I think if you can't get more out of your 920 then a lil 3.9GHz then it wouldn't be worth it

everyone on here I've seen with 2 or more 480s have at least 4GHz

Scaling on the 400 series is reported to be incredible, and the new 257 drivers claim some massive improvements. If you can squeeze that last 100MHz from your i7 it'll be better as well.

I say (If possible) get a better CPU cooler and another GTX 480, and laugh as game requirements become obsolete to you.

Not worth it for a 22 inch LCD monitor.  Just overclock what you have and the cpu and be done with it.

Yah, I have 2, and I can't hit 4GHz on this processor (I've tried)..

I'll be getting a new one when the 32nm's become prevalent..

Until then, though I'm not sure it's worth it, as Bored says...

I likey it though.

i would buy a 1080p monitor before you buy another gtx480, two gtx480s are overkill for such a low resolution, at 1080p a single card should suffice in even crysis enthusiast 4xaa, if you want the bragging rights than a second card would be great, but only if your monitor is 1080, those cards are sweet!

flamingaxe791

i would buy a 1080p monitor before you buy another gtx480, two gtx480s are overkill for such a low resolution, at 1080p a single card should suffice in even crysis enthusiast 4xaa, if you want the bragging rights than a second card would be great, but only if your monitor is 1080, those cards are sweet!

Yeah, he could get a Dell IPS 24inch or Alienware 1080P 120hz monitor for close to that price. 


http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=320-8277


http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs%20=19&sku=320-8846

Rukian

I am planning another GTX 480 SC to run at SLI. This is my very first dual GPU experience; so you guys think it worth it. Or I should just keep my money and use it for something else?

I have been running dual 480's using an i7 920 OC at 3.8 GHZ(was only 3.3 GHZ when i first got the cards, but i achieved 3.8 at only 1.15V so I imagine i could hit 4GHZ or more easily). I gamed for a few days on a single 480 before adding my second card and then ran several game benchmarks just to verify that I was getting good use out of my secondary. I can definitely say that the frame rate increased significantly and was pretty much what i expected out of SLI, however I have been running at 2048x1152 resolution. I agree with many of the statements here that it would be a waste to not have a higher resolution monitor to go with a second 480, but do not listen to anybody who tells you that you need to hit 4 GHZ to take advantage of SLI. I ran many tests on these cards at stock settings for my CPU and also at several increments up to 3.8. there is a solid difference until about 3.6 GHZ, but the overclock still had a FAR smaller impact on frame rates than adding the second card, even at 2.6 GHZ; and the return on an overclock starts to diminish after 3.6(at least for 920). Also, check out anandtech's review of the 480 and 470. they were one of the first to test SLI, and they had the 480 SLI scale at over 80% using a 3.3ghz clock on a 920. people who claim you need to hit 4.0 or 4.2 ghz just want to feed you bad information to give you the impression that they are special, even though its only a 100 mhz difference

Also, Ganjam4n is right about your PSU. I have been running them on an 850 watt Corsair and it has been working fine so far, but you can reduce your temps and power consumption by a lot if you set a more aggressive fan profile in MSI afterburner and undervolt your cards. The GPUs do not need as much voltage as they are provided stock(I think Nvidia did this to make the cards OC well out of the box), so if you use afterburner or eleet to reduce voltage(about .06-.08 should be safe and effective) it will make a huge difference. When i first got the cards they would hit the mid 90's C pretty easily after a while of gaming, and the fans ran loud as hell. Now that I made the aforementioned changes, I usually top out at about 70c and they are way quieter.

480's in sli will still do very well even if you don't have your cpu oc'd to the brink like some folks do.

BranC85

Rukian

I am planning another GTX 480 SC to run at SLI. This is my very first dual GPU experience; so you guys think it worth it. Or I should just keep my money and use it for something else?

I agree with many of the statements here that it would be a waste to not have a higher resolution monitor to go with a second 480, but do not listen to anybody who tells you that you need to hit 4 GHZ to take advantage of SLI. I ran many tests on these cards at stock settings for my CPU and also at several increments up to 3.8. there is a solid difference until about 3.6 GHZ, but the overclock still had a FAR smaller impact on frame rates than adding the second card, even at 2.6 GHZ; and the return on an overclock starts to diminish after 3.6(at least for 920). Also, check out anandtech's review of the 480 and 470. they were one of the first to test SLI, and they had the 480 SLI scale at over 80% using a 3.3ghz clock on a 920. people who claim you need to hit 4.0 or 4.2 ghz just want to feed you bad information to give you the impression that they are special, even though its only a 100 mhz difference

 
+1000.  There are far too many posts lately that are suggesting that 4GHz is the magic OC to take advantage of these beastly cards and SLI.  This is just not so.  Naturally, the higher OC you can achieve on your CPU the better the frames with an i7/i5, but that doesn't mean the gaming experience will be terrible even at stock clocks (or that it's a waste).  I've found the sweet spot for my 2 x 470s is between 3.4GHz and 3.8GHz @ 1920x1200.  Above 3.8GHz, up to 4.0GHz, is just so minimal that it's not worth the extra voltage to me.  I'm not talking to those of you who are well above 4.2GHz and very high resolution, but for the average gamer dude, it's just not necessary IMO.  If I'm already getting well in advance of 80 FPS average does it really matter if it goes to 84 FPS?  That's purely hypothetical, but you get the picture.
 
Resolution is a completely different story however.  2 x 480s at low res is a waste IMO.  My suggestion is to get the higher res monitor first and then think about the 2nd 480 when you can afford it.  Whatever you choose you'll be fine at 3.9GHz.