upgrade path

[ad356]

i want to play the new crysis 3 game when it comes out and i want to play company of heroes 2 when it comes out.
my current specs:
AMD phenon II 965
5 GB ram
nvidia Geforce 450 GTS 1 GB video memory

i want to know if im better off buying another video card identical to the one i have now and a different motherboard with multiple PCI-E slots or buy a better video card. will 2 GTS 450 cards outperform a much higher end and more expensive card. i know what SLI is but im sure sure about how much of a gain you receive from going that route. do two mid or low end cards equal a high end card performance and frame-rate wise?

my wife's computer needs a new board anyways, so my current board would go into her computer; it would not go to waste, she needs a board anyways.

so, SLI/crossfire or a single more expensive video card.

 

[spirit]

I'd get a more powerful graphics card over another GTS 450. I'd get yourself a 660 Ti or a 7850 or a 7870 or something like that. Any of those cards will be better in the long run than two 450s.

 

[wolfeking]

2x 450 should (iirc) be about equal to a overclocked 460 with underclocked RAM (again iirc, I think the 450 has a lower bandwidth and 1/2 the cores of a 460).

Personally,I would just grab a 560ti or a 660(ti) if you feel the need to upgrade. even a 480 would be a decent upgrade, and much cheaper than a 660(ti).