My Pc should finally arrive with my other stuff off the boat in the next week. I have been pondering if to SLI the card i currently have (see sig) or buy another GPU and sell the old one. The cheapest i can find the same card on ebay that will deliver to NZ is almost geting near to the price of a GTX 560.. I am not sure if i will get better performance from 2x GTX 460s SOC editions or one 560 for gaming?
Two 460s would be a bit faster. It doesnt have to be the exact same card. Just make sure its a 1gb model
You get around GTX 580 levels of performance from SLI GTX 460's, depending on the game. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/12/02/geforce_gtx_580_vs_460_1gb_sli/1 Have you worked out how much you would get by selling your GTX 460? You could put it toward a single GTX 570? What resolution are you gaming at? P.S. Enjoying life back in Aotearoa?
It's worthwhile if you can get a second GTX 460 for a decent price. Although be warned you will start juggling and obsessing over performance and temperatures! Ahem... http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=220423 Decided it's time to make my cards really do some work before the 600 series swings into view!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002UJ31A0 This is what i am using for my main monitor, i have a second hooked up for mostly watching temps etc on the side but its nothing fancy.. I haven't quite worked out what my card is worth second hand as they are few and far between to be honest, i cannot find a second hand one on ebay and haven't seen one on there for ages but i am guessing around the £90 mark?. Yes i am enjoying life back home for sure....glad to be back to the easy life style and actually feel relaxed again...i can walk to my work which is nice....and live 5 minutes out of town centre...the usual lifestyle
My card is OC'ed by gigabyte to 815MHz as standard, my understanding using another 1gb is that it will down clock to the mhz of that other 1gb card? I would ideally like to keep both cards at 815mhz if i could even if it means getting that SOC model at a slightly higher price if Sli-ing is worth it compared to just getting a later model card from the 500 series?
A second 460 would give a significant boost in SLI-compatible games (not every game benefits though). It might be worth checking VRAM usage using a tool like MSI Afterburner first to see if you're getting close to (or reaching) the 1GB limit of your card - if you are, then replacing it with a new one with more VRAM (consider the Gainward cards with double the VRAM if you're staying with Nvidia) would make more sense long-term.
I wouldn't worry about the overclock on your card dropping to what ever the second cards stock speeds are. Just use msi afterburner or Evga precision tool to overclock them both to the same level. Sli is awesome if you can get it set up right and stable. Temps may increase but not enough to melt anything (well I hope not)
ahh that old saying...i could just wait for the 700,800,900s as well but will never upgrade...aside from prices dropping on the 500 series if i wait for the 600s...as we alll say here wait for the next best thing and you will never upgrade.
The 5xx are over halfway through their dynasty now so it's not without reason I say that. 6 and two 3s point right now
I think you need to read THIS thread . All about SLI GTX 460's and over clocking and the results we've been getting.
I personally would sell up and get a single card solution. May cost abit more but always move forward.
SLI is the cost-effective option; getting a new card is very expensive but ideal for performance (no need to worry about multi-GPU scaling). I've looked into it myself - you can get a 460 on ebay for as little as £60 if you know where and when to look; getting a single card that would offer similar improvement in performance over a single 460 would cost at least £200. Whilst the 560Ti is very good, it's really not that much better than the 460 to consider it a good upgrade. I'd have to get at least a 570 if I was to go for a single card, and that's just silly money atm, especially since I don't play many games. I'll probably end up throwing in another 460 and seeing how it goes!
I run SLI 460's with a fairly high over clock on them. I get 41 fps min and 167 fps max on the Heaven bench mark. Edit : just had a hunt around and the 570 gives 21 min and 126 max..
The card i have can be raised to up to 900mhz without too much trouble in most overclocking guides so i will consider the same card sli'ed for that reason, i am assuming my PSU will handle both cards on SLI?
Ahh that should be fine then, not running much more than the standard rig set up, a few more fans and my watercooler for the cpu....card ordered
sli for the most part only is recommended for using larger resolutions? does it not graphically enhance games or is the memory simply mirrored? rather than doubled?
Graphics card memory is mirrored in SLI - so if you have 2 1GB 460GTXs then you'll still only have 1GB available with SLI. SLI does not intrinsically enhance graphics - it provides better performance (in most cases) which you may then give up to obtain better graphics, by increasing resolution, AA/AF settings or other in-game graphics options.
