What Next

So I just built my system (specs in sig) about 2 months ago and I just recently sold some things for some more upgrades. The parts that I do know is that I want another 560GTX TFIII PE/OC card for an sli setup. The bummer part is I bought a matx board thinking I wasn't going to upgrade until another 18 or so months. I haven't done much research but from what I have read the heat on the top card is high due to the matx board. With the cpu cooler I have it is a real tight fit with no extra room. I could sell the board and try to get some of my money back or ________? I know I need a new PSU to handle 2 cards. Nvidia surround (3 monitors) is really calling my name but is it really worth it. Would be nice to hear from people who run this setup. I think I might get another 1TB HDD for more storage. What do you guys think would be next for me. Budget is around 1050-1100$ out the door. Preffer one store like Newegg but I can do multiple is the savings is good.
Thanks for your help.

Terry

Wow, with a $1k budget, you can do much more than what you plan!
I see 2 possibilities:
1-
buy a beefier PSU (-150/200$) and keep yours (always good to have a spare one!)
sell your mATX (+$150), buy a z68Gen3 (-$150)
sell your 560ti (+$150), buy a 7970 (-$550)
buy a TB hdd (-$100)

Total: $700 spent

2-wait until April/May
Sell Mobo/Cpu/580 (+$400)
Buy a Z77+IvyBridge+Kepler (-$850)
Buy a 1TB HDD (-$100)
Total spent $550

EDIT: in both cases, you'll still have the cash for a couple of extra 23" monitors.

manu2b said:

Wow, with a $1k budget, you can do much more than what you plan!
I see 2 possibilities:
1-
buy a beefier PSU (-150/200$) and keep yours (always good to have a spare one!)
sell your mATX (+$150), buy a z68Gen3 (-$150)
sell your 560ti (+$150), buy a 7970 (-$550)
buy a TB hdd (-$100)

Total: $700 spent

2-wait until April/May
Sell Mobo/Cpu/580 (+$400)
Buy a Z77+IvyBridge+Kepler (-$850)
Buy a 1TB HDD (-$100)
Total spent $550

EDIT: in both cases, you'll still have the cash for a couple of extra 23" monitors.

Click to expand...

I think a new board and psu will be good but the amd card for me is not worth it. I would rather not have to sell my card and just buy another one. I know the amd card is the new hot thing right now but I think there will be some driver issues until the bugs get worked out. Also because I am very happy with my card and how well it has overclocked. I am nearly at 580 stock speeds and now add another card. Option 2 is a no go for me just because I hate waiting and also because in now 16 months from now my budget will be back to 3K so at that time I will get all the new stuff out.
Thanks

Terry

April is in 2 months...

Never heard of any bug with the 7970 drivers, never had any issue with AMD drivers myself (neither with nVidia)... and you only need one for 3 monitors.

manu2b said:

April is in 2 months...

Never heard of any bug with the 7970 drivers, never had any issue with AMD drivers myself (neither with nVidia)... and you only need one for 3 monitors.

Click to expand...

I have been reading up on it and some have had driver issues with certain games. I know that could just be a flake but I just want to stick with Nvidia for the card. It's just a personal prefference for me. And yes while it can run 3 monitors with one card, but what FPS will I get. I need atleast a constant 50fps to get good video with fraps. Which I am capable of doing now with the one card. I am not sure if the one card will be able to do that on 3 monitors.
Do you have the card?
Thanks

Nope, don't own the card, but have read almost all the reviews of it in both french, english and italian lol!
Have a look at this review:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/21
Perf is around 80% more than a single 560ti, which means that roughly the same as a 560ti sli'ed (due to scaling).
The other thing is that you have only 1GB of vRam available with 2 560t'si, as vram doesn't add up in SLI (mirrored in the 2 cards), versus 3GB in the 7970. And 1GB vRam is already the low limit for modern games at high res with AA.
Finally, you won't need to change your PSU.

EDIT: I am not an AMD fan boy, as I'll go for an IvyBridge+Kepler on my next build.

I don't have the 560 ti but the 560 ti 448 core 1.2 gb vram. Which is already very, very close to a 570 gtx and with my overclock it can reach to 580 gtx speeds. So I figure I add another one it should be a killer setup for now. Also if I was to sell the card I would loose more than I want to. I think a lot of people under estimate this card and how much potential it has. I do understand where you are coming from with having the one single card but now I would have to sell mine and trying to sell in this economy is not easy right now. I am a power seller for hobby grade RC's and it's very hard to make any sells. I actually got lucky and sold one of my rc's to fund this upgrade. I would like to see some specs with my card sli'ed vs the amd card.

I think the 560ti 448 is a great card.
And I agree with selling stuff, I sold my 2600k rig a couple of weeks ago, and it was not that easy.

Thing is I am not a huge fan of dual cards when you can get roughly as much perf with a single card: too much heat, scaling not always very good, drivers issues...

I am about to grab a second 5830 for a xfire on my setup, as I am really tight budgetwise, but that's the only reason.

Ok, after reading around a bunch I was maybe thinking of a single 6990. Then all I would need is the 2 other monitors which puts me right at my budget.
I would assume my 620 psu would be enough for this card. What do you guys think?

Terry

I'd go with a 7970, but that's just me.
I prefer go for the last gen if my budget allows it.

There is a video on youtube (a known reviewer) that does a live video showing the 7970 on 3 monitors playing bf3 and it barely can do 20fps. That was in single player mode too. Now he did have the settings maxed out which is close to mine with a few changes. I don't want to make the mistake of buying it then finding out that it doesn't perform as well as I thought it would. The thing is, it is still a single core gpu and trying to run 3 monitors is very taxing on it. 2 6950's in cf would out perform the 7970. If I had one monitor or even multiple monitors but only gamed on one then I could see this card doing very well. But I can't justify the price for it for 3 monitors. All of the data clearly shows 2 are needed in cf to be able to have decent game play.
You really want that card, do you mind if I ask why. Like what reasons are you wanting it other than it being the new hot item right now.

Terry

Nope, I don't want that card because I can wait for Kepler when it is out in a 3 month, and I believe it will crush the 7970.
But if I'd badly wanted a card now, I'd go for the 7970 because that is the last architecture, it has 3GB of vram, when overclocked it's very close to a 6990 and I could grab a second one later on for xfire.

They speculate that the new Kepler cards would be on par or slightly better than the new 7970 card. I don't think it's going to be Nvidia's flag ship cards just yet. So thay would retake the #1 spot in the fastest/best single core gpu. The 500 series now in SLI will still outperform that. I don't think I am seeing like you do but I do understand why you want to wait. I figure having 2 gtx 570's (i just use those as reference) in SLI will still be at the top for a couple more years and by then it will be time for me to upgrade again. So many decisions I can go. Now 2 7970's would be killer but out of my budget. Thanks for your help with this.
Terry

Well, the thing is that I don't have time enough to play, and that will be for a couple of month more, so, I can wait. Lol!