GPU upgrade advice

[Tank]

Hey guys maybe you can help me

this is my current system:

CPU: AMD Phenom 2 955 Black Edition @ 3.2ghz

Mobo: Asus Crosshair 2 Formula nForce 780a Bios revision 2402

RAM: 4x 1gig Kingston Hyper-X ram DDR2 800

GFX: 1x Force3D HD4850 512MB

HDD:1x Seagate 120gb Sata
1x 250gb Seagate Sata
1x Maxtor 250gb Sata

PSU: Coolermaster Realpower PRO 850watt

Case: Coolermaster HAF 922
Fans: Front 200mm intake
Top 200mm Extraction
Rear 120mm Extraction
Side 2x 120mm Intake

DVD/RW: Asus DRW2014L1T

Keyboard: Logitech g15

Mouse: Logitech MX518

Speakers: Logitech X-530 5.1

Monitor: 23" Samsung 2333SW wide

O/S: Windows 7 32-bit


now i'm looking at either 2 gtx275's or 2 gtx 470's.

which would be better and would my chassis be suited for cooling?

no oc'ing will be done. this is purely for gaming.

any adivce would be much appreciated

 

[erocker]

If the options are two 275's or two 470's, the 470's for sure as they are twice as powerful at the 275's. Perhaps just start with one 470? If you are going to run your CPU at stock, one 470 is all you need anyways.

 

[Tank]

thanks. but to be quite honest (and insane) i'd really love to run sli on the mobo. which is the reason i bought it in the first place

also would cooling be a issue in the case? as the second card is basically right on top of the psu.

 

[xBruce88x]

no oc'ing will be done. this is purely for gaming.

uhh... i thought one reason for overclocking was for better performance in games?

but I don't blame you, wont have to worry about stability that way

you could wait for the gtx 460/465 and sli those, a little cheaper than 470s with less power draw and a lot more performance than 275s

 

[k0rn_h0li0]

why would you get 275's? why not 280's or even 285's. they still go for around ~200.

two 470's = ~800

i think your pushing more than you can handle. stick to one card unless you want to sli or CF

CF : 5770's CF
SLI: 280's SLI

best buck for your gaming performance unless you have 1k to kill and might need a new PSU

 

[Tank]

thanks for all the replies guys.

but sanity has prevailed. plus a lack of cash. i'll be looking at 2 of these instead..
http://www.prophecy.co.za/inno3d-nvidia-geforce-core216-896mb-gddr3-448bit-pcie-p-56557.html

 

[erocker]

You would be way better off with this: http://www.prophecy.co.za/zt4020110p-p-68270.html

It has the power of two of those 280's, you get DX11 and room to upgrade. Don't invest your money in old cards, not worth it.

 

[Kursah]

As erocker said...get a single powerful card for now. Just because you want to doesn't mean you need to. Plus you pick up the same card used or cheaper later for SLI, or even better when you NEED the performance and you're better off imo. Use that feature when the drivers are more mature for the more modern cards...which imo is the way to go atm. Go with the powerful single option...then double up later. That's what I'd do in your shoes if I HAD to go SLI...I'd rather keep going the single powerful card route than deal with SLI or CF any day..much less hassle for me...and lessons I've learned from building and maintaining SLI and CF rigs for friends and customers makes me content with my choice. But if you must go SLI, I'd still say spend more on one card now...get the new features, updated architecture, and drivers that will only improve instead of has been, still decent but not amazing, and drivers that pretty much have peaked for that product.

 

[Fourstaff]

Getting a GTX2xx is like getting an old gal. Everybody knows that a young and new one (ie GTX470) is more fun to play with

 

[Bravo2Zero]

If your only playing games any of the above would work for you in single or sli , tip if you are going for sli make sure you get the pair in one go , less chance of getting 2 cards with different revisions could save you a ton of hardware driver issues later on .

if you require hardware rendering then the firegl or the quadro are the only real options . unless you want to spend 3000 on a plex (eg 240 cuda cores that do the number crunching and no video out port you still need a video card to go with it ) .

 

[Tank]

all i want is the best possible frames and detail levels at 1920x1080

all other considerations are secondary

 

[Bravo2Zero]

If you try a 295 sli try to get the GTX versions as they have a filthy large heat-sinks with a big fan so you don't have to worry about your new card getting hot in long game play . Try to stay away from fan less cards .

I have 2 XFX GTX295 1792MB DDR3 pn GX-295N-HHF9 in sli

i think they still have a bit of life left in them and wont be upgrading for a while

i do believe some one said they have dropped around the 200 dollar mark

i can run 2 plasma tv's 42 inch 1920x1080P screen's no worries

 

[heky]

If it has to be Nvidia, go for a GTX470. Otherwise go for a Radeon HD5850 or HD5870!
Like this for example:
http://www.prophecy.co.za/club-radeon-hd5850-gddr5-256bit-pcie-p-66038.html

 

[Tank]

you guys ain't making this any easier

still thanks for all the advice so far

atleast i'm narrowing down my options

 

[Bravo2Zero]

i will try to make it easy for you .

1 - you have to enjoy what you pick .
2 - it should not leave you in debt .
3 - make sure it fits what you want to do eg resolution and memory
4 - address heating concerns and power usage.

if its really modern then you may need a power supply upgrade as well.

5 - be happy with your purchase .

 

[Tank]

i will try to make it easy for you .

1 - you have to enjoy what you pick .
2 - it should not leave you in debt .
3 - make sure it fits what you want to do eg resolution and memory
4 - address heating concerns and power usage.

if its really modern then you may need a power supply upgrade as well.

5 - be happy with your purchase .

thanks

 

[Tank]

single 470 it is got a good price on a Inno3d.

 

[xBruce88x]

nice! you should have a lot of fun with that card. and your powersupply should be fine. I see that power supply has 6 18a 12v rails. if you can find what is on what rail, i'd have 1 8pin/6pin from separate rails to be on the safe side. the 470 according to nvidia's site uses 215watts which is about 18A.

going by this psu

COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-850-EMBAD1-US 850W...

and the formula watts=amps*volts