Computer starting to show its age...

[Sovereign]

CPU: Opteron 170
RAM: 4096MB G.Skill DDR500
GPU: 2x eVGA 7900GTX "Reloaded" SLI
MOBO: A8N32-SLI Deluxe
HDD1: 150GB Raptor 10k RPM
HDD2: 750GB WD Caviar
HDD3: 750GB WD Caviar
AUD: X-Fi XtremeMusic
OPT1: NEC 4551A DVD Burner (flashed 3550A)
OPT2: BenQ DVD Combodrive (52x32x52)
MON: 17" ViewSonic VA721
CASE: Thermaltake Armor Black
PSU: PC Power and Cooling 850SSI

This thing is due for some kind of upgrade come May (my scheduled upgrade time). I know that the GeForce 9 series is coming out soon. Thing is, I'm not sure how much I should upgrade. Given a 1280x1024 resolution, would a 9800GX2 suffice? Would the Opteron bottleneck it so much as to make it worth it to buy a new CPU/mobo/RAM? The more I upgrade, the more I'm tempted for a larger, higher-res monitor to be purchased at a later date.

I'm thinking I have three options within my $1000 upgrade budget
Option 1 - Minimal Upgrade
- Replace the graphics subsystem only, buy dual 9800GTX or if the PSU does not permit that a single 9800GX2 (perhaps a 5.25" PSU is in order?)

Option 2 - Moderate Upgrade
- Replace the graphics subsystem, get SLI 9800GTX
- Replace CPU with an Intel Quad
- Replace mobo with Intel-compatible SLI chipset
- Replace RAM with 2x2GB DDR2-800

Option 3 - F-ck the Budget Upgrade
- Replace the graphic subsystem with Quad-SLI 9800GX2s
- Replace the CPU with an Intel Quad
- Replace mobo with Intel-compatible SLI chipset
- Replace RAM with 4x2GB DDR2-800
- Definitely need a 5.25" bay PSU here

Or something else? Help and advice please! Keep in mind I'm going to SELL whatever parts I replace.

[dicecca112]

Your 850W psu will be fine for any of those upgrades

[HONkUS]

your systems already pretty sweet yeah its showing its age though, if i had that system my first upgrade would be to a 22 inch widescreen, you can get a pretty good one for under 300 bucks these days. Second that is a sweet psu but depending on how old it is it might not have 8 pin pci-e power connectors like the 9800's are going to need so a new psu might be in order. id personally wait on upgrading anything else and wait and see how the whole Nehalem/Shanghai thing pans out. Also if you get 9800GX2's youll wanna have a big case with lots of airflow.

[Sovereign]

Your 850W psu will be fine for any of those upgrades

I got it straight from a PCP&C rep in response to my email.

I have heard several different opinions on the viability of two 8800GTX cards in SLI on my power supply and wanted to get the information "straight from the horse's mouth," so to speak.

I have a PC Power and Cooling 850SSI (I do not believe you sell this unit any more). Does this PSU have what it takes to run 8800GTX SLI, nVidia marketing department nonwithstanding? This PSU is not listed as 8800GTX SLI capable on the SLIZone website, but I'm wondering if this is just a marketing gimmick of theirs?

The PSU is listed as having the following specifications:
+5V @ 30A
+12V1 @ 17A
+12V2 @ 17A
+12V3 @ 17A
+12V4 @ 17A
+12V1,V2,V3,V4 = 54A (62A peak)
-12V @ 0.8A
+3.3V @ 30A
+5VSB @ 2A
I have an Opteron 170 CPU, three SATA hard drives, two optical drives, a PCI sound card and dual videocards. Currently, they are 7900GTX cards in SLI mode. Given that I cannot determine which "rail" corresponds to which parts, it is hard for me to tell whether the PSU satisfies the requirements of 8800GTX SLI, which are stated as "A 475W PCI Express-compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 32A or more *Minimum system power requirement based on a typical PC configured with an Intel® Core™2 Extreme X6800 processor."

Will this PSU cut it safely?

The response...

+12V1 = CPU 1, +12V2 = CPU 2, +12V3 = M/B & VIDEO CARD, +12V4 = DRIVES & VIDEO CARD. This power supply was designed before the high end video cards existed and so this separation of the +12V made the supply capable of running most any computer out at the time. I do not recommend running two 8800GTX video cards on this supply there will not be sufficient amperage on the +12V3 and +12V4 lines.

Thanks,
xxxxx xxxxxxx
PC Power & Cooling

I'm not so sure this PSU (which was designed with dual CPUs in mind and is thus railed for such) will handle dual graphics without some help. I hope I'm wrong, but given that the PCP&C guy said ixnay... If the 9800 series uses MORE power, I'd say no. It has dual six pin PCI-E connectors, no eights. It does have some extra molex connectors hanging around though, because I don't need all nine (I think) of them.

