geforce 280 gtx sli debating about 480 sli...

nvserge · 08-04-10, 05:01 PM

Hey guys... my rig specs are in my sig...

things running pretty smoothly until I got a third monitor to get the surround temptation out of the way...

Now I can see things are starting to look a bit taxed at 5760/1080 with 3 monitors. I mean... borderline great with a bit of choppiness...

Would it be overkill to get 2 480's considering my specs? Not sure if I can budget an i7 at this time...

Looking for guidance to either trigger a guilt ridden purchase or to stop my hand from twitching around my wallet!

Thanks!

wheeljack12 · 08-05-10, 11:58 PM

well, at 1200 watts, the psu is there for 480 sli. And it depends on what you consider guilt ridden. I mean if the budget money is there and you aren't spending against monthly bills, why are you feeling guilty?

nvserge · 08-06-10, 10:19 AM

nice specs you got there.... drool worthy hehe... Never spent against the bills money, have plenty of unused credit and some spare cash... my guilt would just be based off the lack of benefit from moving up this year... I was hoping that someone that moved up to the 480's from 280's or 275's or 285's for that matter would say "wow rock solid performance increase!"... I see you got 24 gb of ram there, what is the benefit for that level of ram? i have yet to run out of memory on 64 bit win 7 with 4 gb of ram, even though at times I have 6-7 visual studio 2010 windows running + possibly 10-20 SQL Server query windows opened?

Muppet · 08-06-10, 06:18 PM

Go for it. SLI 480's scale extremely well and 3 monitor gaming is pretty taxing on a system.

**saturnotaku** · 08-06-10, 06:53 PM

I have an eVGA GTX 480 I'm selling if you're on the fence about price.

Link

Burnt_Ram · 08-07-10, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nvserge

Hey guys... my rig specs are in my sig...

things running pretty smoothly until I got a third monitor to get the surround temptation out of the way...

Now I can see things are starting to look a bit taxed at 5760/1080 with 3 monitors. I mean... borderline great with a bit of choppiness...

Would it be overkill to get 2 480's considering my specs? Not sure if I can budget an i7 at this time...

Looking for guidance to either trigger a guilt ridden purchase or to stop my hand from twitching around my wallet!

Thanks!

i would go for a cpu upgrade first. my cpu (like yours) bottlenecks my cards a LOT! i put them in my other machine that has an i5 750 @ 3.6 and they where very happy

MUCH better performance. especially in Bad Company 2!

**john19055** · 08-07-10, 10:05 AM

I would agree that a CPU and motherboard and memory would be the first thing to do .The
i7-920 0r i7-930 scales better then the core2 Quad in SLI .I would upgrade to a i7-920 or
i7-930 and a new motherboard and DDR3 memory first and then get new video cards .

Burnt_Ram · 08-07-10, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john19055

I would agree that a CPU and motherboard and memory would be the first thing to do .The
i7-920 0r i7-930 scales better then the core2 Quad in SLI .I would upgrade to a i7-920 or
i7-930 and a new motherboard and DDR3 memory first and then get new video cards .

no disrespect John, but even an i5 750 would suffice, and be alot less to upgrade. i went through the whole i5 vs i7 debate, and couldnt justify the bigger expense. but yea clock for clock i5-i7 easily beats a core 2 quad. hell even at stock clocks my i5 beats my C2Q at 3.6 by a bit ...

Bah! · 08-07-10, 11:16 AM

If he were running a single monitor, I'd agree that 480's in SLI are too much for his current rig. But 3 monitors with a resolution that high are a different story, you'll get more performance out of the cards than than a CPU upgrade.

Burnt_Ram · 08-07-10, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bah!

If he were running a single monitor, I'd agree that 480's in SLI are too much for his current rig. But 3 monitors with a resolution that high are a different story, you'll get more performance out of the cards than than a CPU upgrade.

even with my overclocked i5 and max settings i havent bugun to use my second 260. with the right cpu a 260/275/280 is plently @ 1080p. now if your gaming at 2560 or whatever i can see a second 400 series being usefull, but other that that one 480 is plenty IMO. unless your playing Crysis, and even 3x480 barely cuts it ...

Bah! · 08-07-10, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burnt_Ram

even with my overclocked i5 and max settings i havent bugun to use my second 260. with the right cpu a 260/275/280 is plently @ 1080p. now if your gaming at 2560 or whatever i can see a second 400 series being usefull, but other that that one 480 is plenty IMO. unless your playing Crysis, and even 3x480 barely cuts it ...

Ok.

Now read the OP again.

Burnt_Ram · 08-07-10, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bah!

Ok.

