Can my 460 GTX (SLI) handle BF3 on max city?

[laziokid]

I currently own this card: MSI N460GTX CYCLONE 1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Link: Newegg.ca - MSI N460GTX CYCLONE 1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

It is no longer available on newegg.

Would these cards work for SLI with my current card?
EVGA 01G-P3-1363-KR GeForce GTX 460 SC Video Card - 1024MB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0 (x16), 2x Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x Mini-HDMI, DirectX 11, Dual-Slot, SLI Ready
&
MSI N460GTX-M2D1GD5/OC2 GeForce GTX 460 Video Card - 1024MB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0 (x16), 2x Dual-Link DVI, 1x Mini-HDMI, DirectX 11, Dual-Slot, SLI Ready, Overclocked

LINKS:
EVGA: Buy the EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 1GB GDDR5 PCIe at TigerDirect.ca
MSI: Buy the MSI GeForce GTX 460 1GB GDDR5 OC PCIe Video Card at TigerDirect.ca

It looks like the only difference is the 128 vs 256 bits. Will this be an issue? I don't want any performance decreases.

Will this setup be able to max out BF3 and CRYSIS 2 and such on ultra?

Thanks

[Chuckiechan]

I'm running an EVGA GTX460 780 meg or whatever is less than a gig.

It runs ok, but not at the highest settings. I sets itself when you install it. It doesn't "do" ultra. There are places on the net with suggestions of how to tweak what that might be helpful.

Also this command: render.drawfps 1 will give you frame rates which are hand when you are tweaking. In the map, hit the ~ thing to enter the fps code.

If I were you, I'd sit tight. The GTX 680 is out and you might find some deals on the GTX 5xx series as vendors start dumping inventory.

In fact, I'll be selling mine when I find the right deal on a 680.

Keep in touch...

[ShyguyXPC]

agree with most of what chuckie said. however, even a pair of those 192-bit 460's (not 128-bit), run at higher clock speeds than the 256-bit models, which should balance them out more or less to the original like you have.

but a pair of those, or a pair of 256-bit 1GB models should/will outperform a single GTX 580 when used in SLI.


Whether thats enough to max out BF3 is anyones guess, but you should be able to run it at pretty high settings. Single player is easier to judge, but Multiplayer in larger maps with more players is harder to say what you'd need to max that out.

as it is, some of the 500 series has come down in pricing, you can now get a GTX 560 Ti 448 Core with much faster Factory Overclocked speeds beyond its stock speeds and a GTX 570's speeds (which is what it actually is, just a reduced shader core count down to 448 from 480), which should make it run almost as good as stock 570.

I have seen them on Newegg for around $250 instead of their $280-300 price tag when released, and even seen a GTX 570 for as low as $290 now. Though keep in mind that these cards will drop in price, but also in supply as time goes on, once more of the 600 series is released.

You could sell your current GTX 460 and buy a EVGA GTX 460 2Win (dual 460 1GB's in SLI on a single card), if you case will fit it.

Tigerdirect still has some for about $350 or so, and these cards will run as good or slightly better, slightly less than a GTX 580, depending on the game, settings and drivers.

EVGA also makes a GTX 560 Ti 2Win card, Dual GTX 560 Ti's (original 384 core model). I forget the price tag, but its much higher.

Keep an eye on Newegg's Refurbished and Open Box stock though, occasionally they have a sweet deal that you could nab real quick, was a couple/few weeks ago, they had an EVGA GTX 570 for $229 refurbished, needless to say it didn't last long.



As to whether the 192-bit models will SLI with the 256-bit, normally I would say no, but I have heard, or read that others have been able to.


The GPU's are the same, the memory size is the same, so technically you should be able to, but the iffy part is the clock speeds, and the Memory Bandwidth bus rates.

Couple other members here may have a better idea though.

the big issue if you are able to run them in SLI would be whether the older card is able to run at the newer ones Clock speeds, otherwise you'd have to underclock the new card to match the older one.

