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GTX 460 768 - is it a waste to SLI it given the low memory and that I run 1920x1200?

S

Spurst

Golden Member
I run most of my games at 1920x1200. This makes it almost impossible due to the memory constraints with this card for certain games (namely the ones where I'd really get a boost from the SLI).

If I pulled one of the cards, would I really even notice a huge difference, since I'm turning down the gfx settings to accommodate the lack of memory, anyhow?

Alternately: I also have a pair of 8800GT's, so I could add one of those as a dedicated PhysX card, should a 460 come out.

Just looking for some suggestions. If I'd notice a huge hit in FPS, I'll leave it in there. I eventually plan on replacing them with 2gb cards, but it might not be for a few months.
 
I'd use them both for now. However, it's easy to test, just run them in sli in the games that you play and some demos/etc, then run a single card. I think that you'll find even with only 768mb of memory that they are still pretty fast in sli @ 1920x1200 in most situations.
 
for some reason you already have this setup and you know 768mb is not enough vram for some games at certain settings. well all you have to do is turn down the settings in those games. removing one card seems a bit silly since there are plenty of games where it is helping you. even in the games where vram is an issue it will help if you just turn down the settings a bit. and you can test this for yourself without even actually removing the cards so I really do not even understand the point of the question here.
 
You will still have massive raw GPU power, you might have to turn down some VRAM intensive settings in games but it still should be pretty fast.

I'd say you should just because you have the cards and the smaller amount of VRAM does not really matter for most games yet.

Just don't try running BF3 on all maxed settings.
 
I'm asking this question, because I'm debating on splitting the pair and tossing in an 8800GT for dedicated Phys-X.

I already know that the SLI rig can perform faster than what the cards can display before the VRAM becomes a bottleneck.

I'm just wondering how much of a bottle neck that is... i'f I'm already turning the settings down to accommodate low VRAM, would 1 card still perform at playable frame rates at those settings?

I see no point in have the SLI rig and going 2-3x over playable frame rates, when games would still be entirely playable with 1 card. I can split them and test it out, but I was curious as to if this hasn't already been done.
 
Crazy idea: Take one card out and run some of your games. If the performance is acceptable then go ahead with your idea. If the performance drop is severe and you can no longer enjoy gaming then don't go through with your idea.

Then come back and let us know how it went, if you could post some FPS comparisons using FRAPS, that'd be awesome.
 
GodisanAtheist said:
Crazy idea: Take one card out and run some of your games. If the performance is acceptable then go ahead with your idea. If the performance drop is severe and you can no longer enjoy gaming then don't go through with your idea.

Then come back and let us know how it went, if you could post some FPS comparisons using FRAPS, that'd be awesome.
Click to expand...

Asking the question while im at work since i cant do that atm. 🙂
 
I'm not sure I'm following your line of thinking. 😕

Either way there is no question in my mind the absolute best way to get the most out of both of those 460's is to sli them. If you're not happy with the performance it's either time to get some new cards or overclock the piss out of them. If you're running the 460's at stock settings you are missing out big time. The 460's can overclock like crazy.
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
I'm not sure I'm following your line of thinking. 😕

Either way there is no question in my mind the absolute best way to get the most out of both of those 460's is to sli them. If you're not happy with the performance it's either time to get some new cards or overclock the piss out of them. If you're running the 460's at stock settings you are missing out big time. The 460's can overclock like crazy.
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you are missing the whole point of the thread which is about vram. overclocking the cards will do nothing for him in games where lack of vram is an issue.
 
You should consider paying about 100 bucks and SLing the 460 768mb. Youll get 1.5GB memory VRAM ,,,games run fine at 19200x1200 with a 8800 GT ,,, soo ya,,,,

OR

sell it and buy a 470. gl
 
tweakboy said:
You should consider paying about 100 bucks and SLing the 460 768mb. Youll get 1.5GB memory VRAM ,,,games run fine at 19200x1200 with a 8800 GT ,,, soo ya,,,,

OR

sell it and buy a 470. gl
Click to expand...

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but SLI'ing doesn't double the amount of usage VRAM. It would still effectively be 768mb.
 
tweakboy said:
You should consider paying about 100 bucks and SLing the 460 768mb. Youll get 1.5GB memory VRAM ,,,games run fine at 19200x1200 with a 8800 GT ,,, soo ya,,,,

OR

sell it and buy a 470. gl
Click to expand...
did you read anything? he already has gtx460 768mb in SLI. and you do not add the memory together for cards in SLI. and he is talking about using an 8800gt for physx. 🙄
 
I have a GTX 460 SLI setup - both cards have 768 VRAM - even in SLI the most they can use is 768 VRAM.

