Advice on Upgrading and SLI please?

Hi, I was drawn in to this site by the Cryo-TEC cooling system, and hoping I could buy it to upgrade my current computer. Now that I'm here though I thought I would ask a few questions about my current build.

This is my first computer I've built, as in piece by piece not pre-configured online, and I was hoping that maybe someone could point out any thing that could be upgraded or mistakes I may have made( a bottleneck ). I know I probably don't have the best RAM I could get and I've always been wondering what to upgrade it to.

My last Question though is about SLI, I've never done it before. My current card is the MSI Lightning GTX580, I would like to use it in an SLI configuration with the newer MSI Lightning GTX580 Extreme w/3GB VRAM. I'm not sure though if the disproportionate VRAM would mean anything though.

This is my Current Build, please let me know if I left out anything important you'd need to know :]

Lian-Li X2000F - Case that holds it together

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme
Processor: - - Intel Core i7 -2600k 3.4 GHz O.C. to 5 GHz on air(4.5 now that I don't set my AC to 50/60)
CPU Cooler - Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B
GPU: - - - - - -MSI Nvidia GeForce GTX-580 Lightning
RAM: - - - - - -Corsair Vengance 8GB
HDD: - - - - - -OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240GB + the 320 HDD from PS3 for Movies/Game Backups
PSU: - - - - - - Seasonic X 850W Gold

Monitor: ViewSonic VX2739wm 27"
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

Grabbed this list of of an old post with pics. Let me know If you can help please :]

Hi JP,

I see a lot of things that I would have done differently but I have never assembled my own system. So I am not going to comment on your build. I think DST4ME will be along and help you out.

The monitor you have has a native resolution of 1920 X 1080. There will be no benefit of getting the 3GB model of the 580. If you want to go SLI just add the same card you are now using. Except, I am not sure your power supply is going to handle SLI 580s.

Frank

I think that SLI 580's would slaughter 1900x1800 (my 570's already do...), and probably even 2560... if you're looking to go SLI I'm pretty positive that you'd want to go with the same card and also upgrade your PSU (that's going to be a pain...) and about what Frank said... when DST hops on, listen to him he knows his stuff. :)

yeah... im so psyched for that game though!!!

I'm assuming you are building this yourself? or are you having DS build this pc? if DS is building it then lot of parts you have up there are not gonna give you anything over the parts here.

its foolish to go with level 3 oc, in gaming you have nothing to gain and you will be changing your cpu in a year.

Edited by DST4ME - 12 Oct 2011 at 3:59pm

I see, sorry about that, my head is not working correctly today

ok so thats what you got, lets have another look.

first lets get the basic stuff over with, he get this for going with those parts, lol you could have gotten more power/performance for your money, but its not like you did bad either, you did good but money could have either been saved or for the same money you could have gotten more power/performance.

clone that vertex if you don't want lose what is on that drive.

your ram is fine, this really does not matter when you are at 1600MHz, ram difference is very little anyways.

thats a nice psu you got but you could have done the same with the 850hx and ax, I believe they cost less.

you should be ok with sli 580 and that 850w but the l050hx would have given you some head room.

so as far as upgrades go, you don't have much to upgrade, only sli, and with that psu you should be ok.

you know the tec is only for cpu right? I saw that you had your oc at 5.0GHz, what was your vcore?

in sli you are only as good as your weakest card, so if one card has lower clocks or less vram, that is you limit.

Edited by DST4ME - 12 Oct 2011 at 7:14pm

at 1.5 vcore I hope you were planing on changing that cpu next year.

Like I said I think that psu will be fine, worst case scenario it goes bad and then you get a new one.

higher res means better picture so yes it looks better. for that res you gonna want sli 570 2.5GB or 580 3GB.

If you gonna sli make sure both are 3GB version, otherwise you will be limited to 1.5GB.

Ram in sli does not add up, if you have 2 cards that each have 1.5GB of vram, in sli they are still limited to 1.5GB.

for example the 590 is advertised as 3GBvram, but you are limited to only 1.5GB since the 590 is internal sli and each gpu has only 1.5GB.

AS I told you before your sli is only as strong as the weakest card, that means if you have one 580 that has 1.5GB of vram and another that has 3GB of vram, you are still capped at 1.5GB cause that is the max one of your cards can do, so that sli will perform the same as sli 580 with both cards having 1.5GB.

To take advantage of 3GB vram both cards have to be able to do it, if one card can only do 1.5GB then you can't take advantage of 3GB vram even if the other card has 3GB.

Edited by DST4ME - 13 Oct 2011 at 4:14am