Computer upgrade thoughts.

[chaos5061]

Here is my build now:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8GPf

Here's my build that I want to upgrade to:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8GQE

What you think?

I'm switching from ATI to nVidia and Intel. Wanting to start overclocking and even though what I have now can be overclocked. I've done some research and the ATI/AMD things are so much harder to overclock and keep stable compared to Intel and nVidia that I fell making the switch to be worth it.

[cabby]

Well, why do you feel the need to over-clock? The system you have now should handle things nicely. If anything just upgrade the video cards.

[chaos5061]

I just want to cabby. Just something I want to do. Also it doesn't handle everything.

Currently my system will run WoW, and SWTOR on High settings with some adjustments to some of the settings lower. Lower settings would be the Water and Sunshafts in WoW on Low and Off respectively. In both SWTOR and WoW the Shadows are turned to Low. AA settings is set to 4 in WoW and AA is turned off in SWTOR. Battlefield 3 I get through with Medium settings with no problems. I messed around with all other settings and they are sitting just fine with where they are.But if I change and of the settings that I listed any higher my FPS goes in the tank. With the settings like they're I'm getting 60FPS no matter in I'm in the middle of a crowd or not. With those settings higher I drop to around 14FPS.

With the new components I expect to be able to turn those setting that I have lower to a higher setting hopefully maxed and maxed in GW2 also when it comes out.

[cabby]

I honestly think that the problems you're seeing are more Windows related than hardware. I bet if you set your system up with Linux and got the games running on that (probably with Wine) you'd probably get better performance. Windows is just a resource hog and as much as I like using it, it's always a PITA.

[chaos5061]

I know nothing about Linux just know the name and it's a OS is all I know. I don't think I want to go all the way and learn just that for that increase in performance that might not be there.

[Cartman]

I am running WoW on ultra settings in 1680*1050 without problems with my system (Phenom II X4 965, Geforce GTX 460).
Your current system should be able to handle WoW and SW in high settings, especially the CPU should not be the problem, most games are limited by the graphics card.
So if you really want to upgrade you can try the graphics cards in your current system (I think the AMD 900 series chipset supports SLI).
Also you should consider using a single GTX 680 instead of two GTX 670. In most games a single but more powerful card is the better choice. And you still have the option to get a second one later.

[chaos5061]

Actually I don't know if the Graphics card is supported by my current mobo. The newest cards are PCI Express 3.0 and all my PCI Expresses are 2.0. About the 670's the reason I choose it instead of the 680 is that you can very easily set it to 680 speeds with no problems. And with all the benefits of a 670 card. Here is a link about the card: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3200.html

It's a price vs. performance comparison for me. At usually around $100 less I can get a card that is very comparable to the 680 when I OC it. Now it's not going to compare to a 680 OCed but if I went 680 I wouldn't be OCing it anyway.

[chaos5061]

Also need the second card for the extra hmmp when I go across 3 screens.

[chaos5061]

Okay looked around today and found out that the PCIe-3.0 is not a big problem. If you plug a 3.0 card into a 2.0 slot it will just run at 2.0 instead. That's about a 5% decrease. Not too bad so I started looking into just getting the Video Cards instead but then found out that it will not work in SLI. You can get one nVidia card to work in a ATI/AMD built mobo but without some modification you can't go SLI. So that means If I want to go SLI I have to get a new Mobo.

[chaos5061]

Well crap. I decided to look for a mobo that uses AMD processor with nVidia cards and I found this:
http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/04/you-...t-sli-for-amd/

So I was wrong. My card should do fine with SLI. It's GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5 and that is on the list. Research is hard LOL.

[chaos5061]

Went and looked at my box for the Mobo. It even says support up to 3 way SLI. /facepalm

[chaos5061]

Now i just have to get the cards but they are sold out:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125423
WHINE WHINE WHINE

[chaos5061]

So I also decided to do a Furmark test. Did a 1920x1080 Preset Test. Results was :
Score 3141 points (54 FPS, 60000ms)
Max GPU Temp: 83C
Resolution: 1920x1080 (FS) - AA:0 samples
FPS: min:52, max:54, avg:53 - OPTIONS: DynBkg
System Info Rende: AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series (1002-6738)
Drivers: Catalyst 12.3 - 8.95-120214a-134393C-ATI (2-14-2012)
Clocks: GPU core: 900 MHz, memory: 1050 MHz
CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
CPU Speed: 3322 MHz System Memory: 16381 MB
OS: Windows 7 64-bit build 7601 [Service Pack 1]

Going to let my card cool down and then run it with MSAA at 4X and see what happens.

[chaos5061]

Also was with crossfire enabled. Will also be doing tests with that disabled to do some comparisons.

[chaos5061]

Okay test with 4x MSAA. Still with Crossfire on. Results:
SCORE:1350 points (22 FPS, 60000 ms)
Max GPU Temp: 85°C
Resolution: 1920x1080 (FS) - AA:4 samples
FPS: min:20, max:24, avg:22 - OPTIONS: DynBkg
System Info Renderer: AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series (1002-6738)
Drivers: Catalyst 12.3 - 8.95-120214a-134393C-ATI (2-14-2012)
Clocks: GPU core: 900 MHz, memory: 1050 MHz
CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
CPU Speed: 3322 MHz System Memory: 16381 MB
OS: Windows 7 64-bit build 7601 [Service Pack 1]

OK so why the huge change? MSAA uses that much? Really?