What Graphics Card(s) Should My Brother Get?

[KapteinFruit]

My brother have had his 4890 for waaay to long, but the funny thing is that it STILL HOLDS UP STRONG! But the time has come. It's time to get a new graphics card(s). We've been through quite a few different options and I think that two GTX 560's would be the best bet. We've thought about a 580 now and one later, a couple of GTX 560's or a 590. My brother wants a GTX 590, but I keep telling him it's such overkill for 1920 by 1080 and 1650 by 1050. (He borrows my 1920 by 1080 monitor) I think that going for a couple of 560's is the best choice, but what do you guys think? He doesn't upgrade often at all. Just think about his 4890. He's had it for about two years now.

 

[Grizzly]

You're better with a 580 or 590. Always better to get a single card even if you aren't going to upgrade because you're never going to run into SLI trouble until you want to buy another card in future. If you get a 580 you do still have room to upgrade. If you get a 590 you can upgrade but you're less likely to need to or even want to as it's going to end up costing much more for not much more.

 

[KapteinFruit]

You're better with a 580 or 590. Always better to get a single card even if you aren't going to upgrade because you're never going to run into SLI trouble until you want to buy another card in future. If you get a 580 you do still have room to upgrade. If you get a 590 you can upgrade but you're less likely to need to or even want to as it's going to end up costing much more for not much more.

Yeah, I agree that a single GPU card would be the best bet, but if I know my brother right I know he won't get that second 580 which I fully understand because he won't need it for a long time, but when the time comes he's going to start complaining that it's not good enough anymore and he'll get a brand new card instead of having a second 580 which would cost him less. Either way, when I think about it I think going for a 580 is the best bet.

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

I hear that instead of the 590 that two 570 in SLI is the way to go. Also the MSI 570 with the twin frozr 3 is on its way, which will be a hell of a lot cooler and quieter than a 590 too.

 

[hmmblah]

Yeah, I agree that a single GPU card would be the best bet, but if I know my brother right I know he won't get that second 580 which I fully understand because he won't need it for a long time, but when the time comes he's going to start complaining that it's not good enough anymore and he'll get a brand new card instead of having a second 580 which would cost him less. Either way, when I think about it I think going for a 580 is the best bet.

I hear that instead of the 590 that two 570 in SLI is the way to go. Also the MSI 570 with the twin frozr 3 is on its way, which will be a hell of a lot cooler and quieter than a 590 too.

If 570s fit in the budget, I think that's the way to go. I wouldn't touch a 590.

Can your brother handle troubleshooting if things do go wrong with SLI? If he can, I'd give the 560s or 570s a shot. If not, go the easy route and get a 580.

 

[jack-uk]

As said above, get 2 570 instead of a 590 or if you don't want SLI a 580 would work well and save some £

 

[KapteinFruit]

If 570s fit in the budget, I think that's the way to go. I wouldn't touch a 590.

Can your brother handle troubleshooting if things do go wrong with SLI? If he can, I'd give the 560s or 570s a shot. If not, go the easy route and get a 580.

My brother says that it's not out of his budget. And he and I can trouble shoot if we put our minds together.

 

[hmmblah]

My brother says that it's not out of his budget. And he and I can trouble shoot if we put our minds together.

I was more thinking about him trying to do a late night game session and you can't be contacted. Judging from your posts, you could handle it no problem.

 

[KapteinFruit]

I was more thinking about him trying to do a late night game session and you can't be contacted. Judging from your posts, you could handle it no problem.

I don't think he would have a problem with it if he was alone. He's quite a handyman when he bothers to use Google.

 

[hmmblah]

I don't think he would have a problem with it if he was alone. He's quite a handyman when he bothers to use Google.

I wouldn't know that. Tell him to post here!

 

[KapteinFruit]

I wouldn't know that. Tell him to post here!

He thinks forums are way too geeky for some reason even though he's the biggest geek I know. xD

 

[Pat123]

Whats the spec of the rest of his rig? Theres no point bombing a load on an amazing graphics card if the rest of his rig can't keep up.