My case is pretty big (Thermaltake Armor full-size-and-then-some, it's the Hummer of cases, huge and heavy!)

[ibleet]

Why not just upgrade to a single 9800 series card. There is not a game out today that cannot already be owned by a single 8800GTS G92 512, so why go to the expense of SLI? I have an SLI motherboard on my AMD test rig, but I never felt the need for dual cards. What unnecessary gain do you get from SLI anyway?...15-20%?

IMO the ultimate goal can be sufficiently met with a single card. I can only imagine the reason for using SLI or Crossfire is to impress your friends and I'm not willing to pay for that.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, just make sense. I would upgrade your video card, motherboard, ram and CPU to the current standards...sticking with Intel of course.

So thats a vote for Option 2 from me, minus the SLI.

[stev]

Showing it's age? That machine is a screamer to what I have.

Why not upgrade the Opteron 170 @ 2.0Ghz to a faster AMD dual-core CPU like the Opteron 185 @ 2.6Ghz?

I wouldn't rule out a 939 socket as being out-of-date so soon. It's just not the cutting edge of technology, just the knee cap.

[martini161]

if i were you i would just upgrade the mobo cpu ram. at that resolution you dont really need sli let alone quad sli, so you should be fine with what ever the 9 series equivalent to an 8800 gtx

[Sovereign]

Someone over at [H] pointed out that benchmarks of the 9800GTX show it equal to an 8800GTS512. Pretty lame if true...

[Zelig]

Boo, I've got a similar system (S939, 2.8 GHz X2, 4GB DRR-509 ram, 8800 GTS G92, all on the classic DFI SLI-D), I don't want to hear anything about age.

Actually, if I were you, a new monitor would probably be the first thing I'd be looking at. I'm running a 24" LCD and a 22" CRT (3520x1200 total desktop resolution), and it makes a huge difference is usability over a single low-resolution display. The BenQ G2400W runs around $370, and is fantastic value for the money.

Someone over at [H] pointed out that benchmarks of the 9800GTX show it equal to an 8800GTS512. Pretty lame if true...

Should be slightly better, but they've got similar specs.

8800 GTS G92:
Core: 650 MHz
Memory clock: 1940 MHz
Memory amount: 512 MB
Shader clock: 1625 MHz
Texture Units: 64

9800 GTX:
Core: 675
Memory clock: 2200 MHz
Memory amount: 768 MB
Shader clock: 1688 MHz
Texture Units: 56

Everything else is the same between the two cards, from the sources I'm seeing now.

[dicecca112]

Your 850W psu will be fine for any of those upgrades

I got it straight from a PCP&C rep in response to my email.

I have heard several different opinions on the viability of two 8800GTX cards in SLI on my power supply and wanted to get the information "straight from the horse's mouth," so to speak.

I have a PC Power and Cooling 850SSI (I do not believe you sell this unit any more). Does this PSU have what it takes to run 8800GTX SLI, nVidia marketing department nonwithstanding? This PSU is not listed as 8800GTX SLI capable on the SLIZone website, but I'm wondering if this is just a marketing gimmick of theirs?

The PSU is listed as having the following specifications:
+5V @ 30A
+12V1 @ 17A
+12V2 @ 17A
+12V3 @ 17A
+12V4 @ 17A
+12V1,V2,V3,V4 = 54A (62A peak)
-12V @ 0.8A
+3.3V @ 30A
+5VSB @ 2A
I have an Opteron 170 CPU, three SATA hard drives, two optical drives, a PCI sound card and dual videocards. Currently, they are 7900GTX cards in SLI mode. Given that I cannot determine which "rail" corresponds to which parts, it is hard for me to tell whether the PSU satisfies the requirements of 8800GTX SLI, which are stated as "A 475W PCI Express-compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 32A or more *Minimum system power requirement based on a typical PC configured with an Intel® Core™2 Extreme X6800 processor."

Will this PSU cut it safely?

The response...

+12V1 = CPU 1, +12V2 = CPU 2, +12V3 = M/B & VIDEO CARD, +12V4 = DRIVES & VIDEO CARD. This power supply was designed before the high end video cards existed and so this separation of the +12V made the supply capable of running most any computer out at the time. I do not recommend running two 8800GTX video cards on this supply there will not be sufficient amperage on the +12V3 and +12V4 lines.

Thanks,
xxxxx xxxxxxx
PC Power & Cooling

I'm not so sure this PSU (which was designed with dual CPUs in mind and is thus railed for such) will handle dual graphics without some help. I hope I'm wrong, but given that the PCP&C guy said ixnay... If the 9800 series uses MORE power, I'd say no. It has dual six pin PCI-E connectors, no eights. It does have some extra molex connectors hanging around though, because I don't need all nine (I think) of them.

