AREA 51 Best Video card with i975X?

The video card depends on which power supply is in there (1KW, 1.1KW, 1.2KW) ? Can you look at the label on the power supply to be sure?

Below are the Dell validated OEM memory part numbers -
Maximum memory 12GB
YGWPH 4GB, 1600MHz PC3-12800, 512X64, XMP
0TDWJ 4GB, 1600MHz PC3-12800, 512x64, XMP
P382H 4GB, 1333MHz PC3-10600, 512X64
N852H 4GB, 1066MHz PC3-8500, 512X64

Main processor and ram are fine.

Verify Power-Supply wattage.

Remove both video cards and install a current model $300 card (or higher as budget and PS wattage allow).

I noticed you went the 12GB in your sig, notice a difference? Or not really hence your advice?

Hi guys thanks for your info very helpful,

I can verify it has a 1.1KW PSU.

Only 6GB ram installed.

Ive always had Nvidia since the 6600,7800GTX days.. but I have to say, (and I dont want to lose the audience here :) ) but on my humble iMac 2010, Im playing Battlefield 3 on high settings at 20FPS on 2560x1440.. and its a simple i5 processor with 1GB AMD Mobility 5850. I do have 8GB ram though.

My Alien is loving it, on Ultra Im getting 45-60FPS.. but after 2 hours FPS drop. And also the MSAA setting is on X2. When i ask for MSAA X4, it just makes it play at like 15FPS tops. Mind you thats nearly everything maxed, just no DX11 on my GTX 295 if that even makes a difference. I also have a GTX260 installed and running.

Can you guys tell me a good way to go for ram, and also any recommendations for current video cards, maybe why?

Dell has this page

support.dell.com/.../document

I would recommend just upgrading to a single graphic cards, ATI or Nvideo as you like.

For Battlefield 3 the lowest card i recommend is GeForce GTX 560 or Radeon HD 6950. and more video memory the better.  

For the rest of your system , what Tesla said.  

One warning.  The very high end video cards on that motherboard have some problems with Battlefield 3 on 64 player maps.  Fix is to turn down the texture settings to match the video memory.

Battlefield 3 is more dependant on the video card and video card memory than on the CPU or main memory.

Sorry about the bold couldnt make it normal after i typed it.

Ok so I ran 3D MARK 06 to get a baseline before I do any mods. I have always used 3dmark 06 so thats that. If there is a reason for me to sit through new tests Ill consider it, but it has to be worth it :).

I have 6GB 1333MHZ ram, an i975X processor, a GTX 260 and a GTX 295, and alienware area 51.

I basiclly ran the tests using different settings of NVIDIA control panel. I will outline them below.

OK some interesting results:

1. NON-multi GPU support with the 260 dedicated to PhysX, it got

score = 18067.

Not that high, for a GTX 295 with GTX260 dedicated to PHYSX. {Its running on LV 1 OC. (or stock OC?)}

2. PHYS X on auto choice in Nvidia control panel, and MULT GPU enabled {Its running on LV 1 OC. (or stock OC?)}

Score = 22352

3. MULTI-GPU and GTX 260 dedicated to PHYSX {Its running on LV 1 OC. (or stock OC?)}

Score = 22431

Mixing it up a little bit

I removed the GTX 260 from the tower.

4. MULTI GPU with PHYSX on recommended and only the GTX 295 installed I got

Score = 22864

Finally for now,

5. I ran the LV3 OC with just the GTX 295, and PhysX auto and got

Score = 23983

Any people with experience can help point me in the right direction. As i mentoned I have the 1.1KW supply, and am looking at playing the BF3 a lot.

On one hand I have only ever had NVidia, and when choosing a video card I thought maybe an AMD card, but scrapped that because i have an extra GTX 295 and 260 and I can use either/both for PHYSX. As it turns out through my basic testing, Physx seems to do jack. Am i wrong? Is it marketing puff as usual, or a I missing something? Scores seem a bit wierd? Not using a GTX 260 for PHYSX got me a better socre?