 

[Luger718]

yea if youve had a 4890 for two years how old is the rest of the rig

 

[KapteinFruit]

yea if youve had a 4890 for two years how old is the rest of the rig

Sorry about that. I totally forgot to post his specs. His specs are: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, 8GB 1600Mhz Corsair Dominator RAM, Asus Crosshair IV Formula, he'll use my Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W until he gets a good enough PSU for him self, CM Storm (He'll get my HAF 922 when I get my Corsair 650D), 60GB OCZ Vertex 2, 1TB WD Caviar Black... I think that's about it. Oh yeah, he got a CoolIt Vantage ACL as his CPU cooler. He just bought that one. He's hopefully getting it today. Yup, that's about it...

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

Sorry about that. I totally forgot to post his specs. His specs are: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, 8GB 1600Mhz Corsair Dominator RAM, Asus Crosshair IV Formula, he'll use my Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W until he gets a good enough PSU for him self, CM Storm (He'll get my HAF 922 when I get my Corsair 650D), 60GB OCZ Vertex 2, 1TB WD Caviar Black... I think that's about it. Oh yeah, he got a CoolIt Vantage ACL as his CPU cooler. He just bought that one. He's hopefully getting it today. Yup, that's about it...

Now where are my spanners.......

Ah, here, the 890FX boards don't support SLI, only crossfire, so I retract my suggestion of two GTX 570's and give my apologies for being a n00b and not asking what board he was using before posting.

You could go with a single GTX 570, 580, or 590 if you wanted to play games in 3D or that use physx but using two AMD cards should give you more horsepower for the same money. Two cards generally beats one. At the moment I personally like the look of the MSI 6950 Twin Frozr which you are suppose to be able to use the 6970 unlock trick (not its official name

) on but you'd really have to look into this and feel like you where up to it.

 

[KapteinFruit]

Now where are my spanners.......

Ah, here, the 890FX boards don't support SLI, only crossfire, so I retract my suggestion of two GTX 570's and give my apologies for being a n00b and not asking what board he was using before posting.

You could go with a single GTX 570, 580, or 590 if you wanted to play games in 3D or that use physx but using two AMD cards should give you more horsepower for the same money. Two cards generally beats one. At the moment I personally like the look of the MSI 6950 Twin Frozr which you are suppose to be able to use the 6970 unlock trick (not its official name

) on but you'd really have to look into this and feel like you where up to it.

I feel like such a noob right now...

I knew in the back of my mind that it doesn't support SLI since I used to have the same board, but after I got my EVGA Classified 200 all those thoughts have gone out of my head. Sorry, guys. Noob mistake here. :/ I was thinking of suggesting the 6950 for my brother, but a dude I know, Robbaz (You might have seen him on YT), said that he wasn't sure if the 6950's could be unlocked anymore so I just left that suggestion. Ahhh... I feel so stupid right now... Everybody will look at me as "The noob at OC3D" now... xD

 

[nepas]

Coming in a bit late with this but WTH:

GO 4890!!!!!!!!!( I like mine)

I am following this thread with interest as I would like to change soon,but I DO have a budget(cheap as possible)

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

[font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]

Everybody will look at me as "The noob at OC3D" now... xD

Hope not, that's my title

SieB (I'm sure it was SieB) had a great link the other day to a site that showed all the 6950 cards that people had tried that mod on and there success rate. I'll try and find it for you when I get a chance.[/font]

 

[KapteinFruit]

d

[font="arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"]

Hope not, that's my title

SieB (I'm sure it was SieB) had a great link the other day to a site that showed all the 6950 cards that people had tried that mod on and there success rate. I'll try and find it for you when I get a chance.[/font]

I'm pretty safe then.

Thanks a lot if you'd bother finding the link to me.

 

[SieB]

[font="arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"]

Hope not, that's my title

SieB (I'm sure it was SieB) had a great link the other day to a site that showed all the 6950 cards that people had tried that mod on and there success rate. I'll try and find it for you when I get a chance.[/font]

It was indeed me, it's from Techpowerup.com LINK.