My case is pretty big (Thermaltake Armor full-size-and-then-some, it's the Hummer of cases, huge and heavy!)

Hmm they must have split the rails and not decided to allow them to share between. That sucks.

[Sovereign]

The 850SSI's rails are split. Power gets "trapped" and becomes unusable. Had I know that, I would not have bought this power supply. I kept hearing the 9800GTX had only 512MB memory on a 256-bit bus, I hope that's wrong. The thing with monitors is I don't have a justification to upgrade unless I know my video card can handle it without requiring more frequent GPU upgrades. There is also the issue of physical space on my college desk being insufficient, as well as a budget that is relatively inflexible. Finally, my parents are only begrudgingly going along with this as is, and considering they are shouldering the entire burden of my university tuition (minus books) I can't make them mad about me "wasting money."

[DMB2000uk]

That really sucks that you bought a decent PSU for future proofing and its practically useless for what you want.

Option two looks the best, but do you really need SLI for a 1280*1024 setup though?

Dan

[Sovereign]

Not necessarily, what I need is to make sure my new graphics card doesn't get choked by my older CPU. I think I'll decide on a graphics card once they come out and the reviewers have their say (and any driver kinks are worked through), buy, and see how it performs in my existing setup first.

[HONkUS]

I wouldn't take info about the 9800GTX too seriously at this point and I seriously doubt NV would release a product with the "GTX" moniker if it could barely compete with the previous generation's "GTS"

also ive seen pics of the supposed naked 9800GTX and i think its a fake, if it uses the same 65nm core as an 8800GTS and its clocked only 4% higher (which in itself makes me question its authenticity) then why would they need 2-6pin pci-e power connectors and a PCB longer then an 8800GTX?

That Expreview is just a chinese BS site thats spouting crap.

[ibleet]

Someone over at [H] pointed out that benchmarks of the 9800GTX show it equal to an 8800GTS512. Pretty lame if true...

Don't spread rumors unless you can back 'em up...if they're about AMD or ATI its OK.

[DaddyRabbit]

I'll preface this by saying that I'm not a hardcore overclocker or bencher, hence I certainly am not an expert in these matters by any means so take my blabber with a grain "o" salt (throw in some Patron and lime if you like! ).

The system in my sig runs like a champ everything I want it to run. Certainly at 1280x1024 SLI in any 8800/9800 config will be wasted money. SLI buys frame rates in super high resolutions but I think the general concensus that I've found is that under 1600x1200 SLI (or Crossfire) is pretty much a waste. In my experience the single 8800GT runs great in native res on my 24" (sans Crysis which taxes any system).

That said for less than $100 over your budget you could get the following (two different systems):

1. If you insist on SLI capability -

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813188024 - 259.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6814130318 - 229.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6819115028 - 269.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6820231145 - 99.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6824009094 - 229.99

Total (before shipping) 1089.95

2. If you go single card now -

Use the above components but replace the mobo with -

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813128089 - 206.99

for a total of 1036.95


Please consider that the above two systems include a bright shiny new 22" widescreen and with the GT won't require a PSU upgrade. Also an E8400 could save $20 or so, if you can find one, and will perform a little better than the E6850 while running cooler.

The above two systems will give you a solid future CPU and graphics upgrade path and better performance now without killing the budget, you can always SLI/Crossfire later when you can afford that 30" display and the games that will actually require it are on the shelves. IMHO build a foundation first.

Now back to the Patron and lime.

[Sovereign]

I'm thinking if I jump to Intel, I am going to want a quad core with SLI capability (event though I may not use it). Like I say, I'm hamstrung on the monitor at the moment, I'll have to see what my grades are like and if they're good enough I'm going to pull the "I should be able to reward myself for doing well in school" card to defuse the "stop wasting money on computer crap" card my parents always play (with the implication that if I spend money on computers, I can also somehow afford to pay for my university tuition too). I really do want a bigger monitor...

[DaddyRabbit]

I'm thinking if I jump to Intel, I am going to want a quad core with SLI capability (event though I may not use it). Like I say, I'm hamstrung on the monitor at the moment, I'll have to see what my grades are like and if they're good enough I'm going to pull the "I should be able to reward myself for doing well in school" card to defuse the "stop wasting money on computer crap" card my parents always play (with the implication that if I spend money on computers, I can also somehow afford to pay for my university tuition too). I really do want a bigger monitor...

Understood.

In that case going with the first spec (with the 780 mobo or another of your choosing) and subtracting $20 for the proc (if going with a Q6600) and the $230 for the LCD = $250 + $230 (subtracting the GT)for a total of $480 for graphics. The two below links can be had for a $459 bundle and they throw in Crysis plus you are still under budget and can SLI when ready. Sell the Opty, mobo, RAM, PSU, and Vid cards for the icing on the cake.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130312

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139006