Upgrading question

[Dark79]

This is my current spec, i was thinking of upgrading the 2 460's for 1 gtx680 how would i go about this, im assuming i would need a bigger power supply ? and if so what sort of voltage ? I just want the power and will get a 3d monitor but may go for a 3 monitor set up in the future....

Case ANTEC 900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£79)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-930 (2.80GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Change to: Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Motherboard ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM) 6GB CORSAIR XMS3 TRI-DDR3 1600MHz (3 X 2GB)
Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
3rd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 40GB Intel® X25-V 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 170MB/sR | 35MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 640GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
RAID NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply 600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£38)

Change to: Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium (£59)

Network Facilities ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

 

[keynes]

im assuming i would need a bigger power supply ?

The minimum PSU requirement in the configurator for a GTX 680 is 600w PSU. I don't think you need to upgrade your power supply but you may want to contact PCS for an official response.

 

[Dark79]

Oh ok, brilliant, I'll get in touch with them at some point, thanks +rep

 

[keynes]

Oh ok, brilliant, I'll get in touch with them at some point, thanks +rep

Thanks for the rep
A GTX 670 would provide a close performance to the GTX 680 and it is significantly cheaper. If you want to game at high settings in 3D and/or 3 monitors you may want to consider a SLI set up but a power supply upgrade would be required.

 

[Dark79]

So you dont think a 680 would be enough to game on high settings in 3d ? or mainly sli for 3 monitors ? Id like to get into 3d gaming for a year or 2 before trying 3 monitors, ill have to check out some 3d gaming benchmarks for some games...

 

[Dark79]

will also check out the 670 too as that will still be a beast if the performance is not that far behind the 680.

 

[Evil Tactician]

I went from 2x GTX 460 to 1x GTX 670 and was extremely pleased with the result.

Running an i7-950 as well.

 

[keynes]

will also check out the 670 too as that will still be a beast if the performance is not that far behind the 680.

For 3 monitors yes, I'd go with a SLI set up.

 

[Dark79]

Quality, do you do 3d gaming at all? My 460s are great but I've noticed that on some games maxed out they struggle a bit, arkham city especially which I have to lower settings on & battlefield 3, I also loved metro, and the new metro last light looks stunning and I wanna witness that in all its glory which the 680 should handle without a sweat I presume....? Thanks for your input

 

[Dark79]

Just wanted to update as ive taken the plunge, Just ordered an EVGA GTX 680 2gb, im gonna use one of my 460's for the physx so have ordered a corsair 750w power supply. Ive also ordered a 27" IPS panel monitor with a res of 2560x1440, gonna look sooo sweet Ive just found out hdmi is restricted to 1080p so it must be the dvi-d cable that can do the higher res ? is that right ? I could google it but then someone will miss out on +1Rep :yes:

 

[vanthus]

I believe some 1.4 HDMI cables claim to have this capability,but probably best use a Dual Link DVI-D cable,this may be supplied with the monitor.

 

[Rakk]

Just wanted to update as ive taken the plunge, Just ordered an EVGA GTX 680 2gb, im gonna use one of my 460's for the physx so have ordered a corsair 750w power supply.

You may find that using your GTX460 as a dedicated physx card doesn't help at all, especially given the physx on the GTX680 will be far better anyway.
Have a read of Gormans post (post #3) in this thread: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?798-SLI-or-dedicate-a-card-to-PhysX-o&highlight=physx, and his thread he linked to (though the pictures seem to have vanished but you still get the idea).

 

[Dark79]

Ok I'll try it with just the 680, it was a mate who suggested it, he's built several pcs and knows a lot about them but I'll try without, less heat/noise for a start I'm gonna check some benchmarks on the 680 at that res but I think it will wipe the floor with em... No?

 

[Dark79]

Another question guys, sorry, my 680 hasn't been despatched yet, so ive tried cancelling and if i do im probably going to go for x2 670's would 750w power supply be enough for x2 of those and which brand are the best to go for and they should fit on my mobo and in case ?

Thanks

 

[keynes]

Another question guys, sorry, my 680 hasn't been despatched yet, so ive tried cancelling and if i do im probably going to go for x2 670's would 750w power supply be enough for x2 of those and which brand are the best to go for and they should fit on my mobo and in case ?

Thanks

750w should be fine for 2 x GTX 670. Which brand? I think it depends on what features you are looking in your graphics card in terms of cooling, overclocked, etc. I have 2 palit GTX 680 and I have not experienced any issues with them.

 

[Dark79]

I just want great performance on games maxed out at that higher res the 2556 x 1440 and x2 670's would provide higher frame rates then x1 680.... ive got the tripple copper cooling and id only be gaming for 4-6 hours max at a time anyway so what do you reckon go for a cooler one or overclocked, my 460's were palit ones and they've been fine so may go for palit

 

[keynes]

I just want great performance on games maxed out at that higher res the 2556 x 1440 and x2 670's would provide higher frame rates then x1 680.... ive got the tripple copper cooling and id only be gaming for 4-6 hours max at a time anyway so what do you reckon go for a cooler one or overclocked, my 460's were palit ones and they've been fine so may go for palit

2xGTX 670 will outperform 1xGTX 680 2gb at 1920x1080 or higher resolutions. If you are not overclocking your CPU the triple copper heatpipe would be fine.

 

[Dark79]

Ok brilliant, thanks for your help, The palit ones come overclocked I think don't they ? would this be ok and you mean if I dont overclock them further ?

 

[keynes]

Ok brilliant, thanks for your help, The palit ones come overclocked I think don't they ? would this be ok and you mean if I dont overclock them further ?

The palit Jetstream comes pre-overclocked. By overclocking further do you mean the GPU or CPU? Overclocking the GPU would void your warranty with a Palit card.

 

[Dark79]

When you said as long as im not overclocking the heat issue will be fine, I thought you were talking about the gfx cards, the palit are classed as overclocked as they come, so without any changes would they be ok ?...... Ive never overclocked in my life and wouldn't know how to and not planning to.....

Basically would an overclocked version of the cards be ok heat wise or get an unclocked version