How much faster is it?

[Garethnr]

My current system is in my signature.

If I was to keep the QX9650 but upgrade to a Foxconn blackops MB with DDR3 and go from my 2 card SLI setup to a single NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280.....just how much faster would it be than my current system(taking into considerations the massive OC potential)?

Would the upgrade be worth it? (and yes im aware of the costs involved)

Cheers
Gareth

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

If you dont know what your doing the blackops will chew you up and spit you out if you try to OC.

think about going for asus or another more user friendly brand. also 4870x2>GTX280

[Garethnr]

If you dont know what your doing the blackops will chew you up and spit you out if you try to OC.

think about going for asus or another more user friendly brand. also 4870x2>GTX280

As always your comments are welcome.

Having said that your comments shot me down like I was some kind of idiot to be honest. I may not be worlds number one at the OC game but hey...harsh words and assumptions from yourself mate!!

Also you didnt actually answer the question...

oh and bollocks to user friendly....I like to live on the edge

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

sorry if I made too many assumptions, but as far as I can tell you don't even OC at the moment. Yes of course it will be faster but too many people buy boards they cant handle and give the board a bad rapp when they cant do anything with it.

if your not planning on going crossfire pick up a maximus formula II and some nice ddr2 (super cheap now) and overclock to your hearts content easy high fsb clocks with the quad core. ddr3 isnt worth it in general unless you REALLY want the board that requires it.

[Garethnr]

sorry if I made too many assumptions, but as far as I can tell you don't even OC at the moment. Yes of course it will be faster but too many people buy boards they cant handle and give the board a bad rapp when they cant do anything with it.

if your not planning on going crossfire pick up a maximus formula II and some nice ddr2 (super cheap now) and overclock to your hearts content easy high fsb clocks with the quad core. ddr3 isnt worth it in general unless you REALLY want the board that requires it.

I'll tell you why I dont overclock at the minute. There is a problem using the QX9650 and the MSI P7N diamond together. No Bios has yet been released that actually resolves the issue no matter what adjustments are made in BIOS. I have waited 8 months for a fix.
The issues are cold boots / auto reboots when using graphics and games/the list goes on....
This issue is documented in many forums

That is the reason I decided to move away from this board and possibly upgrade at the same time.

The setup I currently have barely runs stable at stock whatever you do/adjust and there is no chance of overclocking.

I may not be an OC expert but please dont make assumptions on my abilities.

Plus the Foxconn blackops "isnt" that savage and can be used by the less experienced for OCing


All I wanted to know was what people thing regarding the speeds gained from the upgrade from SLI 2 xGTX880 to 1 x GeForce GTX 280 taking into account the addition of the new motherboard and the OC potential.....

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

ok, seriously stop taking personal offense here, I'm trying to help. you can't seriously think that just because you know how to get into bios you know how to OC, do you?
the Blackops isn't remotely like an nvidia board, nvidia boards are easy to OC even compared to gigabyte BIOS's.

I already told you yes it will be faster, but you need to get a different board than the blackops....

[Movieman]

I can see this going downhill fast!
Take a breath both of you and maybe a little bit less thin skinned.
The words were maybe a bit harsh but the intent was to help.
The issues with the written language, many times fails to provide the inflection that would be heard in spoken words.
Shake hands and start over, very easy to do..
Dave the benevolent Mod!

[Garethnr]

ok, seriously stop taking personal offense here, I'm trying to help. you can't seriously think that just because you know how to get into bios you know how to OC, do you?
the Blackops isn't remotely like an nvidia board, nvidia boards are easy to OC even compared to gigabyte BIOS's.

I already told you yes it will be faster, but you need to get a different board than the blackops....

Hey no personal offense taken. I suppose I came across intense but thats just me m8.
I understand your intent to help but was merely asking not to be taken at face value.
Im aware the setup will be faster but I wanted to know just how much faster.

Im not a complete OC novice and I am a very fast learner so why buy a lesser board when I can grow into this one.

Anyway forget all that peronal stuff, I wasnt taking it to heart.

So Im off to buy a Blackops then ha ha

[Garethnr]

I can see this going downhill fast!
Take a breath both of you and maybe a little bit less thin skinned.
The words were maybe a bit harsh but the intent was to help.
The issues with the written language, many times fails to provide the inflection that would be heard in spoken words.
Shake hands and start over, very easy to do..
Dave the benevolent Mod!

