SLI Upgrade, New GPU, or Something Else?

Hello friends, quick question I'm looking for opinions and reviews.

Currently I have:
m18x r2
Core i7 - 3630QM (not overclocked since purchase, no tweaks either)
14GB RAM (1 8GB, 1 4GB, 1 2GB, 1 slot open)
1 nVidia 680m GTX (also never overclocked or tweaked)
1 Samsung 840 120GB Boot Drive (Windows 7 with 2 boot partitions (1 for work, 1 for play))
1 Dell OEM Samsung PM8000 256GB Data Drive and 1 WD Black 750GB Data Drive
Windows 7 with 2 boot partitions (1 for work, 1 for play)

This thing kicks ass for work purposes, and this computer tackles a lot of the things I throw at it. I'm not a crazy gamer, but I play League Of Legends, Dragonball Xenoverse, GTA 4, and Batman Arkham. I'm getting GTA 5 later this month.

Sometimes (I'm guessing from cooling) My GPU will go from clean performance to lag and half the FPS for a minute or two then return to gameplay.

Am I maxing out this card? I am able to get another 680m GTX and run SLI in the coming months, or would I be better looking for a newer card and replacing the 680. Or is there some tweaks I could try that I'm just unknown to?

Looking for suggestions to turn this thing from a good gaming system to a flawless one for what I do with it. My graphics now are awesome, but the cooling lag throttle bugs me.

 

The cheapest for you is to purchase one extra Nvidia GTX 680m so you can run them in sli. Next option but best is to replace your single Nvidia GTX 680m with 2 x gtx780m. You can provide them at an ok price. Do not forget the cleaning of fans and heatsink ..

 

If you get a second 680M for cheap and tweak it then it offers a lot of potential even compared to 780M sli.

 

Hey there,

It would be easier to determn what is causing the FPS drops by simply monitoring your resources while it happens. Either the GPU or the CPU are probably hitting 100% and thus bottlenecking the rest of the parts. Maybe something else in the background is eating up all your resources. I would check what is the cause before considering upgrades. As the guys suggested, do make sure you clean out any dust that you might have so your temps are normal. Is your computer heating up by any chance?
I would suggest upgrading to a more powerful GPU (if that turns out to be the problem) since not many games are well optimized for SLI (you won't be utilizing the full potential of both cards).

Captain_WD.

 

Hey,

IMHO you should buy next GTX 680M or two 780M. 680M is a 670 desktop card. 780M is 680 desktop card. You can compare them as two desktop 670 vs two desktop 680 and look at their performance because there are a lot more tests on desktop cards. If 670 SLI is enough for you then don't waste your money on two 680 (780M).

When you got your card don't forget to clean fans, heatsinks and apply new thermal paste. I recommend GC Gelid Extreme.

Regards

 

I believe the same. It's better (cheaper) to add a second 680 than buying 2x 780m.

 

I'm selling my SLI GTX 680M if you are interested I already sent you more info through a PM.

 

Running stock you would see a nice gain (60-80% dependant on SLI scaling) if you tweak it you could easily see 120-140% gains over your current setup.

 

One more vote here for getting another 680M. You're going to need the secondary heatsink, cooling fan, and an SLI cable as well. Just getting another card in there is going to make you a pretty happy camper. When that's not enough anymore, you can flash the modified VBIOS and overclock the cards.

In the mean time, find some sort of temperature monitoring program to see what your CPU and GPU maximum temperatures look like. I use HWInfo to monitor my vitals. I try to get in and clean my R1's heatsinks every couple of months. My fan blades and heat sinks are usually pretty mucked up at that point. If it's been awhile since you went in and looked, you might want to check those out.

 

If you are opening it up to add more hardware it's the perfect time for a repaste and heatsink clean.

 

Good point boss. I was going to say that in my post earlier, but managed not to somehow!

 

What about a couple of GTX 880M .. I've read a lot of bad comments regarding the 880M, though if you're not overclocking SLI 880M is faster than SLI 780M.

 

GTX780M blows the GTX880M out of the water.
The 780's are more reliable, overclock smoother and to a higher state than the 880's and don't have the overheating issues they have.
GTX680's overclock well and in SLI they will handle 99% of games with options maxed - in 1080p of course

Checkout these test results, the 780M and 880M score the same, that's because the GTX880M's are rebranded

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-880M-vs-GeForce-GTX-780M

 

Well since you don't really play benchmarks, I don't mind about extreme overclocking. stock vs stock the 880M is faster (acording the link you provided)

 

In alot of cases, even stock 880m's throttle. 780m is a way better proposition which ever way you slice it. Many people have had to underclock 880m's to have them work right. I wouldn't advise picking up 880m's unless you got them for a spectacular price.
Personally if I already had 1 x 680m I'd just grab another and enjoy them in SLI. They are still awesome cards and pretty good buys right now.