What Would You Do?

[RAYTTK]

I have a BFG H2OC 280, I have recently started to play Mafia 2 and I'm sick of objects appearing as I'm driving or running. The main street and buildings are there but people and other cars keep spawning as i'm driving, I am pressuming this is because my card is nowhere near powerful enough, Please chime in if thats not the case. Im only using a 22" monitor 1680 x 1150
So I'm thinking of Upgrading, Options are financially limited

2 x 1GB GTX 460 SLI, ( there is a Pallit and Gainsbourgh 2GB option But Im not sure they would make much difference)

1 x GTX 470 and Keep my 280 for physX

1 GTX 480, What ever I choose will be watercooled.

Thanks for all advise

[Pekalion]

The 2x1GB GTX 460 will do the job and with the GTX280 for Physx it will over do the job. Maybe you can sell it an try to get a GT240 or the new 430 for the Physx, that is more than enough. The 2GB version of the GTX460 is limited by the memory bandwich, it will help only with high res and AA enabled, but as you keep with that monitor, the SLI of GTX 460 1GB will be more than okey.

BTW, if you are running the BloodRage, remember to give it the lastest Bios, others before I think the 40 won't work with the 400 series of Nvidia.

[RAYTTK]

I'm Just in the process of selling the Bloodrage,
Are you running the EVGA 460 in your Sig? How is that?
From what Ive read the 460 in SLI are the best value , performance and within my budget, I would really prefer a single card set up though

[CraptacularOne]

If you want a single card setup go with a GTX470 and keep your GTX280 for a PhysX card. The GTX470 is more than capable of playing anything out at your resolution and should continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

[Ket]

Any of the options you listed would be a good choice to go with. If you can get a GTX470 with a good cooler I'd probably go with that and use the 280 for PhysX.

[Boulard83]

+1 for a nicely cooled GTX470 ( or 480 ) and keep the 280 as PhysX.

[RAYTTK]

470 sounds good as I can get the EVGA SC version and an EK block for alot less than 2 460's with EK blocks , I was not sure if a 470 would be powerful enough to make the upgrade worthwhile.

[CraptacularOne]

470 sounds good as I can get the EVGA SC version and an EK block for alot less than 2 460's with EK blocks , I was not sure if a 470 would be powerful enough to make the upgrade worthwhile.

The GTX470 will put a saddle on that GTX280 and ride it all the way home. GTX280 to GTX470 is a pretty big step.

[Neova]

Sounds like video memory issue or lack of it actually. If you max out the draw distance and model / texture details, then you will consume more video memory for sure.

I suggest this:

2 x 2GB GTX 460 SLI for more video memory

or

1 GTX 480. I would choose the 480 due to more video memory again at 1.5 GB and have the option of adding a second one when the prices drop, but only if your psu can handle both.

Also, add + 1x 250 GTS/GTX for physiX and sell your 280 if you can cover the 250 + change

I'm also thinking of selling my 465 GTX 1GB only because I tend mod my single player games to the max with texture and high detail models thus am hitting the limits of the video memory. Speed wise, I am very happy with it.

[Metroid]

2 x GTX 460 768MB because of the 22" monitor 1680 x 1150.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=25665&page=9

[Pekalion]

If you want only one card, then the GTX 470 is your option. Lately I been hearing of many GTX480 passing to a better life by no reason, and with that I mean that no OC or just little was applied.

My EVGA is flawles. Is super quiet and the temps are great. Performance is really good and Im trying to buy the second. Its working at 900/1800/2100 without problems with 1.087v and the fan at 30% in idle, great card.

BTW, you can keep the stock cooling of the GTX460, of course is fantastic to put them on water, but the stock cooling isn't that bad and you don't have to spend a huge amount of money.

[RAYTTK]

Ahhhhh, Thanks for the input fella's but I'm still non the wiser, Conflicting views/opinions. I'm one of those people that will buy a GTX470 then unless its really impressive I'll spend my time thinking that 2 x 460's would have been better LOL.

Sounds like video memory issue or lack of it actually.

If this is the case maybe I should just buy another GTX280 from flee bay ( currently selling for as little as £80) and run them SLi until the 400 series settles down I mean 475, 485, and 490 are all on the horizon, Right?

