra 6GB of 12800 tri channel ram is only 35 quid.

Looks time to kill my little HP server I use for Hyper-V and just dual boot this with server for work!

Many Thanks
 
sys4096 said:
My wallet hates this website though, I realised this MB also gives me 6G sata ports so I had to take up the this week deal on the 120GB vertex, I have an old OCZ and I then noticed an extra 6GB of 12800 tri channel ram is only 35 quid.
Click to expand...

Don't be surprised if you don't get the full speed from the SSD.

The Marvell SATA 3 controller is a bit naff.
 
Surveyor said:
Don't be surprised if you don't get the full speed from the SSD.

The Marvell SATA 3 controller is a bit naff.
Click to expand...

Fortunately this M/B has the Marvell 88SE9182 I read that the Ropey one is the 9128 and the one on this board is now up to spec on some site saying it was at same speed as an intel controller using native ahci drivers
 
King Damager said:
For gaming? you don't even need i7-2700k. You'd be fine with an i5.

You would need new RAM, as your current is triple channel, but the stuff is cheap anyway...

So I'd suggest:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £145.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.98
Total : £365.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).




Saying that, to be honest, your current CPU is hardly going to limit you on gaming... and there's an absolutely cracking deal on X58 Mobos at the moment.

So long as you can cope with the colour scheme, maybe try:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte X58A-OC Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £149.99
Total : £160.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).



To be honest in your position, I'd go for the second option. i7 950 there's no point upgrading unless you wait for Ivy. The Gigabyte board is effectively a £250 board for £150.. which is the same price as a decent SLI SB board anyway...

Maybe get the Gigabyte, and just use it to tie you over until Ivy comes out when it might be worth upgrading your CPU (really doubt it for gaming). On the other hand, get the Gigabyte board and just keep saving so when the next gen GPUs come out you can get a nice SLI set up of them....

kd
Click to expand...

he wouldnt need new RAM. he would just need to leave one stick of the triple channel RAM out of his rig. all that dual/triple/quad channel means is that the sticks of RAM come from the same batch
 
I wouldn't worry about the furmarks temp, if its getting to much over 80C when gaming tho its starting to be a worry.

I'd suggest looking at the airflow through your case and maybe increasing directed airflow over the GPUs before spending money on upgrades you can make a big difference to temps with the 470s just by good positioning of an additional fan.
 
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