1. #1

    Gaming PC running slow lately, looking to upgrade GFX card.

    I THINK it's probably my GFX card since they (I do SLI) are kinda old. Right now I'm using nvidia geforce gtx 275 (2) but I'm looking at replacing one of my cards with this card right now. Now my main question is as follows: As long as both my cards are nvidia would I be able to do SLI with them? They don't have to be the same exact card do they? But also, do you think it's worth upgrading? It seems like a fairly substantial upgrade to me but I don't really know my hardware much at all.

    Edit: Damn I didn't even look I feel like a fool I posted this in the wrong section..
    Last edited by DrBob3002; 2012-11-23 at 09:59 PM. Reason: wrong section

  2. #2
    Stood in the Fire Rafax's Avatar
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    Go for it, best upgrade for its value and miles ahead of what you have now, i dont really now since its nvidia but i doubt you can crossfire it.

    But before upgrading post your full specs here please, run a dxdiag if you are not shure about them .

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by DrBob3002 View Post
    I THINK it's probably my GFX card since they (I do SLI) are kinda old. Right now I'm using nvidia geforce gtx 275 (2) but I'm looking at replacing one of my cards with this card right now. Now my main question is as follows: As long as both my cards are nvidia would I be able to do SLI with them? They don't have to be the same exact card do they? But also, do you think it's worth upgrading? It seems like a fairly substantial upgrade to me but I don't really know my hardware much at all.

    Edit: Damn I didn't even look I feel like a fool I posted this in the wrong section..
    Nvidia must be identical pretty much except minor things, like frequency they will calibrate to be even, but reference w/ non won't fly. Any Vram differences won't fly and u cannot do 660 670 or 670+680 u can only fo 670+670

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Rafax View Post
    Go for it, best upgrade for its value and miles ahead of what you have now, i dont really now since its nvidia but i doubt you can crossfire it.

    But before upgrading post your full specs here please, run a dxdiag if you are not shure about them .
    Alright here's my specs:
    OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
    CPU: Intel Core i7 (2.67 GHz)
    RAM: 8GB
    GFX: nVidia Geforce GTX 275 (x2)

    Anything else I should include?

    Quote Originally Posted by Milkshake86 View Post
    Nvidia must be identical pretty much except minor things, like frequency they will calibrate to be even, but reference w/ non won't fly. Any Vram differences won't fly and u cannot do 660 670 or 670+680 u can only fo 670+670
    Ok, so I can't SLI, good to know. Do you think this new card is enough of an upgrade to justify me replacing my two GTX 275's with it?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by DrBob3002 View Post
    Ok, so I can't SLI, good to know. Do you think this new card is enough of an upgrade to justify me replacing my two GTX 275's with it?
    You'll be getting about 50% higher fps on games that does support SLI and 200% higher that does not. Also GTX670 will run about 40C cooler, cut down noise to half and lower your yearly electricity bill by $100.

    On the other hand your current processor i7-920 is rather poor out of the box and begs to be overclocked. It's relatively easy and safe to OC to around 4GHz which will give big boost to all MMORPGs.
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  6. #6
    http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/520?vs=598

    Note a 670 is like 2x 285's, so the gain will be massive quite honestly, and Dx11 support.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Milkshake86 View Post
    Nvidia must be identical pretty much except minor things, like frequency they will calibrate to be even, but reference w/ non won't fly. Any Vram differences won't fly and u cannot do 660 670 or 670+680 u can only fo 670+670
    A reference card works with a non reference card in SLI.

    Combining a 2GB 6970 orsomething with a 1GB 6950 works perfect except when the game uses more than 1GB VRAM.

    Quote Originally Posted by vesseblah View Post
    You'll be getting about 50% higher fps on games that does support SLI and 200% higher that does not. Also GTX670 will run about 40C cooler, cut down noise to half and lower your yearly electricity bill by $100.

    On the other hand your current processor i7-920 is rather poor out of the box and begs to be overclocked. It's relatively easy and safe to OC to around 4GHz which will give big boost to all MMORPGs.
    Ain't a 920 more than enough to fill a gtx 670?

    Honestly, I don't think he is capable to overclock that cpu. That generation is a lot harder to overclock than any bridge. There like 20 things you have to know before overclocking that generation.

  8. #8
    A reference card works with a non reference card in SLI.
    No, it doesn't.
    Combining a 2GB 6970 orsomething with a 1GB 6950 works perfect except when the game uses more than 1GB VRAM.
    That is Crossfire, which works differently. You cannot SLI two cards that are not, for all intents and purposes, identical. You can Crossfire two different AMD cards within certain constraints.

    In both cases, however, pairing a 1GB card with a 2GB card will result in it either not working at all, or there only being 1GB VRAM available, as the data is mirrored.

