Widescreen Gaming Forum

OK, so here is my dilemma. Right now the only game i'm really playing is Rift. I have the settings set at Ultra and i'm getting 20-30FPS @ 5040x1050. I would like to be getting more, obviously :) My setup is as follows, AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz 4 x,6GB Corsair Dominator, 300Gig VelociRaptor, nVidia GTX260 x2 SLI, GigaByte M750SLI-DS4 (socket AM2+), Corsair 750TX PSU. I don't think my CPU is bottle necking me but i'm not positive? I'm wondering if i should get a faster CPU or ditch this GTX260SLI setup and go for a single faster card? If you guys think the card would be a better choice for increasing performance, which card would you suggest, and how much of an improvement do you think ill see? I'd like to stay under ~$300. Thanks.

Are you set on staying with Nvidia? If not, I'd suggest an ATI 6950, then using the unlocking procedure to increase the shaders to a mock 6970. They're under $300.

Have you tried overclocking you CPU? 2.5ghz is stock, no? And a CPU cooler is much cheaper than new components. And a good overclcok will give you an idea of how a CPU sped increase helps.

Are you set on staying with Nvidia?

Well he needs to switch considering he wants just a single card with triplehead. :wink:

I've got to give it to the 6950 as well.

Pretty sure my motherboard only supports SLi and not crossfire. Probably better to stay with nVidia for that reason. I also read an interesting article comparing the GTX260 vs the 6950. They were saying not much of an upgrade. I was hoping there was a single card out there these days since these 260's are pretty old, that would be better enough to justify an upgrade.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1573671

Pretty sure my motherboard only supports SLi and not crossfire. Probably better to stay with nVidia for that reason. I also read an interesting article comparing the GTX260 vs the 6950. They were saying not much of an upgrade. I was hoping there was a single card out there these days since these 260's are pretty old, that would be better enough to justify an upgrade.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1573671

Well the biggest problem is, i'm sure you want to keep your Surround eh? You NEED SLI to run Nvidia Surround. So a single nvidia card is likely completely out of the picture.

If you want an upgrade in performance while sticking with surround screen then you have to be able to spend more than $300. The 6950 2GB flashed to a 6970 is a pretty decent performer and is the only way to have surround screen for under $300. If you can spend up to $500 then check out the NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti, as they can sometimes be found for under $250 a piece now.

[quote]Pretty sure my motherboard only supports SLi and not crossfire. Probably better to stay with nVidia for that reason. I also read an interesting article comparing the GTX260 vs the 6950. They were saying not much of an upgrade. I was hoping there was a single card out there these days since these 260's are pretty old, that would be better enough to justify an upgrade.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1573671

Well the biggest problem is, i'm sure you want to keep your Surround eh? You NEED SLI to run Nvidia Surround. So a single nvidia card is likely completely out of the picture.

I don't use nVidia Surround, i use a Matrox TH2G

If you want an upgrade in performance while sticking with surround screen then you have to be able to spend more than $300. The 6950 2GB flashed to a 6970 is a pretty decent performer and is the only way to have surround screen for under $300. If you can spend up to $500 then check out the NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti, as they can sometimes be found for under $250 a piece now.

Thought i read somewhere on this forum that the 5 series GTX Cards don't support surround or something? Or maybe with the TH2G? I'll try to find where i read it

It has to be TH2G, because all NVIDIA GPUs from the 8800/9800 and later mid-to-high level cards support surround in SLI (260, 280, 460, 480, etc.). Sorry, I only read your post and didn't see the TH2G in your sig.

5000 series and up cannot use the TH2Go higher than 3840x1024. So the best option is the 580 for you.

Though, i'd say if you're not using win XP, Go for an eyefinity setup with the 6950's.

This is what i was talking about. I think he was talking about ATI cards though so I think i misunderstood.