[SBB]

I actually just upgraded from a GTX 280 to a GTX 470 and its a great improvement, these cards overclock very well if you have good cooling too - with a large OC the speed is very close to a GTX 480 for considerably less money.

SLI 460s is probably slightly faster, but SLI can be a pain with drivers, I prefer a single card setup as theres no fuss.

[CraptacularOne]

Ahhhhh, Thanks for the input fella's but I'm still non the wiser, Conflicting views/opinions. I'm one of those people that will buy a GTX470 then unless its really impressive I'll spend my time thinking that 2 x 460's would have been better LOL.

If this is the case maybe I should just buy another GTX280 from flee bay ( currently selling for as little as £80) and run them SLi until the 400 series settles down I mean 475, 485, and 490 are all on the horizon, Right?

Getting a second GTX280 won't help if it is VRAM you're running out of. 2 GTX280's in SLI doesn't give you double the memory. Meaning that you will still only have an effective 1GB of VRAM. This is because each cards VRAM must contain mirrored data. This is required if you want both cards to render the same scene at the same point in time. So in short, 2 GTX280 1GB cards in SLI still equals a total of only 1GB VRAM.

If indeed it is VRAM you need, then 2 GTX460 786MB cards SLI are definitely not the way you want to go since they will have even less VRAM than your GTX280 to work with.

I'd as I said suggest a GTX470 if you want a nice cost effective upgrade and you'll have 1280MB of VRAM to work with. And you can use your GTX280 to offload PhysX calculations if you play any games that use GPU PhysX.

[RAYTTK]

Thanks for the explanation CraptacularOne, Whats your opinion on waiting for The GTX475 to be released and is my 280 overkill for PhysX

[Frag Maniac]

2x460, or better yet wait for the 475. Same efficient GPU with all the shaders unlocked! I plan to go dual 475 SLI. Ideally I want to wait until some thorough testing is done to determine if I want to put them on 1156 or 1366. It will depend on how powerful the two combined are.

With 1366 I'd have a 3rd GPU slot (P6X58D-E) for a PhysX card. The tradeoff being closer GPU spacing, having to use a Pci-Ex sound card (none of which upmix an optical input to 5.1 for TV broadcasts, thus requiring a receiver), lack luster Turbo Boost (i7 950), and locked multiplier.

With 1156 I'd have widely spaced GPU slots, the option of using a PCI sound card even WITH SLI, high stepped/ adjustable Turbo Boost (i7-875k/P7H57D-V Evo), unlocked multiplier (i7-875k), and the pricing is dropping considerably since 1155 will be out soon (P7H57D-V Evo just dropped to $155 reg price). Only tradeoff is being limited to dual SLI with no PhysX added, but I may not need it with two 475s, esp if OCed.

[CraptacularOne]

Thanks for the explanation CraptacularOne, Whats your opinion on waiting for The GTX475 to be released and is my 280 overkill for PhysX

I would still get the GTX470. Even if they do release a GTX475 based on GF104 core, it will have 384 cores. The GTX470 available now has 448 cores. The new GTX475 may be cooler running and consume a bit less power. But the GTX470 will still have more raw power on tap and it'll probably have more VRAM on a wider bus as the GF104 core is mated to a 256 bit memory bus with 1GB VRAM, while the GF100 can use up to 384 bit. The GTX470 has a 320 bit bus with 1280MB VRAM.

As for a GTX280 for PhysX, yes it's a bit overkill, but having too much power is never a bad thing when it comes to PC's. If you don't play games that use GPU PhysX it will not help any. It's only in GPU PhysX supported games that it will be of any benefit.

[RAYTTK]

Thanks for all Advice. I should have the EVGA SC GTX 470 before the weeks out and a EK block for xmas LOL

[RAYTTK]

Hi, I bought the EVGA 470SCFTW, so got GTX280 as Dedicated Physx And Mafia 2 is still playing me up when I'm Driving, I will be cruising round town and , Bins , Phone boxes, People and Vehicles are all just popping up late spawns. I can't think of a better discription.
I have latest Nvidia WHQL driver and PhysX, The game benchmark looks good and is 10 FPS better than GTX 280 was,