Delayed SLI

Vanzagar · 01-19-11, 06:58 PM

If I buy a GTX 580 now and plan to get another in a year or even 2, do cards bought that far apart still work fine in SLI? I would assume there are firmware changes and possibly hardware tweaks, anyone have experience putting together SLI a year or 2 later...

Couple other questions:1. I have this Power supply (CORSAIR 1000W) would it be able to even handle 2 GTX 580's?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...SAIR%20HX1000W

2. Would my Q9550 CPU bottleneck two GTX 580's?

I'm looking forward to games like Skyrim and Crysis 2, I know they're not out for awhile, but educated guesses are fine with me....

Thanks,

Vanz

my current system:
2x EVGA GeForce GTX 260's 896MB, SLI (Model#896-P3-1260-AR)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA775 (Model#BX80569Q9550)
EVGA nForce 750i FTW SLI Mobo (Model#123-YW-E175-A1)
CORSAIR HX1000W 1000W Modular Power Supply
NZXT TEMPEST ATX Mid Tower Case (Model#CS-NT-TEM-B)
4GB (2x2GB) G.SKILL SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) 240-Pin (Model#F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler

**Rummy** · 01-19-11, 10:03 PM

Will the 580 be around in a year? Probably. In 2 years maybe not. Yes the 1000 watt is fine for 2 580's, it's what I have and I plan on buying another 580 soon. Yes your cpu will bottleneck the cards, but IMO I think bottlenecking is brought up too much. Just buy what you want and be happy.

Vanzagar · 01-19-11, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rummy

Yes the 1000 watt is fine for 2 580's, it's what I have and I plan on buying another 580 soon.

Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rummy

Yes your cpu will bottleneck the cards, but IMO I think bottlenecking is brought up too much. Just buy what you want and be happy.

That makes no sense to me... then why would I blow money on 2 580's, I'd be better suited with maybe 2 570's or maybe I should upgrade me CPU if I go with 2 580's... that's something I'm always vague on, what is approx the min CPU you'd want to run with a certain GPU(s)??

Are there any sites shed light on this?

**Rummy** · 01-19-11, 11:18 PM

Here is an article that explains it.
http://benchmarkextreme.com/Articles...alysis/P1.html

You could buy a SB or i7 combo now and keep the 260's or buy one 580/570 and get a SB or i7 combo.
Its up to you. Is there a game you cant play at the settings you want right now? Or do you just want to upgrade?

**Greedo** · 01-19-11, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanzagar

Thanks

That makes no sense to me... then why would I blow money on 2 580's, I'd be better suited with maybe 2 570's or maybe I should upgrade me CPU if I go with 2 580's... that's something I'm always vague on, what is approx the min CPU you'd want to run with a certain GPU(s)??

Are there any sites shed light on this?

580's have more vram...

Vanzagar · 01-19-11, 11:29 PM

wow interesting article Rummy... have just skimmed article so far but it looks like CPU is effecting fps a lot up until a certain GHZ... damn I really didn't want to spend more $$ on a new mobo and CPU... gonna have to sit down and really go over this article...

So right now I dip under 30fps quite often on NFS:HP @1920x1200... but I want to be ready for Crysis 2 and more importantly Skyrim...

... I know it's over 10 months out, but it's peaked my interest so I'm just scoping out the land scape for now, as of 4 days ago I knew next to nothing about the latest GPUs...

Thanks again dude... oh, so the question being what would the min CPU be needed for 580 SLI?

Vanz

Vanzagar · 01-19-11, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greedo

580's have more vram...

can you elaborate...

**Rummy** · 01-19-11, 11:51 PM

580 sli would probably need at least 3.6 or higher. If you plan on 2 580's sooner or later just get 1 580 and a cpu/mobo combo. You will then have a very balanced system and not have to worry about any bottlenecks. Nothing wrong with a single powerful card. Also the higher the res the lower the bottleneck.

**Rummy** · 01-19-11, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanzagar

can you elaborate...

The more VRAM you have, the less performance hit you will have at a higher resolution.
(Video Random Access Memory) So if you're playing a game that uses 1500 vram and your card only has 1300 you will have performance issues. I hope I explained it well enough.

**Greedo** · 01-20-11, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rummy

The more VRAM you have, the less performance hit you will have at a higher resolution.
(Video Random Access Memory) So if you're playing a game that uses 1500 vram and your card only has 1300 you will have performance issues. I hope I explained it well enough.

yep, and it also comes in handy for turning up AA and AF levels at those higher resolutions.