Cheers movieman. Keeping the unruley mobs in check

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

Hey no personal offense taken. I suppose I came across intense but thats just me m8.
I understand your intent to help but was merely asking not to be taken at face value.
Im aware the setup will be faster but I wanted to know just how much faster.

Im not a complete OC novice and I am a very fast learner so why buy a lesser board when I can grow into this one.

Anyway forget all that peronal stuff, I wasnt taking it to heart.

So Im off to buy a Blackops then ha ha

alright then, now that were not fighting any more I can tell you:

unless your doing crossfire DONT buy an x48 they really aren't great compared to the p45 boards. And as I said before ddr3 doesn't really get you anything unless you must have the board that requires it.

[Garethnr]

alright then, now that were not fighting any more I can tell you:

unless your doing crossfire DONT buy an x48 they really aren't great compared to the p45 boards. And as I said before ddr3 doesn't really get you anything unless you must have the board that requires it.

Yea im aware DDR2 is still best buy but I believe the blackopp does actualy require DDR3 (to my annoyance)

Its just that all the bench texts/reviews I've read used a Geforce card (gtx 280 for instance)with the new blackopp board and the results were great.

What p45 board will match its performance then off the top of your head?

[ExodusC]

Yea im aware DDR2 is still best buy but I believe the blackopp does actualy require DDR3 (to my annoyance)

Its just that all the bench texts/reviews I've read used a Geforce card (gtx 280 for instance)with the new blackopp board and the results were great.

What p45 board will match its performance then off the top of your head?

I have to agree with SNiiPE_DoGG, I would go with P45 for a single card setup...

[Garethnr]

I have to agree with SNiiPE_DoGG, I would go with P45 for a single card setup...

Ok Thanks, but with so many boards out there I want to find something which is P45 that can rival the blackopp for its stability with the QX9560/for its OC versatility/and its sheer speed.

Any Idea's which P45 cards are top?

Also what are the facts behind why the x48 is inferior to P45 for single card setup....Im interested.

Cheers

[mesyn191]

If you've got a QX chip OC'ing isn't really all that mobo dependent since you can just change the multiplier, which is really the whole reason for that chip in the first place. Its if you're going for sky high FSB speeds that the mobo becomes a major issue. Almost any "enthusiast" P45 mobo that supports your chip should be fine for your purposes, a ASUS P5Q Pro for instance should be fine for you want to do. For single card set ups P45 offers more bang for your buck, you'll just be throwing money away if you get a X48 based mobo and don't go Crossfire. What video card you've got won't effect your OC at all, no reason you have to get a GTX280 at all. If you're looking for top single card performance 4870X2 is the end all be all at the moment. Also no one can tell you EXACTLY how much of a performance improvement it'll get you over what you've currently got since no one will know exactly how much of a OC you can get out of your CPU/RAM/GPU/etc. If you're looking for some benchmarks of a system that is similar to what you've got vs. one with a 4870X2 then this review of that card is pretty good: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15293/3.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

Ok Thanks, but with so many boards out there I want to find something which is P45 that can rival the blackopp for its stability with the QX9560/for its OC versatility/and its sheer speed.

Any Idea's which P45 cards are top?

Also what are the facts behind why the x48 is inferior to P45 for single card setup....Im interested.

Cheers

I already told you, get a maximus II formula or one of the new gigabyte UD3 boards.

[Garethnr]

If you've got a QX chip OC'ing isn't really all that mobo dependent since you can just change the multiplier, which is really the whole reason for that chip in the first place. Its if you're going for sky high FSB speeds that the mobo becomes a major issue. Almost any "enthusiast" P45 mobo that supports your chip should be fine for your purposes, a ASUS P5Q Pro for instance should be fine for you want to do. For single card set ups P45 offers more bang for your buck, you'll just be throwing money away if you get a X48 based mobo and don't go Crossfire. What video card you've got won't effect your OC at all, no reason you have to get a GTX280 at all. If you're looking for top single card performance 4870X2 is the end all be all at the moment. Also no one can tell you EXACTLY how much of a performance improvement it'll get you over what you've currently got since no one will know exactly how much of a OC you can get out of your CPU/RAM/GPU/etc. If you're looking for some benchmarks of a system that is similar to what you've got vs. one with a 4870X2 then this review of that card is pretty good: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15293/3.

