Can I pair a 460 with a 560 non-sli?

[Grail]

Or do they still have to be the same card number? I was thinking I could get a one gig 460 card now and run 5 accounts, and down the road add a two gig 560 when there are some more choices and better prices and run 5 real well. I would just have my main on the one gig 460 and the four in help on the 2 gig 560. Also, would that setup run ten?

Thanks in advance,

-Grail

[shadewalker]

yes you can. if you switch screens between monitors you will have some performance hits.

if you are using isboxer i would suggest looking here
http://isboxer.com/index.php/compone...le-video-cards

without knowing the rest of the specs on your computer it would be hard to say how many clients you could run.

[Grail]

Thanks Mighty Tauren!

That is great news. Last night I found the 2 GB version of the 460, so now I am leaning that way. That said, these would be the rest of my specs.

If I go less expensive... AMD 955, 8 GB ddr3 1600, Windows 7 64 bit, WD 640 GB Caviar Black (Maybe a 150 GB VelociRaptor depending on what WD sends me for my 'in process RMA' - I could use that for OS and WoW folder like others use an SSD), one GTX 460 2 GB, Beefy Power Supply with plenty of watts and amps, Two monitors...probably a Gateway 19" 1400x900 for my main and a Gateway 17" 1280x720 for the others. I could also run the four in help on my projector on my wall... So it is either really tiny or really big right now, decent heat sink and maybe a small overclock on 955 to 965 standards or even 3.8 Ghz.

If I go more expensive then it would be a new 1155 mobo, a 2500k or 2600k, same 8 GB ram, Windows 7 64 bit, one SSD for maybe $150.00 (I am not sure if 60 GB is enough, so maybe a quality 80 GB?), then I could still use the 150 GB VelociRaptor and the 640 as well. The same GTX 460 2 GB card, and the same psu - its a 750 watt PC Power & Cooling from back in the day before they were bought by OCZ. As for the monitor, I could spring for a 22 " if I had to. I would eventually. I would try to get a 1900 x 1080 (or a 1900 x 1200?)

So in short, either way, a quad core with 8 GB ram and Windows 7 with a fast hard drive and maybe an SSD thrown in. I could then start with the GTX 460 and add in another card down the road.

Ideally I would like to get something like two MSI GTX 560-Ti Twin Frozr II 2 GB cards. But they don't make them yet. And that is getting a little expensive. I would rather hold off on that till maybe a year from now when the prices have come down. With all the other expenses I really don't even want to spend $400 on two GTX 460 2 GB cards, but would love to get one now and maybe pair it with another or a 560 2gb down the road.

How set would I be for five or ten instances of wow then?

FYI, ten is only a thought right now, and the soonest I would get to ten, with school and all, would be summer of 2012. But if I can, I am trying to set the stage a little just in case ...

Thanks in advance to Shadwalker or anyone else who can lend some advice.

-Grail

[Bollwerk]

I just skimmed over your post, but I have one strong recommendation.
Intel >>>> AMD for WoW
See here - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ance,2793.html
Pages 9 and 10
Intel will give you FAR better performance per $ than AMD for WoW.
Also, don't bother with the 2600K unless you have money to burn. It is not worth the extra $100 over the 2500K for gaming.
If you do go with Intel, I recommend the MSI P67A-GD65 motherboard - it has a ONE BUTTON overclock. I have it myself and it took me to 4.3GHz on a 2500K with just one button (air cooling).

[Grail]

Hi Bollwerk,

Thanks so much for the input. I have read your posts and know you are a fan of Intel for this reason. I am leaning heavily toward Intel on this one myself. However, if I decided maybe I could get by for a year with the AMD, I already have a mobo and the ram and could get the cpu for $129 locally. I would be set for $129 and that does have some appeal. Especially if I end up hating multi-boxing!

If I love it as I expect to, then I could pick up the Ivy Bridge chipset when it comes out maybe in time for ten boxing. But if I go Intel now then rest assured it will be a 2500K or 2600K. I want to see what more people have to say about those two multi-boxing...

Like I alluded to, I am tentatively thinking of ten boxing one day and think those Ivy Bridges could be just what the doctor ordered for all of us, yet I will add, I am not necessarily looking to buy a nice system this summer and 'again' next. Decisions.

Are you sure the Hyperthreading won't help at all? If not with WoW, then with OS. I might be running a firefox, music, a video as well as the 5 instances. I know that is not tons, but...

If I really thought the 2600K wouldn't help at all with multi-boxing, then I would be plenty happy with the 2500K.

Also, I was looking at that MSI board. But I am leaning toward the Gigabyte GA-PA67-UD7-B3. I have had good luck with them of late and their tech support has been great for me. Really top notch actually. I will re-read an article I have on that board though on your suggestion (CPU magazine, April 2011, page 76 for anyone interested).

Thanks to anyone who can chime in,

-Grail

[Bollwerk]

Hyperthreading DOES help with some non-gaming related tasks, provided they are multi-threaded enough.
For more detail - check reviews like this - http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...i3-2100-tested
Note that in this review, they use stock speeds, so the 2600K will always be slightly faster than the 2500K due to it's stock speed being 100MHz faster. What you want to look out for is the few benchmarks where the 2600K is MUCH faster than the 2500K. Such as this page - http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...2100-tested/19
Both are easily overclockable on air cooling to 4.5GHz or so.

[Grail]

Thanks Bollwerk,

Reading those articles now. Do you think I could overclock about that high, with a heat sink like the Zalman CNPS5X?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...20110408230234

I just put that on my younger brother's AMD 965 machine I am building and I really like it. It seems well built and yet not too big; it didn't need a backplate and it doesn't seem to stress the motherboard. I think it could be a good aftermarket heatsink with a relatively small footprint - as long as I am not going for the highest possible overclock. One of my concerns was how many times we have heard that the ram slots are so often "too" close (as they were on my brother's motherboard) to the cpu socket and this heatsink looked like it would fit nicely. I am happy to report it didn't stick out over the socket area at all! I didn't want a situation where if I ever wanted to change the ram I would have to remove the heatsink!

I guess I should wait to see what comes with the 2500K-2600K. Is that the stock heatsink pictured at the beginning of the article? If so, it looks pretty buff; in either case I have heard of people getting good oc's with the Intel stock heatsink which is also a positive.

Thanks!

-Grail

p.s.- despite all the info in that article demonstrating the 2600K's superior performance in many applications, do you still advise the 2500K for what we do? Honestly, I won't be working with Visual Studio 2008 or anything like it. Also, if I go 2500K it will be easier to bite into the Sandy Bridge 6-core they briefly mentioned might be out later this year. I wouldn't pick it up right away, but if I ever wanted to try ten boxing...