Computer Hardware Assistance

[Maglorius]

I need a little assistance with my current gaming machine. The specs are listed below along with the upgrades I ordered.

Mother Board
XFX MB-N780-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Intel Motherboard 3-Way SLI Support

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813141005

CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor BX80562Q6600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

Memory – (4 GB Total)
Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KHX6400D2LLK2/2G

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134066

Video Cards – (2 Installed SLI) I have a 3rd one also.

XFX PVT98WYDBF GeForce 9800 GTX+ Black Edition 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150327

Power Supply
ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ900 900W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Patent Piperock Modular Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817814013

Hard Drives (4 Installed in Raid)

Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136055

Case
XCLIO A380BK Fully Black SECC 1.0mm thickness ATX Full Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010

Current Upgrades Ordered

SSD
OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706

Memory – (Ordered 2 sets to make a total 8GB)

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KHX6400D2LLK2/4G

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104020

I wanted to get this machine a little up to date with out spending a massive furtune.

As I mentioned before, I currently still have a 3rd 9800 GTX+ I never installed in my computer, When I ordered my original PSU, I thought I was unable to hook up 3rd 9800 GTX+ video cards in SLI because of the power cable hook ups I was limited too. So the card sat unused for a few years. This all changed when I saw this video.

The computer in this video has the same PSU, Tagan BZ900 with 3 XFX GeForce 260 GTX in 3 Way SLI.

After doing some research, I have come across 6 pin PCIe Splitters. I am not a “power guru” so I am not sure if I can use these types of splitters but if I can, how would I hook it up properly to avoid power issues?

 

[SMOKEU]

LGA775 is a dead platform now so try to avoid spending too much money on it. With a mild overclock there's no reason why you can't enjoy modern games with a decent video card though.

You could sell your existing cards and buy something like a 6950 which will mean you'll have a reasonably good gaming computer as long as you don't expect to max out every game at high resolutions.

 

[Maglorius]

For the most part, I really don't have issues with maxing out games now. There are only a couple of new games on the market that I have to lower the settings a little.

I already purchased the upgrades I need for the computer. I just need to know if I can hook up my 3rd 9800 GTX to the current PSU I have without creating issues.

In the video I posted some guy hooked up 3 260 GTX to the same PSU.

 

[SMOKEU]

That PSU will have enough power to run 3 9800GTX cards easily.