**Rummy** · 01-20-11, 01:59 AM

Also don't worry to much about Crysis 2 it has been said many times that the specs for 2 are less than the specs for 1 so you should be ok.

Intel17 · 01-25-11, 04:40 PM

If I were you, I'd go with an i7 2600k + 2x GTX 560 Ti's. Jus' sayin'.

01-19-11, 10:03 PM	#2
Rummy Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Under your bed Posts: 1,684	Re: Delayed SLI Will the 580 be around in a year? Probably. In 2 years maybe not. Yes the 1000 watt is fine for 2 580's, it's what I have and I plan on buying another 580 soon. Yes your cpu will bottleneck the cards, but IMO I think bottlenecking is brought up too much. Just buy what you want and be happy.

01-19-11, 11:18 PM	#4
Rummy Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Under your bed Posts: 1,684	Re: Delayed SLI Here is an article that explains it. http://benchmarkextreme.com/Articles...alysis/P1.html You could buy a SB or i7 combo now and keep the 260's or buy one 580/570 and get a SB or i7 combo. Its up to you. Is there a game you cant play at the settings you want right now? Or do you just want to upgrade?

01-19-11, 11:29 PM	#6
Vanzagar Bring me Amberlamps Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 2,167	Re: Delayed SLI wow interesting article Rummy... have just skimmed article so far but it looks like CPU is effecting fps a lot up until a certain GHZ... damn I really didn't want to spend more $$ on a new mobo and CPU... gonna have to sit down and really go over this article... So right now I dip under 30fps quite often on NFS:HP @1920x1200... but I want to be ready for Crysis 2 and more importantly Skyrim...... I know it's over 10 months out, but it's peaked my interest so I'm just scoping out the land scape for now, as of 4 days ago I knew next to nothing about the latest GPUs... Thanks again dude... oh, so the question being what would the min CPU be needed for 580 SLI? Vanz

01-20-11, 01:59 AM	#11
Rummy Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Under your bed Posts: 1,684	Re: Delayed SLI Also don't worry to much about Crysis 2 it has been said many times that the specs for 2 are less than the specs for 1 so you should be ok.

01-19-11, 06:58 PM	#1
Vanzagar Bring me Amberlamps Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 2,167	Delayed SLI If I buy a GTX 580 now and plan to get another in a year or even 2, do cards bought that far apart still work fine in SLI? I would assume there are firmware changes and possibly hardware tweaks, anyone have experience putting together SLI a year or 2 later... Couple other questions:1. I have this Power supply (CORSAIR 1000W) would it be able to even handle 2 GTX 580's? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...SAIR%20HX1000W 2. Would my Q9550 CPU bottleneck two GTX 580's? I'm looking forward to games like Skyrim and Crysis 2, I know they're not out for awhile, but educated guesses are fine with me.... Thanks, Vanz my current system: 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 260's 896MB, SLI (Model#896-P3-1260-AR) Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA775 (Model#BX80569Q9550) EVGA nForce 750i FTW SLI Mobo (Model#123-YW-E175-A1) CORSAIR HX1000W 1000W Modular Power Supply NZXT TEMPEST ATX Mid Tower Case (Model#CS-NT-TEM-B) 4GB (2x2GB) G.SKILL SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) 240-Pin (Model#F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ) Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler

01-19-11, 11:51 PM	#8
Rummy Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Under your bed Posts: 1,684	Re: Delayed SLI 580 sli would probably need at least 3.6 or higher. If you plan on 2 580's sooner or later just get 1 580 and a cpu/mobo combo. You will then have a very balanced system and not have to worry about any bottlenecks. Nothing wrong with a single powerful card. Also the higher the res the lower the bottleneck.

01-25-11, 04:40 PM	#12
Intel17 Is not an Intel fanboi Join Date: May 2004 Location: Burlington, VT Posts: 1,368	Re: Delayed SLI If I were you, I'd go with an i7 2600k + 2x GTX 560 Ti's. Jus' sayin'. __________________ Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Edition @ 4.00GHz, 2.94GHz uncore\| Corsair H60 \| ASUS P6X58D-E \| Zotac GTX 580 @ 872/1744/2145\|Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB (Games/Steam)\| Seagate 1.5TB (media/misc.) \|Seagate 1 TB (OS/Main) \| 24 GB G.Skill RipJaws X 1.5V DDR3-1333 \| Creative X-Fi Titanium \| Sennheiser HD 202 Headset \| Dual Gigabit Realtek LAN \| Antec True Power Quattro 1200W \| Acer G235Hbmbd 23" LCD Display \| Logitech K320 Wireless Keyboard \| Logitech Performance MX Mouse