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6790 or GTX580? Performance to value?

B

blacklight

Junior Member
Hi I'm getting a gaming PC soon but I'm still wondering if I should get a GTX580 or a 6970 graphics card. I know that the GTX580 is better but the price is a lot higher. The GTX580 is ?459 and the 6970 is ?279 (?180 difference).

If I get the GTX580 I'm probably cutting down on my casing and SSD. A 60GB SSD drive instead of a 120GB (?100 instead of ?179) and the antev two hundred v2 instead of the antec DF-85 (?69 instead of ?159).

Is the GTX580 worth having a casing that has less fans and a smaller SSD capacity for W7 and games?

What I'm thinking of now:

-i7 2600k
-p8p67 EVO
-XFX6970
-Seagate barracuda XT 2TB HDD
-Corsair 120 GB SSD
-8GB DDR3-1333MHz RAM
-XFX PRO850W core edition
-DVD/RW
-Iiyama prolite 21,5" 1080p, 2ms, HDMI monitor
-logitech g500 mouse
-?7,90 wired microsoft keyboard

Respectable config?
 
perfrel_1920.gif

10% performance difference overall with your monitor.
 
If the PC is for Gaming, you could get the Core i5 2500K and save ~$100 over the Core i7 2600K for the GTX580 😉
 
I'd defo go with GTX570 myself. I don't know why you are comparing cards so vastly different in price. According to the graph, 570 and 6970 are a dead heat.
 
For 1080p the gtx 580 is a waste of budget (34% more expensive for about 13% more performance). That's especially the case if you're dropping an SSD to go that route. However, a GTX 570 is a bit cheaper than a 6970 for similar performance.

On the other hand, if you plan on adding a second card later the 6970 will hold up better due to it's much larger amount of vram. Another thing to consider would be the games you are playing- Civ 5 (nVidia pref.) and Dragon Age 2 (AMD pref.) are notorious for having a huge disparity between chip makers.
 
gtx 580 is pointless unless you really have money to throw away, if you're just planning on gaming like the rest of us, just go for the 2500k and either the 570 or the 6970, and really unless you're going eyefinity, 570 will be enough.
 
2500k + GTX570/560 Ti super overclock / HD6950 2GB (shader unlock) or HD6970.

Honestly, upgrade the monitor to 23-24 inches at least before stepping up to a GTX580. Using a 21.5 inch monitor in 2011 with a 2600k+6970 is just blasphemy 😀. Downgrade to a 2500k if you have to but get a better monitor since it will outlast all of your components most likely. I suggest 24 inches at least.
 
The difference in performance is highly dependent on the games you are going to play and the settings you are going to use. Rather than look at just the overall difference in performance in ~25 games, all at the same arbitrary settings, you need to look at the level of performance in the games you will play at the settings you prefer. If a card will give you acceptable performance at your resolution and IQ settings then why pay more? Like some have said, if you are only going to play games, why spend +$100 for a 2600k when the 2500k will give you all of the performance you need.

I wouldn't buy a cheap case (especially if you are going to put a card in it that's drawing ~250W) and smaller SSD though (Never too much storage space).
 
Why not a single PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot and Z68 for less? (GIGABYTE GA-Z68P-DS3) a smaller GPU, (you will only need 550w MAX with a single 6970) and save 100 bucks with the i5-2500k.
 
Is the consensus that the 2600K is absolutely useless for gaming ? I am waiting for socket 2011 SB-E chips, but was debating a SB in the interim.

The 2500K + MB is cheap in combo deals where I shop, the only thing putting me off is the need for a full OS reinstall.

Then again I don't know I would get any better gaming performance. Hard to find any Tri-SLI benches comparing an overclocked i7 920 to overclocked SB.
 
In your case there's also the tri-SLI aspect. X58 is better suited. Sandy Bridge doesn't have the pci-e lanes. X8-X4-X4 unless you go with an NF200 equipped board.

I'd sit pat if I had your system.
 
The 6970 hands down for your set-up. There's a Diamond one for $319.99 / $299.99 after rebate on the Egg. That's a pretty nice deal if you ask me.
 
Grooveriding said:
Is the consensus that the 2600K is absolutely useless for gaming ? I am waiting for socket 2011 SB-E chips, but was debating a SB in the interim.

The 2500K + MB is cheap in combo deals where I shop, the only thing putting me off is the need for a full OS reinstall.

Then again I don't know I would get any better gaming performance. Hard to find any Tri-SLI benches comparing an overclocked i7 920 to overclocked SB.
Click to expand...

I happened across this.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=970850

Comparing 2600K@4.7 to 970@4.3. Not exactly what you were looking for and not pure apples to apples. He's using the 6970 in single, dual, 3 way, and quad crossfire. Should give you a bit of input anyway. Hope it helps. 🙂
 
badb0y said:
10% performance difference overall with your monitor.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to insult you, but this type of math error bothers me. 86% vs 76% means that, going by that chart, the GTX 580 is 13% faster than the 6970. Not 10%. That's not how math works.
 
The best bang for the buck is the gtx 570. Better or on par with the 6970 and cheaper. The 580 is too expensive for the increase over the 570.
 
3DVagabond said:
I happened across this.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=970850

Comparing 2600K@4.7 to 970@4.3. Not exactly what you were looking for and not pure apples to apples. He's using the 6970 in single, dual, 3 way, and quad crossfire. Should give you a bit of input anyway. Hope it helps. 🙂
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! Looks like there is a small difference in favour of the 2600K.

Hard to say how that would compare to my results though. I know nvidia cards perform worse than AMD cards with lesser CPU power. I am trying to find some NV comparisons somewhere.
 
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