upgrading graphics card

[kugkings]

So I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to anything except playing games, and that includes hardware. I used to be even more of a noob back when I bought the computer I'm on now, and that's why it has an nvidia gt 520.

A friend offered to give me his old gtx 660 (lucky guy just got a 690). I assume I would get better performance with this new one. But my question is would it be worth it to get another one? My mobo is sli compatible. I just don't really know if it would make a difference.

[FMod]

GTX 660 is a massive upgrade over 520, much bigger than 690 is over 660.

 

You can SLI them and it's a relatively cost-effective upgrade path - 2x660 will be between a 770 and a 780 in performance. But only do it if you're sure you need more performance. The microstutter caused by SLI is a drawback and generally something like 55 fps non-SLI is smoother than 85 fps SLI (capped to 60 by display refresh).

[kalikka]

And the PSU is?...

[kugkings]

And the PSU is?...

It's 650 watts if that's what you're asking

[kugkings]

So I've been playing with the 660 for about a week now, and almost everything runs spectacularly. I can run Fallout 3/New Vegas/Oblivion, even with things like NMC's texture pack, as well as other games like Assassin's Creed IV, Arma II, and Shogun 2: Total War on the highest graphics settings with no issues (Shogun 2 looks especially good). But for some reason I get a terrible stutter. It doesn't matter what drivers, mods or settings I have, the stutter remains. Otherwise, great card.

[Rennn]

Stutter is not often related to a video card. It's more likely to be caused by your HDD or CPU. The 660 is probably a good deal stronger than the rest of your PC, you may need to turn some settings down to get rid of stutter, but replacing your video card again or adding another one in SLI most likely would not help.

 

But yes, a GTX 660 is a great and highly efficient card by most standards. It doesn't have *amazing* power like a GTX 780 TI or anything, but it'll still max most games easily and you can't get a better card for the price/performance/power/heat ratio.

Benchmarks seem to indicate a GTX 660 is between 8x-15x stronger than a GT 520. :3

 

I don't recommend you get another 660 for SLI. Even if your PSU is strong enough for 2x660 (which is uncertain), SLI adds some problems of its own and is really not recommended unless you're horribly dissatisfied with the performance of your current 660.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Rennn

[Werne]

But for some reason I get a terrible stutter. It doesn't matter what drivers, mods or settings I have, the stutter remains.

And the processor is...?

[kugkings]

Well, it is an intel i7-2600 3.4ghz. I overclocked it to 3.8ghz and the stutter is gone. Between the overclocking of the cpu and the 660, I don't think I've ever been so satisfied with skyrim.

 

One more thing. I only have 4 gigs of ram (1x4gb Corsair XMS3 1600mhz). Does that make a difference with skyrim? The stutter is gone, but it still takes a few seconds to load every new cell. Not that big of a deal, but if getting a little more ram will help that would be cool.