Finally any more recommendations for what i should go with, if my CPU and ram are fine.

thanks 

Since you like NVidia and Battlefield 3 and you want the "best"

GTX 580 3GB card might be want you want.. but that is 600$

or a GTX 580 standard card ( 1.5GB ) for about 350-400$

The newesst card is

GTX 680 2GB for about 500$ but it is not on the list of cards that are certified to work on that motherboard  (should still work but not guarentied)

There is a GTX 680 4GB that just came out a week ago but I have no idea what that price is but anywhere from 700-800 I would guess..  It gives you the power of the 680 and 4 GB

Cost effective is

GTX 480 1.5GB for 200-300$

for Battlefield 3 I would recommond only a single card and only a single GPU on that motherboard.

Hi ElfiWolfe, thanks again for the response, as Im learning about this stuff. i do have some experience in owning some different GFX cards but havent really done too much other than plug them in and play. Also the cards I am talking about are old now, I have no idea what to look for.

So you say you would only go 1 card and a single GPU? you mean i should just take out my GTX260 and leave the GTX295 for now till I get my new card as well? Or do you mean when I upgrade, just focus on 1 card.

Is one card and 1 GPU different?

Lastly (lot of questions Im sorry), but can you give some detail about why is this motherboard only good for for 1 GPU? It has 3 of those fluro yello PCI slots for up to TR-SLI? Have they been proven faulty or something I dont know about?

Which card do you think is better,the GTX580 3gb or gtx 680) and can you add to them later (sli for example?)

and can I use any of my cards as PHYS X, or is it magic potion as proven in my 3dmark06 scores.

Hi ElfiWolfe, thanks again for the response, as Im learning about this stuff. i do have some experience in owning some different GFX cards but havent really done too much other than plug them in and play. Also the cards I am talking about are old now, I have no idea what to look for.   So you say you would only go 1 card and a single GPU? you mean i should just take out my GTX260 and leave the GTX295 for now till I get my new card as well? Or do you mean when I upgrade, just focus on 1 card.   Is one card and 1 GPU different?   Lastly (lot of questions Im sorry), but can you give some detail about why is this motherboard only good for for 1 GPU? It has 3 of those fluro yello PCI slots for up to TR-SLI? Have they been proven faulty or something I dont know about?   Which card do you think is better,the GTX580 3gb or gtx 680) and can you add to them later (sli for example?)   and can I use any of my cards as PHYS X, or is it magic potion as proven in my 3dmark06 scores.

Get a GTX 680. A single GTX 680 gives a 3Dmark 11 score of over 10,000 points. Thats on par with a pair of GTX 480s or 580s in SLI. It's that good. I would then sell the GTX 295 and 260.

You also don't need the 4gb GTX 680 unless you are running some insanely high resolution. Even then you won't really need 4gb. The 2gb model is more then enough and the benchmarking tests that sites have done proves this.  

I have the same system as yours. Mine even came with dual GTX 295s in quad SLI when I first got it. I can say for a fact that the GTX 680 will work in your Area 51.

You could save the GTX 260 for just a PhysX card if you like. It is not magic potion. In games that use it like Batman it makes a difference. I don't think you will really need to do it though if you get the 680. While adding a dedicated PhysX card improves games that use PhysX the 680 is so powerful that it can do it on its own just fine.

What I did was buy just one GTX 680 to replace my 3 GTX 480s. Sold the 480s. Now I am waiting for the 4gb model and the dual GPU 690s to come out. I figure by then the price may drop some on the 680 2gb. Once it does then I will buy a couple more. In the meantime the 680 blows through any game you can throw at it so there is no need to run out and buy another one right away. If I have to wait 6 months or even a year for the price to drop I can because the 680 is good enough in a single card config.