Thanks mesyn. Im aware the GPU wont affect OC speeds, I suppose I was being a little vague about some of my aims. I meant apart from CPU speeds also I wanted to improve on my GPU setup to get higher FPS etc. Just want something guarenteed to be faster than 2 x 8800gtx OC2(SLI)

Basically I really enjoy messing and OCing and want to get more experienced in this and some boards are too basic so I would like to invest in a board that can do this to the max, thus the Black ops caught my eye. Im aware its expensive but maybe if i get one 4870x2 to go with it then i have the option of picking up a second 4870x2 if i want to - therefor making the board a worthwhile purchase.

The more research I do the more Im swayed toward that option, but that means that I would have to pick up DDR3 also. Can you recommend 4gb (preferably 2 x 2gb) of good DDR3 that would suit the Blackops board with 1 x 4870x2 (with a second to be added) and a QX9650 chip.

I know a lot of you would steer anyone but the most experienced away from that MB but humour me.

[YMAA]

Asus P5Q Deluxe is a great board. Worked great with the Q6700 and the E8400 I have now.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

considering that you cant see the for sale section I can't recommend the memory that I was going to... I guess someone else will have to help...

[cadaveca]

The ASUS P5Q series do not play nice with 45nm quads, FYI, personal experience here, never mind that no multi-adjust for QX chips...had a deluxe since release, sold it, bought another, still not working right.

BlackOps is my current board, and the directions here to avoid it unless you are prepared for a long road to a stable overclock are greatly heeded. It is really only stable at default 333mhz with auto settings..everything else must be adjusted manually, almost. Breaking 450FSB with qx9650 has been an issue for many, but not for myself, fortunately. Chipset cooling is of high importance to FSB clocking..the colder it is, the better it works...

GSkill HZ works great with the board, even if you are unfortunate and end up with samsung sticks...I still can hit 500 1:1(2000mhz memory) without issue with dualcore, and using 4 single 1gb sticks...but anything over 450FSB requires adjsuting memory skews...

I don't see snipe posting his own experince of the board...maybe jsut experience of others. Once I conquered BlackOPs, it's my whipping boy for life! This is one board I will NEVER sell. You'll find anyone that owns one and spent more than one day trying to conquer it says the same...


but I do prefer ASUS maximus extreme for easy overclocking...BlackOPs still has some bios issues...

[mesyn191]

Basically I really enjoy messing and OCing and want to get more experienced in this and some boards are too basic so I would like to invest in a board that can do this to the max, thus the Black ops caught my eye. Im aware its expensive but maybe if i get one 4870x2 to go with it then i have the option of picking up a second 4870x2 if i want to - therefor making the board a worthwhile purchase..

Dual 4870X2's is a waste of money unless you want to be a synthetic benchmark king. Not trying to rain on your parade, but due to driver/hardware issues past 2x of any GPU is a waste ATM.

[cadaveca]

this is accurate, as dual cards do not have enough bandwidth for communication over pci-E and crossfire bridge, and quadfire 4870x2 is still performing the same as 3870x2 quadfire...great FPS numbers, but only 1/2, if that, of frames are displayed. This situation WILL NEVER CHANGE because of the way the two cards communicate. Sideport-enabled cards are needed for it to work right, and sideport must be enabled by driver, but becasue the actual number of users that will choose this config is very few, AMD will not be spending time on addressing the issue.

[Cool Vibrations]

Can you recommend 4gb (preferably 2 x 2gb) of good DDR3 that would suit the Blackops board with 1 x 4870x2 (with a second to be added) and a QX9650 chip.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146777

And as was said, don't get another 4870x2. Stick with one for now and upgrade when the GTX260X2/5870 come out. This should last you enough to withstand biting the i7 upgrade bug.

[Garethnr]

Thank you all for your opinions

[jaredpace]

2 8800GTX in sli is faster than 1 gtx280

[Tonucci]

I think you would end up spending alot of money for just an slight performance increase...in some situations even performance loss lol.

If your goal is gaming you could get 2x GTX260 or maybe even 280's, without changing anything else. That would be an massive upgrade in games,