Can You Help Me Decide?

[KapteinFruit]

This got to be the fourth or even fifth thread concerning me upcoming purchase. So since I had all today off since it's Saturday I got some time to really think about what I want. I was going through the options I have and I thought that I do really want better performance and I could settle for a cheaper case then what I had in mind. (I was thinking of getting the Lian Li X900B) So I thought, well I'll go for a GTX 580 instead of a new case. I know I go a lot back and forth. I was 100% sure of getting a case a few days ago, but not any more. Since I now thought I'd get the GTX 580 a thought crossed my mind, I could go for a couple of GTX 560 Ti's. So should I do that or get a GTX 580? How long will a couple of GTX 560's hold compared to a GTX 580? I could get a second GTX 580 down the road, but I doubt I will because I still have one 5870. I thought that I'd get a second one, but I never did.

So the bottom line is, how long will a couple of GTX 560 Ti's hold? Should I rather get a GTX 580 instead? And lastly, what type of GTX 560 Ti should I get? Should I get a couple of the Phantom's? Help me out here guys, please.

 

[SieB]

Two 560s should last you at least the over a year I doubt any games coming out within that time will put a dent in them. But with the 6990 and the 590 coming out soon it might be better for you to go for one of those and then throw another one in down the road.

EDIT: Also when the 590 and 6990 do come out there are bound to be price drops so even if you don't go for one it should still be worth the wait.

 

[KapteinFruit]

Two 560s should last you at least the over a year I doubt any games coming out within that time will put a dent in them. But with the 6990 and the 590 coming out soon it might be better for you to go for one of those and then throw another one in down the road.

EDIT: Also when the 590 and 6990 do come out there are bound to be price drops so even if you don't go for one it should still be worth the wait.

I can't afford a 590 or 6990.

 

[SieB]

It's up to you really, two 560's will be more powerful than one 580 but one 580 will play any game maxed out and will do for months to come, so buying one 580 now and putting another one in later when prices drop would work out better in the long term.

 

[Aurus_OC]

I pretty much always recommend to buy the single most powerful card you can afford. This maybe won't be the best options in benchmarks but in real life scenarios and games, the single card will win, imho. You won't have to deal with SLI problems or anything like that. Also the GTX 580 does run really quiet and will probably (might have to correct me here) use less power. Plus your case won't get filled up that much, etc. etc. If you ask me it's the 580, but some may recommend otherwise.

 

[JezEngland]

580 if your on a single monitor in the future because i5 750 supports 16 PCIE lanes so in SLI each 580 will run of 8 lanes and 8 lanes is a bottleneck for the 580 at tripple monitor resolutions because i know my 480's are. If you want more monitors you'll need a different CPU setup or look for a mobo with NF200 chip wich makes extra PCIE lanes. 1366 supports 32 PCIE lanesI use 1 1920x1080 monitor and 480's SLI'd with i5 750 it's fine. Future games will be more demandidng so the point of bottlenecking will be at a lower resolution. So maby you'd do better with 570's and OC them for todays games? i dunno

here's the 480 SLI @ x8x8 VS x16x16 performance comparison: http://hardocp.com/article/2010/08/23/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x8x8

not much if any difference in some todays games.

You could get 580 and OC it till you get a 2nd. EVGA gives 10 year warranty with the 580 covering overclocking and overvolting and maby moding for watercooling.

580 SLI will win. If your on a budget and want this rig to last upgrading when possible i'd choose the 580

 

[KapteinFruit]

580 if your on a single monitor in the future because i5 750 supports 16 PCIE lanes so in SLI each 580 will run of 8 lanes and 8 lanes is a bottleneck for the 580 at tripple monitor resolutions because i know my 480's are. If you want more monitors you'll need a different CPU setup or look for a mobo with NF200 chip wich makes extra PCIE lanes. 1366 supports 32 PCIE lanesI use 1 1920x1080 monitor and 480's SLI'd with i5 750 it's fine. Future games will be more demandidng so the point of bottlenecking will be at a lower resolution. So maby you'd do better with 570's and OC them for todays games? i dunno

here's the 480 SLI @ x8x8 VS x16x16 performance comparison: http://hardocp.com/a..._x16x16_vs_x8x8

not much if any difference in some todays games.

You could get 580 and OC it till you get a 2nd. EVGA gives 10 year warranty with the 580 covering overclocking and overvolting and maby moding for watercooling.

580 SLI will win. If your on a budget and want this rig to last upgrading when possible i'd choose the 580

I think I'll go with an EVGA GTX 580 Superclocked then. My motherboard got the NF200 chip. I got the EVGA Classified 200. Seems kinda silly to use a singe card on a motherboard like that.

I could always get a second 580 down the road, but I'm faaaaaaaaaaar from rich. Either way, I think I'll go for a 580 then. I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Thanks for the help.

 

[JezEngland]

good luck

 

[Icekube]

I'd always buy the most powerful single gpu over and Sli pair tbh, because while a pair of 560's will out perform a 580, just imagine what a pair of 580's would be like when you have the money to buy a second card

So in short buy a 580 imo.

Oh and remember the Gainward Phantom's take up 2 1/2 slots

 

[JezEngland]

mm the 580 overclocks well and use the advice i put in the forum for getting cooler temps and bingo

 

[KapteinFruit]

GTX 580 it is then. What brand should I buy? I thought about the EVGA GTX 580 Superclocked. The Phantom isn't worth the extra IMO. The performance increase is pretty poor for that extra cash.

 

[cbiltsouris]

apparently the superclock is worse then the normal version, saw it somewhere on a site

 

[cbiltsouris]

oh and by the way the asus gtx 580s are rreally good

 

[ciksas]

Both are the same the 27Mhz clock increase on SC compared to the 772Mhz isn’t a serious overclock(if you will have luck you will get a god overclocker)

 

[SieB]

oh and by the way the asus gtx 580s are rreally good

I was just about to say the Asus version as well, they always make really good versions of any GPU, also Gigabyte and MSI are usually good as well. See if you can find reviews of the different models and compare benches to see which performs the best. That site link I PM'd you the other day should have reviews for each version with benches as well.

 

[cbiltsouris]

so its really not worth the extra cash tbh

 

[cbiltsouris]

I havent touched my 580s still in a box however im gonna be using a single 580 with 1 of my 460s for physx which should be good for gaming

 

[murphy7801]

get sli gtx 570's

 

[JezEngland]

EVGA gives 10 year warranty with the 580 covering overclocking and overvolting and maby moding for watercooling. I've overclocked a GTX 480 SC+ 125mhz and it's fine and i'll OC it more when it's needed, maby in a yer ar more and I've got the 10 year OC warranty

If you get an EVGA you'll register within 30 days of purchase for 10 year warranty

EVGA is excellent quality and warranty and it could be wat £40 more than an ASUS

 

[JezEngland]

Any progress? What's happen'd?

I've found 480's Fermi chip is robust and overclocked it's better than 5970 here: http://www.guru3d.com/article/overclocking-geforce-gtx-480-with-extra-gpu-voltage/5

and

http://www.guru3d.com/article/overclocking-geforce-gtx-480-with-extra-gpu-voltage/6

6990 results? we wait