Go here and download the basic free version of 3Dmark 11 and then run it. That will give you a benchmark to compair to mine with the 680 in it. I'm gonna guess you will get around 4-5k with the 295. http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/

At stock I get a score of 9365. Overclocked I get 10,086. This is not a hugh overclock at all and I didn't even bother overclocking the memory. Also, the GTX 680 will self overclock just like intel's turbo does on the i7 CPUs.

With my 3 GTX 480s overclocked and in 3-way SLI I got 14,117 with my CPU at 4.3ghz. I get a 10,086 with a single 680 and CPU at only 4.0ghz. That's how powerful the new 680 is. It's a beast!

The only reason I suggested the 4 GB single card(gpu) is due to how the Frostbite 2 engine streams textures (this is the engine for Battlefield 3)  

I have a 4 GPU set up with 1 GB per card.  It can handle Farcry 2 at 5780x1080 without problems.  But Battlefield 3 BSOD the system.  so I had to change BF3 to a single GPU with mediums textures due to the streaming of textures.  (this also may only happen with the 5970 cards)

At medium textures at 1900x1000 BF3 is taking 3 GB of video memory with only 1 GPU running.

On lighter card they can stream without problems but the 5970 is a hot card and it is overloading something.

But to go from 2 GB to 4 GB is a big increase in cost.  and many not be needed.

In the end I would say to just get a single GTX 680 2GB model.  be about 500$ and sell off your 2 current cards.

The only reason I suggested the 4 GB single card(gpu) is due to how the Frostbite 2 engine streams textures (this is the engine for Battlefield 3)     I have a 4 GPU set up with 1 GB per card.  It can handle Farcry 2 at 5780x1080 without problems.  But Battlefield 3 BSOD the system.  so I had to change BF3 to a single GPU with mediums textures due to the streaming of textures.  (this also may only happen with the 5970 cards)   At medium textures at 1900x1000 BF3 is taking 3 GB of video memory with only 1 GPU running.   On lighter card they can stream without problems but the 5970 is a hot card and it is overloading something.   But to go from 2 GB to 4 GB is a big increase in cost.  and many not be needed.   In the end I would say to just get a single GTX 680 2GB model.  be about 500$ and sell off your 2 current cards.

I think it was something unique to your cards or system. I never had issues with the three 480s though they do have half a gig more ram on each card then the 5970. The 680 is just fine for 2560 x 1600 or even 5760 x 1080.

In this review you can see that while the 7970 has 1gb more ram and is overclocked it only does about 1fps more then the 680 at 5760 x 1080.  At that resolution you would expect the extra memory to pay off but it didn't. I really can't see any need for a 4gb model when reviewers show numbers like this.

" We brought you performance numbers on a 5760x1080 2D panel setup and showed you that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 had no problems hanging with the fastest factory overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970 that money can buy (The MSI R7970 Lightning is $100 more!). If you are looking for a graphics card for a triple-monitor setup today, we have no reservations recommending the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680!

Legit Bottom Line: NVIDIA Surround has come a long way since it was first introduced and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 can easily hang with the AMD Radeon HD 7970 in the benchmarks at Ultra HD resolutions! "

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1887/1/

Hey thanks heaps guys for the suggestions, I bought myself a macbook so i held off on buying a card for a bit (needed that for university so was a bit higher up in the chain of need).

But Im back in the market. Hey MorBlore, I did infact download and install that 3dMark11.. only problem.. my GTX295 is not DX11 so it does not work (so we cant compare:( ).

I think now prices on a GTX680 might have dropped so Ill check it out and post back and differences I find.

You guys are sure though that the Physx car makes a difference? As seen above, it got lower 3DMark06 scores having both cards instead of just the GTX295. I did just buy Arkham City though so will that use Physx?

Thanks again to everybody and their knowledge.

If money is an issue then look at the gtx 670 or wait a few weeks for the 660. I think 3Dmark will use the CPU and not the GPU for physics to keep the AMD people happy and using their software. I know the newer verson is that way.