Right now the rig is more or less where I want it relative to the games I have now

Seems that my AMD 770 based board is not leveraging my CPU fully, so I am considering a more modern board

will the AMD 970 based chipset be adequate to get the best out of my CPU relative to a single video card

Next item is a new LCD as my old WS died. Getting that in January then I will be looking at the rig to see what is needed to perk up games

 

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Corsair Carbide 300R, TX850V2, Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0, Phenom II 965 C3 BE, G.SKILL RipjawsX DDR3-2133 8 GB, GTX 260 SLI, Asus PA238QR, Windows 7 x64 Enterprise

Asus M4A77D, Athlon64 X2 4200+, DDR2-800 6 GB, HD 5450, cheap 450W, Server 2012

The short answer.. probably.

As long as the mobo has all the features you want. USB3.0, SATA 3, and sufficient ports and wattage for your cpu.

I think the biggest difference is the PCIe lanes available so with only one vidcard you don't need the extra 16 lanes a 990fx would give.

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#1: Phenom II C2 955BE @ 3.6, Antec Kuhler 920, Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5, Asus 5870/V2, ASUS Xonar D2X, 4 x 1gig OCZ2N1066SR2GK @800, Antec Truepower New 750, Arc Midi, Win8pro x64 upgrade
#2: Athlon 64 X2 4200+, AGP 1950pro, Audigy 2, Asus A8V-D, 2gig ram,  Enermax 465P, Antec900. Now on Win8pro cat 10.2

Once I get a new LCD panel I am looking at a new MB as I am considering upgrading the box.

The 990FX is attractive but I believe I would be spinning my wheels with my Phenom II C3

My PSU can keep up with a pair of single GPU cards, Phenom probably would bottleneck

So the 970 seems to be really all I need as I can alway retire the GTX 260

 

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Corsair Carbide 300R, TX850V2, Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0, Phenom II 965 C3 BE, G.SKILL RipjawsX DDR3-2133 8 GB, GTX 260 SLI, Asus PA238QR, Windows 7 x64 Enterprise

Asus M4A77D, Athlon64 X2 4200+, DDR2-800 6 GB, HD 5450, cheap 450W, Server 2012

990FX boards like the sabertooth have a few more feature over 970 than just more PCIe lanes. I just picked up the sabertooth and I was blown away from all the features it had and OC'ing, over 3.9Ghz with out touching the voltage 4.1Ghz with bumbing up to 1.45v.

 

The 970 chipset will probaly serve you well but if your into getting the max performance out of your 965 then the 990FX is the way to go. they'll cost a bit more but well worth it

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PhenomII 1100T// Asus Sabertooth R2.0 // 2X HD5850 CF //8Gb of 1866Mhz ram, H50 cooling, HX850W psu all stuffed into a NZXT Phantom case.


Was a member of AMD Processer forum since 2008. Last post count 1818.

I have looked at a lot of boards, main features wanted are faster SATA, UEFI and 4 DDR3 slots. I need full ATX for obvious reasons.

The Asus M5A99FX is also a board I have considered closely. Its definitely well laid out for gaming oriented rigs.

My PSU should be able to also handle it easy.

My CPU can overclock nice on the factory fan so it should be reasonably fine with the 990FX boards.

The problem of dual video cards and CPU performance is my main concern.

 

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Corsair Carbide 300R, TX850V2, Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0, Phenom II 965 C3 BE, G.SKILL RipjawsX DDR3-2133 8 GB, GTX 260 SLI, Asus PA238QR, Windows 7 x64 Enterprise

Asus M4A77D, Athlon64 X2 4200+, DDR2-800 6 GB, HD 5450, cheap 450W, Server 2012

Yeah I took a close look at that M5A99FX board too before pulling the triger on the sabertooth, its a nice board its has all the goodies you would want.

Just because it has four PCIe slots dose not mean you have to use them all. I'm thinking on just getting a single 7950 and get away from crossfireing for a wile.

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PhenomII 1100T// Asus Sabertooth R2.0 // 2X HD5850 CF //8Gb of 1866Mhz ram, H50 cooling, HX850W psu all stuffed into a NZXT Phantom case.


Was a member of AMD Processer forum since 2008. Last post count 1818.

I wonder if the 965 is powerful enough to manage with 2 gaming grade video cards?

another thing that came to mind, I was wondering if the 965 used hafnium oxide as the high-k gate because its part of the 45 nm fab designs

 

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Corsair Carbide 300R, TX850V2, Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0, Phenom II 965 C3 BE, G.SKILL RipjawsX DDR3-2133 8 GB, GTX 260 SLI, Asus PA238QR, Windows 7 x64 Enterprise

Asus M4A77D, Athlon64 X2 4200+, DDR2-800 6 GB, HD 5450, cheap 450W, Server 2012

having the cpu in my box now for over a month I have been able to test out my games to see if the cpu was still a bottleneck

now the gtx 260 is the main impediment to higher frame rates

I bought the Asus PA238QR which is an uppity screen in a bid to have better looking games as well as make my digital camera look good etc.

right now i am not even overclocking the 965, no need, it never saturates

so the question is now much gpu can i use with my current rig?

I am adding about $10-20 a week to the slush fund so come April I can probably afford even an uppity card

 

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Corsair Carbide 300R, TX850V2, Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0, Phenom II 965 C3 BE, G.SKILL RipjawsX DDR3-2133 8 GB, GTX 260 SLI, Asus PA238QR, Windows 7 x64 Enterprise

Asus M4A77D, Athlon64 X2 4200+, DDR2-800 6 GB, HD 5450, cheap 450W, Server 2012