Lelani Carver

I'm impatiently waiting to find out tomorrow if my scheme to transfer my slimline, small-form Gateway into a larger case will work out or not. Goofing around inworld or in my personal grid is just painfully bad and so not pretty with the built-in graphics processor.

I already bought a monstrous large card, but my in house geek is concerned that it's too long for the micro-ATX motherboard I have.

If you had to choose between this: EVGA GEForce GTX 560Ti

over this: EVGA GEForce GT 520 Low Profile FRYS.com | EVGA

purely based on physical dimensions, is the 520 good enough? I'm getting a 600w power supply (maybe a 650w). The 560 is 11" long and almost 2" high (stop swooning, there). There's some question that it won't really fit on the mobo slot (I know it has additional power connectors that come with).

I really don't want to run back to Fry's tomorrow, but I will if it becomes clear that the big yin won't go in.

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Beezle Warburton

Being too big for the motherboard shouldn't be a concern -- they should be fairly standardized with nothing that will get in the way.

However, whether it will fit in the case can be a problem, but you're already swapping cases.

That said, the 520 is a bit weak graphics-wise (it's the low end of the 500 series).

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Ayumi

You dont want a 520. Its not the slot that is the issue, its your case. Just make sure you have 11 inches from the rear bay to your hard drive cage.

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Void

ps, the 560ti should only be 9in, unles you get the 448core model, which is 10.5in... you need 10in clearance on the smaller one because the power cables go into the end instead of the side

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Lil Hapmouche

Unless your motherboard comes with an outdated AGP slot or you have another PCI card (soundcard, network or something) installed that may collide, what should be the problem?

Regarding the GTX 560 TI vs. GT 520 question ... well, who'd win a race, the high speed racing car or the heavy and slow harvester?

Lelani Carver

Exactly. That's the conclusion I came to, my non-SL partner can't understand my need for speed and video memory. Neither could the sales guy at Tiger Direct, who builds gaming computers for fun and dissed Second Life as a mere "game."

Yesterday's planned case swap hit a snag; the short version is that my motherboard is definitely NOT a standard micro-ATX, and I might have trouble installing it in a case as the screw holes might not line up. There are specific cases that MIGHT work, but my motherboard isn't that expandable and will be more and more of a hindrance in a couple of years. Apparently, there's a market for it, as it's so hard to replace.

Today's plan A is to head to the Temple of Fry's, swap my big 1G EVGA for the one with 2G memory (thanks to a suggestion from here), and price motherboards and just rebuild it stronger, better, and faster.

This means a new copy of Windows 7. Yay, Scope creep!

Plan B will be to see if there's a good deal on a custom deal specifying that card.

Oy.

Void

Hey if you're getting a new copy of win7 would you be interested in selling the key for the old one? (assuming it's pro or ultimate). I'd be interested, and if you like we can work out a transfer of L$ in the appropriate cash equivalent? send me an IM =)

Lord

I guess your tech is not handy with a drill ?

Many people got sucked into buying small form factor pc's and so yes there is a little replacement demand for the motherboards to such machines. Try selling it.

Is the processor removable from the motherboard ? If it is, you might save yourself some money there. Same thing with the other hardware (HD,DVD) in the slimline case...they may still be usable in the bigger case.

If you have the key to a retail copy of Win 7, can you not just transfer it ? Also, you used to be able to get an OEM image of Windows on new hardware purchases for little to no cost, see if this is still true.

As for GPU's, always go for as much as you can afford without getting cheated or purchasing junk. The 560Ti is far and away better than the 520 but if you are wanting the higher core versions(448,480) your almost into GTX600's range price wise and those who have gotten the 600's are enjoying some fantastic frame rates (high 90's).

Beezle Warburton

Depending on how handy the in-house geek is, non-standard mounting can be fixed with a sharpie, a drill, and a thread tap that matches the brass mounting posts (4-40 threads, IIRC).

Just make sure any metal filings are well cleaned up.

You can keep using the same copy for a different computer, it's just that you're not supposed to have it on more than one computer at a time. It does involve calling MS to get a code (have pen/paper handy) -- I've had to do it because I triggered the "too many hardware changes" thing.

Lelani Carver

Good to know. It may be handy to know that down the road. Thank you, everyone.


I didn't make clear before that the current PSU is only 225w and is a unique shape to fit the smaller case, and we're limited to a low power card as well as low profile. My IHG and I decided against messing with the DIY case swap idea *and* with drilling holes; I think he didn't want to risk any possible resale value. In the end we went with Plan A and ordered a pretty decent custom build at Fry's. Swapped the video card for a 2G gtX560, new motherboard is more capable than the old one, and has expansion slots galore, it's SLI ready if there's a good enough price drop on the 560. My IHG had a brand new HD to throw in so the cost wasn't bad.


The build fee at Fry's included Win 7 Home, all drivers, and testing. The old machine (also Win 7 Home), will be a media PC and possibly an Open Sim server.


I may have it by Wednesday... if so, have some building to do to
make stuffs for my RLF vendor, and take lots of photos... I miss the pretty!

Void

heh, that's what I do with old machines too.. home server cluster. Those 560's should continue to drop price, but don't expect much out of SLI for SL... the people who have gotten it working haven't seen anything spectacular (and in several cases it acts worse). if you do end up setting it up remeber to buy the second card with identical model/memory/cores, otherwise you'll be cheating yourself.

Gabriell Anatra

Any sales guy who recommends a 520 for a customer who expresses an interest in gaming is a hack.

Non-standard parts are a pain. Yea, in the circumstance that it isn't you'd be better off with a new one.

Void

SL isn't exactly gaming...

I like to think of them as clueless... because they relate "virtual world" to garden sandbox (a-la-IMVU) which had requirements slightly over facebook games... But SL is a memory hog... it's graphics requirements still aren't on par with top end games, but it's memory needs surpass them all. the only way to handle that is to to have either sufficient memory, or speed enough to process the memory available (which doesn't work as good, but is livable). unfortunately, only people familiar with the platform would know that.

Lil Hapmouche

Guess that's why numerous people say "I need a new card to play WOW and add-ons" instead of mentioning SL.

Void

better to tell them you want to play wow on one monitor while watching netflix AND 2 videos on the other.... while editing yet another video.... then they'll begin to understand....

being in SL is like GPU say, oh hey no sweat... and then the textures start flooding in at 4+ times the expected rate and it goes, you want me to do what!?