Huge upgrade

[Matt_2000_17]

At the end of March/beginning of April, I will hopefully be upgrading my system. I'll have about £300 - £350 GBP. I'm looking to get a new AMD Athlon64, 939 motherboard SLI, and a Nvidia PCIe graphics. Now, this is what i'm looking for so i won't be persuaded to go ATI and i don't what someone to tell me SLI is a waste of time and money. So, i'd apreciate some suggestions on what i should go for? Any links to reviews would be helpful.

Also, I've heard about 6600 Turbocache graphic cards. Is it worth it? Can anyone tell me where i can find some reviews/info on them?

[skuzgib]

A64 3200 - ~£130
SLI board - ~£100
6600gt - ~£110
Jobs a gudd'un

Might need reworking if you need a PSU (which you may well do) what PSU you got ATM?

[Matt_2000_17]

550w

[mike_w]

550w

What brand? That can make all the difference.

[Matt_2000_17]

EZ Cool

[bujinkan-ka]

Also, I've heard about 6600 Turbocache graphic cards. Is it worth it? Can anyone tell me where i can find some reviews/info on them?

According to all the reviews I've seen so far, turbocache is a complete waste of money. A graphics card that makes use of system memory is bound to be slow.

[schmunk]

Are there 6600TC cards? I thought they were 6200TC.

[Matt_2000_17]

there a only a few out there, so i've heard from a very reliable source.

[schmunk]

According to all the reviews I've seen so far, turbocache is a complete waste of money. A graphics card that makes use of system memory is bound to be slow.

Like (s)he said, TC cards will be slower than the equivalent normal card and I don't imagine they'll be produced as SLI cards either - completely different market sectors.

[DavidM]

They're great for those they're aimed at....

[schmunk]

They're great for those they're aimed at....

Agreed, but they're probably not right for people building s939 SLI systems...

[Lee H]

TC based cards are fairly quick, but not as quick as the standard cards that use DDR3 memory such as the 6600GT/6800 series. As for Power requirements, just to reitterate what some of the others have said a GOOD PSU is not a requirement it is a Necessity and it needs to be 24 pin ATX 2.0 supporting for the A8N and have a good 12v rail rating just incase you decide to splash a little bit more and get a more powerful graphics card. I've seen a few nightmares where folks have tried to use this motherboard with a 20 pin 300w "no-name" PSU and then wondered why the system will not even POST and the systems beeping at them like R2D2 in a Rave party

It really depends on your overall use - If its gaming , jump and get the 6600GT as in a few months if you have a spare 130 quid you could aquire another card and SLI them.

[bujinkan-ka]

Like (s)he said, TC cards will be slower than the equivalent normal card and I don't imagine they'll be produced as SLI cards either - completely different market sectors.

I'm a guy. Don't worry though, it's not the first time my gender has been doubted


In my opinion, I can't see the current batch Turbocache cards as a possible option at the moment - bit too expensive for budget systems, unsuitable (in terms of performance and price) for midrange systems and just not feasible for gaming systems. Just the way I see it at this point in time.