  9. #9
    Stood in the Fire Rafax's Avatar
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    Lets just cut the overclocking ans SLI stuff, for all purposed the 670 will be a massive jump in power and a much better upgrade then getting a new cpu right now, so go for it.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Butler Log View Post
    No, it doesn't.
    It does. http://www.overclock.net/t/1268264/s...card-good-idea

    Quote Originally Posted by Butler Log View Post
    That is Crossfire, which works differently. You cannot SLI two cards that are not, for all intents and purposes, identical. You can Crossfire two different AMD cards within certain constraints.

    In both cases, however, pairing a 1GB card with a 2GB card will result in it either not working at all, or there only being 1GB VRAM available, as the data is mirrored.
    Crossfire with 1GB and 2GB works, I used to use a 6950 1GB with a 6970 2GB. But you only have 1GB vram in total. The other 1GB will be just ignored.

    SLI works the same with 1GB and 2GB in sli -> http://www.overclock.net/t/1201503/g...gb-and-2gb-sli

    Another proof -> http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=168437

  11. #11
    Crossfire with 1GB and 2GB works, I used to use a 6950 1GB with a 6970 2GB. SLI works the same with 1GB and 2GB in sli -> http://www.overclock.net/t/1201503/g...gb-and-2gb-sli
    That is exactly what I said...

    From that link:
    Just to clarify you can SLI cards with different amounts of memory, however you lose the extra gig on the second card. Its also not guaranteed to work, but it is possible.
    I think a EVGA hardware tech knows what he is talking about, and he backs up what I said. What was the point of linking that thread? The OP was talking about pairing a 670 with a 275, which will not work.

    Regardless of how many people use it, and how much better SLI and CF have got over the last few years, it is still a very much enthusiast technology, with possible issues that can make more headaches than you would care for.

    @OP: get the single GTX 670. Best would be something like the Gigabyte WindforceX3 version, as that uses better circuitry and the cooler is better.
    Last edited by Butler to Baby Sloths; 2012-11-24 at 02:59 AM.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Faithh View Post
    Ain't a 920 more than enough to fill a gtx 670?
    920 will still severely limit WoW and all other MMORPGs. If you OC it to 4GHz you can see 20fps more in 25man raids.
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by vesseblah View Post
    920 will still severely limit WoW and all other MMORPGs. If you OC it to 4GHz you can see 20fps more in 25man raids.
    you can see 20 fps more by focusing on the ground too I highly doubt as a matter of fact I know a 920 will not get 20+ fps @ 4.0Ghz in a 25m raid, maybe you'll see 10 11 if your lucky. Those CPU's really arent any better than Phenom II quads, and the 990x is kind of lousy when compared to a 980 BE.

    http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/362?vs=444

    keep in mind a near $800 price difference. The 920 was $100~ more than the phenoms and was equal at best, so really if you'd advise someone to upgrade a phenom 2 you might as well say they need a new cpu if they have first gen core I's.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Milkshake86 View Post
    The 920 was $100~ more than the phenoms and was equal at best, so really if you'd advise someone to upgrade a phenom 2 you might as well say they need a new cpu if they have first gen core I's.
    1) Nobody in this thread was talking about upgrading PhenomII's besides you

    2) OP did not ask for CPU spefically but graphics card, OC comment was an afterthought from me

    3) Old i7's are really good overclockers, it's not uncommon to see 50% gain with one, while you get only ~30% more speed with PhenomII pushing the difference much wider between the two than the Anandtech graph shows
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Milkshake86 View Post
    you can see 20 fps more by focusing on the ground too I highly doubt as a matter of fact I know a 920 will not get 20+ fps @ 4.0Ghz in a 25m raid, maybe you'll see 10 11 if your lucky. Those CPU's really arent any better than Phenom II quads, and the 990x is kind of lousy when compared to a 980 BE.

    http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/362?vs=444

    keep in mind a near $800 price difference. The 920 was $100~ more than the phenoms and was equal at best, so really if you'd advise someone to upgrade a phenom 2 you might as well say they need a new cpu if they have first gen core I's.
    Lolz.. My q9550 e0 was bottlenecking my 6950 (unlocked + 70MHz) in almost every game. Until I have been ocing this chip to 4.4GHz which was performing equally to a 2500k.

    On stock speeds, the GPU wasn't getting it's information fast enough from the CPU and I never really seen a gpu usage above the 40% (vsync disabled)

    To give you a view -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlPMxaZS4Wo @ 13:29

    Btw, this cpu doesn't bottleneck a gtx 690 in games like bf3 etc. Wow using only 2 threads so the cpu is limiting the gpu and that's the moment an OC it's on his place.

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