Affordable single dx11 card upgrade from SLI gtx 285s for BF3?

[Keysertx]

Hey folks. I haven't upgraded my video card(s) in a couple years, so I'm still running 2 GTX285s in SLI mode. While this setup seems to handle BF3 decently, I'd really like to be able to take advantage of the frostbite engine and the dx11-specific graphics/features of BF3.

I'm trying to watch my budget this time around, so I'm hoping to find a single card replacement that will support dx11 and either be a slight upgrade or at worst, not be a downgrade in terms of fps/performance for under $300.

Would I be able to accomplish this with a gtx 560 TI and keeping one of my existing gtx 285s as a dedicated physx card? or would I have to go for a 570? I haven't had much luck with AMD cards in the past and I've read about some issues with them and BF3 recently, but I'd consider an AMD card if there's a compelling argument for it.

Sorry for the novella, but thanks for your help in advance!

 

[cmdrdredd]

The only option if you don't want much performance loss is a GTX 580, but even then a GTX 285 SLI setup is a little bit faster sometimes.

Unfortunately what you're looking for does not really exist and definitely not close to the $300 mark.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Get a factory GTX 570 with a massive overclock.

Link

If you want something closer to your budget:

Link

 

[bryanW1995]

2 x gtx 285 is ~ gtx 580 speed already. I've seen used/reman 580's going for around $300, but a better solution for you would be xfire 6950 2gb for ~ $450-500. If you are tied to nvidia b/c of physx or just color preference, however, you're looking at $600-700 for sli gtx 570 and even that could run out of memory at some point. gtx 480 sli can be had for <$500, maybe even $400 or so if you look around hard enough, but the noise/power/heat of sli gtx 480 is not for the faint of heart.

 

[CarpeDiem99]

GTX 480 SLI is the best bang for buck if you can find them, almost double your performance

 

[Spjut]

Or just wait for the new GPU series to be released

It seems like the only feature this game needs actual DX11 hardware for is the terrain tessellation, the rest is used for performance benefits

 

[Keysertx]

thanks for the replies so far folks. it seems like there are mixed opinions on whether or not a single gtx 570 would suffice. i've never hear of zotac cards before. are they reliable? the price seems decent for their 570s.

 

[bryanW1995]

There's nothing mixed about it. A single gtx 570 is significantly slower than sli gtx 285. Here's a comparison of gtx 285 sli to gtx 480 (which is nearly identical to gtx 570) on Anandtech Bench. The only thing that gtx 285 wasn't ahead on was a couple of minimum frame rates in warhead, and in many of the tested games gtx 285 sli was significantly faster.