Graphic Card Suggestions

[Scoob]

Hi Shray,

At your resolution of 1920x1080 a pair of 570's (which are a fair bit more powerful than a 560 Ti) would eat anything you threw at them. A pair of 580's would perform better of course but you're going to add another ~30% to the cost of the cards plus you'd need a better PSU which might mean as much as 50% extra outlay. If you're happy to spend then by all means get a pair of 580's, but for me they were and still are too much extra money for the small gain over the 570.

Note: the 6990 still only has 2gb per GPU, both cards are mirrored remember so loading a 512mb texture taktes up 512mb in EACH card. Same for 590, it's 2x 1.5gb.

I've run my 570 (when it was a single card) at 3200x1200 (two screens) in a couple of titles that supported the feature and it coped just fine - no memory shortage was apparent. This was just a test as I generally just run the one monitor at 1920x1200, usually with no more than 4xAA applied.

A pair of 570's in SLI will easily beat a single 580. Note that in many titles a similarly clocked 570 and 580 perform the same.

Scoob.

 

[KaraMurat]

Here are my thoughts

1) GTX 560 Ti SLI - excellent performance for the price

2) GTX 570 SLI - Matches up to the GTX 590 in most cases Link

3) GTX 580 - Excellent single GPU performace, cheaper than GTX 590 and GTX 570 SLI, equals the price of GTX 560 Ti SLI

4) GTX 590 - Enthusiast series GPU, however meant to be played at higher resolutions of 2560 x 1600 to use the full potential of the card. The 590 runs quite but comes with a lower clock speed and 1 GB less RAM than the 6990

5) AMD 6990 - Also meant to be played at higher resolutions of 2560 x 1600 to use the full potential of the card, Comes with 4 GB of RAM, switchable BIOS, pretty noisy

As mentioned earlier, I have a Corsair TX 750 V2 PSU, all the above cards. The GTX 590 requires a minimum of 700w (link). The 6990 may be more power hungry, the XFX make requires a minimum of 750w.

Since all the above fall in budget (except the 6990, its a nasty $1066 here), I would like to get a card that gives me the most performance for the money spent and also a little future proof. I know a card being 'future proof' is very hard to say. Considering the fact that the next gen graphics card will definitely run better than the current ones.

The 560 Ti and 570 SLI would not require me to upgrade my PSU. If I go in for a single GTX 580 now, and then decide to go in for another for a SLI configuration, I would definitely have to change my PSU at least to a 1000w. But I think, 2 GTX 580's in a SLI configuration would make one hell of a setup.

Looking for your suggestions

Thanks,

Shray

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head with this post. It pretty much depends on if you are willing to spend a bit more money to get more performance and of course as you will be playing on 1920x1080 will the extra performance be needed.

GTX 570 SLI - will work fine for you now, they are great cards and you would immidiately see the effects as you will not have to upgrade your psu, however the problem will be they are less powerful vs a GTX 580 individually, so more demanding games may require you to tone down the AA or other settings.

GTX 580 SLI - is a immensely powerful set-up, you could run games on the highest of settings and enjoy the smooth fps, however you would have to wait to get them in SLI and upgrade your psu as you will only be able to use 1 GTX 580 until you upgrade your psu. As you also want the graphics cards to be some what future-proof, this would cover that request.

If you don't mind paying the extra price, I think you should get the GTX 580 SLI, however if you can't wait to get them in SLI and don't want to waste money upgrading your psu, then the GTX 570 SLI is also a very good choice.

Single 570 vs Single 580 - Specs

AMD 6990 vs 570 SLI & 580 SLI

 

[shrayv]

Scoob and Kara,

Thank you for your suggestions. What are your thoughts on the GTX 590?

Many thanks,

Shray

 

[Scoob]

Scoob and Kara,

Thank you for your suggestions. What are your thoughts on the GTX 590?

Many thanks,

Shray

Hi Shray,

I wanted to like the 590 but I really don't think it offers good value - I'd go 2x570 every time.

Btw: So far there has been no title I cannot max and add at least 4x AA while remaining perfectly smooth. Most notably Crysis 2, though I've also tried out The Witcher 2 on this rig. Metro 2033 is just incredible, it's transformed the game for me as I can set max settings (except for DOF, it looks ridiculous) and still maintain great FPS.

It really depends on how much money is burning a hole in your pocket, if you can cover a pair of 580's plus at least an 850w (I'd go 950+ personally) PSU you'll be happy. The 580's would be faster as they have more cores, more memory and higher memory bandwidth. However the difference would likely be something like 100fps vs. 120fps, being that 60fps is perfectly smooth. Means the cards would likely be at the 60fps+ level for longer, but doubtless before they feel slow you'll be wanting the latest direct X 14 card or something lol.

Cheers,

Scoob.

 

[shrayv]

Hi,

Bought the EVGA GTX 580. I have the asus maximus-iv gene-z motherboard and after installing the graphics card, looks like there's a tiny gap between the 1st slot and 2nd slot. Is it safe to add a second GTX 580 in case i go the SLI route?

Many thanks,

Shray

 

[Scoob]

Hi Shray,

I'd recommend you measure the gap to be sure, so from the bottom of your current card to the next PCI-E slot. You'll also need a better PSU really if you want to overclock and remain within sensible limits for your PSU with SLI enabled and still be able to overclock without worry. I get away with a good 750w PSU on my pair of overclocked 570's, but your cards are a little more power hungry than mine to start with.

See how you get on with the 580 first - it may well be that nothing is beyond its abilities to play at the FPS you want with the settings you prefer. If you run into any title that you cannot get the FPS you expect for your settings then consider SLI (and new PSU)

The key thing with SLI is to both make sure you have adequate power AND that you can cool both cards properly by ensuring they can both get decent air-flow.

Scoob.

 

[shrayv]

Hi Scoob,

The gap between the GPU's would exactly be like the pic below.

Thanks,

Shray

 

[Scoob]

Damn that's tight! There's about 2 - 2.5cm between my cards, plenty for the top card to get some air. I really can't see how the top card in that picture would get any decent air-flow at all.

I think my motherboard has better spacing on the PCI-E slots as my cards are as thick as those 580's but have a much larger gap!

Wonder why the slots are so close together? I mean any card in the mid-range to performance bracket is dual slot pretty much on the air cooler...my 570's are, my 275 was, my friends 480 were (now on water), only my older 8800GT is a single slot card and that's pretty ancient now.

I'd be troubled by that small a gap personally, though I'd be keen to hear others experience running SLI or crossfire with such a small gap between cards...

Cheers,

Scoob.

 

[jackchen]

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