MSI GTX 580 Lightning or MSI GTX 560 SLI?

[Hunk]

Hey guys,

I really hope you can give me some advice here as I never would have thought choosing a graphic card would be such a difficult task!

I've spent hours reading countless reviews but I just can't make up my mind.

Considering my budget (around 500€), I've decided to go for either the GTX 580 Lightning or the GTX 560 SLI.

The 580 Lightning looks like a real beast but from what I've read the 560 SLI performs much better and it's also cheaper...

What would you guys suggest I do?

If I had enough dough, I'd definitely go for the 580 lightning SLI but I can't spend that much money right now. I know the 560 SLI is not a long-term solution but it looks like it can run all current games in maxed out resolutions which is what I'm aiming at.

Hope you can help make up my mind!

Thanks!

 

[hmmblah]

Rule of thumb is usually to get the best single card you can afford. Do you plan on running 3 or more monitors? With nVidia I believe you need 2 cards to do that.

 

[Hunk]

Rule of thumb is usually to get the best single card you can afford. Do you plan on running 3 or more monitors? With nVidia I believe you need 2 cards to do that.

For now I'd be using only one monitor. But it'll be 3D though.

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

as said earlyer, IF POSSIBLE stick with single GPU solutions. the more GPUs you add the more scaling problems occer. get the 580. unless you are on a tight budget go with the 560s. Still to this day i think AMD/ATI has the best multi GPU scaling, i remember back with the 5xxx series xfire configurations scaled WAY better than the 4xx series did from Nvidia. Not sure if the 5xx series is any different?

 

[J0s3e]

Help us a little more stating what resolution are you aiming for? And maybe post specs of the rest of your rig... Because if you have a decent CPU, my advice would be GTX 570, and adding another one later. I'm running one at the moment, on a 1920 x 1080 LCD, and with everything maxed out I usually get around 80 fps... That might be enough even for you, although not for 3D. Or just get a 580. And you can also overclock them

 

[Hunk]

The resolution would be 1080p as I'll probably stick with a 23-24" monitor. I'm not a huge fan of 3D but I'm definitely interested in 120hz because of the extremely low input lag. As a gamer, that's one of the things I'm mostly looking at.

I'm still building a new rig, actually. I haven't really decided to buy everything yet as I'd like some advice first but here's what it looks like so far:

CPU: I7 2600K

Motherboard: Asus P8P67 WS Revolution

GPU: MSI GTX 580 Lightning

RAM: Corsair Dominator GT DDR3-2000 CL8 6Go

SSD: Crucial 128Go RealSSD C300

HDD: WD 1.5To S-ATA III 64Mo

ODD: LG GH22NS50

Case: Silverstone Raven RV02-E

PSU: Antec 1200W truepower quattro (planning to get a 2nd 580 GTX down the road)

CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D14

 

[J0s3e]

IMHO for just one 1920 x 1080 monitor 2 580's will be overkill. So will be i7 2600K for gaming, and so will be 1200W PSU. You need to look at dual-channel ram (4 or 8 GB, not 6)

I'd recommend an i5 2500k, Corsair HX1050 PSU and a pair of 570's (for example these , just for the price!!)

It's you who pays your money though... Good luck with your new build

 

[DragonPC]

570`s are perfect performance to value combo imo!

 

[adamjamesroe]

I recon you should get a GTX 580 Lightning or a 3GB version of the GTX 580, more future proof, in maybe 6-12 months time if you get GTX 560 SLI you mwill be thinking i wish i got GTX 580 becasue you will be looking for an upgrade. and you cant realy upgrade GTX 560 SLI without splashing out loads on a setup that can out perfrom it. I alwasy say get the ebst card you can with the money you have at the time.

 

[Icekube]

I agree with everyone suggesting the gtx 570, even TTL said he thought 2 x gtx 570s in Sli was the best bang for your £/$/€.

Personally I'd prob go with 1 of these MSI GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition cards and throw in another when you can afford it.

 

[Hunk]

Thanks for all your replies, guys

I still haven't decided which one I'll get as they're not all available here in Paris but the 570 might be a good option indeed!

 

[Icekube]

Thanks for all your replies, guys

I still haven't decided which one I'll get as they're not all available here in Paris but the 570 might be a good option indeed!

Overclockers in the UK will ship to France if your struggling to find what your looking for mate.