Because of this, at 1920x1200 resolution, once I hit the 768 VRAM cap, I have to start turning things down to cut down on memory usage (AA, AF, Texture quality, etc).

My question is... if I have to turn down my settings to High Quality vs ultra at 1920x1080 and a single GTX 460 will run 1920x1080 High settings, is there any point to having them SLI'd. or even if I have to drop from 1920x1080 to 1600x1000, etc. is it still worth it using the 2nd GTX 460 for SLI, when I could just add in an 8800GT for SLI functions.

I cant find any software that will display in game VRAM usage. I'm at a roadblock here.

There has to be a sweet spot where the GPU performance matches the VRAM utilization.
 
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So instead of running into vram limitations sometimes you want to take out your second 460 so you'll run games slowly all the time? Makes perfect sense
 
Spurst said:
I have a GTX 460 SLI setup - both cards have 768 VRAM - even in SLI the most they can use is 768 VRAM.

Because of this, at 1920x1200 resolution, once I hit the 768 VRAM cap, I have to start turning things down to cut down on memory usage (AA, AF, Texture quality, etc).

My question is... if I have to turn down my settings to High Quality vs ultra at 1920x1080 and a single GTX 460 will run 1920x1080 High settings, is there any point to having them SLI'd. or even if I have to drop from 1920x1080 to 1600x1000, etc. is it still worth it using the 2nd GTX 460 for SLI, when I could just add in an 8800GT for SLI functions.

I cant find any software that will display in game VRAM usage. I'm at a roadblock here.

There has to be a sweet spot where the GPU performance matches the VRAM utilization.
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just leave both the cards in and lower the settings if you have too. AA would need to be the first thing to go and that alone will probably be enough for all but but a handful of games.

and you must not have looked hard because any gpu monitoring software will show vram usage. a 2 second google search would have found something for you. gpu-z, evga precision, and msi afterburner are all good choices.
 
toyota said:
just leave both the cards in and lower the settings if you have too. AA would need to be the first thing to go and that alone will probably be enough for all but but a handful of games.

and you must not have looked hard because any gpu monitoring software will show vram usage. a 2 second google search would have found something for you. gpu-z, evga precision, and msi afterburner are all good choices.
Click to expand...

i've been looking -> something that displays the info in game.


I took one of the cards out. I'm going to try and run some software titles and see how it goes.
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
So instead of running into vram limitations sometimes you want to take out your second 460 so you'll run games slowly all the time? Makes perfect sense
Click to expand...

I'm not looking to run games slowly... but 50FPS versus 90 FPS doesn't really help me a whole lot - whereas I have another PC on my projector that could sure use the upgrade from a single 8800GT.

If its not a huge sacrifice, I'm willing to do it.
 
VRAM and performance from SLI are separate things. RAM is an issue when you hit a bottleneck. Turn down settings until the bottleneck is gone, problem solved!
 
Throckmorton said:
VRAM and performance from SLI are separate things. RAM is an issue when you hit a bottleneck. Turn down settings until the bottleneck is gone, problem solved!
Click to expand...

I understand that. However, if turning down the settings renders the SLI pointless, then I'm better off pulling the 2nd card.

The bottom line is - I can't run what the SLI rig is capable of because I am limited by VRAM. The smaller ammt of VRAM forces me to turn down the settings. With the settings turned down, I am sky high on FPS. Its like running a 480GTX at high settings - there's no point. Its like putting a speed limiter on a Ferrari so its capable of 200mph, but it really can only run 25mph.

I posted this because there's a few of us with GTX 460 SLI rigs - who might not be seeing a whole lot of benefit from running the rig in SLI mode. Sure its faster - that is a given, but is it faster in the sense that it'd be otherwise unplayable with only a single GTX 460.
 
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Spurst said:
exactly what i was looking for. ty.
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btw that is afterburner being used in that pic. you can go to the settings and choose what you want to display on the screen. lol, and you can see Metro 2033 is a vram monster using 1181mb on DX11 very high with 4x AA on.
 
Spurst; I have 2 MSI Cyclone 460 GTX 768s in SLI on an Asrock 970 Extreme 4 mb and the second card adds significantly to game play. I use a 1920x1080 monitor. Why would you pull one of the 460s?
 
The question is. Does the GTX 460 has the horsepower to utilize more than that amount of vram? More vram is useless if your card doesnt have the horsepower to utilize it
 
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