Now read the OP again.

i completely skipped the fact he's using multiple moitors

maybe dual 400 series might be needed afterall. gotta quit skimming

08-04-10, 05:01 PM	#1
nvserge Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 8	geforce 280 gtx sli debating about 480 sli... Hey guys... my rig specs are in my sig... things running pretty smoothly until I got a third monitor to get the surround temptation out of the way... Now I can see things are starting to look a bit taxed at 5760/1080 with 3 monitors. I mean... borderline great with a bit of choppiness... Would it be overkill to get 2 480's considering my specs? Not sure if I can budget an i7 at this time... Looking for guidance to either trigger a guilt ridden purchase or to stop my hand from twitching around my wallet! Thanks! __________________ Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.6 Ghz Prolimatech Megahalems rev.B Asus Sabertooth X58 6 GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 2 * NVIDIA Geforce GTX 480 SLI Sound Blaster Xfi Fatal1ty OCZ Agility 2 120 GB SSD 1200 W PSU

08-05-10, 11:58 PM	#2
wheeljack12 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Hamilton,Ontario,Canada Posts: 1,020	Re: geforce 280 gtx sli debating about 480 sli... well, at 1200 watts, the psu is there for 480 sli. And it depends on what you consider guilt ridden. I mean if the budget money is there and you aren't spending against monthly bills, why are you feeling guilty? __________________ asus p8z77-v lk mb, 8gb ddr3-1866 mhz ram in dual channel,intel core i7 3770k cpu,zotac gtx 680 amp gpu, creative labs sb recon 3d pci-e,2x ocz agility 3 90gb ssd in raid 0,antec 650 watt 80 plus platunum psu,antec atx case, pioneer bdr-208 15x bluray writer,windows 8 64 bit oem, steelseries 6gv2 keyboard ,asus vg278he 27' 3d vision 2 lcd monitor, steelseries 6gv2 keyboard, steelseries sensei mlg editon mouse,xbox 360 wired controller for windows,lexar 16gb usb 3.0 flash drive I'd rather walk with God in the Dark than shine in the light alone. coming soon:2x samsung 840 pro 256gb in raid 0,logitech z906 5.1 speakers,,(4x4gb) 16gb team xtreem 2666mhz ram, 32gb kingston datatravler workspace usb 3.0 flash drive,3d vision 2 goggles,sound blaster z sound card, adaptec 6805e pci-e 2.0 4x sata 3 raid controller,lg 16x bd writer

08-06-10, 10:19 AM	#3
nvserge Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 8	Re: geforce 280 gtx sli debating about 480 sli... nice specs you got there.... drool worthy hehe... Never spent against the bills money, have plenty of unused credit and some spare cash... my guilt would just be based off the lack of benefit from moving up this year... I was hoping that someone that moved up to the 480's from 280's or 275's or 285's for that matter would say "wow rock solid performance increase!"... I see you got 24 gb of ram there, what is the benefit for that level of ram? i have yet to run out of memory on 64 bit win 7 with 4 gb of ram, even though at times I have 6-7 visual studio 2010 windows running + possibly 10-20 SQL Server query windows opened? __________________ Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.6 Ghz Prolimatech Megahalems rev.B Asus Sabertooth X58 6 GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 2 * NVIDIA Geforce GTX 480 SLI Sound Blaster Xfi Fatal1ty OCZ Agility 2 120 GB SSD 1200 W PSU

08-06-10, 06:18 PM	#4
Muppet Registered User Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: New Zealand Posts: 3,111	Re: geforce 280 gtx sli debating about 480 sli... Go for it. SLI 480's scale extremely well and 3 monitor gaming is pretty taxing on a system.

08-06-10, 06:53 PM	#5
saturnotaku Apple user. Deal with it. Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: The 'burbs, IL USA Posts: 12,502	Re: geforce 280 gtx sli debating about 480 sli... I have an eVGA GTX 480 I'm selling if you're on the fence about price. Link

08-07-10, 10:05 AM	#7
john19055 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: GREENVILLE,TX Posts: 3,851	Re: geforce 280 gtx sli debating about 480 sli... I would agree that a CPU and motherboard and memory would be the first thing to do .The i7-920 0r i7-930 scales better then the core2 Quad in SLI .I would upgrade to a i7-920 or i7-930 and a new motherboard and DDR3 memory first and then get new video cards . __________________ Intel i7-3820+Corsair H-100+ASROCK X79-Extreme4+16gigs G.Skill PC1600DDR3+2-ASUS DirectCU II GTX-670 in SLI+Crucial 256g-SSD+2- Samsung 1-TB+2-WesternDigtial 640g+LG-12x Blu-Ray Burner+1100w CoolerMaster+Antec-P280 case+50" Plasma PM6700+Logitech Mouse+Keyboard+Pioneer VSX-1020+Polk Audio Speakers

08-07-10, 11:16 AM	#9
Bah! Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 868	Re: geforce 280 gtx sli debating about 480 sli... If he were running a single monitor, I'd agree that 480's in SLI are too much for his current rig. But 3 monitors with a resolution that high are a different story, you'll get more performance out of the cards than than a CPU upgrade.