[ShyguyXPC]

Sent a PM to 2 of the members here, to see if they could maybe chime in on whether SLI would be possible or not.


In the meantime, what is your Power supply Specs, and What motherboard are you running?

[RicheemxX]

Not to jump into the deep end but what is missing here is your system specs. Beyond the fact that could those cards run in SLI is can your system run them and do you have a cpu, psu and motherboard to handle it??

Dang it Shy was thinking the same thing as I was posting it

[ShyguyXPC]

LOL, I was PM'ing KK and Aaron on FB at the time, then realized I forgot to ask some other questions.

Though I forgot to ask about the CPU specs as well.

[KarmaKiller]

2x 460's will not max out BF3, at least on ultra. You have a chance of running on 'high' settings, depending on what resolution your running, but if it's a 1080 screen, most likely you'll get some choppyness when a lot of action is taking place.
Another note, I would suggest turning down motion blur, and HBAO off, and that will help get you a few more FPS.
Really the main limiting factor is the amount of V-ram the cards have. BF3 uses every bit of V-ram the gpu has.
As far as the bit differences, technically it will work, but it will always run at the bit rate of the slower card. So it would technically 'bring down' performance of the faster GPU you have.

[ShyguyXPC]

so it will do the same with bus width as it does with memory and Clock speeds, drop it to the speed/capacity of the lesser model?


in this case though it would be a double whammy, drop the bus width from 256 on one card to 192 bit on the new one, and drop the clock speeds of the faster new one to the slower older ones speeds.

though on the plus side, one could always try "overclocking" the older slower one up to the newer models speeds, where as increasing the memory bus width isn't an option.

[KarmaKiller]

AFAIK, yes it drops the bus speed. I believe this is a limitation of the CPU/Motherboard, not so much the GPU's.

[ShyguyXPC]

Cool, thanks for replying.


Now if they can just reply back with the other info, to make sure that they could even use SLI.

[laziokid]

I would forget to post my pc specs haha

Anyway here is the motherboard:

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Link: Newegg.ca - ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

and here is the PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
Link: Newegg.ca - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

and here is the CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
LinK: Newegg.ca - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

Thank you for all the answers I may save up and buy a better card but I am not positive yet. Keep the replies coming as I appreciate all the help I can get. I am thinking of saving up $300 and buying a beast of a card but I want to be able to max out pretty much any game (especially BF3) and hopefully future games. I prefer tigerdirect.ca or canadacomputers.com since I live close to these places but I am patient so newegg.ca works too!

Also, judging from my current specs, is this computer good as of today? It's a bit outdated but is it still a good computer overall?
Should I sell it and rebuild a new one? I payed about $1300 for my current build. I will update my profile now of my computer specs! Thanks again!

EDIT: Does anyone know a site that lists a bunch of setup/builds for pcs in different price ranges that are ideal for today? And how to I add a signature for my posts? I want to post up my pc specs :P

Sorry for the long post and questions etc

[SoloCamo]

2x 460's will not max out BF3, at least on ultra. You have a chance of running on 'high' settings, depending on what resolution your running, but if it's a 1080 screen, most likely you'll get some choppyness when a lot of action is taking place.
Another note, I would suggest turning down motion blur, and HBAO off, and that will help get you a few more FPS.
Really the main limiting factor is the amount of V-ram the cards have. BF3 uses every bit of V-ram the gpu has.
As far as the bit differences, technically it will work, but it will always run at the bit rate of the slower card. So it would technically 'bring down' performance of the faster GPU you have.

Agreed 100%. To truly get smooth gameplay I keep it all on high w/ FXAA and 2x MSAA. No motion blur and keep HBAO off.

This usually nets me online no less than 35 fps in a 64 player game.

Keep in mind, I have a GTX480 which would normally be slightly slower on average than two 460's in SLI, however as noted above, this game loves VRAM, and the 480 has an extra 536mb which definitely helps.

With the settings I posted above at 1920x1080 the game uses about 1100-1200mb of ram on average. If I bump most to ultra settings it hovers around 1400mb.